While I think this is almost strictly a nerf to mages, I do worry about low level necros. Poison Bolt and Clinging Darkness won't outdamage most pets without significant lifetapping, and until 12 that's all you have to work with.
Also, I'm pretty sure mages with the ridiculously overpowered fire pets will still level much faster in the early levels by letting the pet take half the exp. The way I see it there are two options now if you want to solo as a mage:
1 - Fire pet, little/no damage from the caster, heals or resummons. Eat the 50% xp loss and move on to the next mob.
2 - Earth pet, do 50% damage by expending quite a bit of mana, then heals/resummon and spend more. Likely going to need to med a lot this way, but you'll get full xp.
I'm not sure which is better once you get to the mid levels.
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