[My opinions on the wizard]

Spells are not grenades in FPS.

 

Weak at lower levels quite powerful borderline godly higher levels has spells that don't make sense .. sounds like proper mage to me.

 

If I'm not mistaken, a lead dev really disliked tabletop mage classes (wizards in particular and I can see why) and your sentiment might seem to be one of the dev's issue. Borderline godly at higher levels shouldn't be possible. Powerful is fine, but borderline godly just doesn't seem fair to others that play or main other classes and see themselves suddenly outshined. 

 

Edit: ShadowTiger, that's the thing, I have a non-DnD background. I don't play DnD. I may have played games inspired by it, but I have never directly fully played DnD, I couldn't get into it.

[My opinions on the wizard]

Having played and restarted a wizard at least 6 times and beaten the game on hard with a wizard, I can say that at the higher levels, they feel pretty overpowered. At the lower levels, not so much. They feel just right in the mid levels. My somewhat biased notes on the wizard class so far:

 

Pros:

• They can front load all their spells if needed. I see spells in terms of limited ammunition in FPS or third person shooters-- sort of like some guy who decides to use all his grenades and usable/consumable items. It's a weird analogy, but it works for me.
• Crowd control comes in a variety with access to tons of different spells. Wizards even get petrify which is the king of CC and is insanely good for what it does. You honestly have to be crazy not to take it.
• Versatile. There's a plethora of debuffs, CC, and damage spells mixed in, which is nice. I personally prefer a class that is labeled "wizard" to be more ranged AoE damage oriented than that, but I suppose that's my heavy MMO/ non-CRPG/ non-DnD background talking.
• Much more fun than playing a fighter/paladin and just standing there attacking and occasionally using a per-encounter skill.

 

Cons:

• Overpowered at the higher levels. Having per-encounter access to eight spells (four level one spells, four level two spells) can trivialize some encounters. Add in the class rings with the ability to increase the amount of uses for these spells and you're capable of steam rolling enemies.
• Inconsistency of spell usefulness while leveling. Level one spells have far more useful spells than level two spells, and level three spells seem to have far more useful spells than level four. That could be because of my playstyle though, so this may or may not be a valid point. Example: Chill Fog feels way better than post 1.03 Curse of Blackened Sight, Slicken is a no brainer and you absolutely should bring it, Fan of Flames is insanely strong for a level one compared to the level five Blast of Frost spell.
• Inconsistency of damage spell effects while leveling. Compared to a druid who has tons of Foe AoE as opposed to the wizard's FF (friendly fire) AoE, it's really sad. Also, it seems most of the really good damage spells are level one, three, five, and six. Two and four seem to be lackluster and needs some better improvements. (Perhaps an additional 2-4m range to ranged spells and Foe only AoE?)
• Petrify is insanely good for what it does. Seriously, it is crazy powerful.
• Weak at the lower levels. Because of the ability to front load spells, it also makes wizards weak at the beginning when they only have access to level one and two spells. Things really begin to shine when you get level three and higher spells.
• Buff spells only affect themselves and feel weak at times. It feels that the priests can do much more and have much better options than wizards.
• (Personal irritation) Damage spells have very low ranges. This is more of a personal preference. I like my non-touch spells having a range of 10m or greater. I do not like spells that have less than that. Arcane Assault post 1.03 is acceptable since the AoE adds up to be about 10m but I still wouldn't mind seeing a clear 10m range on it. You can probably guess my playstyle is to avoid touch spells and melee range like the plague on my wizard. Yes, that shaped the cons section of these notes and I admit to such a bias.

