>
>>The fact remains that you pretty much
>>never see an Ilrek, or a Quas in mage form.
>
>I've seen that. What are your criteria?

I said pretty much never, because I didn't mean absolutely never. Occasionally there is someone.

I didn't have a strict definition but in the 15-40ish range, it's like this:

Someone who develops a reputation as a dangerous person. You're in a group, that person logs on and someone says "Oh, better watch out for XYZ". XYZ is, occasionally, a necromancer or shaman, but is a warrior the vast majority of the time, in my experience.

Someone who, when you look at your range you go "Who can I go kill" you think "Man XYZ guy will probably beat my ass so I need to be ready for him" That guy is almost never a mage.

You happen upon a group ranking by accident. You think "Element of surprise, I'd like to kill XYZ, but I'll get my ass handed to me, even if I can surprise him fighting a mob." XYZ is almost always a warrior.

Now you, Daevryn, probably end up thinking something like "pshaw, I can kill any of these guys and only an elite mage even *could* have the tools to stop me" and so none of what I've said here is likely to resonate with you at all.

To some extent what it comes down to is that no matter what class I am, a mage looks to me like a safe target at low levels. I'm quite likely to win and not very likely to die at all. Whereas any warrior is a potentially deadly encounter if I don't know him. Sometimes an offensive shapeshifter is like a warrior, but without the danger of lag. And in terms of reputation I almost never hear anyone talk with awe or respect for a mid-rank guy who happens to be a mage. Whereas that happens with warriors quite consistently.

Again, this doesn't apply to hero. At hero mages are balanced, and don't seem like easy wins to me.