I already pondered this and it has some issues. The first thing to keep in mind is that when you go to mash the two classes together, you'd need to look at the two rival classes of Druid and Necromancer that are also have a primary of teleports and pets, respectively. In an effort to not stomp on the Druid's toes, the wiz-mage couldn't have a nuke stronger than theirs. Period. In relation to the Necromancer, the wiz-mage's pets would now have to be reduced in base damage scales and health totals to measure against an equal level skelly pet. This means the fire pet's health would be really low in comparison. The wiz-mage would still have access to the Sol Ro temple focus item quests because Shaman and other classes would scream if they were taken out.
Initially the wiz-mage would have no access to snare or root of any sort (excluding earth pet). The variety of nukes would now include fire, frost, magic (still conjured), and a somewhat better variety of AoE's (standard ranged + Rains which suck). The end result would be a magician with weaker pets but a better variety of spell damage types and forms, with teleports, but no crowd control or lures & wizard crowning nukes. The Malisement line would remain in their possession, as would all conjure spells.
I'd say, start the testing from there and after a few weeks of feedback and results make a decision to see if more would need to be added. It's better to start low and gradually ramp it up, only if there's a need, rather than go big and try to nerf things down.
Edit - The phantom leather line of spells could restore mana in addition to health IF a pet is not currently summoned. Also, several nukes might gain the Lure effect IF a pet is not summoned as well. The idea of the class having something to contribute when a pet is not feasible could be considered with the absence of a pet going on, much like a Necromancer can achieve with their limited CC, Twitches and Health pacts. Also, if not having access to even the standard single target root that every other pure caster and priest is able to have remains a big issue, give it to them but change the Earth pet's proc to something else possibly.
|