D&D 5E (2014) Expanding spells capabilities with upcasting

[Maxperson]

Granted,, for wizards, this goes against one of their primary limitations: spell acquisition. I would point out that by 3rd edition, we had so many spells in the system that no wizard could get them all. And as @Li Shenron points out above, adding new spells to the system is no limitation for clerics and druids, and makes spell choice really difficult for casters like sorcerers. Also, some very neat spell ideas have been developed over the years, but no one ever took them because they were not optimal. Folding some of those effects into versatile spells gives them a chance of being used in game. I feel that upcasting can address these concerns.

The juicing is not free -- it costs a higher, more limited resource. And as @Maxperson says, upcasting is often a bad deal in terms of raw damage. I am more than fine with that. Upcasting is a boost to versatility -- already an area of strength for spellcasters (especially for wizards). I feel the costs and tradeoffs are balanced. As always, YMMV.

It's more than just damage, though. You can cast Hold Person upcast to 7th level and maybe hold 6 people for up to one minute with concentration, if they fail their saves 10 times each, which isn't going to happen. Or trap all of them in a Force Cage and hold them for a full hour with no concentration.

There will almost always be a better spell of the spell level to take and use than to upcast a lower level spell into that slot.