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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 4849701" data-attributes="member: 996">Yeah, that's aproblem that's nearly unique to the Wizard in 4e - even other 'Controllers' have more AEs that are selective than non-selective.It's not an insurmountable problem, though, and it does capture the classic flavor of the magic-user.One thing to keep in mind is the difference between daily, encounter, and at-will powers.  Dailies you want to pull out only when they'd be just about perfect for the situation, or the situation is desperate (or you know it's the last encounter of the day).  You only get to use a given daily in one of several encounters, so it's good to use it advisedly.  If you're facing foes that have forced-movement powers, creating a zone may not be the best thing.  OTOH, if you're facing ranged opponents holding a terrain advantage, a zone (especially one that blocks LOS /and/ inflicts damage) can be extremely useful.Encounter powers, OTOH, you want to use in just about every encounter, as soon as you see a chance to make decent use of them.  Not many encounter powers create zones, and they don't last long, so it's mainly a matter of target selection.  Try not to catch your allies in areas, and toss an AE any time there's a shot at decent sized group of enemies.At-Wills are your back up, you only use them when there's not a good encounter or ideal daily left to use, or you're still feeling out the encounter.  They're a weak use of your standard action, but they're always available.  Your at-will AEs are small, so it's easy to avoid your own people while still catching the enemy.  Use an AE at will any time you can catch two enemies in it, or when it can bypass cover or concealment, or, for that matter, overcome the DR of a swarm.  AEs are handy, even the 1-square cloud of dagger, for the latter two reasons.So, yes the fact that most of your AEs can affect your allies, and the high level of mobility in 4e makes using AEs in general and zones in particular challenging.  But, it's a challenge that's potentially fun and interesting, and, if you're up to it, you can make quite a contribution, some of the time.For example, in the session before last, our wizard used Stinking Cloud to cut the line of sight, and put damage on some 'artillery' monsters.  The set-up of the encounter had a band of ice down the middle of the battlefield that was very difficult to fight on (you granted combat advantage and might fall prone), the monsters were set up on the other side, and thier artillery peppered us, while thier soldier & brutes readied to charge as soon as we got on the ice.  By using the Stinking Cloud, our wizard shifted the balance of the ranged battle in our favor, forcing the monsters to cross the ice, and face us at a disadvantage.  We beat the potentially very difficult encounter handily.</blockquote>

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