I was looking over the Arcanist and I was wonering.... the Arcanist can learn as many spells as a wizard, has extra spells a day. and gets better low level blast spells. If there a point anymore to play a wizard? (other than perhaps, old school flavor)
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the Wizard can pick arcane discoveries in place of feats, has more item creation freebies, and can specialize for more spells per day while learning spells at a whole level earlier than the Arcanist. the wizard is also less M.A.D.
by the time the Wizard and Arcanist are both 8th level, before intelligence and arcane bond option.
the specialized Wizard will have 3 4th level spells, 4 3rd level spells, 5 2nd level spells, 5 1st level spells and 5 cantrips per day and can prepare a different utility spell in each slot of they choose
the Arcanist will have
2 4th level spells, 4 3rd level spells 4 2nd level spells, 4 1st level spells but will only be able to prepare 1 4th level spell, 2 3rd level spells, 3 2nd level spells, 5 1st level spells and 8 cantrips
the wizard actually has more spells per day and learns new spells faster, but the arcanist is more flexibile with the tiny amount of spells it can prepare
making the wizard a better utility caster and the arcanist a better combat caster
plus, the wizard will have a slight bit more intelligence because any arcanist who respects their arcane resevoir not only simply can't dump charisma, but has to actually invest points in it, either resulting in a lower dexterity and constitution, or a lower intelligence. the difference between an 18 and a 20 is quite huge and that still doesn't work well unless you play on a really high point buy as a race that boosts intelligence and charisma with a penalty to strength, which doesn't exist outside of homebrewed contents
plus, the arcanist can't gain the full school powers of a dedicated wizard without the school savant archetype, which gives you 2 opposition schools for the ability to prepare extra spells, however, it makes opposition spells twice as hard to prepare, which again, cuts into the Arcanist's functionality because opposition schools hurt their main advantage of perceieved versatility unless they find 2 schools they don't intend to use. the school powers give you 3 less exploits too and don't even give you access to arcane discoveries.
pretty much, the arcanist who dumps charisma is actually hindering the utility of the arcane pool and just like they have to boost intellect, they have to boost charisma too. because arcane pool literally adds a lot of flexibility to the arcanist and most of that flexibility is charisma dependant, like your precious "better" blasts.
Wizards get more spells per day and faster spell progression. That alone makes them still better than the arcanist.
The class features for either are not important. The low level blasting abilities are totally irrelevant: you should usually be dumping CHA with arcanist anyway.
*edit*
It is worth noting, CHA does nothing for an arcanist's arcane pool other than fuel some of the (generally more lacklustre) abilities. Unless you have a specific build in mind, you dump it just like on a wizard.
The arcanist took the wizard's voice?
i don't know, using the school understanding power to gain the 1st level power of the teleportation school conjurer is really nice to have as a get out of grapple free card, as is the 1st level power of the admixture evoker for blasting, bloodline development exploit to gain the laughing touch ability of the fey sorcerer bloodline (no save stun), the stagger of ice missiles against martial foes, the sickened condition of acid jet, and the dispel bonus of greater spell disruption are also decent perks to have
