At the moment the current best gear (Catacombs) is basically the same across the board, only difference being that non-hitter schools get less damage and maybe 50-100 more hp and 1 or 2 more resist, and the hitter schools get higher crit and damage, which in the end adds up to around a 30-40% damage difference between the lowest damage and the highest damage schools assuming 100% crit.
Normally this wouldn't be so bad, but the fact that block is nonexistent, pierce is rampant on mobs (Every boss has 20%) and outgoing damage is also equally ridiculous, it doesn't leave much room for schools to actually be unique.
The fact is that at endgame, there isn't much tangible difference between an ice wizard with dragoon gear and a storm wizard with dragoon gear except that the storm has much better offensive stats.
Storm and Fire's identity is rooted in their damage, and while that's perfectly reasonable, I don't get why those two schools are the only ones who get to have gear that reflect their school's identity.
Why can't ice easily build up 70% resist while still having decent damage stats? Why can't life have an inherently easy time building up 100+ outgoing in exchange for their low damage? Why doesn't myth have better minions or at least some sort of alternative?
Heck, why is PvP holding back what we can do with our schools when the vast majority of the playerbase doesn't even PvP?
"Isn't much tangible difference between an ice wizard with dragoon gear and a storm wizard with dragoon gear."
Storms can get between 5,000 and 6,000 HP. Some are slightly higher, but most fall into this range. Ice hovers around 10,000 to 11,000 HP. While my storm does higher damage, he can very literally be one-shot from full HP given enemies natural outgoing pierce and damage.
Asking for Ice to be able to build up 70 percent resist and still have good damage is ludicrous. Why play any other school when you have insane health, resist, and damage?
I don't have a max ice, but a close friend of mine does. He doesn't have any dragoon's pieces yet, but he still has 105% damage, 50%+ universal resist, 100%+ pip chance, and 100% accuracy alongside 9,000 HP not to mention around a 50% crit chance with his current setup.
With a more optimized setup ice can reach 100% critical a well as ~140% damage. Also, myth is widely considered one of the "hitting schools" alongside Storm and Fire if I'm not mistaken.
Listen, if you want outgoing healing, you can get that. Heck, my 130 fire has a gear set that allows him 99% outgoing healing as well as ~80% universal resist and my pet isn't that great yet. I didn't want to level a life, so I got Pigsie and the right gear and boom, bootleg life wizard tank that can switch between crazy offensive stats and crazy support stats.
If you want resist, you can get that. I did several solo quests without henchmen on a variety of different schools by purchasing gear from the Bazaar that had specific school resist on it. I can easily reach 70% Storm Resist using just gear I find in the bazaar at around level 50-60+. Using different pets with specific resist talents you can easily reach 100%+ resist of a particular school on any type of wizard you want. If enemies didn't have natural pierce, you could essentially reach immunity and never lose a PvE battle ever again unless you manage to not build an appropriate deck.
The biggest reason I can think of that can answer why schools aren't "unique" is because if you put them in a solo situation, you can run into issues. They want every school to be able to have a valid option when it comes to hitting and soloing. Prioritizing healing over other stats for life and you have very long battles. Same with resist on ice. Same with power-pip chance on balance. What's extra power-pip chance going to do for balance when soloing? I think as it is now, you can get mostly whatever stats you want on whatever school wizard. Just because it isn't on the Dragoon's gear doesn't mean you can't get it elsewhere--take my fire for example.
While some things might need changes, I don't think these are those changes.
