Wizards are kinda junky in terms of sustained DPS in group situations. They can be very effective in a tough spot where you really need to drop an add/caster/healer mob very quickly, but that requires them to sit on about 50% of their mana pool. Hence the junky sustained DPS.
In terms of travel, Druids have far better port locations overall. If Lavastorm/Feerrott ports weren't enough, they also get the important ports early on (WC for druids at 29, wizards don't get it till 39).
Gfay and Plane of Hate/Sky are the only ports that are "better" than druid ports. I really wish wizards had been given some kind of Qeynos hills port, or moved the WK wizard platform near the Qeynos Hills zoneline. That would have rocked...
As for Druids - theyre mostly "better," including built-in-sow, more efficient soloing single mobs, if you're just after a really powerful character with ports...If you want a primary character with the best ability to gather materials for tradeskills, track, etc, Druids far exceed wizards.
However, come Kunark and Velious, wizard AoE's become obscenely mana-efficient. The ratio difference between the 51+ pillar spells is far and beyond anything they had before 50. I remember quad-kiting twice before having to med in the velious era, which was absolutely crazy exp.
Expect to solo from 29ish-60 very quickly in Kunark/Velious if you know what you're doing as a wizard. But expect the grind from 1-24 to be really, really boring. At 24 you can full-speed quad pretty effectively in certain undisclosed locations
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] You can do it earlier than that, but it's just not as effective or reliable as camping quick-spawn good exp mobs, such as Osargen in HK or Saben Tucross in lfay. That is, unless you have the $$ for unlimited sow potions or MQ jboots...