Rods without wands?

I'm having second thoughts about wands. It might be a little too good for the game that we already have. If my version of wands gets added, then the chances to have wands should be rare to get, or difficult to use. I tried to come up with a good use for amethyst, the "I must mine this" kind of feeling. So if wands don't use amethyst, or wands don't get added at all, then I'm wondering whether amethyst is necessary in the first place.