Problems with wisps and how to fix them

The current design for wisps is problematic for a number of reasons, but the core concept isn't unsalvageable. They're basically tormented spirits re-imagined for PoE2, but for some reason they have a lot of limitations that make them not worth investing into.

Wisps are slow and have limited range

This is problematic because you have to stay within range of them or risk losing them entirely. Which makes them incredibly dangerous to interact with as you don't really have the freedom to move around without risking losing them. This often leads to players staying in AOE attacks that could potentially kill them or risk being surrounded just to prevent the wisp from de-spawning. Because of the limited range, even with the radius increase from the atlas tree, ranged characters are more punished than melee characters because ranged attacks will often go through multiple packs and kill them before they can be touched by the wisp.

Wisps often spawn away from the player spawn and are hard to see

This means typically players have already cleared out most packs before they spot the wisp, severely limiting the rewards once it has possessed the rare mob. Which assumes the player hasn't cleared the map before the wisp was even spotted. Unlike Tormented Spirits which look like a unique mob wisps are colored particles. In a heavy particle game it can be hard to notice them and players will often accidentally activate them without even knowing it.

Wisps rewards aren't particularly great

This isn't necessarily an issue itself. It may just be a symptom of the inability to kill a lot of infused mobs and possibly an issue with loot itself. But the rewards for the danger do not really match each other, making these feel not worth investing

Solutions

I recommend the Wisps spawn closer to where the player does and on paths they're likely to go down early, they should emit a distinct audio and visual cue when a player is nearby and when they are activated. Once activated they should dart to the nearest Rare, as they already do, but at much greater speeds a player can keep up with. They can then leave a trail the players can follow and leaving the trail for too long will make the wisp leave.

These changes would increase the amount of monsters impacted by the wisps; give players the ability to recognize and engage with them as they wish; level the rewards between melee and ranged characters; and still allow that limited mobility aspect of them to still exist without being overly harsh. Once players regularly engage with rares that are significantly buffed by wisps then their rewards can be reviewed.