It feels gimmicky because you have to do it every encounter because of Threatened. It's the in-game state, not the real world state. And I wouldn't want Star Wars interpretation of high ground in BG3 either xD
There has been some confusion regarding the conflation of higher ground advantage and threatened. We are largely in agreement, you just have the wrong culprit. I believe the reason you are threatened so often is that the AI so heavily prioritize low AC enemies. This can be mitigated by grabbing armor proficiencies or using Mage Armor, word on the interwebs is that the survival rate of Gale/Wizards is SIGNIFICANTLY increased (at the cost of the survival of the next lowest AC party member lol). The Wizard can build/buff himself to have the highest AC in the party when you get going with those spell slots using the likes of Blur (gives attackers disadvantage on attacks).
Do you enjoy wizard in the current meta-game? Do you think it could be more fun? Have an open-mind here.
To be honest, I haven't really played in over a month. Have "only" about 50 hours logged and much of that in the character creator. I'm a casual player and don't want to burn out on the game ^^. I have followed many streams/videos however, so imagine I have a broader experience than most. Will play more when significant changes come.
I did enjoy combat though, except for most of Larian's cheese. I never was a Wizard fan and didn't use Gale all that much. I played Warlocks and though fun, I imagine becoming a full-time Hex+Eldritch Blast spammer will sour quickly (add to that Hex is needlessly clunky implemented). Especially as other spellcasters really snowball and the Warlock lags behind. I refuse to believe Wizards can be nearly as lacking in versatility and unfun as Warlocks eventually will be.
Wizards already have access for Fire Bolt which is the only elemental trigger and this alone allows them accesses to Larian's cheesy fun like no other class. I think if you have problem with Wizards this is either tied to them not having started snowballing properly and/or how you play them (ie. sounds like Mage Armor and Jump before combat would be beneficial to you). Wizards have been heavily favored by Larian's "godfather", Swen, who purportedly is an avid Wizard fan. Unrestricted rest is a big one. Magic items such as The Sapphire Spark near doubles Magic Missile damage, and this has some nifty potential by level 10 Evocation Wizard when you can add your intelligence modifier in damage to each and every missile. Staff of Arcane Blessing is overpowered and a huge added incentive to seek higher ground (as if it wasn't already incentivized enough). Wizards tend to snowball starting out a bit subpar, but by level 5 taking quick strides into overpowered and never looking back. Sorcerers, when implemented, should have a bit more "personality" though if you like spells but find Wizards to "plain".
