On Reflects
Foot Mages - its really up to the individual mage if they think the change was bad. Some like it for the convenience and having something extra to do as a mage. I do not mind it as a mage and its nice not having to reflect constantly. I would say its about 50% of mages dislike the change with around 40% liking or not disliking it. It did dumb down the gameplay of mage v mage where you used to use reflects offensively to steal a reflect off a enemy player.
Foot Fighters - All foot fighters love the change so far, its very convenient and counters getting mage bang, it allows them to get needed heals while being protected from mage bangs.
Mounter PvP - This is the only reason why it should be reverted I think. On foot the reflect changes I think were fine mostly, annoying ins some situations where a dude gets 3 reflects in one fight but its was largly fine. However the reflects completely broke mounted PvP, they get this extra layer of protection that counters the main way to kill a mounted which is burst damage when they pass by. They get protection from corrupts from other mounted while being able to heal through the reflect. It is a very bad situation and mounted gameplay is at its worse right now. Lots of people just stopped playing their mounted because how broken the reflect changes made mounted. Also there are major issues with mental projectiles not being reflected. Mental projectile has literally no counter now especially against horse.
Conclusion - For foot gameplay outside of some issues like mental projectile one of the best offesive magics in the game having no counter now it is largely ok in foot fights. Except for also how it dumbed down mages and removed offensive casting of reflects.
But mounted v mounted has been destroyed, while mounted v foot has gotten a lot safer. It completely breaks mounted PvP and should be reverted for that.
On mage shields
Foot mages were fine, no decent player was having issues floping a mage that made a mistake. The shields allowed for more gameplay options besides just kite away or just shit there and parry up. It made foot mage more dynamic.
SV telling mages to wear rugged garments is almost insulting to the PvP player base. Rugged garments are just giant noob signals, there is a reason people dont wear that junk in PvP. You might as not even wear armor, you will get two shot with or with out rugged garments on.
Living past two meele hits as a mage is more important then having 90% mana regen. Most mage armor is at 6.6-7Kg and we take it off in the middle of PvP if we need mana back.
It was completely out of no where that feedback said mage wearing shields on their backs was a problem. The only issue is when mounted mage wore shields and they still can because the main mounted mage build is a fat oghmir with 10 free KG of armor weight from clades. You have more mana regen as a fat mage and you cast slower so you run out slower.
The shield changes also made a lot of mages have no reason to try to gear them selves out, a starter swords and some scale ranger armor is all you need with you 2g worth of regs. No real need to try and get better gear. Its kinda sad as I like farming for gear and stuff now it just cuts off the reason to farm for me. I would like to show off with a cron shield, cron mage helmet ect. Now the best I can farm for is ganoid.
There was no reason to restrict round shields from foot mages. People only asked for penalties to wear a tower shield which this is fine for.
On Mounted Magery.
Many videos and examples have been giving of mounted mages owning in PvP and doing very well in game. They are a very good build that has no weakness thanks to a horse they can dump all points into damage and mana along with health. Even before the reflect changes a MM who new how to play would dominate against foot players, was unkillable by any single mounted and even two v one mm, and hit the hardest out of any build in the game with uncounterable damage hitscan damage. They made it worse with the reflect changes which allowed the mm to heal his horse while reflecting the main counter to a mm which was reflect. And it would protect against foot mages or other mms who targeted their horse. MMs were largely unkillable unless you swarmed one or they were really bad at the game.
The mm buff just buffed a alpha build class of the game with increase heals per second and increase dps. Also allows them time to replace reflects on their horse to counter corrupts. They can now out heal two MAs while having time to cast a mental projectiles for 70 on the MAs horse which ignores magic reflects.
The MM buff was one of the worse balance changes if not the worse balance change to the game. It made so many mounted just not want to log it. Just bricked entire playstyles and forces people play mounted mage which is slower and less fun the MC or even MA but those playstyles cannot compete against a competent MM.
SV just needs to revert all the changes these came straight out of the blue and really harmed the games playablity and enjoyment in PvP.