Nineslee, unfortunately my Wizard didnt invest in Arcane Singularity, so I cant say anything about it. Instead I invested in the Oppressive Force daily. I can say, Oppressive Force sucks. I dont even bother using it. I just use the Ice Storm daily that I started with at Level 1. Ice Storm is a great spell. And a fun spell. I hope it continues to be useful past Level 60. The problem now is, the Ice Storm spell now immediately summons more aggro, and this excess of monsters kills the Wizard. In other words, the Wizard cannot survive if choosing to use the Ice Storm spell.
Yeah. Oppresive Force sucks.. but for me AS is a must - definitely for dungeons; even your group members usually love it . Ice Storm has awesome effect, it's fun but in the dungeon it just makes a mess.
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biggigbegMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 6Arc User
edited May 2013
I suggest you get the tank or a tank companion. The healer is absolutely useless soloing as 20% hp regen every 30 secs simply sux. She also dies super fast and gets aggro a lot.
When using the tank he will attack and usually hold is own against the targets you attack. So chill strike the smaller stuff finishing them off with some MM then attack a bigger mob so the tank will go grab him, then kite and CC the other you want to kill. Essentially you can lock down two elite type mobs while using the tank companion soloing.
On bosses usually the tank will make fights trivial if he gets enough initial aggro.
The other thing you could do is spend money on the healing stones from the zen store. They allow you to heal to full using up the charges be that 50 or 200. Save your pots from previous tiers as they can be used to heal up when out of combat, since there's no cooldown then.
I think you should have done a little research on the class before you just threw your points left and right. Respecing in this game is extortion. You are better off reroll a new wizard if you're still in the 30s and messed up your feats. With Powers, it's no big deal. Unless you really screw up, you will generally have enough points to get back on the right track with the proper powers.
I have played all 5 classes, and by FAR the CW is the EASIEST one to level. You're either doing something wrong, or using the wrong powers. And that's ok, it's a learning experience.
First of all, I found that the man-at-arms is a great companion to level a CW. I think it is a better choice than the cleric. Hec it is even better than my dire wolf. Later on you can save up to buy a cat for group content.
Second, the Powers set up. This is how I leveled my CW and it was a breeze.
- Chill Strike on Mastery. I cant count how many times Chill Strike just one shotted an entire group.
- Entangling Force, Conduit of Ice and Shield in the remaining slots. Shield makes things very easy in the beginning. Not only does it serve as damage mitigation, but also as a aoe damage/push. It will buy you a few seconds for other Powers to be available again.
- Once you get Steal Time, you can switch out Shield. By that time, you would have perfected your dodge, and don't really need the shield anymore.
- Arcane Singularity is a MUST have for solo AND group content. It gathers all the mobs so that you and/or you group can have an AOE fest. It is AWESOME. It is by far the BEST PvE daily for CW. Then slot Icy Knife for when you just need a good burst on a tough mob or for bosses.
- At-wills: Magic Missile and Ray of Frost. Any other At-will is complete garbage.
- Take out the squishy mobs quickly, then deal with the big guys.
- Do not use Potions when the fight is over. Instead use a portable altar, eventhough it is slow healing. If you are running with others, remember that portable altars stack. So 3-4 people throwing down an altar is like have a regular camp fire.
- Upgrade your Orb before anything else. It's the biggest damage boost upgrade.
I am intentionally trying to make a "Control" Wizard work. All my power build is control spells. Ice Storm, Entangling Force, Chill Strike (Mastery), Repel, Icy Terrain, Orb of Imposition, Chilling Presence, and Ray of Frost. .
Icy Terrain is a very weak spell. Switch it out with something better, like Shield.
Also, practice using the teleport at the right time, like just before the Legion Devils and the largest devils at Helms Hold strike you with their sword.
Wearing more equipment with defense and deflection can also help you.
You keep talking about no dmg, controll controll controll. Then you want to solo.
