Wizards seem sub par compared to Druids. What am I missing?

[termokanden]

Thanks!

 

Yeah ciphers may be a tad too powerful at the moment.

 

Not that I want them nerfed or anything, it's actually a very cool and refreshing class to play.

[SlackerBacker]

 

The biggest oversight for me from the developers regarding the Wizard class is their lack of thought towards how camping supplies determine the power of the class itself.

 

By playing on Hard difficulty, you are massively dampening your Wizard potential by having only 2 rest supplies. A Wizard capability in combat shouldn't be stopped by resting supplies. I think that is extremely silly. Having to wait for lvl9 to unlock per encounter spells is quite over kill for a class that is supposed to be the Master of the Arcane.

 

Your Wizard is quite the lackluster class as it is, increasing the difficulty makes the Wizard class even more useless due to the limited camping supplies while other spell casting classes with overall better spells, remain unaffected due to their ability to cast spells per encounter.

 

Even with 20 Int , the bonus to duration of spells is lacking and with 20 might the damage is extremely low compared to other classes even while taking AoE damage into account.

I have yet to run out of spells on my wizard before I rest. Don't just casually sling them. Use them strategically so they do the most damage to enemy they can. Like using fireball on 2-3 enemies is a total waste. Don;t also use them in fights you know you will win and without problem. I use a lot of Aloth's 2p Encounter aoe with Raw dmg and gave his attack Blast upgrades.

 

 

 

Exactly. Wizards in a party are forced to just use auto-attack until a challenging encounter comes up so you can use your spells without "wasting them". Other classes can use their spells in all encounters without being limited by camp supplies therefore being more engaging for the player.

Edited March 30, 2015 by SlackerBacker

[morhilane]

 

 

The biggest oversight for me from the developers regarding the Wizard class is their lack of thought towards how camping supplies determine the power of the class itself.

 

By playing on Hard difficulty, you are massively dampening your Wizard potential by having only 2 rest supplies. A Wizard capability in combat shouldn't be stopped by resting supplies. I think that is extremely silly. Having to wait for lvl9 to unlock per encounter spells is quite over kill for a class that is supposed to be the Master of the Arcane.

 

Your Wizard is quite the lackluster class as it is, increasing the difficulty makes the Wizard class even more useless due to the limited camping supplies while other spell casting classes with overall better spells, remain unaffected due to their ability to cast spells per encounter.

 

Even with 20 Int , the bonus to duration of spells is lacking and with 20 might the damage is extremely low compared to other classes even while taking AoE damage into account.

I have yet to run out of spells on my wizard before I rest. Don't just casually sling them. Use them strategically so they do the most damage to enemy they can. Like using fireball on 2-3 enemies is a total waste. Don;t also use them in fights you know you will win and without problem. I use a lot of Aloth's 2p Encounter aoe with Raw dmg and gave his attack Blast upgrades.

 

 

 

Exactly. Wizards in a party are forced to just use auto-attack until a challenging encounter comes up so you can use your spells without "wasting them". Other classes can use their spells in all encounters without being limited by camp supplies therefore being more engaging for the player.

 

 

Priests, Druids and Wizards all share the per-rest spellcasting mechanics. Only the Cipher has regenerating focus and the Chanter needs to build up invocation points to cast anything.

[Telmorial]

Wizards turn ALL their level 1 spells to "per encounter" at level 9 and ALL their level 2 spells to "per encounter" as well at level 11.

 

If you compare them to druids, the issue I think is just that druids are OP just now, not wizards too weak. They do their job just fine, when needed, and in-between can do a decent job just shooting and whatnot since their accuracy isn't too bad. When you consider that you can swap grimoires during combat and whatnot, that's pretty decent.

 

Once level 9+ though, they become a bit insane I think..4 rolling flames/fan of flames per wizard on engagement of every single fight without needing to rest will solve many "problems" I'm sure

I think Druids have the same thing (low level spells turning into per encounter later). That's what it says on the Druid spell description anyway.

[Josch]

If Ciphers, Druids and even Priests are too strong right now, maybe you should consider that the Wizard is just too weak

 

But, as a lot of people already said, it's not only the balance, it's also the fun stuff that is missing, especially when you fight enemy mages: In the Baldurs Gate games a strong enemy mage was always an event, even the very first in front of the Friendly Arm could kill newcomers easily. Or remember the Demiliches, the guys in the pink room in Athkatla, Jon Irenicus, they could wipe your entire group with a fingersnap, if you weren't prepared. I am already far in Chapter 3 now and didn't encounter a single strong mage, melees just annihilate them, they are too squishy and don't have enough tools to get away or simply soak the damage.

