L11E6: Fire and Earth Elementals 

Great episode. Yeah, it was many rounds away but I think there's a coordination that needs to happen on spells like that. The player does need to take the initiative to say what their spell does. Soon as the DM didn't leave the monster on the board, I would have said something - "oh, DM, there's supposed to be a statue there. Thanks!" I have to constantly remind my DM, "that attack has disadvantage due to Protection from Evil or Dodge or Blur." Because it's hard to remember the dozen or so effects going on at any one time. I agree, help your poor DM out - so much to track. Or another example was when my 7th level Shadow Sorcerer was 1v1 with a vampire lord trying to hold it off so the rest of my party could mop up her goons without her interfering, she eventually starting kicking my ass and I was out of spells having fought a Half Dragon and then a white one, so I went down but forgot to use my "Strength of the Grave" Shadow Sorc feature that allows me to ignore death once if I make a Chr save. I only remembered it two rounds later when I was already picked up with a healing word and we were thrashing the Vamp Lord. No one wants to rewind that many actions ago so you just suck it up and hope the next time you have to use it you remember. I love martials. Some of my best friends are martials. The divide comes later in levels when we look at the versatility of casters. Can a 7th level Barbarian without flight solo the Tarasque? Can a wizard with access to flight beat the Tarasque? The answers are no for the former and yes for the latter due to flight and range being an auto win. Fighter charges the Liche, liche casts Dominate person with a DC 19. "Wow! You are a very dangerous fighter, why don't you just give me all those attacks and use them against your own party members? Thanks! You're such a wonderful pal." In another timeline... Mystical Monk steps into a spooky undead lair and thinks, "yeah, this doesn't look good, let me cast Protection from Good/Evil." Later on the Monk and party meet the Liche and he casts dominate on the monk who just stares back at the liche like, "was that supposed to do something. Protection from Good and Evil, baby!" And then taps her head with a smile adding, "you can't get in here. Now prepare for an epic asswhopping!" Sure, then the liche casts dispel, and then gets immediately counterspelled subtly by the weird Monk without any way to stop it. Casters just have way more versatility. If anyone in the group had to solo this place at a higher level, who do you think it would be. The caster who can duplicate themselves and turn into gold dragons, or the epic level fighter who can't even fly and thus gets pelted with long range attacks until he's dead? That's what people mean by the martial/caster divide. I've been around since AD&D and it's always been like this. Mages start off weak and then eventually, they outpace the martials. The best argument martials have is getting the drop on a caster who is unprepared. That and flavor because, as you said, "swinging an axe is fun and memorable." Well, that and Martials don't run out of spells but they still do have resources, namely, their HP and that's a resources that's constantly being drained from encounter to encounter. Meanwhile, a supposedly squishy mage with 1 fighter dip or Armor proficiency can have a higher AC than even the martials. This is why I firmly believe DMs should gives the martials the more optimal magical gear. When optimizers run the DPR numbers (DPR is not the only measurement but it a measurement) casters start to pull away around 12th level or so. Once a DM, let's say, gives a Flametongue to the fighter, all of a sudden, those DPR numbers tend to even out. That doesn't stop the control spell/adaptability divide, but it does make martials feel more empowered and able to keep up with the casters. But make no mistake about it, a fighter with 11 possible attacks (think that's Echo knight) in a round is very cool and powerful, but a simple Forcecage stops all that and doesn't even have a save. Flying would give a 5th level Wizard superior advantage over a 10 level Fighter with a maul and pike. Certain spells granting superior movement, mind control and trapping an opponent are just more efficient than hitting things with a stick. Even you suggested my melee Monk gish throw more "optimal" (not your words exactly) spells instead of hitting things with my fists using Haste. But as I said earlier, I don't mind that gap. And fighters still play a role because If I'm playing my Action Surge Clocklock caster or my Shadow Dancer Shadow Sorc, I prefer the melee types go block the baddies for me so I can stay in the pocket and control the field like a Quarterback does. Martials are simple and function the way they should - being a tank and hitting things hard. Nothing wrong inherently with power imbalances/roles but they do exist. The question is do you care or not I suppose. That's my 2 pennies worth of jumbled brain waves.