It's hard to keep them alive when they draw aggro using heal. For the most part people use auto pots so a shield pet is better then mage heal. I know plenty of op mages that can survive like a tank so that's not an issue for all mages but in general war needs to hold aggro. I'm not a fan of gale. I try and group them up and when a mage blows the mob apart it's annoying. I don't use ebon aegis anymore but when I did stuns in general take reflect away. That goes for aegis and scratch. If scratch still reflects. Now stun is fine with me but not all wars feel that way. I like the high dps mages the most. Unless in PvP then I hate mages. Unless one is on my side then I love that one but none of the others. In PvP I like the tanky mages that curse and reflect damage. As long as it's on my side otherwise I like the squishy dps mages.