Lanefan
Victoria Rules
The "probably a beard" piece seems rather limiting...That's what the pop culture idea of what a wizard is, though. Its casting magic regularly, probably a beard, robes, and not being great at other weapons (except maybe sometimes a sword), moreso using a staff or wand.
The one aspect of pop culture wizards (excluding Harry Potter) that D&D doesn't model in play - and never has - is their age. Even in typical D&D art, most wizards are portrayed as being at least middle-aged if not older; yet D&D characters almost universally start out quite young and then don't age much due to the campaign only lasting for less than an in-game year.
Or, keep the wizard as it is and invent new classes to suit those modern perceptions....says me, in direct conflict with my stance that there's already too many caster classes.Crossbows and darts just, ain't it. People will clash against the idea if it doesn't match with what they think a wizard should be doing, and will reject the class or. See all the stuff done to make the Four Elements monk fit with what people want from that class, which is "I want Avatar the Last Airbender"
The wizard has to evolve with the way people play the game and what they expect from it, you can't keep it around acting like it did back in the day as a dead husk of the past completely divorced from the modern idea of what its called. Otherwise, just re-name the old wizard instead, and let an actual wizard, based around the popular perception of what that is, take its place.