The only game that's worse on 'cooldowns' was sacred2 (which crashes ALOT on Win7, because they claim win7 is so buggy. HA!, everyone else says win7 is better than vista, cept sacred2 devs -- problem is their DRM doesn't function under win7 -- is disabled for 'causing OS instability' (it seems pretty stable under XP though). Cooldowns in sacred2 increase all the way up to level 200 -- most spells become useless after about level 50. Tried to play a magic user there -- nogo. Paladin(seraphim) was ok though -- as they could exist on passive (buffs), and fighting and some 1-shot spells that deal massive damage in a large radius -- usually enough to kill most creatures outright.
You must have made some bad skill choices. Which magic-user character have you played? With the right skills, the High Elf (mage) in Sacred 2 is very powerful. Of course, it's also a tactical decision how many runes you use. Using too many for spells you want to cast often is a bad idea, that's true. On the other hand, there are several ways to decrease cooldowns: Stamina and Concentration, equipment, sockets, potions. And using runes isn't the only way to increase spell damage.
I haven't played
yet, so I can't tell how difficult it is to play a mage or archer, but in the forums, I've read several times that people found it easy enough or even too easy. Maybe you're using the wrong skills?
