Board Thread:Skyrim/@comment-12277465-20140501182332/@comment-12277465-20140523235236

Oh, yeah, sure. The impact perk means that you can keep a single enemy stunlocked for as long as you have enough magicka. So basically it's like a weaker version of a sword, because now, with the cost of a perk point, your magicka-costing spells can do the same thing as your stamina-costing weapon swings, which don't require a perk!

Yes, it makes you able to defeat single enemies if you have enough magicka. But all it really means is that, if you use one specific style (dual casting concentration spells), you'll be able to fight. It doesn't do anything remarkable, and most importantly, it's neither believable or fun. A lot of games seem to have this problem: combat consists of exchanging fire for seconds or minutes at a range of a few feet. This isn't realistic in the slightest, despite the fact that we're dealing with magic here.

Oh. And before someone starts babbling about how this is magic, so realism means nothing? Stop. Just stop, right there. Realism is applicable to everything. In terms of magic, it means defining how your magic works and what the consequences would be were it real. In TES, destruction spells basically work like horribly ineffective bullets. So you'd think combat with them would be similar to gun combat.

The point is that while the impact perk means that you can hold your own, it still takes you minutes to bring down most opponents. You can do the same thing, only better because there's no magicka cost, with a bow and the power shot perk. (The fact that it's only 50% doesn't make much difference, as bows are more accurate and you can stay at a longer distance.) And yes, the power shot perk takes longer to acquire. But come on.

But even more than that, the "fighting" style associated with Impact is backing away and repeatedly shooting your opponent for long stretches of time. That is not, by any stretch of the imagination, overpowered. It's just boring and stupid.