Thinking last night about what could be a neat addition in the 940 slot, and it got me thinking about something that could make use of the Force on Force mechanic and stay true to the magic prowess of a Wizard. Basically, I was thinking some sort of 'mirror image' that could be cast, causing a creature (or creatures?) to believe there are multiple opponents and lowering their defensive strength.

Raise my AS or reduce the DS of what I am attacking ... same difference to me.

No problem, I was just going through Wizard spells from other games and trying to see how they could apply to something unique here in Gemstone for the class. I certainly don't want a 240 clone for Wizards.

I expect parity but due to the issues that bolts have, I'm confident that the Dev team can come up with something that isn't simply a clone, as they did with 950.

It's not going to be mechanically implemented the same way because with the way bolts and EBP work, a 240 copy wouldn't address the issue sufficiently. I'm promoting the result, which is a high probability of a guaranteed kill, which is not the same thing. I fully expect it will be multi-cast or multi-cycle bolts of some kind because that is the only thing that addresses the problem with the bolting system.

I expect wizards to be able to become magically proficient with bolts. I don't see this as mechanical merging of the classes at all. You can still play without using this tool if you so choose.

Right now, wizards are expected to be wizards without the tools to make them as effective or less tedious in post-cap, single target combat as any other pure enjoys. I expect parity in the quality of life and post-cap lethality, which are all achieved in different ways.

If anything was cookie cutter, it was giving sorcerers balefire, etc.

Put differently... some players not wanting a tool is not a reason to not grant it. There were tons of spell updates that I didn't want, yet they all got pushed through because certain players or builds wanted them (902, etc).

It's what a subset of players, many post-cap pures, do want that should drive positive development and implementation of tools. This is a disparity between post-cap bolting and warding spells that's backed up by evidence and numerical data, so it's clear that Estild recognizes that this gap exists. I'm going to continue to move the discussion forward by finishing gathering the data and summarizing the results.

Tools are there to give players options in how to play. More cake for everyone!

No, I don't like the idea because it won't solve the problem, plus it's not my idea of what is wizardly. Ideas are to be commented upon, as Sleken said. The last thing I want to end up with is like the ELR or waste Dev time on something that misses addressing the problem. Accept that players have opinions, backed by fact, about what is going to address issues.

If you have a different opinion, backed by fact, then by all means stand up for your opinion and idea. That's what discussion is about.