Just to follow up on this:
I had a few minutes today to read through a different mage discussion thread from the one linked above:
https://web.archive.org/web/20010215...ML/055885.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20010306.../055885-2.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20010306.../055885-3.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20010306.../055885-4.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20010306.../055885-5.html
These don't support the conclusions I drew in my previous post.
There's definitely a consensus that 52 Vocarate: Fire and 56 Dyzil's Deafening Decoy are garbage. I'm not seeing anyone suggest that the 58 fire pet has a high damage shield, though.