What if you're just bad at the game?
Mages can do so much more on the battlefield than any physical class. It's harder to quantify than hitting with a sword, but there's so many ways they can mess with things it just smacks of ignorance in your end.
Actually, the only real ignornace here is coming from your own inexperience. The amount of options that exist in any given moment don't really matter if there's always a single, superior choice that trumps them all; killing them outright.
Replay the game as an all physical team (that has at least two Rangers and one Rogue. The third can be whatever) before commenting.
I'm actually currently almost through Act 2 with a four elemental caster group, and it's been absolute hell compared to my previous two playthroughs (Warrior, Ranger, Summoner/Buffer, Geo/Pyro and 3x Rangers with one Rogue), so it's not like I don't know what to expect with the encounters.
You could try to argue that the game was balanced around a "balanced" group that includes at least one caster, if not two and two physical damage dealers. Maybe that was their goal, but if it was then they failed horribly. The only reason such a team "works" comparably easy through the game is because of the two physical damage dealers, not the casters. You don't need them for anything when potions exist too.
Now maybe things would look different if encounters hosted either more enemies, or tighter clusters of enemies so that elemental AoE could shine, but right now it doesn't.
Gee, do I want to hit 2-3 enemies for 125 damage each, or do I want to hit one for 500? Boy, those options have me on edge, I can't decide!
Polymorph is not a magical skilltree, it is a physical skilltree at core.
Sure, but that kind of doesn't matter for the skills that don't actually scale with anything or require physical armor to be gone like Chameleon, Spread Your Wings, Spider Legs, Terrain Transmutation (if anything, this is in the "magic" purview), Equalize, Skin Graft, Apotheosis and Forced Exchange. I use that tree with everyone, but I don't go beyond a single point for most until I want Aptheosis.
i don't really agree with the mobility issue, spread your wings has an ap activation cost but then allows you mobility for 3 turns in a row, no warrior/rogue mobility skill allows this
it's only really an issue in the earliest part of the game when your team in general is less mobile
It also stalls your first turn, and isn't a better option than the Cloak and Dagger + Phoenix Dive/Tactical Retreat combos unless the fight drags out and you can actually get to the enemies you need to get to without wasting more AP. It also requires a two point diversion into another tree, so unless you're picking up Chameleon with your casters, it's better to go through Huntsman anyway. Tactical Retreat is essentially free by the second turn since you get your AP back, and a movement bonus on top of that.
