Schools of Magic Question

densire · June 2021

So as ESO is set 800 years before Oblivion and Morrowind, are schools of magic not established yet? Schools being Destruction, Alteration, Illusion, etc. All of our classes are a mixture of existing classes but none really specialize in one specific school. I was just wondering if the reason why we can't learn schools of magic and are focused on our own class spells is because schools of magic were not established yet. Thoughts?

Orion_89 · June 2021

There is an in-game book that uncovers this lore aspect (can't remember it's name). It states that current education system is not perfect yet and needs to categorize things.

It is strange that destraction magic is binded to the classes and even more strange that ice magic belongs to the wardens instead of necromancers.

bmnoble · June 2021

Well Vanus Galerion who established the mages guild is the one currently leading it, in the game.

The mages guild is still in its early days in ESO, they haven't established the schools of magic yet, could be centuries later before that happens, you would have to ask someone who knows more about the lore.

But its just much more likely its a balancing thing, with the limited skill bar slots and wanting to make classes more unique, if every magic class had access to all the same spells there would little reason to choose one class over the other.

Which would likely result in complaints from stamina players since those playing magic builds would have a lot more options than them.

Jazraena · June 2021

The TLDR:

The Schools of Magic as we know them are in use (and in fact created) by Shad Astula in Deshaan. As per Gabrielle Benele, the School system permits Shad Astula to train their students in half the time the Mage's Guild needs to get them to any practical level, and thus, she has proposed the Mage's Guild should adapt the Schools of Magic.

See the Lorebook: https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Lore:Proposal:_Schools_of_Magic

Whether the Mage's Guild gets the Schools adopted anytime soon is unknown, but that'd definitely be why no one aside a student of Shad Astula would be trained in the known Schools of Magic so far.

Wolfster · June 2021

So the schools of magic do not exist as you know them from the other games. There’s lore in the game to this effect.

Implementation of the schools of magic was going to be the basis of the long-abandoned spellcrafting system.

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo · June 2021

I'd actually love to see ESO move towards 'school' orientated class creation.

Instead of having the basic and already seen elsewhere character classes, they could base newer classes related to schools of magic that we have already seen in other ES labels. They have approched this in weapon skill lines...restoration..destruction..., but it would be nice to have a 'master' type class that represents a certain type of 'magic' more so than our current classes that delve slightly here and there into some schools.

Guilds need a bit of buffing in this game and they could also represent newer classes.

Sorry..I am a bit off subject, but your topic got me thinking

Kalle_Demos · June 2021

Having a Class based exclusively on a single School of Magic seems unnecessarily limiting. An adventuring Mage would have to learn more than one by necessity and just like in the single player ES games you wouldn't get far using a single skill set. Could there be a Class based on a single school? Sure, but why? All the various classes in the previous single player games are defined by the various schools or skill lines they encompass.

Celephantsylvius_Bornasfinmo · June 2021

Kalle_Demos wrote: »

Having a Class based exclusively on a single School of Magic seems unnecessarily limiting. An adventuring Mage would have to learn more than one by necessity and just like in the single player ES games you wouldn't get far using a single skill set. Could there be a Class based on a single school? Sure, but why? All the various classes in the previous single player games are defined by the various schools or skill lines they encompass.

I agree, Kalle. I do see the implementation of all those previously known schools/magic/themes in different classes/skill lines here and there, but nothing overly pronounced. Part of the attraction to those older ES labels was the prestigious appeal behind those skill lines and the Master Spells. Perhaps character classes built around that could be monotonous, you are right, but I think it would certainly be an interesting addition to the game, be it skill line/guild line related. If they do they do implement though, I hope it's in some innovative fashion.