sorry but that is far from the truth .....
anyway let me tell you from someone who has personally played this class extensively over the past few months how this class works

-the mage is very good for pve

- great sustain damage mixed in with quick bursts of spike damage which is kind of unusual for a typical mage but helps when those op spells are on cd
- you can attack and move as a mage infact your first skill is literally a kite move that mixed with your shield ability keeps you at 30 % damage reduction
- i find the FIRE CORE especially good for pve considering the sustain damage from the flame debuff on enemies and if mobs are melee and attack you with your fire shield up you will apply the burn debuff constantly while also using your regular damage (if you are unable to keep your distance)
- the ICE CORE in pve really helps you with survivability as your ice skills can stack a movespeed reduction on enemies as well as using the core skill allows you to freeze enemies with your next ice attack (even an instant auto ice attack)
- you also have a skill that is a countdown freeze, so perma freeze obviously means you take less damage mixed with easier comboing, but the overall damage is lower than fire
- the AIR CORE in pve is meehh you are a lot more mobile, and you can get stuns off easily with quick succession of skills but it's nothing amazing... it's decent for mediocre aoe damage but the fire core has much better aoe damage imo
- group vs solo pve the mage do fine, solo vs many mobs it's a challenge but if you kite and cast cc with aoe damage spells you'll find yourself wiping 3 mobs at a time with ease, bu remember this takes great skill and coordination of chaining abilities

-the mage is decent in pvp

- I say this because at the moment it's very hard to put out enough damage to most classes fast enough without being quickly bombared and killed, you have your shift/teleport skill that dodges any spells or attacks done in that short animation but melee classes have many ways to gap close and unless you combo perfectly you will die to berserkers and assassins quickly
- Paladin's are a pain too, guardians and rangers i say are the easiest to kill as a mage but the mage cc is quite easy to counter in pvp with the amount of skills giving to some classes and trying to perma freeze in ICE CORE is almost useless as many classes and quickly get out
- The FIRE CORE is your best bet in single or group pvp, the flame/burn damage will keep damage on your enemy even if you're cc-ed or running away to gain some distance
- Ironically the AIR CORE in group pvp in 100v100 i find gives me the most points (for damage and assits) when i use all the aoe skills in there, and it also keeps me mobile for running away from large groups (idk if you play league of legends but one Air skill is literally a leblanc W/ teleport to a area and do damage, and you can teleport back to your original point)

-the mage is very fun to play

- this is my sole opinion but no other class really has true magic in the game at the moment other than the paladin in some casses
so being able to cast these amazing spells and hurl meteors from the sky, casting a tornado when i twirl my body( AND I CAN MOVE WITH IT!!!! Lv. 45 skill)
- the visual gratification of spells along with the decent damage makes me really enjoy the class for what it is, and my teammates or enemies always know when i mean business
casting shards of ice, flams, and lightning from the sky... you know a mage is not playing around lol

-the mage is upper medium difficulty
you need to combo your skills correctly for the ultimate damage or to trigger cc
for instance you can't aoe stun with the FIRE CORE unless you apply a certain debuff on an enemy first, THEN using an aoe meteor skill
your positioning is super impotant and while i say kiting is doable it's hard to maintan a good amount of damage if you don't get your channel skills off too
the mage has some powerful instant cast skills but they have minimum 15s cooldowns so you must rely on staying on the move while also dishing out damage and that takes skill and knowing when to [shift] to avoid certain attacks and remain alive

-is there any depth in how skills work? yes
mentioned above how certain cc won't work unless you use a prior skill
also you can't unlock the true potential of abilities unless you study them
for instance the AIR CORE lvl 45 tornado is not a movable ability on it's own
but if you use your core skill then the tornado you can MOVE WHILE CASTING IT WHICH MAKES IT A SCARY THREAT TO ENEMIES WHO ARE FLEEING FROM YOU~!
the shield ability is crucial in my opinion no matter what core path you're using FIRE/ICE/AIR the shield is crucial to stay alive a little longer and giving bonus effects
Fire shield gives you burn damage to enemies who attack while it's up = free damage
Ice shield slows enemies who attack while it's up = easy kiting
Air shield gives a stack of "static" to enemies who attack and 2 stacks = free stuns
ALSO if you have the auto attack equipped shields duration increases i think 2 seconds for every auto attack you use this means that instead of it going off after 30 seconds you can keep the shield up indefinitely until it goes off cd to recast again, this took me a long time to learn since i would use more spells instead of kiting with auto attack early game

Overall the mage is my favorite class, early on you feel as if you're not doing much but around lvl 25~30 when you can really unlock some dynamic abilities it's amazing~!!
and the mage will truly shine then

um.... lol yeah forgot you haven't played yet #whoops~!
um i enjoy the pvp a little more as the consequences of messing up aren't nearly as high as when you're in a dungeon with your guild or teammates lol
but that's just me not liking stressful situations where if i mess up we lose haha
solo pve is fun though since it's not too serious
100v100 pvp battelgrounds are fun as i feel as a mage i contribute a lot of splash and spike damage to enemies and help our faction wipe the enemy faction with cc and high damage

i actually prefer pve but i don't do dungeons a lot these days as my guild usually doesn't want to go

i spent a lot of time doing pvp in bless, even when i was lvl 25? or 30 and i was able to queue up for 3v3 arena (the lvl 45 koreans would get mad since my low lvl noob would always make out team lose lol )
it was at first just curiousity but it turned into an almost daily hobby of doing 3v3 pvp arena and the 100v100 battlegrounds plus little fights in the open world when i ran across the enemy

i played Aion where i mained a spirit master, not so much the sorc as it wasn't as cool to me, um...
in Blade and Soul i played the force master which was fun
in most other mmos i played a healer or dmg/supp hybrid class like bard (forsaken world)
my first mmo i played was Fiesta online and i mained the mage but idk if anyone remembers that ancient mmo lol