I believe that quoted post was in jest.
From the research I've been able to find, 2001 was a rough year for mages post-50. Many complaints were in regards to the scale in power for 50+ mage pets. The damage caps were low compared to pre-50 pets. The fire pet in particular was thought to be more of a "wizard" post 50. The trade off was a bad DS and a lower max hit.
From what I can tell, the post-50 mage pets were buffed shortly after our timeline ends in the Luclin expansion.
Here is an in-era mage table:
https://web.archive.org/web/20010223...Statistics.htm
Here is a discussion thread touching on mage issues in 2001:
https://web.archive.org/web/20010221...ML/000776.html