The Wiz felt fine in single player ... but hey, everything dies in one shot in single player beta. In multiplayer it started to feel that my damage was not enough, with 2-3 orbs needed to dispose of a single pack of mobs. Barbs and monks seemed to be able to do more damage than I could.
Someone said above his orbs were doing 100 damage / orb, I never got even close to that, so probably my gear, if you can talk about gear at that level, was crap.
PS:
I doubt this is relevant in any way, they probably never bothered to fine balance at such low levels.
Its all about gear. If you have bad gear, you will do bad damage. Good gear, and you will do good damage.
I actually felt like the Wizard was under powered at first too honestly. However, I didn't know that int increases skill damage and not a single wand dropped for me (had to craft one, boo hoo I know). My brother was a barb and my GF was a DH and they were both just ripping stuff apart. It would literally take me about 13-18 orbs to get something to half hp at the end; until I upgraded my gear of course, then it was constant massacres.
You don't HAVE to use a wand with a wizard you know?
Its pretty mandated to use a source yes... but a wand ... no. You can use whatever 1H weapon drops for you.
Orbs are not mandated.....You are wrong yet again....what else is new, right?
Not literally no. But the best wizards will be carrying either Staffs... or 1H + Source.
I actually felt like the Wizard was under powered at first too honestly. However, I didn't know that int increases skill damage and not a single wand dropped for me (had to craft one, boo hoo I know). My brother was a barb and my GF was a DH and they were both just ripping stuff apart. It would literally take me about 13-18 orbs to get something to half hp at the end; until I upgraded my gear of course, then it was constant massacres.
You don't HAVE to use a wand with a wizard you know?
Its pretty mandated to use a source yes... but a wand ... no. You can use whatever 1H weapon drops for you.
Why are you talking about wave of force.. in a normal run you kill the skeleton king before you reach lvl 9 (usually 7 or 8).
It's obvious that after you outlvl the content u one shot stuff.
I killed the skeleton king on lvl 7-8 on all classes and I guess it was hardest to kill as Barb and Wizard. Or well I say hardest but what I mean is that it took longest because it isn't really hard.. just takes ages for a wizard to kill it. You need arcane orb to kill adds which leaves you with just a 143% wpn dmg single target spell. Barb was "ok" u can kinda tank boss and use rend to kill monsters around you for life orbs. Still it felt like it took rly long compared to monk, wd and dh.
My wife and I played through to the SK on new chars last night. We got to Level 9 before we beat the beta. One playthrough... we just cleared everything and took all 3 crypts to find the right one.
My wife is a complete noob to diablo and she figured out (after losing to the SK a few times sadly) that ray of frost is better dps than arcane orb for single target.
Is it just me or does the wizard seem pretty underpowered? granted its beta, 1/4th of act 1 and you didnt get any good gear, but compared to the other characters the wizard felt..... lacking. 3 arcane orbs and youre out of arcane power and forced to use signature spells which really dont do that much damage, and also dont work well in large packs. Say when youre against a tomb guardian and hes summoning more skeles. If youre initial spells dont clear a straight path to the tomb guardian, you might be in a longer fight than you bargained for. Hell, in a full game a full Ray of Frost wasnt enough to kill a single normal harvester.
i know the resource is suppost to be small and regen fast but it just didnt play well for the beta. maybe itwas my setup, i dont know. just really felt like most of the time i was spamming magic missile
The Wizard is underpowered until you unlock more spells. You just have to be diligent until then.
Also, Blizz has been dialing in the balance quite a bit over the last few patches. I've noticed all characters have to work a bit harder now.
What spells? Most people claim that Arcane Orb is one of the best, if not the best.
Spectral blade = awesome AoE
Wave of Force = Awesome radius... and Awesome AoE
Frost Nova = Decent CC (same as monk, and barb... just frozen rather than stun or blind).
Ray of Frost - 215% single target dps as a constant stream
Arcane Orb = 228% AoE orbs.. 3 can be cast per AP pool. Thats 684% weapon damage per volley. It takes less than 10 seconds to throw another volley.
Magic Missile - While i know you like to whine about this compared to other classes... its FREE. Absolutely 100% free and it does 143% WD ... at a FAR range.
etc....
Its all about gear. If you have bad gear, you will do bad damage. Good gear, and you will do good damage.
Regardless of class.
Not literally no. But the best wizards will be carrying either Staffs... or 1H + Source.
You don't HAVE to use a wand with a wizard you know?
Its pretty mandated to use a source yes... but a wand ... no. You can use whatever 1H weapon drops for you.
My wife and I played through to the SK on new chars last night. We got to Level 9 before we beat the beta. One playthrough... we just cleared everything and took all 3 crypts to find the right one.
My wife is a complete noob to diablo and she figured out (after losing to the SK a few times sadly) that ray of frost is better dps than arcane orb for single target.
Spectral blade = awesome AoE
Wave of Force = Awesome radius... and Awesome AoE
Frost Nova = Decent CC (same as monk, and barb... just frozen rather than stun or blind).
Ray of Frost - 215% single target dps as a constant stream
Arcane Orb = 228% AoE orbs.. 3 can be cast per AP pool. Thats 684% weapon damage per volley. It takes less than 10 seconds to throw another volley.
Magic Missile - While i know you like to whine about this compared to other classes... its FREE. Absolutely 100% free and it does 143% WD ... at a FAR range.
etc....
just stop whining and grow a pair.
Man you sound like VladDracul calling anyone you disagree with a kid.
Why do you take such pleasure in life out of being a troll? Every single post you make is angry and trollish.
Dude... the AoE on WoF is insane. There practically isn't a single equivalent skill in terms of AOE.
My arcane orbs were hitting for 90-180 ... non crit.
Wizard is in no shape underpowered... you just need to be able to cycle your skills well.
Wave of force = death.
Power hungry = lots more arcane power.