D&D 4E Death of Spells in 4E

[Kesh]

I'm sure spells like animate dead are becoming rituals now, so there's little need for Necromancy as a group of regular Wizard spells. Ritual magic makes most of the wonkier spells work better, from what I've seen in other d20 variants.

 

[Aldarc]

Wizards worked in 1974. They became broken as soon as the thief class was added and have remained so ever since. They have too many powers, suffocating the life out of any new class.

That's a bug, not a feature.

DM: You face a problem.
Wizard player: I cast a spell.
DM: The problem goes away.

Or, worst case scenario for the wizard -

DM: You face an unexpected problem.
Wizard player: Oh no! I'll have to wait a whole day before I can solve this one!! *Sobs*

This was my greatest complaint of the Wizard class as well. The power curve only grew for the wizard as new spells were constantly being written for every occasion which removed the niche and significance of the abilities of all the other classes.

 

[Sir Brennen]

I want to preface this and say I love spells. I love that in 3.5, between the Spell Compendium and PHB there are spells to deal with any circumstance. I love that in many combats a spell like Dimensional Anchor can be the key, and a Passwall spell is worth more than all the evocations in the world.

I disagree that all Wizards are evokers that stand in the back. I bemoan the loss of Necromancy, (you can not convert save vs death to other types of effects or use some imagination to change how it works, you are designers people), or that Enchantment magic is being saved for another class.

D&D is a game with a 30 year history, subtle magic like Charm Person have been around since the beginning, so sorry, for a spell slinging freak like myself, telling me "we will take care of that latter" is not a real incentive for me to buy the book.

Wizards sound much smaller now in stature, with no enchantments, fewer transmutations, and little to no Necromancy.

The indication I've seen is that wizards will still be able to do a little of everything, including enchantments, necromantic spells and transmutation. Nothing I've seen indicates they're going to be pure evokers. It's just that:

1) several problematic spells will be dropped or tweaked
2) The more powerful spells of these types will be reserved for specialist classes