Wizard Casting Time / Dry Fire

[Saydene]

Wizards are broken. Their one reliable use is currently blowing up a defense when it can be directly targeted. After that, they run around dry firing half the time. This is especially true when trying to pull a CC, and they single target an archer just to dry fire because their single target is already dead. They're useless roaming on their own, which is the only way to get them to reliably achieve their intended DPS. Put them in a pack of 5 or more and there is always 2-3 of them just not shooting anything at all because of the nature of the targeting system.

It would be harder to fix a proximity based targeting system.

There's an easy fix to the wizard itself though! Allow them to ready their spell and "hold" it prior to targeting. This would allow them to cast immediately if they've already spent the time to cast the spell. If they have to walk more than a full second to get to their next target, they have to cast again. (It would allow for some pretty cool animations too!)

Any thoughts? Is this dry fire intended to keep them in a state where they're not overrunning things in mass quantities? I'm a firm believer in keeping control reliable over luck (where it can be). Even if their other attributes had to be tinkered with, I think this would be a positive change.

[MrH]

Wizards are at the top of them game meta. If you compare their stats to those of archers, you'll see why. GoWiWi is perhaps getting out of hand already, there's no point in making it an even more effective strategy than it already is. They have a slow attack speed for a reason, which is that otherwise they'd be out of control against enemy troops. I don't see any need to fix something that isn't broken.

[Saydene]

Wizards are at the top of them game meta. If you compare their stats to those of archers, you'll see why. GoWiWi is perhaps getting out of hand already, there's no point in making it an even more effective strategy than it already is. They have a slow attack speed for a reason, which is that otherwise they'd be out of control against enemy troops. I don't see any need to fix something that isn't broken.

No change to attack speed. This would simply make them more reliable, so that you don't have wizards constantly misfiring when their target is dead. If you've used wizards, you know a few of them just walk around and do nothing because of how they work with the direct targeting system.

Their DPS is effectively reduced by this mechanic, but that reduction is situation and more luck-based than strategic. In this case, if a stat reduction was needed to keep the wizard viable and not overpowered/overused, I think it would still be a positive change because it would put more control in the players' hands.

[MrH]

No change to attack speed. This would simply make them more reliable, so that you don't have wizards constantly misfiring when their target is dead. If you've used wizards, you know a few of them just walk around and do nothing because of how they work with the direct targeting system.

Their DPS is effectively reduced by this mechanic, but that reduction is situation and more luck-based than strategic. In this case, if a stat reduction was needed to keep the wizard viable and not overpowered/overused, I think it would still be a positive change because it would put more control in the players' hands.

The attack speed is how long it takes for a unit to attack. In situations where it has to pick a new target, it starts its attack again, like every single unit in the game. Compared to other units, such as golems and PEKKAs, wizards have a relatively fast attack speed. Don't worry, I have used wizards If they choose a target, and a target dies, they pick a new target and then start their attack again. It's how it works with barbs, archers, goblins, giants, wall breakers, balloons, wizards, healers, dragons, PEKKAs, minions, hogs, valks, golems, witches, lava hounds, cannons, archer towers, teslas, air defences, and wizard towers. The only excluded unit is the mortar, as it would be absurd if it had to choose a new target again with the 5 second attack speed. I don't understand why you want this change for wizards in particular, as as well as messing up the balance of the game, there are also 21 other troops and defences that do the same.