I'm level 30 and will be deciding soon what Mage to be. I have a lev 136 shadower and a 104 (HS Mule) priest. Now that I got my HS mule I was thinking about making a real damage dealing Mage for leeching and for having fun. I love petrifighters and don't care so much for oblivion. I was curious what I should be for a Mage? I/L or F/P?
I think F/P has a slight edge here. Their Elemental Wands are much more common than the Ice counter parts, and with INT instead of LUK as an added the stat. The freezing effect from blizzard doesn't really matter when you get to the point where you can 1 hit Petris consistently. Also they're quite easy to level up during 3rd job with Poison Mist.
When i picked what mage i wanted to be i just picked form what i thought looked cool rather than which one is the best and strongest. Personally i went with fire/poison but you should pick whatever you think looks the coolest imo
Grinding spots is also important, I/Ls can train at Petri's and Oblivion (the best training spots atm) while F/Ps can only train at Petri's.
Breaking my heart I'd choose I/L simply because it's more versatile. F/P is mostly limited to Petrifighters and Voodoos whereas I/L can do those plus more. F/P does have a niche in that they can 1hko RoR but unless you have a specific reason for wanting to do that, it doesn't mean all that much. F/P and I/L are equal at petrifighters, though I/L have the advantage of freezing everything before 1hko.
I/L all the way, faster through solo leveling 30-80 by far, but at 78 F/P gets faster because you can kill higher level mobs much easier, id still go I/L though because its less pricey imo because u dont take damage because everything is frozen, and if they arent frozen you are 1hiting everything anyway ^_^