That's why you slap the fuck out of them. Does more dmg, too, LOL. Or push their face mask up. SITUATIONAL AWARENESS. Nah I'm not a football player, but that's what I would do! Grab that face mask like it's hair and give someone a by the neck slam, or twist it then push them down. But if it's JUST a helmet, def slapping. I bet you could hurt someone if you slapped their steel plate helmet, too, at least make their ears ring. Would hurt your hand, too, tho.
The way the game is, magi won't be able to do PvE until they get something similar to parry. It could be a dodge, it could be a magic weapon, and by dodge I mean if you time it right, you don't get hit. Not a physical dodge because we know hit range on monsters is dumm. Then they need spammy dmg. The problem is pvp it would make them OP. The theory is IF they get to you... but PvE always gets to you.
Other games fix this by dash kites/teleports (lol at that in MO,) AoE spells that lower hit rate, spells with heavy knock back, but they need at the very least a bnb spam attack. There really should be staves/rods. That would pretty much fix everything, assuming they had some touch level dmg spells, but it would also make them op in pvp, or they would need to be extremely recalibrated. And if yall want more MP, staves could, instead of having dmg, give MP! WOW. Or you could choose raw MP or boosted regen (more than the boosted MP would give you.)
Sucks that you have more chance w/ a short bow vs mobs than you do as a mage tho. It's def not something that can be fixed easily. The best way, I suppose, would be to make some mobs that were heavily resistant to phys/pierce and weak to magic that DIDN'T close gaps, like create new mage solo content? I guess that's what they were trying to do w/ spiritism?
They also need to get shields the fuck out of there (for magi.) I'm sorry haha. It works and yeah there is def skill involved, but it's just another memey thing.
Take any portrayal of a mage, they might even have a weapon other than a staff, but I can promise you they don't have a shield.
So many bandaid fixes.