I have been reading so many post on this same topic. Now that I have played 2 wizards. ( 9th level blaster ) ( 12th level Buff/Debuff ) I will list some of my observations and experiences. I don't plan to play these characters any further because I am usually the GM for our group.
I do not find the wizard to be broken, but I do think it lacks an Identity of it's own. I find this class very much wants to push you to take a dedication into another class and lacks an entertaining path of it's own. The groups I played with were trying hard to look at each class as individuals so we could evaluate them more plainly. We also played another series in which we all used dedications but I did not use a wizard in that run. My group generally agree that the wizard is lacking in a class of it's own and only our personal experience of roleplay seemed to give the character a unique flavor. Bottom line, we recommend wizard in a multiclass role but not a straight wizard build.
{ BLASTER } group also contained Champion/Cleric/Ranger/Rogue
This seemed the more effective wizard. Pure damage seemed to have a bigger effect on encounters. AOE attacks can be good if you can sneak up on a foe or win initiative so you can drop it before enemies close ranks and mix with your allies. Metamagic seemed mostly useless with the exception of Reach, usually combined with like Vampiric Touch. Lacking the ability to position myself in most cases kept me from using Metamagic or Abilities like Widen Spell would rarely make a difference if I could hit an additional target. Most enemies we would try to force to a bottleneck and let our champion and Cleric tank them and rogue get flanking. Most spells were more restrcted to a single target or 2 in most cases even if it was an AOE spells. later on the rogue in our group said it was OK to drop an early AOE that included him once he gained Evasion hoping that his Reflex would save him 60% of the time. I still do not prefer to use that tactic in any standard situation. We did not find this character to significantly sway the flow of most battles except in a couple instances that there was a critical failure to a damage save. Our Ranger and Rogue were much more consistent damage dealers and with the Champion and Cleric providing Healing and Buffs, the Wizard felt mostly insignificant and would have had very little effect on battle outcome.
{ BUFFER } Group also contained Barbarian/Druid/Fighter/Monk
This caster felt even less effective as the campaign progressed. Level level buffs quickly became obsolete and higher level spells seemed very lacking when trying mostly stay away from direct damage. A combination of Reach Metamagic and Touch of Idiocy did sometimes find some use. Mostly effective with the Intimidation/Demoralize effects generated by our Barbarian. Slow, Haste and Jump spells seemed to be pretty common True Stirke will have some value in a multiclass build or a more offensive build but is totally in effective for this type of build. We rarely used things like Invisibility or Fly beacuse their durations are too short and not usually worth the action economy once the fighting begins unless really needed in a particular situation. Only once did we think fly would have been effective in particular. I did use Earthbind to bring down the flying creature, but the duration was too short to be really effective. Ranged weapons and cantrips did bring a slow end to the creature. Later I did start to use some more direct damage spells. A combination of Reach/Touch of Idiocy and then a Phantasmal Killer did have some effect. It was still found quite lacking because on a critical save needed to have both a Will save and a Fortitude save. It was rare that it failed both. We only had 1 incapacitaion in 12 times that I cast the spell. Only 1 time a did a creature both critcal fail the will save and fail the Fortitude save. 1 creature also survived due to incapacitation rules. I didn't evaluate the creature level very well. ( Milage may vary ) I could have just cast 2 direct damage spell instead and would have been more effective in combat.
With much discussion and evaluation with my play group, we found the single class wizard to be lacking a unique role that can't be better filled by another classs or isn't more interesting to play.
We looked at all the Specialist schools but didn't find they had much effect on the character and their focus spells rarely stood out or got used in most cases.
Abjuration
This school in general seems very average. It covers the basics with Mage armor and shield at low levels and walls and freedom of movement at mid to high levels.
Protective Ward (3/10) OK for low levels. The radius is too limited to be effective. When I tried to use it I was often subjected to reach attacks or included in an area effect that was mostly targeted at our front line. By the time the radius grows large enough, the fight is over or moved away from me.
