Higher level spells not much better than low level ones?

[limaxophobiacq]

This is kind of bugging me honestly, sure it was much like this in many ways in IE games with some low level spells being incredible all through the end-game (mirror image, armor of faith, draw upon holy might, stoneskin which I guess qualifies as low level once you get to 9th level spells, or Swarm Curse in PST which was completely ridiculous) but generally higher level spells were a lot more impressive and I would have thought PoE would have made spells a bit more balanced?

 

I mean, Fan of Flames (1st level) does more damage than fireball (3rd level), equal damage to Torrent of Flames (5th level) with the only downside that it takes longer to cast. Same for druid, compare Burst of Summer Flame and Sunbeam and explain to me how it is that the spell that has the same AoE and range, better damage, and also blinds people, is the lower level spell? Is it really just supposed to be casting times that improve with higher level spells and other than that 5th level spells are not supposed to be more impressive than 1st level ones?

Edited April 2, 2015 by limaxophobiacq

[Tartantyco]

Depends on the spell. In general, the idea is that spells shouldn't become obsolete as your level increases. Because of this, they have to stay somewhat competitive in terms of function and damage. Fan of Flames is a special case due to the circumstances required to use it(Unless friendly fire is okay with you). There's still plenty to balance when it comes to Wizard spells(And the other caster classes, for that matter), but FoF and Fireball are two spells that are balanced by their utility. One is a fast, long range, large AoE spell, while the other is slower and has a conical AoE from the caster's base.