What was up with the Wizard Al'kabor line of spells?

[Icecometus]

I look to the Mannaburn debacle as a template of what most likely happened to Wizards during the development of the game. Lucy and the football haha. A class defining ability that made Wizards amazingly powerful in concert reduced to a completely useless ability, no middle ground for Wizards. 12 wizards killing raid targets alone: Unacceptable. 1 monk soloing Bristlebane: Awesome.