Yosharian
Arcane
You can talk about how spamming spells over and over isn't the way the game is meant to be played, but the reality of the situation is, either the game is balanced around being able to do that (which ruins it for the players who self-limit) or game balance can be utterly destroyed by it. Either way, it's not a great system.
And adding even more limitations, like 'casting spells only adds XP when you're in combat' just ends up feeling counterintuitive and 'gamey', ruining the immersion which was the entire reason for having the system in the first place.
Not to mention that such systems can still be completely broken quite easily by exploiting simple mechanics - all you have to do is find a melee-only creature in an enclosed area where there is a ledge or box to climb to that the creature cannot reach, and now you can spam spells while the creature runs around desperately trying to path to you.
The Elder Scrolls system has its positives, but it's very flawed.
And adding even more limitations, like 'casting spells only adds XP when you're in combat' just ends up feeling counterintuitive and 'gamey', ruining the immersion which was the entire reason for having the system in the first place.
Not to mention that such systems can still be completely broken quite easily by exploiting simple mechanics - all you have to do is find a melee-only creature in an enclosed area where there is a ledge or box to climb to that the creature cannot reach, and now you can spam spells while the creature runs around desperately trying to path to you.
The Elder Scrolls system has its positives, but it's very flawed.