[Telmorial]

If Ciphers, Druids and even Priests are too strong right now, maybe you should consider that the Wizard is just too weak

 

But, as a lot of people already said, it's not only the balance, it's also the fun stuff that is missing, especially when you fight enemy mages: In the Baldurs Gate games a strong enemy mage was always an event, even the very first in front of the Friendly Arm could kill newcomers easily. Or remember the Demiliches, the guys in the pink room in Athkatla, Jon Irenicus, they could wipe your entire group with a fingersnap, if you weren't prepared. I am already far in Chapter 3 now and didn't encounter a single strong mage, melees just annihilate them, they are too squishy and don't have enough tools to get away or simply soak the damage.

 

Oh man! That brings back happy memories! I remember fighting a demilich (for the Staff of Magus) in BG2 for AGES, my full party always dieing. It was such an achievement when we finally destroyed it. Yeah, unfortunately I think the devs dropped the ball on Wizards in PoE. (I'm only speaking though from a level 5 Wizard, maybe it's much better at high levels).

 

I've restarted as a Druid, I'll see how that goes.

[Khrysophylax]

I really am hoping the devs will consider rebalancing the classes in future classes (it'd be nice if one of them were to drop by to comment on this), and making low-level Wizard gameplay more 'fun' in general. Let's be honest; it's going to be a long time before most people reach level 9 and have access to per-encounter 1st level spells. Until that time you're reduced to crummy auto-attacks and some really ineffective spells compared to the amazing stuff Priests and especially Druids get.

They may share the Vancian spellcasting limitations as well, but their spells are just all-arund better, IMO. Especially the Druid having a access to a bunch of Foe-Only AOEs, shapeshifting, summons, etc.

 

I'm not terribly optimistic, though. It almost feels like this is WAD, a sort of reaction against BG2. I hope I'm wrong, though.

[pi2repsion]

It seems to come down to this:

• If you want great AOE damage dealing, some healing, decent buffing, and decent summoning abilities, go Druid.
• If you want great healing with good buffs and decent damage dealing, go Priest.
• If you want decent AOE and single target damage dealing, great crowd control and debuffing, only having access to a limited selection of spells at any given time, and spending most of the time using autoattacks with a small AOE component to the damage at the low cost of two talents until you reach a high level, go Wizard.
• If you want to be a summoner with good buffs and a goofy resource system instead of per-rest abilities, go Chanter.
• If you want single target god-mode damage dealing using a swiftly regenerating resource instead of per-rest abilities, go Cipher.

 

Wizard is arguably a great class as it is, as the things it is good at, it is very good at - it just isn't what many of us expected it to be.

 

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As for balancing, I do not wish these things to change for POE. The game isn't a MMO where things like class balance are important. They can revamp their combat system and spells for the NEXT game based on the experiences with this one, should they feel a need.

Edited March 30, 2015 by pi2repsion

[Killyox]

It seems to come down to this:

• If you want great AOE damage dealing, some healing, decent buffing, and decent summoning abilities, go Druid.
• If you want great healing with good buffs and decent damage dealing, go Priest.
• If you want decent AOE and single target damage dealing, great crowd control and debuffing, only having access to a limited selection of spells at any given time, and spending most of the time using autoattacks with a small AOE component to the damage at the low cost of two talents until you reach a high level, go Wizard.
• If you want to be a summoner with good buffs and a goofy resource system instead of per-rest abilities, go Chanter.
• If you want single target god-mode damage dealing using a swiftly regenerating resource instead of per-rest abilities, go Cipher.

 

Wizard is arguably a great class as it is, as the things it is good at, it is very good at - it just isn't what many of us expected it to be.

 

---

 

As for balancing, I do not wish these things to change for POE. The game isn't a MMO where things like class balance are important. They can revamp their combat system and spells for the NEXT game based on the experiences with this one, should they feel a need.

I believe you downplay Ciphers AoE dmg capability

[Enoch]

I like the Wizard's per-encounter and Blast abilities better than I like the Druid's shifting.  Beastmode is stronger early-on, but becomes very situational as you level up.  Arcane Assault has more staying power, I think, particularly in inducing the "dazed" effect.  Enemy accuracy debuffs never go out of style.