Make no mistake, I wish they would release characters in pairs as well. I still stand by my earlier stance that new characters should be kept out of Battle Arena until they've had more real play time among the community.
'Wizard needs help' gives your reviver armor, I don't have it in any of my 3 builds but it would be strong in Certain modes (like BA and TV, not as much for TT though still handy). I would definitely have a build with it for BA and Splash mentioned it in his BA thread on this subject.
Zee-lixir definitely makes a big difference and it's a critical part of the wizard's kit. Timing such a tight window is very rough though, and we're already using that window to our advantage in matches. I was able to take out hosts with their co-stars often by dodging away for that window and then coming back to smack them both. I also have used it to save me and a couple other nearby zombies from a chili bean bomb. I like that it is powerful and useful but has a long cooldown and a short duration, requiring careful timing. It's also good to see people already coming up with counterplay to his capabilities.
Well-coordinated teams where wizards ride teammates that are in discord with each other will take big advantage of these capabilities. But coordinated teams almost always trounce random ones.
I still say he feels pretty well balanced overall but I'm not claiming he's perfectly balanced and can't be adjusted, the test sample size needs to be larger to see how well he plays and how effective you can play against him. Also they need to fix that independent co-star bug.