Mod16: Control Wizard

[Ziek88]

I will start with I am not a CW expert. I have some advanced knowledge but I do not regularly play one. I encourage those who do to correct any inaccuracies I provide or add insight from their deeper knowledge pool on this subject.

With the new mod the CW is one of 3 classes that does not have a designated support path and instead has 2 DPS paths. One focused on AoE and the other on single target. My overall take is something feels off in the CW. For a class centered on spellcasting the spells have rather long cooldowns leaving long durations of just at-wills which feels...dull for a spellcaster. After inspecting the NW forums this seems to be a general consensus. Hopefully the Devs will address this.

Single target path is "Arcanist"
This path is the newer version of Spellstorm. It has some of the expected spells like Disintegrate and Ray of Enfeeblement. Disintegrate still seems to pack a good punch. General goal seems to get your stacks of Arcane and apply stacks of chill to the enemy before being able to deliver solid damage. I wasn't able to get any decent damage out of this path. Felt lacking in my opinion.

AoE path is "Thaumaturge"
The replacement of Master of Flame. Oddly, this actually felt like the old spellstorm with MoF flair. Conduit of Ice lives here and fanning the flame. This path builds on the interaction between applying smolder and chill to the enemy. Applying both felt fairly easy and damage felt significant enough to be happy with. This path felt like the old CW. Icy Terrain, Icey Rays, Conduit of Ice but then add in Fanning the Flame.

[nmates]

Aratech and similar 1-target types might enjoy keeping using the Disintegrate path. Benn was never that - control and AOE. Now, the control and buff paths are squished into one weaksauce DPS path. I can't do much damage at all, and I can't keep enemies still or even slowed either. Not a fan whatsoever.

Official forums discussion: here.

[Ziek88]

I think I see why we've had very different experiences over all. Asterdahl has been handling most of the Fighter thread as well as Barbarian, Cleric and Paladin. Spent the entire weekend engaging with the community, prompting for feedback clarification when needed and giving response to how they will handle certain issues as well as asking the community if that would feel good to them. A refreshingly open and dynamic dialogue. It actually feels like this dev plays the game and understands it from a players viewpoint.

Meanwhile, Noworries has been handling the other classes. From what I can tell, far less responsive and the responses given are dodgy at best, downright combative at worst. I really hope there is someone else taking notes over Noworries shoulder who has influence on the path these classes take.

More to your point, Tyr Rain and I ran a dungeon on preview and the immediate thing we noticed was it would have been reaaaal nice to have some control on the ads. Reminded me of the old days when Control wizards used Repel to blast enemies off cliffs and turned the ones they couldn't into Ice Popsicles. It was a fun way to play.

With the new balancing they certainly have the ability to give CW both play styles. I hope they realize that and do so.

[Phelaia]

Watch this first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy2vR43AAto

The Arcanist CW is the "death is the best crowd control" CW. The Thaum CW is the "vacuum with Singularity and dump everything on the GWF" CW. Arcanist is actually kind of fussy to do as you do have to cast certain powers in a specific order to spin up your own buffs, while Thaum is a little more forgiving.

I am currently running Arcanist in Undermountain, and I've had no issues killing stuff while surviving just fine at 13.7k with no bondings and no exotic gear.