I'm opening this thread to figure out if my thoughts on the 2024 Wizard are accurate or if I'm just misperceiving things.

1) The cost of utility - Memorize Spell (level 5) is only useful in investigative or sandbox campaigns. In a classic dungeon crawl where you already know you need Fireball and Shield, that feature is basically just 'ribbon' and purely decorative. Moreover the 'Slot Cap': In the 2024 (and 2014) rules, it's or remaines fixed. Whether you have 20 or 30 Intelligence, your high-level slots remain strictly limited. This forces the Wizard to act like a surgeon rather than a relevant player, so as the end of - Save or Die - spells has gutted the Wizard's impact. Spells that used to end encounters briefly have been significantly nerfed or now allow repeated saves every turn. A Wizard can no longer afford to simply "turn off" a boss.

2) Wizard VS Sorcerer - While the Wizard was getting some situational utility, the Sorcerer received raw power: Innate Sorcery: Boosting your Spell Save DC by +1 as a bonus action is a mathematical buff that the Wizard simply doesn't have. Resource Recovery: With the new Sorcery Point rules, the Sorcerer can spam Metamagic much more frequently than before. In short, the Wizard has gone from being a relevant cornerstone to an "Almost Mid-Tier Tactical Planner". If you're looking for immediate impact, numerical dominance in combat and/or control, the Sorcerer wins hands down. The Wizard barely scrapes thanks to its massive spell list, but that requires a level of planning that modern gameplay pacing rarely rewards. 

3) Lack of Real Customization - The removal of things like the good old 3.5e Prestige Classes has eliminated those compensation tools. You can't really specialize to bypass resistances or power up your slots; now, Wizard subclasses offer marginal bonuses that often fail to compete with the Sorcerer’s Metamagic (or other casters), which directly impacts action economy.

4) Weak Identity Mechanics - While other classes received powerful new 'toys' (think of Weapon Masteries for Martials or the Sorcerer’s Innate Sorcery), the Wizard mostly received bookkeeping tweaks. It’s as if the design took for granted that "having a massive spell list" was a sufficient privilege, ignoring the fact that without the tools to make them truly effective (higher DCs, more slots, or Metamagic), quantity doesn’t beat quality.

5) The “Glass Cannon Paradox” without the Cannon: In the 2024 PHB, the Wizard keeps all its historical flaws (low HP, poor AC, heavy reliance on components) but has seen its decisive combat powerhouse snatched away. With the 2024 changes, the Sorcerer has become far more reliable. If a monster has high saving throw bonuses, the Sorcerer uses Innate Sorcery or Metamagic to force a result. The Wizard? They just cross their fingers. If the enemy passes the save, the Wizard has wasted their only high-level slot and their entire turn. Subclasses haven't just been cut in number; they’ve been 'normalized' and feel less impactful. What used to be a unique power now often feels like a minor numerical nudge that doesn't change the flavor of the encounter. This shift toward even more simplification has turned the Wizard into an almost "bureaucratic" class: you spend more time managing your spellbook than actually unleashing true arcane power. This design choice in the 2024 Player’s Handbook has turned the Wizard into more of a tactical support class rather than a battlefield controller. We’ve lost that sense of progression where in the past, in exchange for extreme fragility, you gained real power on field and various situations. The "Glass Cannon" fantasy has been replaced by a poor utility-focused role that feels far less rewarding.

There are a couple of good combos but final result is that the 2024 Wizard doesn't feel like a powerful or useful arcanist, but like a low-level clerk filling out forms (spells), hoping the bureaucrat on duty (the enemy) doesn't roll too high on their saving throw.

I hope I haven't offended anyone with my thoughts (and if I did, it wasn't certainly my intention), but I felt it was interesting to bring this discussion to a constructive level to see what comes out of it.

Thanks, everyone!

I still think the Wizard class is still nerfed.

The Intelligence allows you to remember/recall everything you learn/see/notice/talk, right ??? So if I raise that ability till 20, it means it takes you less effort to FORGET anything, right ??? ( that's one of the reasons Wizards don't have to be envolved in dramatic/destructive situations ... hehehe ). 
So, with the Intelligence at 20 and with the Wisdom at 13 or more, and the Dexterity raised to ( let's say ) 17, why we cannot cast 2 SPELLS that wastes 1 action on the same turn ????

And more important, why the wizards don't earn a Feat like Expertise in Arcana recovery ???

Quote from How_Am_I_Casting >>

I'm opening this thread to figure out if my thoughts on the 2024 Wizard are accurate or if I'm just misperceiving things.