Well what did you expect to leave the targets contorlled indefinitely and just walk away? of course you're gonna have to do dmg to kill them!! and you cant expect to leave them frozen for minutes, that would be way OP. So either accept that your build is viable for parties only, or accept that your build(and concept) is flawed
And I repeat: WIZARDS ARE SQUISHY BY NATURE! you sound surprised to see that! (even though again, like I said before, this is the least squishy wizard I've ever seen in a game). It's like being surprised the tank can take a lot of dmg or that the cleric can heal.....
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zpaventum77Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 1Arc User
edited May 2013
I'm actualy 33 in helm hold, up to the quests in the middle zone ( the last part ) and everything is going down as the rain, so i do not understand all this difficulty in survivability as far as now. I use the cleric companion switched to the tank when the first is training. Usually i use the range and Chill Strike in Tab to clear the group: imps and humans apart from summoners are cleared. If there is 1 to 3 big mobs in the group, legion devils or ashamadai or better a demon caster( or what the hell are called ) while the ball flies to the mobs i cast the entangling on the bigger one, usually asham or the caster, then conduit him and then jump in the face to cast lightning ( that is good because you can cast it once and have the long line shaped in front of you, move around with it ahead and then simply clic with mouse to release, that gives you some time to reposition if other mobs come near the entangled one ). You are near enought to fire a volley of missiles, and if you took the dps bonus damage on at wills at short distance feat i shoud be enought to erase the guy. In almost good equip you should by now have 65% of your life left, depending on your companion, so you jump againaway from the dinamic duo of legion devils that are upon you, Chill strike on both whi should be near and entangle the non chilled, missile on the chilled who now comes for you as you continue to missile. The second devil should be free to take your conduit now and a good pair of missiles that ends the show. You should be at 40% by now.
If you get a healer companion you should be at 75% at the end. So as far as his healing on you is finished you unsummon him and resummon, he see you hurt and heals you again. No potion used.
Remember that dodge is nice but sometimes all you need is to move a little bit on the sides of the mobs when he is not moving to damage ( you know, the "I rise my big flaming sword to cheese you" animation )and continue moving while he is in animation. If you do it correctly you should be on his side when the animation stops to swing and you can stop to shoot one at will. It seems a bit messy but it's easier to do than to write about. It is also good to learn what mobs do in order to understand who you have to prioritize in your kills; my good rule is little first from far, summoners and bigger next, medium in the middle and biggest for the last.
And in the end i have to say a thing about dmg and control: you freeze, stun, push and pull, but damage must still be done, because mobs don't die of boredom. So fell free to freeze, stun, push and pull but remember to do damage or in the long run ( and probably also in the short one ) you will die miserably.
( ps. sorry for my english, is not my mother language )
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degraafinationMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited May 2013
I'll admit Helm's Hold was one of my most challenging areas for a Control Wizard, but it is doable. Keep in my I have all standard gear, no enchants, and I don't buy healing potions. The challenge for the area is that the mobs keep coming. So, I had to get creative.
1. My Encounter: Tab, Chill Strike, then Shield, Conduit of Ice and Entangling Force. Note that three of those are AOE. My passives were Evocation (+15% AoE), and Orb of whatever (to make my E Force longer).
2. Learn the art of dodging. My encouragement is to primarily play PVP for a couple days in a row. Believe me, you'll get a hang of it.
3. Learn to run in areas that don't aggro. I found a few places where I could run without getting the attention of devils. They exist.
Mainly, though, I've found that just playing your class with skill makes a world of different. I started (and dropped) four Control Wizards until I made one that is extremely effective PVP and PVE. Learning your class takes time and work.
In Helmshold - in the main street - the one adjacent to the Dirty Dwarf Tavern - you cant avoid the "patrols". Theyr everywhere. Easily ten separate encounters all within view of eachother - some of them wandering around. On a narrow corridor. When one attacks, the neighboring encounters come to join in on the attack too. If you use a daily to get rid of them. Many many more show up immediately to attack.
If you get caught in multiple patrols and spawns in that area as pretty much any class it will be difficult.
Heh, I know what to tell you. You confirm the analysis of this thread: the Striker Wizard is a valid design, the Controller Wizard is an invalid design.
