--Yes, but I don't think this really can be called a con, since you can protect from lagging attacks no other class can protect from. Yes, you can't cover every lagging attack, but this is true of every class except paladins with a specific virtue... so is this really a big con?

-Yes. Undeniably. The reason for this is because if you lag an invoker, they can't do much of anything. They have one decent physical attack per round, and parry. Whee. While an assassin might not have many ways to stop you from lagging him, he's in very good shape even if lagged. Heck, in a lot of fights, that assassin is probably very happy if you're expending all your energy tripping him.

-Invokers are the most vulnerable class when lagged, so they have a lot of customization to allow them to plan for it if you let them have that preparation and make the choices. Everyone in this thread keeps assuming the invoker is fighting total morons who stand in a field and wait for the invoker to come.

Here I would disagree. One physical attack per round, plus parry, plus innate dam reduction, plus the ability to get much more. I don't know about you, but once I've been over level 35 or so, I've never been uber-lagged by any one person with or without cheapshot. They always miss or get a 1 round bash or what have you, and since I'm one of those freaks with perma-stoneskin and when I see my enemies the quaffing begins, when I'm fighting solo, getting uberlagged isnt' usually an option. So what do you do in this situation? You flee and you put up your shield, then kick the living tar out of them. In gangbang situations, you are right, being lagged as a voker is nasty, because they can easily be overlagged if they are missing their shields, however, if I'm getting caught and naield by an axe spec, I'm not much of a great invoker anyway. As for the lag comment, an arcane shifter is at a much much higher disadvantage. Likewise an unsanc'd healer is also at a higher disadvant (hey, you're saying this person is surprised right?), as well as numerous other situations where, if they were as surprised as a voker walking around without the proper shielding, would be nailed just as easily if not easier. We don't assume that everyone just waits to die, we assume that oftentimes we'll have to fight them while raiding/retrieving/defending, or when they are in groups with others, or we'll have to do something other then sit around in some remote location for an hour waiting for them to stumble by. You make it sound like invokers have these huge drawbacks, when, as Brotmin stated, they're fairly standard.