I know foci can bypass the pyramid- I left that out in my first post... for really, no readily apparent reason. It is a plus, but I don't think enough of one- it's one of the reasons why I made foci 3:2 vs spec, instead of 2:1.
And I suppose that in the hands of a focused practitioner who only wants to ever have 1 element that they work with, they'd become necessary in a hurry, per the example earlier... but in the hands of anyone else, anyone with more than one element... they still seem a waste, because keeping the pyramid isn't hard at all.
My game started fully submerged, and they've since earned a refresh. My mage primarily uses spirit and air, and has yet to move beyond her initial free foci... all her refinement so far has gone into specialization.
Conviction 5/Discipline 4, progressed as follows:
Spirit/Earth/Fire Elements (Evocation)
1 Spirit Power (from Evocation)
1 Spirit Power, 1 Air Power (added Air, through 1st level of refinement, still at character creation)
2 Spirit Power, 1 Spirit Control, 1 Air Power (2nd level of refinement, from a spare refresh she saved at character creation).
She recently decided she needed to improve her control a lot- she's been kinda sloppy with her evocation (and duh, with the original build)... so she increased her discipline to 5, and used another refresh on refinement (earned in play a couple sessions before this point), when she asked me why she'd ever bother with foci. Given the givens, she could use her refinement to add to her spirit offensive control and her air defensive control... OR she could just gain a generic point of control in each, and maintain more versatility, and less dependence on carried items. I couldn't argue.
2 Spirit Power, 2 Spirit Control, 1 Air Power, 1 Air Control.
Further, she said, her next point would be wasted if she took foci... because to increase her effectiveness with both forms of magic, she could spend 2 refinement to get the following:
4 Spirit Power, 3 Spirit Control, 2 Air Power, 1 Air Control
All she'd have to do is wait until she had 2 refresh to spend at once- something she has no problem with. Still couldn't argue.
After that, she said anything more, and she'd want to pick up water magic anyway, just to round the character's options out, and a +1 bonus on that would let her take her pyramid even further.
(For that matter, if she didn't feel like waiting to spend her refresh, she could do this first, and then be able to spend as she went without upsetting the pyramid, to the same final result).
She's planned her wizard out for the next 3 or 4 refresh points past fully submerged (and in 4 months of gaming spanning about 3 years in-game, my players have only earned 1, though they're soon to earn a 2nd)... and without ever increasing her foci past the initial free ones.
Furthermore, one of my other players built a wizard for the hell of it, and a possible cameo role... and did the same thing.
A friend of mine in a different gaming group offered me a seat at his table, for a game he's planning on starting... and the group currently lacks any casters at all... I'm leaning towards playing an evocator with sponsored magic (unseelie), and even I find I'm not interested in foci very much at all. That GM admits to the same concern.
Now... mind, if you go channeling instead of evocation- they're not only necessary, but required by the rules (you can't take spec at all)... but for anyone with evocation.... foci seem like they need a little more help if I've got 4 people (myself included) all asked the same question: "Why would I ever bother?"
[Edit:] I'll grant you, flavor is more important than build- form follow function et al... but that doesn't mean we can't have the builds balanced too. The cons on foci just seem to outweigh the pros, to me... and I'm the sort to try to investigate that more. Sure, my suggestion may be unnecessary in the light of following your character build, but does anyone think it's unreasonable, or has anyone addressed anything similar?
I love Dresden, don't get me wrong- but I've yet to find a table-top system that makes everyone at the table perfectly happy with it in all regards, and couldn't benefit from the occasional house rule. This is all I'm suggesting.... certainly in my game, there's something afoot with so many players who don't see the point of foci relative to what else you can purchase with refinement.