Infusions & other conditonals need to be supplementary to the skill, not the skill itself (Fireball)

I think one of the things that makes combos/conditionals feel so bad in PoE2 is how much they can define the skill.
Lots of skills now have skill does simple thing but then does cool thing if combo/conditional thing is met.

This just makes the skill without the condition boring/unfun.

A really good example of this is gonna be Fireball. Fireball without fire infusion is now just Firebolt (but more damage).
There's now two identical skills in Firebolt and Fireball?
That's sadly just unfun. And if still you only get Firebal in Act 3, when Firebolt is in the first area, how can I get excited for that?

Combinations and conditionals are a great concept that is fun to explore in PoE2 - but they need to be supplementary to the skill itself. More damage/just number buffs to an already interesting skill. They can't be something that turns a skill from simple to interesting.
They can turn a skill from interesting to a little more interesting, that's cool.

I think the infusions on other skills are pretty great, extra damage or little effects that improve the skill a little.

Fireball needs to be changed to not just be Firebolt without infusion.
Either give it what the fire infusion does by default and fire infusion does something else, or keep it and give it something else.
There are so many things possible with Fireball, make it a salvo, make it spiral out from the player like Vaal Fireball in PoE1, make the aoe get larger as it travels.
Fireball needs to be different from Firebolt.


Combinations and conditionals are cool! But they need to enhance a skill not enable it.




Further ramblings on cold and fire spells:

Fire spells (and cold) have been in a rough spot in 0.1 and 0.2 - the damage from just spell casting isn't there without some unintended interaction with frost wall or snakepit, or shotgunning from 0.1's Fireball.

Then you look at lightning spells/skills - spark just works, use it. Arc just works, use it. Shock gives more damage and doesn't change how the skills works!

I tried to play a Cold spell Chronomancer in 0.2 and just had no damage, there aren't any cold spells that feel good to cast without requiring combination.
The exception is Ice Nova, which felt great with Astral Projection & cascade (2 non-damage supports) - sadly the damage was absolutely awful and took 3-4 casts to kill normals/magic monsters. It would freeze them instantly and then they'd die 3 casts later. The gameplay loop was just spam it on permanently frozen monsters till they die really slowly - not engaging at all.
Other Cold spells aren't usable as your main spell:
Frost Bomb has a cooldown (now a 6s cooldown in 0.3) so cant be a main skill.
Cold Snap requires freeze (which it consumes) or a frostbolt.
Fostbolt doesn't do any damage, so requires Cold Snap.
Comet is the damage spell, but the cast time is so insane you can't use it as your main skill - so its only used as a triggered skill.
So a frost mage has to be frostbolt -> cold snap, over and over - that's it. And because Cold Snap consumes freeze, you never get to freeze enemies. Not very cold mage.

Fire spells have the same thing, with the exception of Ember Fusillade.
Living Bomb - was previously duration, so cast and wait. In 0.3 it now does absolutely nothing until the target takes enough damage from some other skill or the target is already dead?! It's not a skill, its an effect of other skills!
Solar orb - no damage, is a target for Flameblast, duration so cast once and leave it. Not a main skill to cast.
Flame Wall - no damage, is a projectile improver and was just an ignite damage source pre 0.3, is also duration so cast it and leave it, not a main skill.
Flameblast - 15s(?!) CD, requires Solar Orb to be a skill, otherwise its centred on yourself, which you never want as a caster as you get hit while channelling which puts it on CD.
Incinerate - low damage and range and now is uncastable till you've casted enough mana, can't be a main skill.
Fireball - is just Firebolt unless you have fire infusion. Can be a main skill but requires something else conditonal (for each cast!) for it to be interesting.

What is the main skill meant to be for a fire mage? Ember fusillade is all there is.
Cast solar orb and wait 15s to be able to start casting flameblast? Get stunned and have to wait 15s again?
Solar Orb is cast and then wait for its duration.
Incinerate is channelling and now impossible to cast until you've cast other things.
Fireball is just Firebolt unless you have fire infusion.

Everything feels like it requires something else to be a thing.

Skills need to be skills on their own. Not effects you get to use after something else happens.