There are no viable passives for arcane mage playstyle
As i can see, the arcane staff seemed to be designed to provide buffs, sheild, and cc to peel for allies, while being a low damage style of play.
So no heals, no damage, and mostly instant or channeled spells. The problem with this playstyle at the moment is that it hugely lacks synergy with nearly every single passive on the game... even the great arcane staffs passives are borderline useless as they provide cast speed or energy regeneration.
as for armor, at first, i thought that it would go well with mercenary style gear with its high move speed, cooldown reduction style to provide maximum use of the E knockback and to stay out of harm way. to me this is the only viable option, but is still pushing it.
solutions-
give mage armor's healing increase passive the ability to also increase shields.
give mercenary gear's cc duration passive the ability to knock people back further.
possibly add a new passive that can buff allies resistances or damage output when in a close proximity to you. (would also give healing class more diverse playstyle options and reward positioning much more)
hope somebody reads this, thanks!

Sep
Does Albion Online Need More Solo Play Areas?
Many of the people here in the R4PG.com office have had a lot of fun with the game but from many of you guys who come here looking to buy Albion Online Silver. We have heard you say that playing as a solo player is really, really hard.

Oct
You spent a long time working on the Learning Points system
This will keep a big incentive to have premium while keeping players from doing it all by just having the money to invest in multiple premium characters.

May
A few questions about Albion Online, will help you play in Albion
All founder packs give you at least 30 days premium. That does not mean that on release the packs will keep the 30 days. Probably it will be removed. But yes, at least in this last beta it has been easy to pay the premium with ingame money. Depends on the time you have. My advice it to get into the game ASAP to start finding out what this game is about. You will be lost at the begining and need to learn basic stuff that will speed you up once released.

Dec
Albion Online will not be the trail blazer
Anyways nothing about Albion Online stands out and you can tell that by the point the developers tried to emphasize was "cross platform" feature which has really been a setback more than an advancement

Oct
Three comments about albion online
The design is pretty retarded, clan and personal isle is THE END GAME in albion. The buildings in there is so important, esp the farm plots. To seperate the players from noob zone and pvp is just unthinkable.

Feb
Albion Online Destiny Board revamp
If a new player wants to be more useful, why not allow them to compensate for being new by purchasing T8 gear and jumping into the action? They still have to come up with the Albion silver to buy the gear, while being more likely to lose it, so it'll only boost the economy more.