The PDF for the Remaster Core Preview is now available. Seems to mainly include stuff relating to things mentioned in Rage of Elements, including the text of several of the new or renamed spells.
There’s a new rule on focus points that says “The maximum number of Focus Points in your pool is always equal to the number of focus spells you know” which seems very significant, though I’ve seen clarifications elsewhere saying that it’s still gonna be capped at 3. The limit on refocusing to just once is gone, though.
Someone on the Paizo team confirmed the focus pool is still capped at 3.
I hope Thunder Strike is not replacing Shocking Grasp because it is not an attack roll and Magus still need their butter to go with the bread.
Some cantrip got nerfed… The fire one doesn’t add ability mod to the damage anymore. I don’t like this.
I like the Edict/Anathema flavor to replace the old school alignment.
I don’t know how I feel about Wizard… They get a very limited pool of spell to choose from instead of a school of magic (evokation, illusion …) for their bonus spells per day.
Shame for the focus. I don’t think it wouldn’t have been op to have more points basedo on the spells known
Ignition is not a straight nerf from Produce Flame - it now does more damage (and scales faster) when used at melee range
There is a loss of 1.5 damage at range but melee seem buffed you are right. Average 7 damage at lvl 1 instead of 6.5 but ability mod on damage is less random than dices so I think we still lose some damage.
Given that thunder strike seems to be a spell and not a cantrip, I don’t think it’ll replace shocking grasp.
Edit: As for the Wizard, they also explicitly stated that your GM may add spells to that list they deem thematically appropriate, so there’s a lot of wiggleroom.