How bad are mages solo in level-appropriate dungeons?

[Troxx]

When soloing mage 50+ I considered my pet a dot that soaked damage. Cheap cost summon. Clicky haste and clicky DS it. Pull a mob (assuming solo pull) and reclaim pet when the mob is low and toss a low level nuke the last bit. Pet generally survives without actual help letting you med through and break even after reclaim. If it’s a harder mob, toss a nuke or 2 so mob dies before pet bites it ... reclaim etc etc. harder mobs obligates some down time.

Very viable. Not terribly inefficient. And you get a mob dead for a lot less mana than some other casters. Is it great? Nah. Can you “dungeon crawl” level appropriate content 50+? Nah? Is it decent xp while you wait for a group? Absolutely.

Like Tox said … grab a partner or 3. Mages are very powerful in groups. For what they do well, few do it better.

Solo? Not so much, but still viable if you pick your hunting grounds carefully.