Conjure Elemental Did Not Need Errata - Can WotC Maybe Workshop These First?

Quote from MimsySoftpaws >>

I agree, Elementals are not and should not be stationary like a wall spell.  Lots of other Conjurations can move when the caster orders them to, so why not the elemental?

At a quick guess, it can't move because the idea was 'a trap spell that holds people and does damage' and the fact that it is an elemental is more flavoring than anything else.

Yes, other Conjurations can move around, but they don't Restrain people as a general rule. You could just as easily say 'other Conjurations can Restrain an enemy, so why not the celestial?' for Conjure Celestial.

Conjurations are a kind of weird area when you think about them. They typically occupy some kind of space but can be moved through and are usually immune to any and all attacks. Not just swords and bows, but Force, Cold, and anything else that would, in theory, be damaging to them. In both the case of Conjure Celestial and Conjure Elemental the Caster has to be able to see the Target to affect them. Even though the elemental is, theoretically, some kind of being, if the Caster has been Blinded or is around a corner the elemental is unable to attempt to Restrain anyone moving through it.

Please understand, I am not talking about whether the spell as it currently sits is balanced. That is an entirely separate tin of subterranean spaghetti. I am simply talking about the 'logic' of 'why can't the Conjuration do X'.

its a kind of weird spell. 

It has a decent area and last 10 minutes so you'd think its a big obstruction but it can only target 1 creature. 

It does not seem to have a mechanic to stop restraining someone in case a better target comes along.

It is not clear if it stops restraining on death outside the rules logic that hey are no longer creatures and therefore no longer valid targets. And i am not fan of spells that require that kind of rules knowledge in their language. 

Given that blight one level lower does 8d8 and that is it, its not a bad damage spell with a restrain attached. but why have it cover a 16 square area as its target if it only targets one person. why does it even have a 10 minute duration if its not mobile, especially since it can only stop one person so it does not work great as a barrier or obstruction

It falls into this weird zone if you are trying to lock a target down there are better options, if you are trying to do damage there are better options. But I guess it does both reasonably well. So its not bad. But it has a really weird design. like someone was designing the mechanic of a single target decent damage restrain and another person was designing the description or a large elemental that can hit anything in reach and they never spoke to one another, then the spell got put together into one spell.