Wow talk about a name from the past. Come on back, mages are in very good shape now with a cleric mercs and the last 2 series of pets. There is a lot you can solo and in groups people who know the mage class will respect you as pure DPS with a pet that can off tank when needed or be the main tank.
As one example 4 mages and 2 merc clerics did the Tasnise Underbelly mission. Have like 5 mini named and a named at the end. We walked through it easily till the end, when we got the named and and 2 adds due to a miscommunication. We recovered and the got the named alone and it was all over. We had no problem with it at all. In fact been in a few 3-4 mage groups in new expansion and we are having a blast.