I've been bothered for a while about things (conjurations and zones, mostly) that cause damage at the start of someone's turn. It seems to me that this doesn't give any control of the battlefield. You auto-damage an enemy and that's it. In no way are you influencing his actions for that turn (unless you kill him, of course).
Compare the Wizard Daily 1 Flaming Sphere with the Cleric Daily 1 Guardian of Faith. Both are conjurations that can be moved and kept around for the encounter. If the wizard (a controller, remember?) positions the sphere next to an enemy, that enemy might take 7-8 points of damage at the start of his turn, but is free to do whatever he wants on his turn. On the other hand, if the cleric positions the guardian somewhere, it's not an auto-damage, but a deterrent to go there, i.e. a control effect.
It is true that controllers also get low-damage area attacks (a.k.a. minion killers) and in that respect Flaming Sphere is fantastic. But it's all minion killing and no control, while I feel that most stay-around-effects should give battlefield control.
Am I wrong in thinking that? Would the Flaming Sphere be a more interesting spell if it dealt its auto-damage at the end of the enemy's turn?
Flaming Sphere is not the only culprit here. Many wizard spells have start-of-turn auto-damage and at the same time it's been said that wizards are lacking in their control function. Changing start-of-turn to end-of-turn for these spells could transform minion killing into battlefield control. Or?
Compare the Wizard Daily 1 Flaming Sphere with the Cleric Daily 1 Guardian of Faith. Both are conjurations that can be moved and kept around for the encounter. If the wizard (a controller, remember?) positions the sphere next to an enemy, that enemy might take 7-8 points of damage at the start of his turn, but is free to do whatever he wants on his turn. On the other hand, if the cleric positions the guardian somewhere, it's not an auto-damage, but a deterrent to go there, i.e. a control effect.
It is true that controllers also get low-damage area attacks (a.k.a. minion killers) and in that respect Flaming Sphere is fantastic. But it's all minion killing and no control, while I feel that most stay-around-effects should give battlefield control.
Am I wrong in thinking that? Would the Flaming Sphere be a more interesting spell if it dealt its auto-damage at the end of the enemy's turn?
Flaming Sphere is not the only culprit here. Many wizard spells have start-of-turn auto-damage and at the same time it's been said that wizards are lacking in their control function. Changing start-of-turn to end-of-turn for these spells could transform minion killing into battlefield control. Or?