To respond. I have in no way built a striker wizard. Ice knife is CC chill strike is CC. Only pure dps spell I have is sudden storm. That is to stomp weak enemies out as I stun/control the big guys and spam MM into them. If I build striker then I want to do as much dps as a rogue.
This is a beta. I am determined to explore "control" spells to the bitter end, no matter how poorly designed they are.
I am going to say it again. When the "Control" Wizard gets surrounded by multiple high-damage attackers and dies, it is intollerable. It is unfun. I would not play the Neverwinter if it kept on happening. Fix it.
As I said earlier. This is a beta.
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kerlaaMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Guardian UsersPosts: 0Arc User
edited May 2013
I think it all is based on your skill layout. I am now lvl 46 and have only died twice (was running my cat campain at the time for extra nuking), I usually have no problem when I run with my cleric pet.
I am intentionally avoiding damage spells. My only concession is Chill Strike because I am under the impression it will kill multiple minions, like imps.
If these spells that I am choosing because of their control effects suck, then fix these spells so they dont suck.
Try not aggroing 3 groups of adds. You clearly don't know how to play your class. It is intended for mages to be as squishy as they are because they are overpowered in other aspects such as CC and damage.
By the way, at the campfire, why isnt the Wound-Heal countdown working. Sometimes it reaches zero, two or three times before the wound actually heals.
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xiolinMember, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 12Arc User
edited May 2013
Currently at level 46 and i've yet to die on solo content (the only times i died was in 35+ dungeons/skirmish). And that was maybe 4-5 times and final boss.
With the AoE's and the dodge, i find it quite easy to navigate through all the mobs and kill them. Heck, i sometimes tend to lure more just for the fun of it (mind you, i still take a beating but don't die). Having a cleric companion is awesome as well since you save a lot on pots. I've never bought any pots yet and I got like 120+ cause I hardly have to use those when soloing content.
Xilly The Silly Dwarf of Eyrda :P
Waiting for a cool sig T.T
By the way, the Manatarms is pulling in neighboring aggro (as Voodoo earlier in this thread wondered). But I like the Manatarms. Please, Neverwinter designers, rewrite the code for the Manatarms so he doesnt draw the attention of neighboring aggro, unless the player attacks that aggro first.
Anashim, why don't you just give up if the game is too hard for you. You seem to be the only CW who is dying constantly. I rarely die doing anything solo. Constantly copying and pasting the same thing over and over isn't going to make you seem any better. Don't pull more than you can handle, it's simple. Your main mistake is using Ice Storm, it's a terrible spell
To the Neverwinter designers, developers, and computer coders. If the spells that I am choosing suck, please fix these spells so they no longer suck, and no longer cause an unfun experience of the Neverwinter game.
Im gonna say it again. The Control Wizard getting surrounded by multiple high-damage attackers and dying (in this case, eleven), is unfun. If this kept on happening, I would not play the Neverwinter game.
Then don't get surrounded. Don't pull more than you can handle. Don't be bad. Don't push enemies back into other enemies, I somehow managed to get 4 Devils and 2 Magus on me and I lived, it's called playing smart. You should try it. Stop crying to the developers because you are terrible at picking abilities. Not all spells are going to be as useful as others in certain situations.
Im in a crypt. There is nowhere to teleport. And even when I do, I simply teleport into the range of yet another separate aggro. Then theres yet another set of aggro adding to the excessive aggro that I am already dealing with. To avoid having 20 or 30 attackers surrounding the Control Wizard (which happens), I am staying put and trying to deal with the excessive aggro that is in this unavoidable location.
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lengi9Member, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 1Arc User
edited May 2013
I was loving cw until i got to lvl 35+, I hope cryptic gives us a retraining token when they release the other Paragon paths, because the path we currently have is a joke. You lose all Control in Control Wizard, at least the electric attacks could give a 1sec stun or something like it but no, not even the damage is higher, you have more feats and passives to boost your ice attacks than anything else, anyone can have more output damage with ice than any electric attack. So I think the Spellstorm mage Path isn't doing anything.
btw: I still use my powers from lvl 30 and below so I can have control and decent amount of damage before they get me.
