Hi Ark,

Good question. I'd say that many Mages use Spirit / Phantom Dart also because of how broken Mage *Spells* are. I think you've noticed how often Conjurer or Thaumaturge Spells are Resisted by monsters in the game. They miss, are partially resisted or fully resisted so often, and even when they hit (after a decent casting time (compared to Weaponskills instant release)), they do poor-to-average damage, with spikes of great damage once in a while.

Add to that the weird situation where your Tier 1 spells (Fire 1, Blizzard 1, etc.) can sometimes do the same damage or more than a Tier 2 spell at times, and Ancient Magic that's totally broken, and you can see why some people would rather spam Spirit Dart instead. (not counting Shadowsear, which is great. )

If Yoshida-san and his team fix Mage spells to do more damage (taking into account a casting time, use of MP, etc.), get resisted less often, I think you'd naturally get more players using Spells over Spirit/Phantom Dart.