Mage vs necro; my experience
 

Mage
-sustained dps and burst is pretty amaze balls. Only class that consistently does more dmg is a charm class with a good/strong pet buffed/hasted and DW. Rogues lose out over time.
-utility is there but ‘meh’. Rods and coth are neat. DS is always welcome. Summon toys are cute. But overall? ‘Meh’
-simple play style (a positive or negative depending on preference)

Damage potential dps grade A+ Baseline plus burn
Overall grade B+
Ability to make/break a group C-

Necro
-sustained dps and burst is ‘meh’ unless charming. It’s decent and worth a group spot with summon pet but nothing impressive. Parses are good-ish but nothing flashy
-utility is outstanding to include heals/rez/cc but for already well balanced groups is often redundant. Summons and rezzes are expensive.
-for atypical or otherwise flawed groups they are godly.
-charm dps in the right location is the bees-knees but charm also negates other valuable utility given the risk of charm breaks without the enchanter toolkit for control and recovery
-if charming pet dps is possibly greater but the sum total compared to mage is more or equal (possibly higher, possibly lower)
-complex play style

Usual damage potential dps grade B- to B+
Possible dmg potential if charming A+
Overall grade A
Ability to make or break group A-

For MOST groups I feel my mage brings more to the table as most groups don’t need the extra necro perks. For odd groups necro is undeniably more potent. I think I’m mostly bitter that even a max summon EoT is underwhelming compared to 57 earth, 59 air or 60 water pet and it costs 10p per attempted summon.

If joining as strictly dps mage is strong. Necro is decent.

Maybe my opinion will change when necro is 60 and has demi lich.

Normally people chose to play a necro if they want a pet class and an involved play style.

I suspect this means you are less likely to have a 'pet in sub 70%' caster if the group chooses necro over Mage. Necromancer also plugs gaps where others are inattentive.

In a balanced, attentive group pick an attentive Mage. Of course Netflix precludes that as anything other than hypothetical!

Necros can fear, mages cant. Fear is the most effective way of tanking a mob, so, necros can help tank a mob much better than (earth pet) mage can.

Mages were broken on release, and Verant nerfed or just ignored them for years after as a result (see the Mage epic if you actually want further proof).

Play a mage for the first six months on Green to feel like a god as you level up while getting 100% XP from your pet kills ... and then put that leveled up Mage on a shelf to wait until he's needed for CotHs, and go play something, because for the rest of the P99 era they're just not as good as other classes (with Necros being the most obvious/direct comparison).

Mage to 50. grab a wqs from CoM on Kunark release, reroll monk.

It’s a shame most mages are coth bot alts. For what the class is designed to do it’s an exceptionally potent class. As said before, the only classes that can consistently do more are charmed pets buffed, quadding, and hasted. Tunare/epic rogues are highly competitive but I can generally hold steady with them, beat them by a bit, or lose to them by a bit. My epic/SoM 59 monk fully buffed with 34% worn haste couldn’t keep up with my mage as soon as she got 57 earth pet. In general my mage usually pulls 50% more dps than my monk with standard buffs. Buffed to the gills the mage is still 20-35% higher consistently.

It’s a strong class that is under-represented at the high end.

Completely agree. If Green launches with an attractive rules set and staff support, my plan was Wood Elf druid to 35 (possibly 39), then Magician to 50. I might take the druid to 19 for basic self ports and then focus on the Magician entirely after that. The moment Kunark launches, Iksar necro all the way.

I have no hate for the Mage class. If you're able to stick it out, the DPS you can crank out at the end is attractive. Hell, the damage you put out during the entire ride is attractive. But necro utility and their overall spellbook is so completely overwhelming in comparison, and that's before we even add the Iksar regen into the picture.

Necro > mage all day, unless you want to afk in groups and watch netflix.

Although twinking a mage with OP Thurg/SS robe clicky sounds fun at lvl 5.

No mention of malo spells as a pro for mage?

Also, did you only ever play in full groups? I see no mention of solo, duo, etc.

I feel like you've understated the strengths of a necro relative to a mage by tunnel visioning on DPS comparisons in balanced groups. Writing off root, snare, fear, mez, self heals, heals, mana regen, feign, harmshield, ivu, dot efficiency, all as basically "great utility but often not needed" seems to miss the mark to me.

I don't feel I understated necros. Overall grade for necro and ability to make/break group was rated way higher. In a well balanced group necros just lack the same umph. In a group lacking in any way, necros can easily rise the demi-god status.