The trouble is, it's also the only way I have to study for my own benefit.
Yeah, I mean it's not as if recent versions haven't nerfed the better mage spells, and then straight after that, locked the decent mage classes behind guild purchases. It's Maverick's game, and obviously he should make it the way he sees fit, but if he doesn't want a mage build to be fun, why offer it as an option?
And I shall probably do likewise. This is going to end up like Fallout 3, where you could have any build you wanted, but if you wanted decent skills you needed to max out Intelligence on your initial build.