Technicalities of Magic-Using: Inventing the Wheel

You may notice that in past WoW writings I've gone ahead and taken some... liberties in describing how magic works, and in particular shadow magic. I've been vague of course, since I'm describing something that isn't exactly, you know, real. But I'm curious what other people think of it, and whether any of what I've suggested in previous posts (Teatime, the post just before this one, is the most solid example I have posted so far) sounds patently wrong, or even just a little off. When I think of people learning to use magic in a Warcraft setting, I think of visualization and mind-strengthening techniques, Nether-phasing, and of course, practice, practice, practice.

As I see it, it would require a huge amount of discipline, unless, perhaps, you were born with a mind that was already wired for it. I can also see how jealousies might arise in the community because so-and-so could be lazy and never practice and still do amazing things, while others had to work their asses off for half the skill. And perhaps (I've actually explored this somewhat with one of my characters), the wiring of a magical mind would seriously cripple one's ability to interact with 'normal' people. There's a lot of things to think about, and I certainly do.

I would like to spark some discussion on the topic and see what you all think. Post 'em if you got 'em, I'd love to hear what you have to say.