Concerning end game players....

[ilhanna]

That is really shocking that you haven't noticed it since you have been around longer then I have.
And do you really pug or you play in selected parties only?
Any guild that kicks players for their play style is not a guild worth being in.
Any mage CAN USE heal in NORMAL EASY maps as long as he is able to do his job. But if he keeps dying, I ask them to switch to shield, not that they listen. For ELITE maps, NO heal at all. My on mage will stand and argue with any other mage using heal.
This is a never-ending topic. On one side there are those who always want to use heal & on the other side there are those who believe mage should never use heal.

I would prefer mages to use four attack skills, no shield no heal, for normal maps (especially for farming KM, Wilds, or KT XP runs where it's more profitable to run fast and mages can just blast away, leaving dead and dying mobs on the way to boss), but I can tolerate some healing here (just not heal combo'd with shield which is just lazy). But yea, heal in elite... I pug'd a lot of elite Wilds recently and the number of mages who clutched healing flower there is appalling especially since they didn't have Frost Bolt to freeze the shaman, something I as a rogue appreciate more.

My real beef with strictly pve mages keeping heal is that I think those skills points are better spent on some of the more useful masteries.

The saddest and most pathetic thing is seeing mages at level 30 and lower run around with the flower. My low level warrior alt pug his way in events and I wondered what these flower mages had to sacrifice to grow that embarrassing monstrosity. One or two of them just spam gun (or staff, from a distance) and rush in to heal every once in a while. Mages had it easy last Goblin even, all the bosses are soloable if only they know what to do. Seen from this perspective these Florence Nightingale mages are very sad indeed.