1) The cost of utility - Memorize Spell (level 5) is only useful in investigative or sandbox campaigns. In a classic dungeon crawl where you already know you need Fireball and Shield, that feature is basically just 'ribbon' and purely decorative. Moreover the 'Slot Cap': In the 2024 (and 2014) rules, it's or remaines fixed. Whether you have 20 or 30 Intelligence, your high-level slots remain strictly limited. This forces the Wizard to act like a surgeon rather than a relevant player, so as the end of - Save or Die - spells has gutted the Wizard's impact. Spells that used to end encounters briefly have been significantly nerfed or now allow repeated saves every turn. A Wizard can no longer afford to simply "turn off" a boss.

2) Wizard VS Sorcerer - While the Wizard was getting some situational utility, the Sorcerer received raw power: Innate Sorcery: Boosting your Spell Save DC by +1 as a bonus action is a mathematical buff that the Wizard simply doesn't have. Resource Recovery: With the new Sorcery Point rules, the Sorcerer can spam Metamagic much more frequently than before. In short, the Wizard has gone from being a relevant cornerstone to an "Almost Mid-Tier Tactical Planner". If you're looking for immediate impact, numerical dominance in combat and/or control, the Sorcerer wins hands down. The Wizard barely scrapes thanks to its massive spell list, but that requires a level of planning that modern gameplay pacing rarely rewards. 

3) Lack of Real Customization - The removal of things like the good old 3.5e Prestige Classes has eliminated those compensation tools. You can't really specialize to bypass resistances or power up your slots; now, Wizard subclasses offer marginal bonuses that often fail to compete with the Sorcerer’s Metamagic (or other casters), which directly impacts action economy.

4) Weak Identity Mechanics - While other classes received powerful new 'toys' (think of Weapon Masteries for Martials or the Sorcerer’s Innate Sorcery), the Wizard mostly received bookkeeping tweaks. It’s as if the design took for granted that "having a massive spell list" was a sufficient privilege, ignoring the fact that without the tools to make them truly effective (higher DCs, more slots, or Metamagic), quantity doesn’t beat quality.

5) The “Glass Cannon Paradox” without the Cannon: In the 2024 PHB, the Wizard keeps all its historical flaws (low HP, poor AC, heavy reliance on components) but has seen its decisive combat powerhouse snatched away. With the 2024 changes, the Sorcerer has become far more reliable. If a monster has high saving throw bonuses, the Sorcerer uses Innate Sorcery or Metamagic to force a result. The Wizard? They just cross their fingers. If the enemy passes the save, the Wizard has wasted their only high-level slot and their entire turn. Subclasses haven't just been cut in number; they’ve been 'normalized' and feel less impactful. What used to be a unique power now often feels like a minor numerical nudge that doesn't change the flavor of the encounter. This shift toward even more simplification has turned the Wizard into an almost "bureaucratic" class: you spend more time managing your spellbook than actually unleashing true arcane power. This design choice in the 2024 Player’s Handbook has turned the Wizard into more of a tactical support class rather than a battlefield controller. We’ve lost that sense of progression where in the past, in exchange for extreme fragility, you gained real power on field and various situations. The "Glass Cannon" fantasy has been replaced by a poor utility-focused role that feels far less rewarding.

There are a couple of good combos but final result is that the 2024 Wizard doesn't feel like a powerful or useful arcanist, but like a low-level clerk filling out forms (spells), hoping the bureaucrat on duty (the enemy) doesn't roll too high on their saving throw.

I hope I haven't offended anyone with my thoughts (and if I did, it wasn't certainly my intention), but I felt it was interesting to bring this discussion to a constructive level to see what comes out of it.

Thanks, everyone!

 So I’m on the fence. I hate the nerds to paladins and wizards and rogues in 24 so we stuck with 14 but wizards at the end of the day are still full spellcasters and will still make martial characters cry when they have stupid ac and good damage with utility etc. Their high level spells are still disgusting Wish meteor swarm etc and silvery barbs exists to just nope a saving throw so they’re not useless

If we are just talking game balance at worst they are the 2nd maybe 3rd best class in the game. So I am not getting the complaints. Not clear and away the best anymore isn't a problem. Maybe the sorcerer and or bard is better, but that is pretty iffy imo. Clerics are worse, druids are worse, fighters, barbarians, monks are worse, paladins are worse, rangers, rogues and warlocks are worse by a decent margin. 

Wizards are by far the most versatile spellcaster. Ritual Adept is a very useful feature, and Arcane Recovery is also great to have. At high levels, what a Wizard can do with downtime is ridiculous. They can learn more spells than any other class, and with some downtime can put together some crazy shenanigans. Simulacrum coupled with double [spells]Contingency[spells]-triggered spell combination can be bonkers strong. Yes, Bard can get all those spells too, but they will never have nearly as many spells available to them, so while they may be able to duplicate a combo or two, the Wizard can have tons of combos available to them that they can switch out with the cost of a good night's rest.

Complaining about the wizard class getting nerfed is crazy. Also, isn't the sorcerer class meant to be focused on damage