Druid...now THAT's a controller!

[Vocenoctum]

Good to know. Wizard really was the most disapponting class to me. I saw it in the PH as the only "controller," expected well...you know... And saw a glorified Warmage. (Actually...even 3E Warmage was probably better at battlefield control...) If I ever get stuck playing 4E for some reason, guess there's a class for me.

I thought that way too, until I reread "Controller". Wizards fit fine as controllers, since they handle large numbers of enemies at once.

The thing is, they don't do it by dealing more damage, they do it by doing area damage which only really helps vs the 1hp underlings, which exist solely to make area damage look dangerous without actually making it dangerous.

Actually controlling where enemies go and such, I don't feel my wizard does any better than any other class, and I lack their hitting power.

This is just my low level wizard so far of course, but nothing jumps out at me as improving any time soon.

 

[catsclaw227]

This is just my low level wizard so far of course, but nothing jumps out at me as improving any time soon.

In my Age of Worms conversion, we had a Wizard that was a major factor, especially at levels 11-15 (though we didn't play past that, as we decided to start a 1st level 4e game)

The Wiz was a frost mage (with multi into cleric) and a Battle Mage Paragon. He did some serious damage to groups and he really controlled the battlefield - slowing, immobilizing and such. Major factor, for sure. In our game the Wizard was NOT weak nor did if feel nerfed.

 

[Rechan]

I had some free time during the holiday season and generated a non-core party using preview materials and ran them through some KOTS encounters.

Shame you didn't have the Warden.

 

[tuxgeo]

A couple of times I got surrounded, I then used chill wind to hit myself and everyone around me...knocking them all back while I then moved away.

Ouch, wouldn't this provoke from everyone around you?

Anyway, glad to hear people are liking the druid. I am so stoked for March, it's not even funny.

hehe yeah it would have, we didn't think about that at the time! whoops

None of the At-Will powers of the new 4e Druid from WotC have the "Close" keyword (which is useful for not provoking OAs) -- Call of the Beast and Chill Wind are "Area burst 1 within 10," while Flame Seed, Storm Spike, and Thorn Whip are "Ranged 10," and the Beast Form powers are "Melee touch," attacking One creature only.
If you want a 4e Druid with a "Close burst" At-Will power, you might want to try the (earlier) Druid class from Goodman Games' "Forgotten Heroes: Fang, Fist, and Song": it has an At-Will power called "Gust of Wind" which is Close burst 2, versus Fort., 1d6 and push each hit target the distance of your CHA mod. Plus, you don't have to wait until March, because it is out now.
(However, it does have much more severely limited wildshaping: once per Tier per day.)