Energy Absorption (8/10) Since most wizards do not use many reactions, we did find this to be one of the better Focus Spells. If you wish to multiclass or just use things like Shield Block, then having to choose your reactions may be a tough decision. This is consistant with most reactions and should be judged accordingly. It definitetly saved my bacon from the fire a couple times.
Conjuration
Most things you can summon at low level are too ineffective to be worth the actions Mid to High level creature can be effective to occupy enemy actions and space on the map. Generally underwhelming and other spells are preferred in most situations. We did find some value in Black Tentacles
Augment Summoning (1/10) We found it to be a wasted action. If enemies actually attack your summoned creature at low levels, it is dead before it makes a difference and at High levels, you are not uses summons for their combat abilities. It is more about their position or other special skills/magic.
Dimensional Steps (8/10) This is a great escape method when you get surprised or flanked. Can also be good to put you into a flanking or offensive position. It could be particularly effective in a Multiclass role with a distinct melee attack such as a rogue or ranger.
Divination
Outside of basics like detect magic, this school only has 1 worthwhile spell at low level. True Strike. Great in combinations with spells like Acid Arrow or melee attacks. Most things in Mid to high level are utility spells. Telepathic Bond is a highlight for us. This school fills it's role as it has for many generations of D20 gamimg.
Diviner's Sight (5/10) A good utility, Helped with things like perception or thievery checks.
Vigilant Eye (5/10) Another utility that can be useful for gathering information or intelligence on enemies bofore a raid or a way to watch your back once you have entered a location.
Enchantment
One of our least favorite schools in it's current form. Most spells trade their action economy poorly. It cost you 2 actions to make an enemy waste a single action at low levels and more powerful spells are too often subject to incapacitation rules. Touch of Idiocy and Crushing Despair might be the only spells we used consistantly.
Charming Words (2/10) Unfortunately this does not stop an enemy from attacking an ally and made this useless in most of our scenarios.
Dread Aura (6/10) We found that this could have some utility in combat. Stacking rules partly deduct from this but it's AOE helps make up for it. You might find more value with tactical fighters in your party that use actions like trip or shove.
Evocation
This will be the school most wizards will focus on because damage is usually more valuable than other spells from our experience. Even if you want to focus on another school, I would suggest that you keep a spell at each of your 2 highest casting levels from this school. Magic Missile is still a staple at low level. At mid to high levels you will still have the classics of elemental damage like Fireball and Cone of Cold
Force Bolt (10/10) This is by far the most consistent Focus spell that we found in the game single action, heightened and automatically hits. We couldn't find a good reason to take any other school of magic.
Elemental Tempest (3/10) We figured this would be more effective in a Multiclass or melee focused character. As a pure Blaster we just found it useful as a last resort or I got surprised action. It can deal a lot of damage in the right situation.
Illusion
A fair utility school with some combat abilities. Color Spray and Invisibility are still common in this school, we did use Phantasmal Calamity to great effect 1 time. Unfortunately because spell duration is so much shorter in this edition, we have lost much of what used to make this a powerful school. We understand the purpose of trying to make spells more about a single combat, but that unfortunately makes these spells less important and just deal damage instead.
Warped Terrain (2/10) A patch of difficult terrain makes too little of effect on combat to be worth the time to cast this spell in any version more than a single action. The single action version is not worth the space that it occupies except to place in front of an entrance.
Invisibility Cloak (4/10) It can last longer than Invisibility, but because it still ends with a hostile action only more useful in a reconnaissance type role or Multiclassed with a positional fighter. They would still prefer the level 4 heightened version of the regular spell.
Necromancy
This lacks everything that most people think of as a classic Necromancer. Creating and using undead as a general purpose for combat and utility. A few other key spells put this slightly ahead of Conjuration. Highlights of this schoool are Vampiric Touch, Cloudkill and Vampiric Exsanguination.
Call of the Grave (3/10) This spell rates low because it has poor action economy. Most cases you will spend 2 actions for an underwhelming effect. Only significant on a critical and not a single action like many other focus spells that you might use to fill out your turn. Use with True Strike to gain more value from it.
Life Siphon (7/10)This is the best part of this school. in particular if someone does deal a lot of damage to you. Combine with a Vampiric Touch and get a huge boost back to your health from both sources.
