No, I am not ranting about some intellectually deficient Mage who ruined a Kingdom Quest I was in but instead, I am ranting about the class itself (as well as Outspark). I mean, after all this time, there really is no excuse for it.
Cool downs
Why is it, that quite a few of our spells have ridiculously lengthy cool down times? I.e. Purge, Dispel, Mind Drain, all our basic spells, etc. There is no reason why I should wait several minutes just to use a spell that barely has any use outside of PvP (Mind Drain). Dispel? It is the exact same thing as Cure but it "cures" a different type of "disease". I'll talk about Purge in a different part of my rant since it fits there better than here. Our basic spells all have cool down times equal to our more advance spells. Why is that?
I mean, you can't even use Magic Missile beyond the first level and the same goes for Fire Bolt (more or less). Why should we get stuck with the first level of our spells while everyone else can use their skills and spells at any level and not worry about it? The cool down on all the basic spells should be reduced to something below ten seconds. Especially for Magic Missile since that is basically our "auto-attack" in the game.
Damage
Out of all the classes, we're practically the weakest (next to Clerics). I would say we're slightly above Archers but since I rarely ever get partied with them I can not say for sure. However, there is no reason why ANY class should be able to out damage us. I say this because, the only purpose a Mage serves in any game is to dish out damage. If everyone else can out damage us than what purpose do we serve? That's right, we don't.
I cringe when ever I see a Fighter several levels below me just chopping down monsters like there was nothing to it while I have to sit there and smash my hotkeys until my fingers bleed just to kill one monster. By the time I kill one monster, the Fighter has already killed ten. (Before you comment on that, that is merely an exaggeration.)
Usefulness of Spells (or lack thereof)
There is, a multitude of spells that are useless. One spell that every (or nearly every) Mage can agree on that is useless, is Life Tap. Why in the bloody hell would we use something that kills us? It sucks away way too much health and does not give even close enough SP back to make it even remotely useful at any level. The only real purpose it serves is to piss off Clerics or just to commit suicide.
Mind Drain. Outside of PvP it serves almost no purpose and inside of PvP it serves almost no purpose. More often than not, you'll have to chase down the player you just used Mind Drain UNLESS, of course, you are in a narrow corridor of some sort. And basically, without empowering it, you've got maybe a 70% chance to cast a basic spell without it wearing off and having the player/monster tear you to shreds. Purge. Completely useless unless the person is weak and only has one buff/scroll on themselves and you're just an ass who torments weaker players for fun.
Frost Nova and Inferno. While not exactly "useless" they're not exactly the most helpful or beneficial spells in our repertoire either. Why? Because a Mage can not tank (not without some serious cash shop items) and we certainly can not kite mobs with them either (this is a reference to the Archer's AoE ability). And more often than not, you won't need to cast both if there is another Mage in the party.
Ice Bolt or Ice Blast. They're both on a "global cool down" which means when you use one, you basically use the other. Minus the damage, slowing effect, etc. And the slowing effect itself is quite useless since you have to get pretty close to a monster anyways to kill it. Not to mention the effect is not always a guarantee. Honestly, those spells are just there for extra damage but you have to choose which one you would rather cast. Ice Bolt has a quicker "casting animation" but less damage where as Ice Blast has a longer "casting animation" but slightly more damage. This brings us to the next part of my rant.
Casting Animations
One reason (or more like theory) that Fighters are able to out damage a Mage is because of the casting animations of the spells as well as the distance a spell needs to travel in order to hit the target. From what I can tell, Fighters have no "casting animations" except maybe a twist here or a turn there which takes less than a second and their attacks have no distance to travel. I understand that Mages are supposed to have "flashy" spells that make people go "Ooo" and "Aaah" but I would rather have the most basic looking spell in the world that casts a lot faster than the best looking spell in the world that casts a whole hell of a lot slower.
Also, why in the bloody hell does Dispel make me look like some damn fairy? I'm a Mage for Pete's sake! Not a prancing fairy who goes around sprinkling fairy dust on people. Same for Purge. I'm not an Angel of light so why do I get wings when doing this? Makes no sense at all. I liked the old animation of Life Tap where as this new crotch thrust just embarrasses me.
Range
Some of you may or may not agree with me on this (Mages, I mean). I feel that the range of our spells is far too short. I'm not saying we should be able to pick off monsters from halfway across the world (that would be nice though) but a reasonable distance away from them is required. Otherwise we're nothing more than a short ranged Fighter minus the power and defensive capabilities. This would go perfect with Ice Blast (or Ice Bolt) always having a chance of slowing our enemies down. This way, we can attack from a safe distance without the fear of being viciously mauled by something ten times our size.
Kiting
Why is it, that only two of our spells allow us to kite? Everyone else can pretty much cast a spell or use a skill while running where as we get Lightning Blast and Lightning Bolt and then we're forced to stand there and get slapped around like a rag doll. Admittedly, kiting is not very effective for anyone but Archers because they can AoE while they run so taking down multiple mobs is fairly for them. I say this because if you kite, there is a GOOD chance you're going to run into a lot more monsters. As a Mage, that means you're boned. Don't just make two of our spells a "cast-on-the-run", make them all that way.
Stones
There is, no reason, why Mages should have so few stones. The other three classes that are at or below my level (to an extent), easily have way more HP and SP stones than me but the ones who need them the most ARE Mages. I've got 67 HP stones and 103 SP stones at level 71. The others? As far as I know, they've got 200+ in each. I do not care how expensive they are but I do care that I run out incredibly quickly while trying to solo a quest. I can not rely on potions because the materials to make them are hard to come by and buying them is impossible since everything on my server is highly overpriced.
This is an issue that has been around for a very long time (if not from the beginning) and if there is one thing I would like to see fixed the soonest, it would be our stones. We should have the most of each since we're in need of the most of each. And no, having a lot more stones does not make us overpowered by any means. It simply means we have a slightly higher chance of lasting a bit longer.
Ending Comments
As of right now, this is all I can think of that I feel is wrong with the Mage class. I would be glad to provide ways to improve our class if it were not for the fact that it would take me just as long (if not longer) to write the improvements as it did the flaws of our class. I am, thanks to Outspark, forced to play a Cleric until Mages are fixed because I can only take but so much abuse for so long. I can not afford to spend thousands of dollars on the cash shop either and I would not even if I could because I do not feel Outspark is deserving of even a cent.
You can make every excuse in the book to explain why Mages are underpowered but to me? They'll always be excuses. Quite frankly, I am done with excuses. I want results and I am tired of waiting for them. I think it is time Outspark get off their asses and actually fixed us for a change.
Edit: Holy crap! I didn't realize how long this was! Sorry people. xD