Any ideas on how to make mages useful to groups for dps\end game content?

[Kir]

So back in the day, prismatic spray used to do 50-150 damage when people had max hits of 180-550 and the most elite characters double massacred and cyan only had 2k hp.

Nowadays it does about same amount of damage except people have 350-1000 hp.. on top of that for zoning you need elite dps classes to do high sustained damage every round for long long fights. Using mages best spells they cant keep up with the dps of other classes even when they are memmed and then when they cast all their spells, however after like 15-20 rounds they are completely worthless, and then they have to mem.

My only two ideas so far of any note are these:
1) increase spell dam so it can be on par with high end dps of other classes... I mean mages need 30 cl of gear, other dps need +dams... both need gear I dont see why mages who have 30 cl still do 0 damage.
2) Possibly change it from a spell mem system to a mana system that constantly replenishes. So for example, start with 1000 mana, but a 9th circle slot costs 200 mana, a first circle slot costs 10 mana, but at baseline you regen 25 mana per tic or something, with extra gear increasing mana regen?

[Jorake]

If you up mage damage, how can you balance it for pvp? They already come in and stun the shit out of a group. They also get pets that can double massacre.

[Kadaj]

A good idea would possibly be having mages constantly having the 'rapture' affect. Mem while in combat like you are resting, this way you could spam your spells every round just like melee can hit and won't increase any dmg to disrupt pvp. Just my thought, as a mage player who has had four legendary black robed mages it's not that big of an issue when you have all the spells and the gear to mem so many slots, but lvling and zoning sucks, especially for a white and red robe who have very little area and only rely on single target spells. You have to chose between memming defensive spells so you don't just keel over and die and frag spells. Some slots are just so jam packed with spells it's tough to make the decision.

[reed23]

If this is an issue that wants to be addressed, I'd suggest the following:

Increase the availability of mem-factor gear so mages can mem a hell of a lot faster during group/clan zoning.
Reduce the lag time for retreat, or have a mage spell similar to calm that only dis-engages the mage from combat.  Hitting ticks is always a little tricky.  Cutting lag time on retreat or having this spell available would enable mages to hit ticks a lot easier.
The suggestion of the rapture spell for mages would be cool, especially for big fights.  Maybe add it to an acid-mist level spell book and have a cool down period of 24 ticks or something.

[Jorake]

I actually like both of these ideas. Especially the rapture for mages. It doesn't make sense really as far as needing to focus. But who cares.

I again bring up the fact that a mage can have a pet that can double massacre. That is pretty substantial as far as sustained damage goes.

[Kadaj]

If the pet happens to live, it has to be a pretty high rank to have all the damage ranks, haste, hitroll ranks and then on top of that add some evade and immunity to shields. I'm not even sure you can get all of those at one time. It's good to have when it's alive yeah, but really the mage mem like rapture thing just seems so normal. Maybe perhaps factor that into the skill concentration, the higher it is, the lower your mem goes and the better you can mem in combat.