KoolMoDaddy-O
Explorer
That's an interesting take! When a wizard's spells are done, don't they still have cantrips? I know that's generally not what you want to rely on (especially if you want a ton of options), but they're hardly commoner level. Can you talk to me about the times you've seen wizards run out of spell slots, especially what assumptions about level ranges and encounters per day they were operating under?
Others have answered these questions better already but to summarize my position:
1. Because spell slots are so precious and are a wizard's raison d'etre, the player is incentivized to hoard them for combat. The wizard I'm playing now (Lv7 Runecrafter from the Giants UA -- RIP) knows Detect Magic but never uses it because the slots are better reserved for Mage Armor and Magic Missile, the go-to attack for breaking a spellcaster's concentration.
2. Because Wizards (capital W) is stuck on the Merlin model from the 1970s but haven't really developed the overall game outside of combat and RP, there's little that's unique to the class. The lack of an alchemist or witch archetype in the game is much bemoaned but you can't replicate them in 5e because there's no meaningful way to craft resources, unless you homebrew something or use 3PP content (which I've done). The artificer is a better wizard than a wizard.
(This bleeds into a bigger issue with 5e. Wizards wants so very badly to break into the Gen Z demographic but they don't understand them at all. I play a family game with four Gen Zers at the table -- or as I call them, Generation Minecraft. All they want to do in their downtime is craft stuff. Potions, equipment, one player wants to buy a farm and generate passive income. If there were crafting and stronghold rules (imagine a technology tree to develop a wizard's library or an alchemist's lab) in the game, that would unlock activities and abilities that distinguish the wizard from other classes.)
My solution is to add utility to wizards that isn't connected to spell slots. Give them more cantrips known (why does a third-year Hogwarts student know more cantrips than I do?) and add more non-combat cantrips to the game; and give wizard subclasses more utilitarian abilities that don't use slots (eg, Runecrafter can cast Comprehend Languages at will). Offset this with a more restricted set of available spells that are thematically tied to their subclass. Create subclasses that move beyond Merlin or the eight schools: Gandalf swung Glamdring, and Le Guin's Earthsea books featured mages who sailed and navigated and knew weather magic (so wizards with some ranger skills). The bladesinger is a step in the right direction.