*raises thread from the dead*

Apologies for the thread necromancy but I was skimming through the forums in preparation for our Dresden game restarting this weekend and wanted to see what peoples views were on this.

Personally I think having a good selection of rotes is pretty essential.  I cannot undervalue the benefit of not having your casting roll have to reach your discipline success.  Given the average 0 benefit from the Fate dice and the limited number of Fate points most Wizards will have to spread around (leaving aside compels) this is a major benefit.  Never having to worry about damage from backlash to make sure your cast goes off and only having to worry about hitting is huge.

I would also really cast doubt on the benefit of casting blocks, at least personal shield type spells.  Do many people actually use these?  They take up your entire action for the turn and only last one turn, an encahted reflexive item does everything they do but better by not taking up your action. 

What are other peoples experiences of using personal shields?  Do you bother, do they make a difference or do they just slow you down?