The sorcerer is weak, with an outdated playstyle. One of the key aspects of Blizzard has always been the innovation of the classic. It’s a refined purpose, to update the classic in a way that not everyone can achieve, a subtle way of setting new standards with their own ideas. Blizzard has always been brilliant in this regard, with intelligent and innovative ideas in all of their games. Now, I really don’t understand why there is this regression when it comes to the mage. In Diablo 3, Blizzard presents us with a mage who casts supermassive black holes and transforms into an Archon of pure arcane energy, elevating the mage’s status to an individual who has attained an understanding of nature capable of harnessing the universe for their own purposes. Fascinating. I don’t want to delve into quantum physics, the point is that this interpretation of a caster is conceptually inferior to the one presented in Diablo 3; it lacks destructiveness, it doesn’t express power. It feels like we have gone back to the early 2000s, and that’s fine with me, but I can’t help but wonder, why remove everything else?
Regarding class fantasy I think Blizzard mages/sorcerers have always been a bit underwhelming. What you describe I felt back when Diablo II came out. The sorcerer class felt really boring unless you’re very much into elemental play style.
The Diablo III wizard took a step into the right direction class-fantasy wise but the rest of the game apparently didn’t. Can’t blame them for going into regression mode for Diablo IV.
For me, the interpretation of the Blizzard mage has not always been disappointing. They have come up with some great concepts, and the first example that comes to mind is the Ice Block, which we now take for granted but was a Blizzard idea. I’m talking about things like that. I completely agree with you when you say that in Diablo 3, the rest of the elements didn’t follow the right artistic direction. However, in Diablo 4, the world and the atmosphere are definitely better than before, accompanied by beautiful atmospheric music. But precisely because of this, I don’t understand why there has been this personal regression, almost an ideological downsizing, with regards to the mage, when they were the ones who had improved it.
The issue is that they wanted to explore the emotional aestethics of Diablo 2, so they brought the original magic caster from that game aesthetically (and mechanically in some regards), and kind of dumped away the Wizard concept, in contempt of all the players who loved it. I play Diablo since D2 and I hated the Sorceress because of the class identity. Always played Necromancer in that game (despite being a mage lover in RPGs). When Diablo 3 came out, i loved the Wizard for the concept of the class, the customization of the skills, it looked great and played even better. When they annouced the classes in D4, I felt orphan. Because they made a horrible Necromancer in Diablo 3, in a way you couldn’t make a good Necro spellcaster, so I was afraid It would be the same. I’m playing Necromancer in D4 and trying my way as a blightwitch. It’s like a chernobyl mage, but still a better experience than the uninspiring Sorcerer.