 

Personal notes on what could make the class feel better leveling up and not so overpowered at the later levels (warning: ranged spell bias ahead):

• Increase the range of spells so that many non-touch spells have a minimum 10 meter range.
• Reduce the amount of FF AoE on debuff spells. Curse of Blackened Sight was a good start.
• Allow Wizard buff spells to affect allies. Our spells affect ourselves yet from what I've experienced, they would better serve to buff our allies instead.
• Improve the per-encounter abilities. Grimoire Slam and Arcane Veil are weak and a waste of talent points.
• (This is highly theoretical coming from an aspiring game designer who likes to tune things and design systems): Perhaps starting at level 5 and every three levels after that, wizards get to choose one single spell that is lower than their current spell level to become a per-encounter spell with two uses. I say two because four is too much and basically allows the wizard access to effectively five level one, two and three spells. By limiting to two uses, it'll have some use like Arcane Assault but will require some planning on when to use it. Also, I don't like the idea of spamming Slicken 3+ times in a row. However, this will most likely also lead to theorycrafting and the creation of a hierarchy of what spells wizards should take for their per-encounter upgrade because some spells are just too useful per encounter as opposed to per-rest.
• Make Gaze of the Adragon (petrify) either single target or alter petrify so it isn't a ridiculous 4x damage increase. Perhaps 3x or 2.5x damage instead?
• I'm not a fan of the rolling/bouncing spells having friendly fire. I get that it's supposed to be an opener/situational, but I can't envision myself using these spells when the Cipher and Druids have so much more useful spells and with different elements.
• Instead of the current system where Wizards and almost all mages gain all equipped level one and two spells as per-encounter, allow mages (excluding cipher) to select one spell to be converted to a per-encounter spell with two uses every 3 levels starting at level 6. That way, at level 12, the mages will have 3 spells (6 uses total) that can be used per encounter. If the level cap were to be raised by 3, the mages would gain a fourth per-encounter spell. I'm not counting Arcane Assault on Wizards because it's a weak spell that mostly helps with dealing with trash mobs.
• Reduce the wizard exclusive ring bonuses in half if they are above 1. Assuming no talents, this should give spell levels one through four a total of 5 uses.

 

Random notes:

• Arcane Reflection reflects enemy spells but I usually keep enemy spell casters CC'ed long enough to take them out. Who uses this spell and what's your playstyle?
• All the melee range spells: they basically get disabled when using Citzal's Martial Power. Citzal's Martial Power increases defenses and I suppose is great for melee wizards, but wouldn't that just make you a sitting duck if you can't cast spells? Also, can you even run as a melee wizard and not die/get knocked out often?
• If Fan of Flames has such insanely high damage, then what does Blast of Frost have going for it that makes it a level five spell?
• Minor Grimoire Imprint affects other wizards and is highly situational. Why do we have such a highly situational spell be a level four spell? It's not like we're constantly facing off against other wizard enemies, are we?

Edit: Added points for clarity

[Suspension of disbelief involving Hadret House and Dunryd Row]

Ok, so basically, Dunryd Row is a spy organization and feared throughout Defiance Bay. Ok, I get that. Hadret House is their base of operations inside a portion of the city. It makes sense to have a base of operations inside the city so that part of the lore is fine. What doesn't make much sense is why is Hadret House so well known to be the base of operations for a spy organization? Why should it be so publicly known and yet the house isn't so heavily guarded?

 

Wouldn't it make sense if people didn't know that Dunryd Row was operating inside there? Afterall, it's a spy organization, people should either be fearful and wonder where these guys and gals are located, or be fearful in approaching the house. It would have made more sense that people didn't know that Dunryd Row was operating inside the house and that could give the organization the feeling of hiding in plain sight. If not, wouldn't it make sense that the location of a publicly known spy organization be at least heavily guarded (real life example: CIA)? 

[Master below choice dragon vs Falanroed (dragonslayer)]

I sided with the dragon initially, and I do hope that she returns in the future as a possible quest giver or as a quest resolver. Example: you face some really powerful dragon, and if you killed or never encountered the master below, you have to kill said powerful dragon. However, if you sided with the master below, she comes to you helps you solve the situation without violence. 

[Choosing a faction in Defiance Bay]

 

I want to know which faction has the best end result XD. They are all kinda ****

The knights end up taking over the city and enforcing martial law. Don't know the other two.

 

 

If I remember correctly, the Dozens end up restoring order slowly and eventually rise above the other two factions within the city. However, due to their lack of a centralized leadership, they end up taking in the remaining Crucible Knights and have them assist the Dozens in maintaining the city.

