Crosmando: After reading the full update, the spell list is quite disappointing, mostly due to all spells being combat spells. The update even makes clear that spells are invented in the libraries and studies of Wizards, and more spells are invented every year, yet apparently every spell they invent is for the purpose of killing and maiming people. Not that I don't think magic if it was real would be used for war quite a bit, but it's such a boot to the face of verisimilitude when EVERY spell is made for combat. Apparently no one in the PoE world ever thought to invent a magic spell which could improve society or help people. D&D for example always had utility skills which could be used in non-combat scenarios, from the simple ones like making a light to see in a pitch black dark dungeon. Even something like a "Nature's Growth" spell which makes seeds and plants grow in an area would be good for a Druid, for example your party finds a farm where the recent crops have failed and the local people are starving, you can use that spell to make the crops grow so they don't all die.
Then again, same goes for pretty much everything about this project, there's a psychic class in this game called a Cypher, but ALL the spells are combat spells, I thought that the class would be perfect for a "Mind Reading" spell, whereby you can use it say once a day, you use it in dialogue and it gives you a hint (or more) depending on how talented you are, of what the NPC is thinking, so you could tell if they're lying for example.
Other stuff like: Your party is in a dungeon and comes to a gigantic chasm where a bridge has been broken, you can either take the long way round through a particularly dangerous part of the dungeon, or you can use Levitate to take your party from one side to the other.
It's disappointing, because I thought this game might take more creative influence from tabletop RPGs. I wouldn't be surprised if the game ends up even more combat-centric than Icewind Dale.
From the update: "There are many more wizard and druid spells where these came from. They all add up to give both classes a wide variety of abilities to play with." Maybe there are non-combat spells? I fundamentally agree with you, but we gotta consider this is pretty much an Inifinity Engine tribute game, and those were very, very combat-oriented, so I guess it's reasonable to expect most people want a dungeon-crawler where combat is everything. For those other scenarios you describe, it would seem that the new Torment would be a better fit.