Patch 1.0.4 Class Preview: The Wizard
Yesterday we had the Barbarian preview, listing some of the upcoming class changes in patch 1.0.4. Today we will have a quick look at the Wizard. For this class, Blizzard decided to operate the same way as with the Barb. Skills like Hydra seem a bit overpowered when compared with others, causing the builds to look fairly similar. Most of the popular setups have the Venom Hydra included. To make other skills just as attractive, Blizzard will boost some of them.
Hydra Changes:
Lightning Hydra will receive a damage boost.
Frost Hydra will receive a damage and range boost.
Arcane Hydra will get a damage boost in terms of AoE DPS.
Mammoth Hydra will get a damage boost and possibly, the ability to move around the battlefield.
Energy Twister Changes:
Its proc rate will be reduced to 50%, down to 0.125 from 0.25
Signature Spell Changes:
Magic Missiles will have all its runes buffed except for Seeker.
Shock Pulse will hate its runes buffed except Piercing Orb.
Arcane Consuming Spell Changes:
Meteor will be buffed
Arcane Torrent will be buffed
There are the main examples listed in the official dev blog post and a few other skills will be buffed. Unlike the Barbarian, the Wizard got one skill nerfed. The Barb had only buffs. The next class changes will be posted in the following days. As for the Wizard dev blog post, hundreds of comments appeared in just a few hours. Players started to complain about the nerf or the Energy Twister proc. Truth be told, Wizards needed to be balanced a bit. If we look back in time, the most successful players were Wizards. With these new changes, Blizzard is trying to balance not only the skills but also the classes. There will be more diversity and a better equilibrium which will be required when patch 1.1 comes.
