There are a bunch of classes to play as in Diablo 4 and most of them are what you would expect. There always needs to be a magic-user in these games and just like in any fantasy game, you have certain expectations of such a class. The words "glass cannon" or "DPS" come to mind and in most games this is precisely what this sort of class actually is - someone who deals a fuckton of damage but can't take very many hits in the process and if they do, they are screwed.
I was prepared for this when I started my 2nd toon in D4 and was excited to be doing a ton of damage while perhaps dying a bit in the process.
Keeping in mind that I do NOT claim to be an expert on this or any other game - they are far too complex for me to even try - I feel after playing through the entire campaign as a Necromancer that a sorcerer just feels lame, slow, and extremely underpowered compared to the other 2 classes that I have played as.
I am not the only person that feels this way either, because there are tons of other posts made by people that feel as though the sorcerer is a real slog to play and that you are much less powerful and far more squishy than other classes unless you follow a very specific build and are very fortunate in finding some really seriously rare gear to put on later in the game.
I wouldn't know about endgame abilities of the sorcerer because I never made it that far. I made it to about level 20 before I started to realize that this ISN'T FUN and it is frustrating to play at all.
Let me tell you a little something about Diablo just in a general sense in case you don't know. When you are playing and you are approached by a large swatch of "trash mobs" it is expected that your toon, regardless of what class it is, will slice though them all like a hot knife through butter. That is just the way Diablo is and always has been.
When faced with this many enemies, perhaps even more to the point where it slows down your FPS, there should be zero doubt that you are going to cut them all down like they weren't even there. The only time that this changes is if there are certain "bullet sponge" mobs or elites that are meant to take a bit of strategy. That is just how these games are supposed to work. It DOES work that way for all the classes I have played other than Sorc.
When faced with some of the early level bosses, this is also supposed to be a cakewalk and I will admit, even with the sorcerer, there wasn't any doubt who was going to emerge victorious. The problem was that it took so damn long and necessitated me using all of my potions. This, taking place in the levels 1-10, is not ok.
Also, as a magic user, you obviously are going to be using mana a lot and my sorcerer was constantly running out and the cooldowns on more powerful skills takes way too long. After about the 90th time of being audibly told "that skill is not ready yet" and "I am out of mana" I decided that I didn't want to play this character type anymore.
If you look at the posts about this character type you will see that this isn't just a filthy casual's option (mine) this is a generally held belief among almost everyone that plays. There are a couple of VERY SPECIFIC builds that barely crack the top 20 of what it considered the best builds in the game.
For me, a filthy casual, I don't actually WANT to follow a build. Like i have said many times before, I am not trying to get a masters degree in Diablo, I am trying to have some fun playing a game.
At level 15 you are given an enchantment slot and this for me, was right about the point where I was thinking "ok, the game probably becomes good now" but the enchantment granted me these blue orbs that if I pick them up, they will auto cast some sort of shock that emanates from my toon. It sounds great in theory, but they always drop near whatever you are shooting at from afar, and if you go up there to grab them, you will be subjected to losing half of your HP pool in a single strike.
I really enjoyed playing as a Necromancer and now since I have changed to rogue I am really enjoying that as well. Sorcerer though, can kiss my butt. I honestly didn't enjoy any of it and the character is just sitting in my ranks waiting to be deleted at this point.
There's a video of a guy trying to make the claim that the sorcerer is a fine class but he seems like a fanboi and one thing to notice in this video is that he is doing VERY LOW damage output because he specced all of his skills into defensive. It shouldn't take this long to take down the boss that he is fighting and wouldn't, if he was using any other class.
If you are going to play this game, and I highly recommend that you do, do yourself a favor and play literally any other character choice other than Sorcerer. The fact that they do substantially less damage from a distance than either of the other two classes I have played makes absolutely zero sense and after 8 seasons of the game, I doubt that this is going to be resolved.