Liis
Does it change your thoughts at all to know that I'm dealing the same amount of damage as I take?

Not really, because that might be a mod. I do not count mods. But again, difficulty is not the discussion I am trying to have here. I want people to realize that playstyles should not be based on armor, builds should not focus around what your character is wearing, but how they approach combat. Magic first with weapon second should be the norm for battlemages , with spellswords being the even mix of the two styles.

Liis
@JayStorm324, I think what armour you wear is a factor in how you play. If you can take more damage, you can be more offensive. If not, you have to be more defensive, no? Offensive and defensive playstyles are certainly separate playstyles, no? I get what you're saying, and I agree: armour shouldn't be the sole factor that determines what your playstyle, but neither should how you approach combat. I think playstyles are very nebulous in their borders between one another, as they are affected by many factors, so I don't think it's accurate to divide them with such a black-and-white criterion.

maybe not,but answer this: Would an altmer who uses light armor with magic as a primary 'weapon' and one handed swords as secondary be a battlemage or a spellsword?

I would say battlemage, as the altmer is clearly magic first with melee second, rather than an even mixture of the two.

Liis
@JayStorm324, In an earlier post, I had said that I don't have an opinion on that matter, sorry. I was debating only the basis on which to determine which playstyle out of them all is being used, not what those two playstyles are specifically.

Honestly, how do you define playstyle. It is not enough to talk about the basis on which to determine a playstyle since the term might mean something different based on the person being asked the question.

My definition of the playstyles is how you play the game/handle combat. battlemage playstyle = heavy use of magic with weapons combat as secondary, while spellsword playstyle = even use of magic and weapons combat. armor not necessary to describe them.

JayStorm324

Honestly, how do you define playstyle. It is not enough to talk about the basis on which to determine a playstyle since the term might mean something different based on the person being asked the question.

 

My definition of the playstyles is how you play the game/handle combat. battlemage playstyle = heavy use of magic with weapons combat as secondary, while spellsword playstyle = even use of magic and weapons combat. armor not necessary to describe them.

I like to think of playstyle as, just like you said the way one handles combat. but also the way the person interacts with people, the world, and the general way they do things. for example if your playing an archer, are they a hunter? an assassin? a theif? Kind of like a roleplayish take to it. 

Dovy

I like to think of playstyle as, just like you said the way one handles combat. but also the way the person interacts with people, the world, and the general way they do things. for example if your playing an archer, are they a hunter? an assassin? a theif? Kind of like a roleplayish take to it. 

and I do agree with that in a way. My description more has to do with combat as people tended to use the term 'playstyle' to mean 'build'. I would not consider armor to be a part of playstyle as a sword + magic style can be used without armor or with light armor or heavy armor. The issue comes from people trying to take Morrowind and use it to make characters without realizing that Morrowind functioned 100% differently than skyrim.

Battlemage is magic first, weapons second, as the entirety of the elder scrolls franchise indicates this (since Morrowind is the only game where the term was used to describe warrior-wizard, while Daggerfall and Arena use battlemage to describe destruction-specialist mages). Spellsword is even use of both weapons and magic since they were pretty much that throughout the entire franchise.

To talk about my characters: Hjorik my nord is a two handed warrior with speech for the dragonborn speech perks from the Ordinator mod, with the playstyle just a two handed warrior with speech. My imperial Jastia is skilled as a mix between bard and pilgrim using the ordinator mod for the bard perks, with a playstyle of a support character using illusion and restoration to help the tank (follower) using a one handed sword for melee, and is also a dibellan using the Wintersun mod by the same author as ordinator. I also have a breton necro sorceress who I want to make it seem like she is more of a noble by the name od Morrigan Ashcroft, and a Redguard who is an assassin with the ability to get into melee if absolutely needed named Waylas.

I play as a Imperial with heavy armor, two swords in both hands and a bow, sometimes sneak to shoot enemies with my bow. And I also use some Destruction magics.