Ice storm is a big mistake, it scatter mobs making it hard for group to dps them down quickly
Use Arcane Singularity to gather mobs, then all mob in one place, easier to control, CC them for longer due to pull period and lift period, and easier to AoE to dps them down fast.
For single targets, use Ice Knife.
also Shield is great for survivabilty as it require no maintaince, it regens on its own.
so, something to add on this from my own experience...
im playing this game for 2 days and im now lvl 39 (so ive left helms hold) and im rarely dying.
im using sudden storm (spell mastery), orb of imposition, evocation, chill strike, conduit of ice, entangling force, magic missile and ray of frost. As dailies i use ice storm and opressive force. in instances sometimes i change sudden storm to icy terain (and maybe change spell mastery to chill strike)
i personally see my job (the job of a "control" wizard) in controlling (cc'ing, kiting) up to 2 high priority targets while staying alive and dealing damage while they are contolled.
its a small step away from your point of view, but i believe the intent is the same: control enemies (until either they or you are dead).
but maybe this is all wrong, maybe it all depends on your definition of "controlling": yours seems to be like "i want to stun everything, so they cant do anything", mine is like "i want the enemy to do what I want him to do". see the difference? most of the time, they give in the same result (mob is cc'ed), but in mine i have also included kiting (and maybe even aggroing) as types of control (im controlling them insofar as they dont try to hit anybody else)
lts look at those definitions from a balance-oriented type of view:
yours: unable to solo ("hey, everything is stunned! lets kill them! ... oh wait, i cant "), but overpowered in groups ("who needs healer if everything is stunned? or tanks? lets duo run everything as controller + dps")
mine: able to solo ("big bad buddy is cc'ed, kite and kill the small fry, cc big bad buddy again, kill him"), but also able to perform well in groups (trading dmg from soloing for more control-skills)
[in both cases im assuming the player uses his blink well]
your or my point of view on controlling might not work in every game that good, but this isnt every game, this is neverwinter. so, why does my "build" work so well and yours doesnt (based on your posts)? it depends, but mostly mine uses a more realistical approach for soloing (you need some dmg to be able to do anything), while kinda "abusing" 2 points of the game: blinks and (until now) more than enough points to spend on skills... blinks because if your blink at the right moment, you can easily avoid tons of damage, or you could for example blink over a gap, making some distance betwenn you and your followers because they would have to find a way around this gap. and the skill points? well because i get so many of them, i am able to spend them in multiple skills so i can switch between them as i want without losing much.
if you want an example from my experience ingame, just before i came on the forum i had my first run through "idris". (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!) i was in a group of three, two tricksters and me. it was my first time in that instance, so i didnt really know what to expect, but we tried it nonetheless. ofc we all burned through healing potions like theres no tomorrow because we had no healer with us, but everything went really smooth until we came to the last boss: regent idris himself ^^
first try: we tried to do it like the bosses before: cc and kill adds, hit boss, if more adds spawn kill them first. didnt work out that well, mostly because i and one trickster got caught multiple times in the silence of the boss and we died.
second try: same as before, we did a littlie bit more damage to the boss, but same result (we dead, boss alive). i noticed something regarding the adds (2 hulks): they seemed to respawn after a really short delay after they were killed. so, maybe, if we dont kill them first... i persuaded my group to try and let me kite the adds while they damaged the boss (and ofc kept an eye on the boss aoe).
so third try: we go in, adds spawn. small fry is killed really fast (just some skelleton archers nearby), 1 hulk is aggro on me, second hulk wants hit hit one of my comrades. i use entangling force to cc the hulk following me (so he doesnt hit me), then chill strike on the hulk following the trickster (so he stops following him). after that i do some dmg (magic missile, conduit of ice) on the second hulk so he gets aggro on me. now that theyre following me, i run around in circles, trying to avoid hits from the hulks and from the boss' aoes. every then in a while i stun both hulks with entangling force and chill strike, getting me some breathing room in which i try to do a little bit of dmg on the boss until the hulks are following me again. ive done this until the end of the boss fight. at some point one of the rogues died, but i could revive him in time while the hulks were cc'ed. in the end, the boss was killed. yay ^^
but why am i telling you all this? well, i think its a really good example of how a control wizard should be played IN A GROUP. this only worked because we were in a group and worked together, using each others strengths (trickster: good single target dmg, can avoid aoe, control wizard: controlling multiple mobs, good at kiting). could it have worked another way round (for example, a rogue kited and i do boss dps)? maybe, but not as good (and it was already close).
