The biggest issue then as far as my experiences go is that the mages can and do hurt themselves more than their attackers are, in the process of eliminating their attackers.
The next issue would be they favour defense over offense (which is being dealt with in next patch). You should always aim to eliminate your enemies, thus making defense unecessary.
Quickness should always be the first thing cast if available and not scripted already.
IMHO the player spell tools should NOT be made more powerful without making the AI smarter too. This would unbalance SP games immensely and favour magic too much. Improving the weightings of the AI routines would be enough.
SIDE NOTE: Why don't archers have a hold and fire routine available?
[ January 27, 2004, 17:18: Message edited by: Strages Sanctus ]