This might've been brought up already and I've forgotten... but: will mana regeneration and/or mana cost be altered in Book 2 so that life is made easier for dedicated spellcasters?

(In fact, I'm almost sure I remember a discussion on this subject, many many moons ago, I just don't remember whether it was concluded that Book II would handle mana differently.)

No, there have been no changes to Mana regeneration. Don't confuse E:B2 with an action RPG- a pure Mage is going to be the hardest class-type to build (during the early levels) and then potentially they become ridiculously powerful if you devote all their Skill and Attribute points towards their craft. Just like they should.

...Cool. Okay, this gives me a reason to go back into the game again and work on the magic-only character I abandoned.