but when you are SOLO, you cant pull of some teamwork like this. you need to do damage mitigation (cc, kiting, shield, etc) AND DPS all by yourself.
and this is something you refuse to accept. you try to cc everything and perfect this (damage mitigation), but you are refusing to do dmg by yourself (no DPS). this is like a cleric healing herself constantly (damage mitigation), but not hitting enemies (no DPS).
ofc one wouldnt want clerics in a party to deal damage instead of healing, but when you are soloing you dont have any other choice to either deal damage or die (or standing there forever in case of cleric)
Comments
Yeah. Oppresive Force sucks.. but for me AS is a must - definitely for dungeons; even your group members usually love it
When using the tank he will attack and usually hold is own against the targets you attack. So chill strike the smaller stuff finishing them off with some MM then attack a bigger mob so the tank will go grab him, then kite and CC the other you want to kill. Essentially you can lock down two elite type mobs while using the tank companion soloing.
On bosses usually the tank will make fights trivial if he gets enough initial aggro.
The other thing you could do is spend money on the healing stones from the zen store. They allow you to heal to full using up the charges be that 50 or 200. Save your pots from previous tiers as they can be used to heal up when out of combat, since there's no cooldown then.
I have played all 5 classes, and by FAR the CW is the EASIEST one to level. You're either doing something wrong, or using the wrong powers. And that's ok, it's a learning experience.
First of all, I found that the man-at-arms is a great companion to level a CW. I think it is a better choice than the cleric. Hec it is even better than my dire wolf. Later on you can save up to buy a cat for group content.
Second, the Powers set up. This is how I leveled my CW and it was a breeze.
- Chill Strike on Mastery. I cant count how many times Chill Strike just one shotted an entire group.
- Entangling Force, Conduit of Ice and Shield in the remaining slots. Shield makes things very easy in the beginning. Not only does it serve as damage mitigation, but also as a aoe damage/push. It will buy you a few seconds for other Powers to be available again.
- Once you get Steal Time, you can switch out Shield. By that time, you would have perfected your dodge, and don't really need the shield anymore.
- Arcane Singularity is a MUST have for solo AND group content. It gathers all the mobs so that you and/or you group can have an AOE fest. It is AWESOME. It is by far the BEST PvE daily for CW. Then slot Icy Knife for when you just need a good burst on a tough mob or for bosses.
- At-wills: Magic Missile and Ray of Frost. Any other At-will is complete garbage.
- Take out the squishy mobs quickly, then deal with the big guys.
- Do not use Potions when the fight is over. Instead use a portable altar, eventhough it is slow healing. If you are running with others, remember that portable altars stack. So 3-4 people throwing down an altar is like have a regular camp fire.
- Upgrade your Orb before anything else. It's the biggest damage boost upgrade.
Hope that helps.
Icy Terrain is a very weak spell. Switch it out with something better, like Shield.
Also, practice using the teleport at the right time, like just before the Legion Devils and the largest devils at Helms Hold strike you with their sword.
Wearing more equipment with defense and deflection can also help you.
Well what did you expect to leave the targets contorlled indefinitely and just walk away? of course you're gonna have to do dmg to kill them!! and you cant expect to leave them frozen for minutes, that would be way OP. So either accept that your build is viable for parties only, or accept that your build(and concept) is flawed
And I repeat: WIZARDS ARE SQUISHY BY NATURE! you sound surprised to see that! (even though again, like I said before, this is the least squishy wizard I've ever seen in a game). It's like being surprised the tank can take a lot of dmg or that the cleric can heal.....
If you get a healer companion you should be at 75% at the end. So as far as his healing on you is finished you unsummon him and resummon, he see you hurt and heals you again. No potion used.
