Class Discussion: Wizard
Getting close to being done now with the zombie Wizard. I really feel the team did a good job with this character, and again broke the mold for hero shooter characters with the co-star ability which I really like. Side note: I was playing in Ops a month or so ago and joined as the Wizard when I jumped on a Foot Soldier’s head and he immediately went into the corner and faced the wall till I left. He wasn’t max level so I have no idea why he wouldn’t want free XP and the ability to see where the plants are, especially on Oozevoir which can be a bit of a pain to ascertain where the plants all are at times, but I rode the Scientist’s and Engineer’s heads instead that match. I’ve seen very few complaints about having the wizard on your head before, and never ran into this in the game until that guy, so I found it confusing.
Love this character. The voice actor is great, the animations fun, and it all fits well together. His base outfit does indeed remind of the zombie wizards from PvZ2, even if he can’t turn plants into sheep. Wish we could have gotten that frog legendary hat that was datamined and other customizations for this one, but at least what we have is good. 125 health fits the character and 65 with armor for being a co-star is fine although once players knew they could shoot you off your ally’s head, it’s hard to stay up there in PvP! I love that Wizard can truly support a teammate or an AI ally by jumping on their head. The derpy look on the Co-Star’s face makes it even better. I actually don’t recommend jumping on AI heads all that often, especially in PvP, as their sense of self-preservation isn’t all that hot!
Their main weapon is normally a fairly fast firing bolt weapon with a moderate sized clip that requires manually activation of the fire button, which is a lot like Z7 Imp’s weapon in GW2. It’s a decent weapon and possesses good accuracy in this mode. It can be charged for the slow moving bouncing orb attack that isn’t all that practical although it can be effective in tight spaces and the Slow Your Roll upgrade can make it more useful, especially against immobile targets. It’s generally a better idea to use the standard shot of your main weapon but the charged orb has its uses. In Co-Star mode it becomes a fast firing attack that has limited guidance when facing in the same direction as your host. Part of why I love using double-headed dragon is to keep up as much as possible as I prefer the Co-Star’s weapon and ammo capacity over the standard one.
Z-lixir is a great support ability and I love that it’s useful and effective but doesn’t last all that long and isn’t OP despite its effects. Timing can be rough, and I’ve used it too early or too late at times but that’s part of what helps balance it; should you use it now and not have it later, or use save it and get vanquished before you can use it? That’s the sure sign of a well-designed ability; when it makes you have to think the choice of using it or not. Good games force us to make hard decisions and while sometimes it’s obvious, like when 3 chili bean bombs roll into your face, but quite often the choice isn’t so clear-cut and that’s a good thing. The only time I’ve seen where this ability is a problem, is when multiple wizards use it sequentially to make the effects last a lot longer as they activate one after another, but I’ve seen that maybe 2 or 3 times total. If it became a huge issue in a new game, a debuff for zombies and buff for plants where they couldn’t be affected by it for 5 seconds or so could implemented for this situation.
Spell Disaster might need a slight nerf to its damage or the seeking component of the ability. I’ve never had too much issue dealing with it, even as a Nightcap, but if it needs to be adjusted to balance stuff better, than so be it. I like this one as it can be very powerful, especially if you’re Co-Starring on a mech or space station that can survive being surrounded by plants and use this ability to its fullest effect. As a normal Wizard, not riding on anyone’s head, it’s still quite good, but requires more caution to employ and survive.
For variants; there are so many ideas here. The Necromancer could cause browncoats or other AI zombies emerge from the ground and attack the plants when you get vanquishes. The obvious use of ice and fire magic are possibilities (Pyromancer and Cryomancer respectively), perhaps a Witch Doctor where vanquished plants leave a small short-lived purple haze that gives nearby zombies a small heal.
Despite how different Wizard with how his kit works out, there’s not a lot to say really. Even if he needs something like Spell Disaster nerfed, it doesn’t need a big one to make it fair, and even that is in question. He’s fun to play, useful to the team, and feels like a true support character. Wizard should be easy to bring to a new game with few, if any, major changes.
