berzum and Daelon you guys are great, srsly. nice friendly debate and good information all around. and sarcasm, of course, lots of that.
I struggle...no, that's not right.... I fail at playing a 'pure' mage as well, and as I have mentioned, it's partly due to my impatience when running around the big wide World. I have used a follower or two, and found them to be quite helpful when they're not being a complete and utterly frustrating obstacle. I have used Alchemy to ensure that I am equipped with 14000 Restore Magicka potions so that I can attempt to keep casting, and agonized over being totally encumbered. I have rejoiced when finally getting the Flame Atronach spell, only to then stare dumbfounded as the flighty little thing twirls her way all over the place and blasts my follower (obstacle) in the back with a fireball.
All said, I truly believe (or desperately want to believe) that a pure mage is possible and not an exercise in futility, but I think it does come down to really altering one's playstyle, and for some people that drains the 'fun' out of the game. There's probably no right or wrong 'answer', just two ways of looking at all of this I suppose.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a mage character to roll up and suffer through.
A pure mage build is very possible, I am currently doing it, and with some ease might I add. How ever I am only level 43, and no I didn't take advantage of exploits. Conjuration is at level 100 along with Alteration, though Alteration I made Legendary. Illusion is also now Legendary, destruction is at 63 or 64, and Restoration is 31 or 32. I hate leveling restoration it is by far the slowest to level. Now on this build I started out as a High Elf, which gave me +50 Magic to start with. Also note that from level 1-15 I left the difficulty setting on novice. Basically my strategy for most battle was simple, conjure up a summon, go into battle casting flames(sometimes other destruction spells) I never let my summons do the main damage but rather as back up. Also later on instead of a summons I would conjure a sword and have flames in my other hand, sometime cast a flesh spell if i was expecting to be hit a bit. The secret i have found to a mage is that it is alot like an archer, deadly at a distance but up close it's iffy at best. Now I tried to keep my distance but in reality some enemies just gank you, solution is a cloak, such as flame cloak. Now as a pure mage i decided to stick to robes for one reason, Alteration. So far I loved my mage and despite having some challenging moments it has been a nice journey, atm I'm debating to side with the vampires. Going vamp has it's drawbacks, but seeing how i have mastered several skill trees in the magic section I plan to become an assassin. my base magic atm is around 450, health is well over 200 and stamina is default (100). the reason I'm going assassin now is just to be able to keep myself leveling more and more, at some point I will go full warrior, perhaps a spell sword even. Basically this character will be a god by the time I'm done, if i decide later on to return to the mage way i can, for my magic pool is large enough, he will be a very flexible character and hopefully I can have him reach level 1,000, or maybe higher(just for bragging rights). So Daelon I hope this post a bit helpful i gave some advice here, and in my other posts about mages I'm sure you can peice it together and maybe play a mage one day, just don't give up(trust me i was just like you and hated mages till i forced myself to play as one).