Re: 7X mage template
A great template. Commonly called a heal-stun. Well rounded, incredible survivability, and once you get good at stunning at the proper time and using your bandages to conserve mana you will do quite well. Still going to have to learn about pots and wands and all that to make sure you are aware of what your opponents will be doing and their abilities to heal the damage you put out if you decide not to use them. You will have to spend some time developing good magery and stun related skill to be able to counter what people can heal through, but it's doable. There are a few masters of that template running around on occasion if you need help (I am not one of them.)
Game hasn't changed all that much since 2006 as far as I can tell. Was a great server then, and I still believe it's the best freeshard out there. The only thing that seems very different is that the gradual modifications to animal control requirements have made PVP tamers less powerful. The change to AOE damage affecting everyone has also greatly reduced the number of players that use explosion pots, and has also completely changed town fighting. I still have hiding on a couple templates, but they are typically PVM or Red solo PVP where it is useful, since you are giving up a substantial amount of offense for the 100 skill points invested.