Okay, I like that you guys are dedicated to fixing the magic system, but seriously, removing spellbooks from character creation is a huge mistake. Now a caster-type Sovereign has to wait to advance their technology to gain the spells they desire. This is a real downer when it comes to player immersion and the whole RPG aspect of the game, because it doesn't FEEL like you're some uber-mage, since you need researchers to find your spells FOR you. How lame is that?

Also, I heard about a mana pool based off of shards, or so I think. If this is true, will we be able to store mana without shards, or do we have to control shards to even store mana? If so, this ruins the RPG aspect twofold. Without these aspects of the game, it just falls flat on the arcane portions of the game. Please say it's not so!