Mages are up shit’s creek I guess
 

Looks like all mage pets past 20 are research only, and this lasts months. The whole point of a mage is the pet, why make their entire point of existence so incredibly tedious and unreliable to acquire? What’s a mage supposed to do if they can’t acquire a research pet, keep using a level 20 pet at level 30 and beyond? Or just not play the class until months down the road when mages become ungimped?

Here's a thought: try using the research skill to make your own spells.

Is this true? If so I love it.

So mages are supposed to level up an entire trade skill, scour the world for materials, many of them completely random drops and rare, just to use their pets.

Verant changed this for a reason, but hey if shits classic shits classic I guess...

Do what necros have to so then I guess or be a man and roll a paladin or something.

Shits classic.

Necros have far more going for them than mages though, a mage without a pet is just a shitty wizard that can’t port lol.

Just play your class.

Research pages I believe are linked to different zones. You might want to start asking around and working on getting these spells. It sucks if you are in that top percentile because you will need to get the research materials yourself, but that's part of the deal when you choose a research based class.

As if Mages aren't wildly powerful enough as is.