Remember that dodge is nice but sometimes all you need is to move a little bit on the sides of the mobs when he is not moving to damage ( you know, the "I rise my big flaming sword to cheese you" animation )and continue moving while he is in animation. If you do it correctly you should be on his side when the animation stops to swing and you can stop to shoot one at will. It seems a bit messy but it's easier to do than to write about. It is also good to learn what mobs do in order to understand who you have to prioritize in your kills; my good rule is little first from far, summoners and bigger next, medium in the middle and biggest for the last.
And in the end i have to say a thing about dmg and control: you freeze, stun, push and pull, but damage must still be done, because mobs don't die of boredom. So fell free to freeze, stun, push and pull but remember to do damage or in the long run ( and probably also in the short one ) you will die miserably.
( ps. sorry for my english, is not my mother language )
1. My Encounter: Tab, Chill Strike, then Shield, Conduit of Ice and Entangling Force. Note that three of those are AOE. My passives were Evocation (+15% AoE), and Orb of whatever (to make my E Force longer).
2. Learn the art of dodging. My encouragement is to primarily play PVP for a couple days in a row. Believe me, you'll get a hang of it.
3. Learn to run in areas that don't aggro. I found a few places where I could run without getting the attention of devils. They exist.
Mainly, though, I've found that just playing your class with skill makes a world of different. I started (and dropped) four Control Wizards until I made one that is extremely effective PVP and PVE. Learning your class takes time and work.
Hang in there.
Join Essence of Aggression: PVP-ing Hard Since Beta!
I am level 50 and am still using Repel in my Tab slot. It has saved me numerous times. I also use Steal Time and Shield.
...and I also made sure to have plenty of movement speed for help in dodging the red areas.
If you get caught in multiple patrols and spawns in that area as pretty much any class it will be difficult.
To respond. I have in no way built a striker wizard. Ice knife is CC chill strike is CC. Only pure dps spell I have is sudden storm. That is to stomp weak enemies out as I stun/control the big guys and spam MM into them. If I build striker then I want to do as much dps as a rogue.
There are either well designed spells or poorly designed spells.
For poorly-designed spells, the game designers need to rewrite it so it isnt a waste of time that causes a poor experience in the game.
I am going to say it again. When the "Control" Wizard gets surrounded by multiple high-damage attackers and dies, it is intollerable. It is unfun. I would not play the Neverwinter if it kept on happening. Fix it.
As I said earlier. This is a beta.
If these spells that I am choosing because of their control effects suck, then fix these spells so they dont suck.
With the AoE's and the dodge, i find it quite easy to navigate through all the mobs and kill them. Heck, i sometimes tend to lure more just for the fun of it (mind you, i still take a beating but don't die). Having a cleric companion is awesome as well since you save a lot on pots. I've never bought any pots yet and I got like 120+ cause I hardly have to use those when soloing content.
Waiting for a cool sig T.T
Then don't get surrounded. Don't pull more than you can handle. Don't be bad. Don't push enemies back into other enemies, I somehow managed to get 4 Devils and 2 Magus on me and I lived, it's called playing smart. You should try it. Stop crying to the developers because you are terrible at picking abilities. Not all spells are going to be as useful as others in certain situations.
btw: I still use my powers from lvl 30 and below so I can have control and decent amount of damage before they get me.
If you create abilities that are terrible. That dont work properly. That are invalid design. Fix them.
Use Arcane Singularity to gather mobs, then all mob in one place, easier to control, CC them for longer due to pull period and lift period, and easier to AoE to dps them down fast.
