It seems clunky for me, too. The jury is still out.
My initial thought was that the 20 second timer could be extended or could be removed entirely, but I can't help wondering if a standard conjured/summoned nuke of some sort would work just as well.
I'm going to continue leveling. Maybe there is something yet to experience that will make me get it.
Early access is great for anyone with alt-itis.
~W~
The swarm spell is no good. When you spend 30 mana to charge it up 3 times and release them for zero effect is harsh. Show me any other class that spends that much mana for one spell to have it do no damage. Change it back. Increase the damage and make it single cast if nothing else. Or make it where it either can't miss, or you get refunded the mana if it does.
Way back when they 'revealed' the monk, there was an ability that you "charged" by holding down the key it was mapped to. The casting bar that normally just showed a timer on your screen, in this case showed how much power you were putting into it. You could release any time, from start to full power, and mana cost varied with the power.
I'd enjoy that system for building up your swarm size/power way more than just hitting the key (and waiting out the timer) 3 times.
Sounds like people are asking to make the Summoner a Wizard. If that's what they want, then just play a Wizard.
But on the other hand, the wizard has a similar spell. It's not their FIRST spell; they get it about lvl18 or so.
Personally, I liked it just fine as the first spell or even later. I LOVE the idea of spells being more than just a simple button click.
Continuing to play and level.
Don't think the solution is to make the summoner a wizard, or have a standard nuke, but it is still feeling weird to click three times, then a fourth time to release.
Again, thinking the issue might be the length of time the swarm stays. I, too, LOVE the idea of spells (and abilities) being more than just a button click. It's an interesting dynamic that, like anything, might bear consideration for improvement.
Have been summoning swarms, letting the timer run down to 5 sec or so, then summoning again, which resets the counter to 20, then doing it again ... sometimes meditating in between.
Liking Geddoe's idea about a small mana drain - and that would work with removing the time limit.
Lengthening the time limit might still be a thought.
Overall, I'll say that this style of casting does facilitate our pets being the main source of damage. That's likely the point.
I see summoning classes as a turret generator. What I mean by that is the summoner casts a spell and summons a large monster with slow to no speed (a turret) that punishes enemies for staying in range of its attacks and rewards the summoner for reading the battlefield positioning and summoning the turrets at good locations. That gives the summoner a unique role in combat that is different from the mainstream spellcaster. Perhaps environmental control as well... manipulating the terrain, for example, could be a form of 'summoning' because magic that summons things doesn't always have to create monsters or summon combat allies.
This is just a suggestion of what I think about when I think of gameplay involving a summoning wizard that prefers to avoid using direct spell damage.
"Don't think the solution is to make the summoner a wizard, or have a standard nuke, but it is still feeling weird to click three times, then a fourth time to release. "
Macros, I've made three for, 1,2 and 3 charges. Where spell 1 is the Swarm and spell 2 is the Projectile
Name= Swarm 1
/consider
/use 1
/wait 1.5
/use 2
Name= Swarm 2
/consider
/use 1
/wait 1.5
/use 1
/wait 1.5
/use 2
Name= Swarm 3
/consider
/use 1
/wait 1.5
/use 1
/wait 1.5
/use 1
/wait 1.5
/use 2
Solves the OP's issue with having so many clicks