Can you see why players who enjoyed the imaginitive (and not necessarily super powerful I beat everyone at their own game) style wizard get a little unenthusiastic about popping off minions, shifting combatants around and imposing some easily removed condition on enemies?
Honestly? No, I can't see why. Being a good Wizard in 4e
requires the imaginative use of the character's spells in order to be effective. If a player isn't doing anything with his Wizard spells other than popping the occasional minion, his problem is that he's not using his imagination enough. I think, as others have pointed out, the real problem isn't that a player can't make imaginative use of spells in 4e, but that the reward for doing so is an increase in the overall combat effectiveness of the entire group rather than a spotlight hogging moment of utter arcane carnage for the individual player.
In 4e, a Wizard using his spells in the right place, at the right time and in a creative manner can make a huge difference in how long a fight lasts and how many limited resources (daily powers, healing surges, action points) the party spends to overcome the challenge. The only thing it cannot do is end the fight in some kind of boring, anti-climactic *fwoosh* that's entertaining and gratifying for the Wizard character's player alone.
There also haven't been many opportunities to learn more (and perhaps more useful) rituals, either. I think I have the same few I started with at 1st level.
What level are you? Remember, you get to automatically add two new rituals to your spellbook at 5th, 11th, 15th, 21st and 25th level. This is one of the Wizard's major advantages over other classes when it comes to rituals.
