It's official: Magic Missile will be a class feature.

[Klaus]

hmmm... I like it as a class feature, but wasn't this was supposed to be the warlock's shtick? Actually, it's better than the current warlock, as he is forced to take Eldritch Blast as one of his two at-wills. I think I can almost smell an errata...

And Arc Lightning just robbed the greatest advantage of the pre-errata Magic Missile: Range 20. It's like it killed MM, took some of its stuff, and then MM reincarnated with automatic damage...

Either way, I approve this. In fact I'm hoping them to errata most Wizard at-wills to increase their range, so they can better control the battlefield. Ray of Frost should be a priority in this case.

As for the Essential Spellbook, it doesn't mention anything about adding new spells to it. I hope - dear god, I hope - they are not limited to two spells per level, becoming much more like adding rituals. It's all magic, right? why should they be treated differently? (I know, I know... "balance" :... [rant] I say screw balance! I want to collect enemy spells! I want to have the right magic attack for the right time! [/rant])

IIRC, the Essential warlock will be in Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms or somesuch, no?

 

[ScorpiusRisk]

I'm feeling good, wizard-like, vibes from this. I'll wait till I see the rest.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I am presuming there will be a couple other at-wills in the book, yes? Because the three they offered was an evocation and two enchantments, meaning the illusionist specialist has no at-will of their school from this preview.

That being said... there are a number of illusion at-wills in Arcane Power to compensate, but I wouldn't think they'd make an Essentials player have to buy AP in order to play their subclass. Although an Illusioninst Essentials player might eventually hear about the other illusion spells in AP and pick it up anyway.

The one thing I like about this Mage build is that although it really isn't any different from the Arcane Masteries in PHI, they have reclaimed the terminology from older D&D with the use of "schools". So while the Enchantment school has really very little difference from the Control Wizard Orb Mastery, and the Evocation school is not much different from the War Wizard Wand Mastery, and the Illusion school / Illusion Wizard Tome Mastery... the words and fluff they have dressed the Mage with is a throwback to older games. So once again, WotC is trying to reach out to former players by bringing things back that are like what they remember from D&D past. Good stuff.