Why so few mages on P99?

[Raev]

I don't know. I think Magician is a hugely underrated class, and a lot of the problem is that they are one of the worst played classes on the server. Like a lot of mages I see don't even resummon until they get a max pet or let Burnout wear off or they let damage shield fade on the tank etc. Also as Merrius says root nets are huge (root, run away, coh yourself and you can split basically any XP camp). Pet chaining requires more than one click for /pet attack but its quite strong.

I don't think Magicians have a fantastic raid role, but people love rogues (stand in back of mob, hit backstab key) and clerics (count to 5, cast complete heal). COH is a tremendous pulling tool and not just a "oh I am too lazy to /q" thing. Pets do solid damage by themselves, and mod rods are disgustingly overpowered (plus there are some cool things to do there!).

As I have stated before, I think the Magician Epic is a bit overrated. Sure, it's awesome. But it's not like you can't get by without it, whether you are solo, grouping, or raiding.