1.5 (on my character):
Wall of elements does 116 damage every second for 3.5 seconds
Pulsar does 252 damage and removes 10% of enemy's health.
1.6 (on my character):
Wall of elements does 230 damage every half second for 8.5 seconds (I think...I took the blockade morph for reasons below...it lasts 6.5 seconds).
Pulsar does 2031 damage and put a health debuff on the enemy.
In 1.5, I can cast wall of elements and in 2 seconds, almost do as much damage as pulsar.
In 1.6, I can cast wall of elements and it now takes 4 and a half seconds to get the same amount of damage.
In 1.5, I have the option of placing down multiple walls for a legitimate option for AoE vs multiple opponents. note: the damage to these wall do NOT stack. If you don't believe me, spam the walls against a immobile strangler and see for yourself.
In 1.6, according to the patch notes, you can only have one wall down at a given time. So now the spell is a (very) low damage DoT that enemies can easily move out of that if you do recast is a waste of magicka. Now, the only option (which it still kind of is in 1.5) is pulsar - pulsar - pulsar - pulsar...which nobody likes.
Edit: I'm not sure what this means: "The damage dealt by Wall of Elements will now stack correctly with other instances of Wall of Elements cast by other player characters that affect the same target."
If this means that my wall of elements will do zero damage if another player casts wall of elements, that is completely inconsistent with every skill in the game and inconsistent with the non-stacking issue they address with other skills such as daedric curse and backlash.
Edited by Joy_Division on 2 February 2015 21:07