Why are mages not more popular?

[Foxplay]

I can think of a lot of reasons but they apply to different aspects of the game, so each player would select these reasons from a list as to why they didn't pick the class

Boring Raid role: Make mod rods - CoTH ppl, watch netflix

Lack of scaling / endgame gearing: Like most Int casters you get a bigger mana pool, maybe some FT items if your a lucky one, but most players should know that velious raiding gear is a lot better for melee than it is for casters... not saying a well geared mage is nothing... but I think everyone can agree a super well geared (velious raid geared) Monk or rogue is going to run circles around a mage... this is just due to how silly good raid weapons and armor get as well as the level difference and crazy high resists the raid geared melee will have.

Difficult to attain Epic: Either horrendously expensive (800k+ ? 1million?) for earth staff MQ, not saying its unattainable, but for some players that don't put a serious commitment into farming plane of hate or some serious serious plat to get a MQ it sorta is unattainable for some players *a lot of players just have no desire to farm plat for a entire year+ assuming they make 2-3k plat a day and play every day* to get part of their epic, despite being a super neck-beard server ppl still have lives. Granted just because you cant or are unwilling to get epic wont rule the class out for every player, I'm sure there are plenty of people on p99 playing mage that have no plans getting their epic... however it is still a bit of a sour pill to swallow...

Good Solo but nowhere near the best: Can mages solo? Absolutely... but even at their best (epic + gear) they are still well well behind other classes > Enchanter / Shaman / Necromancer / Druid.

Grouping: Mages essentially fill a melee role in groups, with the added benefit or some spike damage (from their nukes) and a damage shield on tank (which value is highly negated if the enemies get slowed). Their scaling never really comes much into question in this content.

Not fully "Twinkable": Like other casters you cant really twink them like you can melee... Yea you can get them a super high mana pool, but that's about it. Melee can use weapons and armor at low levels that are well above and beyond their level.