Never ran parse or anything like that but all my pals loved to group with me because my 60 water pet could basically carry the whole team at a reasonable pace

Any mage worth their salt will chain summon till they hit a max level pet in pretty much any situation where they give a Sh**. On top of that, 60 water pet spell, and even water staff is rather easily obtainable. Plus just comparing pet to epic rogue / monk disregards all the other mage' contributions.

However, rogue epic can be purchased in EC cheap, and a solid offhand is even cheaper. Monk's have it almost as easy.

All that said, if i had to pick a class to pack my raid, or group with, it would be rogues. They are extremely solid, and just much less dependent on the skill of the player. Your 9 year old kid could be taught to play a rogue on raids and barely anyone would notice.

I hate to resort to cliche but all things considered, play what is most fun to you. Skilled players of any class will be desired. And you will most enjoy what you like to play, thus play more, and in EQ playtime > all if you desire pixels.

I remember on Live using my 60 water pet to off tank adds cuz we had no Chanter. Of course, we DID have a most talented Cleric who could keep both the tank and pet alive for the whole fight.

I had no idea mage pets were so much dps. That's pretty sweet. Almots makes me want to lvl a Mage if it weren't for the fact that it's pretty much impossible to get an epic :(

Played a Mage to 84 on Live. Never even missed the Epic. It's a fun class and very soloable at any level. And you never have to spend a single copper on food or drink.

Even though epic is VERY difficult to get, in P99 time frame, you miss it, you will miss it and it makes a HUGE difference.

Luclin/PoP made getting the Mage epic not worth the time. Velious and prior, it's worth it, even if it takes you a year or 2.

Redhorse:

Ok Swish.....

Not me. The tinfoil is real.

Luclin didn't change value of epic really. PoP was what killed it because the 61-65 pets rightly crushed it.

On P99 that epic will remain the largest individual/solo bonus to a character of any epic. Shaman/Druid/Necro coming in behind it.

On a raid though epic vs non-epic Mage is rather irrelevant. Your mod rods are more valuable than your pet DPS.

Completely agree about 'raids'.

And, yes, the only reference in Luclin I meant to mention was the MS3 change. MS3 started procing 'MonsterAttk'. This pet went from meh, to bad ass because of the newly implemented increase of DPS. I don't recall but I think damage of the MS3 in luclin was adjusted too to be 70 max per hit.

And regarding your 'largest individual/solo bonus', I believe you are falling short by saying that. In a group, that epic pet dmg compared to all other is huge. Secondly, I've said this in another post;

6 Epic mages walk in to a zone (Velks, SG, DN).....nothing but fun and watching your pets OWN everything. During Velious on live, I had 5 guys I would hang with. 4 other mages and 1 cleric. Talk about fun times.