For single targets, use Ice Knife.
also Shield is great for survivabilty as it require no maintaince, it regens on its own.
the control spell are amazing, you just don't use them
im playing this game for 2 days and im now lvl 39 (so ive left helms hold) and im rarely dying.
im using sudden storm (spell mastery), orb of imposition, evocation, chill strike, conduit of ice, entangling force, magic missile and ray of frost. As dailies i use ice storm and opressive force. in instances sometimes i change sudden storm to icy terain (and maybe change spell mastery to chill strike)
i personally see my job (the job of a "control" wizard) in controlling (cc'ing, kiting) up to 2 high priority targets while staying alive and dealing damage while they are contolled.
its a small step away from your point of view, but i believe the intent is the same: control enemies (until either they or you are dead).
but maybe this is all wrong, maybe it all depends on your definition of "controlling": yours seems to be like "i want to stun everything, so they cant do anything", mine is like "i want the enemy to do what I want him to do". see the difference? most of the time, they give in the same result (mob is cc'ed), but in mine i have also included kiting (and maybe even aggroing) as types of control (im controlling them insofar as they dont try to hit anybody else)
lts look at those definitions from a balance-oriented type of view:
yours: unable to solo ("hey, everything is stunned! lets kill them! ... oh wait, i cant
mine: able to solo ("big bad buddy is cc'ed, kite and kill the small fry, cc big bad buddy again, kill him"), but also able to perform well in groups (trading dmg from soloing for more control-skills)
[in both cases im assuming the player uses his blink well]
your or my point of view on controlling might not work in every game that good, but this isnt every game, this is neverwinter. so, why does my "build" work so well and yours doesnt (based on your posts)? it depends, but mostly mine uses a more realistical approach for soloing (you need some dmg to be able to do anything), while kinda "abusing" 2 points of the game: blinks and (until now) more than enough points to spend on skills... blinks because if your blink at the right moment, you can easily avoid tons of damage, or you could for example blink over a gap, making some distance betwenn you and your followers because they would have to find a way around this gap. and the skill points? well because i get so many of them, i am able to spend them in multiple skills so i can switch between them as i want without losing much.
if you want an example from my experience ingame, just before i came on the forum i had my first run through "idris". (MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!!!) i was in a group of three, two tricksters and me. it was my first time in that instance, so i didnt really know what to expect, but we tried it nonetheless. ofc we all burned through healing potions like theres no tomorrow because we had no healer with us, but everything went really smooth until we came to the last boss: regent idris himself ^^
first try: we tried to do it like the bosses before: cc and kill adds, hit boss, if more adds spawn kill them first. didnt work out that well, mostly because i and one trickster got caught multiple times in the silence of the boss and we died.
second try: same as before, we did a littlie bit more damage to the boss, but same result (we dead, boss alive). i noticed something regarding the adds (2 hulks): they seemed to respawn after a really short delay after they were killed. so, maybe, if we dont kill them first... i persuaded my group to try and let me kite the adds while they damaged the boss (and ofc kept an eye on the boss aoe).
so third try: we go in, adds spawn. small fry is killed really fast (just some skelleton archers nearby), 1 hulk is aggro on me, second hulk wants hit hit one of my comrades. i use entangling force to cc the hulk following me (so he doesnt hit me), then chill strike on the hulk following the trickster (so he stops following him). after that i do some dmg (magic missile, conduit of ice) on the second hulk so he gets aggro on me. now that theyre following me, i run around in circles, trying to avoid hits from the hulks and from the boss' aoes. every then in a while i stun both hulks with entangling force and chill strike, getting me some breathing room in which i try to do a little bit of dmg on the boss until the hulks are following me again. ive done this until the end of the boss fight. at some point one of the rogues died, but i could revive him in time while the hulks were cc'ed. in the end, the boss was killed. yay ^^
but why am i telling you all this? well, i think its a really good example of how a control wizard should be played IN A GROUP. this only worked because we were in a group and worked together, using each others strengths (trickster: good single target dmg, can avoid aoe, control wizard: controlling multiple mobs, good at kiting). could it have worked another way round (for example, a rogue kited and i do boss dps)? maybe, but not as good (and it was already close).
but when you are SOLO, you cant pull of some teamwork like this. you need to do damage mitigation (cc, kiting, shield, etc) AND DPS all by yourself.
and this is something you refuse to accept. you try to cc everything and perfect this (damage mitigation), but you are refusing to do dmg by yourself (no DPS). this is like a cleric healing herself constantly (damage mitigation), but not hitting enemies (no DPS).
ofc one wouldnt want clerics in a party to deal damage instead of healing, but when you are soloing you dont have any other choice to either deal damage or die (or standing there forever in case of cleric)