Hey guys so ive just tested the new critical chance and the new ice storm version today.
Heres what i got in around 3 wastes of mana bar:

Critical chance is now a mith, ive hit groups of 10 enemies and i could barely hit 1 with a critical (my critical chance is 9), so now im gonna have to think of something else as critical spells are nothing but a waste of Action Points...
I can confirm that this critical chance affects not only firewall but all aoe spells like fireball, chain lightning etc...

The New Icestorm spell might give u the illusion that it can compete with firewall but the truth is it simply cant, this is a spell which cannot be extended so 30seconds is all u get, the damage is just horrible compared to firewall:

Firewall at level 20 (22-32(spell damage without any amplification))
Ice Storm at level 20 (5-30(spell damage without any amplification))

In addition to that, bludgeoning damage aspect of the spell is a max of 18dmg without amplification which is very safe to say: No way im gonna take that spell as a Sorcerer!

This spell is utterly useless vs undeads, compared to firewall especially because firewall deals even more dmg vs them than normal.

The only reason i would take this spell would be if i was very low level as the damage is not increasing according to level, which again nobody really cares for low end spells... on the contrary spellcasters need to be more efficient at high level content not low level.

So this is it, the update 8 was practically a major nerf to spellcasters as the critical chance is a horrible system now and the icestorm which we all hoped to be something good ended up beying disapointing and useless.