Transmutation
This school seems to lack a lot at low levels. There are no longer any spells that boost stats. I understand that this is a game concept change, but there is nothing that really replace them either to give this school more identity. Low level polymorphs are not effective in combat, and don't last long enough to have a good utility value. At high level, spells like Disntigration have been moved to the Evocation school. This school seems to have been stripped of it's identity and only a fraction remains. It still has a few classic utilities like Knock and Water Breathing that can have their moments Enlarge is still a gold standard for many players.
Physical Boost (2/10) This boost is too limited in scope to be effective. The Divination focus spell is a lot more value in a similar niche.
Shifting Form (5/10) Some decent utility from this spell, but again we think it is more effective for a Multiclass or melee focused build. We can see this paired with a Barbarian or Monk.
Universalist
Our group was unsure of how we felt about the Universalist. The extra feat at first level doesn't seem so special. this is because we didn't find most first level feats to be that valuable. Also, Specialist don't seem to stand out in their own way, so this lacks the juxtaposition that it should from the other Wizards.
Hand of the Apprentice (7/10) We found this a fair way to spend a third action in a round and also appretiated the 500ft range. In the end we still had to compare it to Force Bolt which is still far preferred.
Improved Familiar Attunement (6/10)
WE found this as a slightly above average thesis. It melds well with the utility caster. It could make a beneficial spy or benefit in out of combat situations that the other Thesis can't compete at.
Metamagical Experimentation (3/10)
We like the concept of this Thesis but we found that it falls short in application. We like that you don't need to memorize spells in higher slots to gain a benefit, but the action economy of this edition has really made Metamagic relatively unused at our table by any class. Reach seems to be the 1 that we do like to use on occasion.
Spell Blending (8/10)
This is the Thesis we felt is the strongest to most Wizards. Being able to trade up spell slots to have more spells that might actually influence a combat. It doesn't seem as strong at low levels because it can cut hard into your daily allotment. Once you can start casting 4th level spells and up, we found that there was a strong value in this Thesis.
Spell Substitution (4/10)
This is an OK utility Thesis. If you really need that Fly or Water Breathing spell or find out that there is a Water Elemental in the next room and you have time to change a spell to exploit it's weakness. WE just found that it was too situational to have enough value.
Conclusion
Our group is made up of players that each have been tabletop gaming for 30+ years. WE have seen many editions of these games come and go. We are generally happy with the direction that pathfinder is moving the game. The Wizard is one class that we feel lacks far behind the others. Many would say it's because of it's combat ability or spell selections, but we think it is the lack of a unique identity. Many of us have played and will continue to play characters that are considered sub standard and not mathematically strong. One of our favorites at the table right now is the Intelligent Barbarian (NO, he doesn't cast spells). Previous editions, specialist may have gotten some bonus/penalty that effected their spellcasting and abilities that reflected their prefered schools in a more significant way. It made them stand out from other classes and other casters. WE understand and agree that the Wizard needed to be brought more in line with the other classes, but in doing that it lost it's value and we think the bar was moved too far. In many cases the Bard, Druid or Sorcerer can do what the Wizard does and in a better way. In addition, they also have things that make them stand out in a roleplay perspective that the Wizard is lacking. WE want to know that the Circle of Protection that the Abjurer casts is significant in comparison to another Wizard. We want the Summoner that can call upon the Heavens and Hells to bring forth creatures to strike fear into his enemies. If they are the same as any other Wizard, then why have a specialist ? We have also found that the diversity and choice of spells is still lacking. Even after a couple of SPLAT books there are schools of spells that have such poor choices at certain levels. We were highly disappointed in Gods & Magic. We don't use Golarion as our campaign world so we knew that some of what we got was not focused at our group. Only having 30 spells added to conventional spell lists in a book with MAGIC in the title is quite disappointing. We feel that this edition of pathfinder is highly aimed at using Devotions to other classes and this effects the Wizard most of all.
Thank you to any that bother to read through this post. Feel free to reference this post if it will help somebody. This is just the simple opinion of a small group of gamers that wish to see things get better for all of us.
Cheers !
