In general:

earth = warrior
air = wizard (not 100% sure on this one, but they stun)
fire = monk
water = rogue

each pet is good in certain situations... if it is very important that a mob not run, earth is a good option... fire has it's own ds so it puts out pretty high damage... air pets stun (at least higher end, been a while since i was using lower lvl spells) which is nice for caster mobs. So you just have to get used to what each pet can do, and use the best one for the kind of fights you are going to be in.

Earth is a Rooting Tank, good for solo if you want to waste your mana keeping him healed and blasting the mob. ( good for groups )

Water is the MOST dps of all the pets becasue it's a Rog with dd proc and can backstab at 36+ i think it is. ( Best for groups with a tank already )

Fire, is Useles Post 54, but Pre 54 it's a god for solo' the level 42ish Fire pet can solo 3 HG's all you'll have to do is keep him healed twice normally and do one AE nuke ( with pet toys of course ).

Air Pet, is just the Best pet in game for Solo, and i use it in groups more than the Water pet, unless you have 2 mages then 1 water 1 air is a lethal combo. Air pet has least hp but most mitigation, procs a DD Stun and hits fairly hard... ( Keep a DS on him though ) the 66 air pet is the strongest pet in game, i've taken out a 70 beastlord warder with my air pet in a pet vs pet duel and my mages pet didn't even loss half it's hp


66th Mage Dark Elf, Maelyn Starphyr
62nd Beastlord Iksar Maelyn Starphyr

Monster summoning the best overall pet. Especially MS4. i just got MS5 and it seems an improvement over 4 but havent tested it fully yet.

Actually the pet class depends on your lvl.

Once you break 50, the Fire pet becomes a wizard(which actually sucks believe it or not) and the water becomes a rogue. At 61 the Air and Earth get the ability to Triple attack. So...

Best dmg on low lvl pets:
Fire, Water, Air and Earth

High lvl pets

Water, Air, Earth, and Fire sucks it up bad

Fire good for provding its own Damage shield and nuking, but that is your job.

Water Best group pet, good regen, good dd spells, backstab is easy. on kited mobs he will aotu follow and BS and above 65 can Assasinate. on static tanks just move behind mob that the tanker is on and then send pet to get BS working.

Air best solo pet chain stuns like a paladin so less mana going to heals

Earth best for if you have a zone prone to trains or area agro, you pet chain roots and has the most ac and hit points.

And agro isnt a problem. If you are soloing or need agro, do nothing your pet auto taunts from being summoned. If you don't want agro, because of group or BS simply click the taunt button on your pet window and it will no longer taunt.

You also left one out, Monster summoning line of pets are fun to (takes the for of a random monster in zone, and changes as you zone) watch and attack like a Shadow Knight with the claws.

Devestator
68 Mage
Tunare

Edited, Feb 2nd 2007 1:35pm by RLWOODARD

when you hit high lvl dont bother with other pets besides air.. air is best hands down IMO. Earth takes more dmg sence it ROOTS mob even when they try to run.. doesnt have a nuke and really doesnt hit anymor then air.. just has more HP... Water i rarely use.. only in kiting groups but i hate kiting so i dont bother using , air nukes a stun dd, hits hard, has nice hp , fire blows hands down... above like lvl 50 it turns into a wizard.. its dps is good when it has mana but when it melee's the dps isnt worth having him around.. and solo'ing with a fire pet at lvl 60 ... your a newb mage

Solo, water is the best imho. Dual damage with ice shards nuke and melee hits, and allied with a damage shield, very hard to stop.
Don't use earth pets soloing as their roots will turn a damaged and running mob into a mob that will stand and fight to the bitter end. Heal, heal, etc. After 50, they're great since they have so many hps, but before then, skip them.
Air is good if you have no water of an appropriate level. In a group they are the best! Their stuns are excellent, but soloing, stunning a mob is pretty pointless since the stuns last maybe 2 seconds. Better off with the water pet's dual damage attacks (ice shards and melee damage).
Fire pets are the best during the 40s. Can't say enough about them, really. Before that though, they have so few hps, they die when the mob frowns at them.
MS pets...well, I used them by preference at level. Hard hitting melee pets, decent hps, and able to attract the 'wow's from bystanders. Nothing like using a clops to take down an HG. Add a decent DS and there's very little a comparative ms pet couldn't take down.

All the above should be taken based on my playing a mage from 1999 to 2003. Game has changed a bit since then, but I've started a mage on a new account and noted my comments on earth and water pets are unchanged.

Bear in mind for a moment that I'm not speaking from personal experience, just the information I've managed to gather from various boards.

The big deal about the epic pet is many different things.

First, when it came out, it was the Kunark era, and the level cap was 55, and Fluffy was god. Compared to any other pet available at the time, Fluffy outclassed them in every conceivable way.

Second, while Fluffy looks exactly like the standard Air pet, it combines the abilities of all the other pets - a self damage shield, some big nukes and (not sure on this) I think a Root proc. It hits harder and faster than the other pets, has more hitpoints, more armor class and all-around better stats.

Third, until Sony "fixed" the pulling technique referred to as "green pet pulling," Fluffy was still useful at level 70 for getting a single pull every time, and having the pet live long enough to get the mob to the group. The concept behind this trick was to summon a pet that would con "green" (gray, these days) to the mobs you were pulling. Since the pet was such a trivial kill for the mob, its buddies wouldn't assist, and you could trail Fluffy (and his mob) all the way back to the group safely with no adds. This was because of the tremendous amount of HP and mitigation for his apparent level.

Fourth is that, for purposes of soloing, Fluffy is better than any other pet you can summon before level 66. This may have changed a little bit with the availability of pet focus items, but last I checked it was true. Fluffy doesn't put out quite as much melee DPS as the 61 Air pet, but its self-cast damage shield and its mitigation make up the difference with room to spare. If you pit the 61 Air pet (unfocused and buffed only with your damage shield) against Fluffy (unfocused and buffless), Fluffy wins.

Fifth is that, even if you're completely out of mana, you can summon him from your stick. Sure it may not be much, but on a raid that your pet goes down, and the nasty AoEs the target is casting ate all your mana (like that nasty Girplan in MPG for the Cleric epic), it's better than walking in with your pitiful 28 skill in 1 hand blunt and beating on it.

If you're already over 65, Fluffy won't be all that useful, but I'd still summon the orb and keep it in your pocket just in case.

Edit: Spelling.

Edited, Jul 25th 2007 11:51am by nyteshayd

As a new mage myself I'd like to put my 2cp in there.. By far the best DPS to HP ratio is the water pet at lower lvl's.. I believe that the "air" pet most are talking about must be a higher lvl pet that mitigates well and has a decent amount of hp's.. just to put it in perspective here's what i did.. Pet toy'd up a water pet with everything that could be bought.. (I bought two of everything).. this is the lvl 14 water pet mind you.. Took him to PC and at lvl 19 with a DS on and the toys was soloing two or more at a time... then.. ding lvl 20 and new air pet.. summon air pet and load him down w/toys exactly the way i did the water pet.. same buffs and all.. sicked him on bandit and boom.. gets his **** handed to him ... I might be doing something wrong but my experience is that water much much better at lower lvl's than air.. now I could imagine against a low hp caster mob type the air pet would be the way to go but I haven't found that situation yet at lvl 20.. Just my 2cp..

Actually Kunark raised it to 60.