[Issues as according to me [Minor Spoilers]]

Now that I have had time to play through the entire game, I would say that wizards do have that feeling of being a bit on the overpowered side with the per encounter all level 1 and 2 spells. I do agree with your idea that casters should be able to choose one spell to be switched over to per encounter, but I would also like to say that the level threshold should be lower than level 9 for first level spells and the gap between per rest->per encounter switches should be larger than 2 levels.

 

At the same time, from my experience, casters rely primarily on their spells rather than their endurance/health and standing in one mostly spot auto attacking something. If a party rests, it's usually because of injuries, low health, or low amounts of skill uses left. It feels like casters would almost always be the culprit of forced rests if they didn't have enough per encounter skills.

[Wow.. This is amazing!]

I have very similar thoughts on the game, especially the 2D renders being absolutely gorgeous. The storybook style cutscenes are also very nice and I definitely prefer it over any form of 3D animation. However, I have a minor issue in that some of the companions (Kana, Aloth, and Grieving Mother come to mind) look almost nothing like their character portrait and feels very low quality because of it. 

[Shacknews interviews Feargus U. who "hints" at a possible BIG Patch 1.05. KS Backers get early entry to the 2 expansions.]

Things that I think are nice to have:

 

• Better variety of enchanting upgrades. Right now, they are very lackluster. I suspect it was purposely done or gutted to make existing unique items feel more... well, unique. 
• Story companion stat rebalance. Nothing drastic such as min-maxed, but I expect the stat point distribution to reflect the recommended/highly recommended stats to be reflected in the storyline companions. Feel free to drop a point or two from one stat to pump up a recommended stat.
• Stronghold needs to be more than just a gold sink. The resting bonuses should all be lumped together in my opinion. The stronghold in its current state feels very empty and boring.
• Improved balance. Some classes are outshined by others that can do similar things or the skills aren't very impressive. Example: there are plenty of amazing first level wizard spells, but second level wizard spells can't really compared entirely to the first level spells. Druids have a good number of friendly fireless AoE compared to the wizard. Chanter healing spells have very low range.

[Wizards Get Better?]

You get more spell levels as you level up, which means you also get more casts. Once you reach a certain level, 1st and 2nd level spells become per encounter instead of per rest. also there's items and talents that can increase the number of casts you have per spell level.

 

While getting to a certain level to switch from "per rest" abilities to "per encounter" is fine, the level threshold isn't fine. Level nine and twelve is too much. In my opinion, the wizard would have a better feel to the class if the threshold was lower, around level six and nine respectively.

[Need advice on playing a wizard]

So, having restarted a wizard 3 times, I'm a bit puzzled by the spell effects, AoE types, and general distribution of spells for the wizard. Admittedly, I'm new to CRPGs that have a strong DnD influence and I just dived in without doing a bit of research first (yes, it was a dumb move on my part). 

 

A bit of background: I tend to play spellcasters in most western/online RPGs as I do enjoy standing back and throwing direct damage spells at enemies. Having restarted 3 times, I can't help but get a feeling that I'm approaching the class wrong.

 

I know that some RPGs classify debilitation and attrition typically as some sort of "dark art" and is usually attached to terms such as "necromancer" or "thaumaturge" while direct damage casters could be labeled "mages" or "elementalists" or even "wizards." As for other types of magic classes and other roles, I did recognize priests as the "support/buff/potential solo machine," and chanters are more utility based which are basically the standard RPG "bard." Druids are basically the shape shifting melee spell oriented classes with a slew of nature based magic up their sleeves (damage, and debilitation mostly). Ciphers are oddly like a magic assassin? But what about the wizard's specific role?

 

From what I read about the spells, the wizard can CC, debilitate (debuff), self buff, cast ranged spells, point blank ("touch") spells, cones, bouncing spells, and many other things. Some of these spell types are just puzzling. Aren't touch based spells more suitable for more melee oriented caster classes EG: Druids?

 

So is the class supposed to be played as a jack of all trades caster? If so, then are there ranged spell damage dealing classes? If not, how should I approach the wizard?