[Kuritza]

Fire is not THAT weak. Its a very good evocation path, also some of the best items require fire (firebrands (hell yeah), dragon helms, flambeaus/holy scourges, lightless lanterns, fever fetishes, rune smashers, charcoal shields, shields of gleaming gold, several nice arts etc). The only thing it lacks is good summons - but hey, no one is perfect.
And even if fire was as weak as some of us believe, its not a reason to make fire better than astral at countering SCs. At the very least blindness should be Alt 4, as high as Paralyze.
Imho, of course.