In that case I need to clarify something else - is a square adjacent to itself? The rules aren't clear on this point, but common sense says it must be, because otherwise you can protect yourself from a flaming sphere by moving into its square.
I'd imagined the Flaming Sphere to resemble its 3.5 counterpart, a solid ("spongy") 5-foot-diameter ball that took up space and nobody in their right mind would try to walk through. It seems the 4e version is a wispier thing that only hurts you if either you stick around too long next to it or it reaches out and whacks you. Though rereading the 3.5 version, it may not be as different as I imagined: The sphere does its thing upon entering the target's square (which indeed implies that for a subsequent attack it'd need to roll off of them and back on); setting aside the obviously different economy of actions, the main difference seems to be we've gained a pseudo-aura (a d4 so it counts as a "damage roll" for the purposes of Astral Fire, I suppose, if that counts as "using" a power*) and lost the ability to bounce.
After searching, it seems there are some cleric powers that do explicitly "occupy" spaces (and one wizard power, Bigby's Grasping Hands). But if "occupy" is meant to be a keyword, they're being pretty sloppy with it (see Blade Barrier, which is a conjuration that talks about "the spaces occupied by the blade barrier" even though it clearly doesn't Occupy spaces.) At the very least the wording of p59 should be much more clear about what "occupying" means. My first instinct would certainly have been "enemies can't go through the Flaming Sphere - it's Medium and a conjuration (and the rules basically say that conjurations block spaces like party members do). If you can't walk through the halfling, you can't walk through a 5-foot flaming sponge." Even so, what with this being Exception-Based Design, why not say that conjurations don't block movement, and then specify an exception in the half-dozen or so that do? It would seem to make a lot more sense, and would spare the poor wizard thinking his Flaming Sphere blocks movement until he reaches 15th level and sees a power that explicitly Occupies a space.
*for all the keyword-oriented design in 4e (which I heartily approve, by the way) they sure seem to have missed the boat in some places. "Occupying" a space, "using" a power, Flaming Sphere hurting people that start their turns "next to" rather than adjacent...
I'd imagined the Flaming Sphere to resemble its 3.5 counterpart, a solid ("spongy") 5-foot-diameter ball that took up space and nobody in their right mind would try to walk through. It seems the 4e version is a wispier thing that only hurts you if either you stick around too long next to it or it reaches out and whacks you. Though rereading the 3.5 version, it may not be as different as I imagined: The sphere does its thing upon entering the target's square (which indeed implies that for a subsequent attack it'd need to roll off of them and back on); setting aside the obviously different economy of actions, the main difference seems to be we've gained a pseudo-aura (a d4 so it counts as a "damage roll" for the purposes of Astral Fire, I suppose, if that counts as "using" a power*) and lost the ability to bounce.
After searching, it seems there are some cleric powers that do explicitly "occupy" spaces (and one wizard power, Bigby's Grasping Hands). But if "occupy" is meant to be a keyword, they're being pretty sloppy with it (see Blade Barrier, which is a conjuration that talks about "the spaces occupied by the blade barrier" even though it clearly doesn't Occupy spaces.) At the very least the wording of p59 should be much more clear about what "occupying" means. My first instinct would certainly have been "enemies can't go through the Flaming Sphere - it's Medium and a conjuration (and the rules basically say that conjurations block spaces like party members do). If you can't walk through the halfling, you can't walk through a 5-foot flaming sponge." Even so, what with this being Exception-Based Design, why not say that conjurations don't block movement, and then specify an exception in the half-dozen or so that do? It would seem to make a lot more sense, and would spare the poor wizard thinking his Flaming Sphere blocks movement until he reaches 15th level and sees a power that explicitly Occupies a space.
*for all the keyword-oriented design in 4e (which I heartily approve, by the way) they sure seem to have missed the boat in some places. "Occupying" a space, "using" a power, Flaming Sphere hurting people that start their turns "next to" rather than adjacent...
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