Spells/abilities you got excited for and they were useless?

For me is the ubiquitous Magic Missile

In BG I, II through Throne of Bhaal it was ultimate weapon of death.

It murder spellcasters by interrupt their spell casting, It inflict a respectable amount of damage as a level 1 spell (There was no upcasting, so any level 9+ mage can launch 5MMs with a level 1 spell) It is also the fastest spells in the game.

Even end game bosses cringe at a Magic Missile swarm--with spell sequencers, a sweet sister (Imonen) and a loving wife (Aerie), you can lay down a massive 40-50 missile barrage before the boss finish his monologue, and the missile them selves cause a "interrupt animation", which give a chance to let your warriors (Like your good bro, Sarveok) to hack the offending boss like a pinata.

So when BG3 started, I eagerly look for another MM madness...they I discover every fucken boss now have 3X to 5X of 2rd Ed HP pool, and MM themselves require upcast for a miserable 1D4.

Edit: The other spell of that is heavily nerfed is Chromatic orb. This is what in previous BG.

This spell causes a 2-ft. diameter sphere to appear in the caster's hand. When thrown, the sphere heads unerringly to its target. The effect the orb has upon the target varies with the level of the caster. Each orb will do damage to the target against which there is no save and an effect against which the target must save vs. Spell with a +6 bonus:

1st Level: 1d4 damage and blinds the target for 1 round.

2nd Level: 1d4 damage and inflicts pain (-1 penalty to Strength, Dexterity, AC, and THAC0) upon the victim.

3rd Level: 1d6 damage and burns the victim for an additional 1d8 damage.

4th Level: 1d6 damage and blinds the target for 1 turn.

5th Level: 1d8 damage and stuns the target for 3 rounds.

6th Level: 1d8 damage and causes weakness (-4 penalty to THAC0) in the victim.

7th Level: 1d10 damage and paralyzes the victim for 2 turns.

10th Level: 1d12 acid damage and turns the victim to stone.

12th Level: 2d8 acid damage and instantly kills the victim.

My waifu (Aerie) killed the literal Prince of Demons with a Chromatic Orb in BGII, and now days it can't even wet the floor.