The upcoming combat changes will change the pets thusly:
Earth: Tank with low DPS
Fire: High DPS but weak defense
Air: Balanced DPS and defense
Testing by the guys on test server show that the Air pet is the best overall.
The crowd control trick in EQ2 is agro, or more correctly, the lack of agro. You pet-attack the mob until the mob turns on the pet. By now they are all running at you. Target and pet-attack the next mob, and repeat until all mobs are on the pet, not you. You then back-up the pet with pet heals or damage spells (careful, they also draw agro). You can easily send the pet to an add for crowd control. If you try to root the mob instead, all agro is on you, which is a bad thing when the root wears off or outright fails. The higher level the monster, the less likely the root will stick or stay for the full duration.
When I pull a group, I do it from a long distance with pet-attack. As soon as the pet lands damage, I pet-attack another mob, repeating that until all mobs are on the pet. Of course I will end up taking a few shots, but I typically survive it unless it's a very tough mob. If I can't shed the agro, I pet attack it and unleash all spells. If it seems like I won't survive, I turn and run in circles, using a 8 second DD wand to kite and land damage, while the pet is chomping it from behind. If all else fails, yell for help (breaks the encounter) and just keep running. They will eventually stop chasing (unlike EQ1).
If the mobs are weak, I just stand there and duke it out, landing my AE DoT's.
We have a few good spells for damage absorbtion, but they don't last very long. It will be long enough to enable you to 1) run, 2) get pet-agro, 3) root and back off, 4) burn it to the ground. One spell, Stone Skin, lasts only 3 hits, no matter how large or small. Good that you can take a massive hit, but bad that a few DoT's will quickly wear it out.
There is an additional spell (Flameshield) that retaliates at the mob when you are hit causing it damage, but the rule of thumb is to cast that on your pet so you get no agro.
We still don't have the biggest DS spells in the game, but we can help in a fight by throwing a small one on the tank while the healer gets spells back up.
If you want a pet, go Conjurer. If you want to nuke, go Wizard/Necro. Mezzer is still a mezzer.
So far, all the spells are primarily combat. Damage, pet, buff, etc. There are very few utility spells like in EQ1. I particularly miss Levitation. The combat upgrade for spells level 50+ are going to be a bit more varied, but still continue most established spell lines.
I played a EQ1 mage to 34 and really enjoyed the task of summooning and equipping the pet...maybe schlepping a buff off a high level player.
As a Conjurer, I'd like to actually...conjure...something.