I'm guessing you mostly PvE. This will be occasionally useful in PvE. Depending on the strength of the "shields", it may be very welcome in PvP.
Agreed. This makes madness less fun for me to play. I feel like I can spare the force to toss out extra shields or off-heal if needed. I think the idea of having Wrath reduce the cost of the next spell is an excellent one.
This was a normalization across the game so I don't think we should expect different treatment. As far as Overload, I prefer the new version. Even if I have to aim it, the greater knock back is great for pushing people around in PvP and occasionally in PvE.
I've played around on the PTS for a handful of minutes, but I seem to be showing a +250 DPS increase in Lightning. Look forward to giving it a bit more attention...