I also don't actually buy that MJ12 quote by the way. Simply by how different the dice mechanics and nWoD skills and oWoD Talents and Knowledges are, I find the comparison meaningless.
Same goes for magical power (for a certain definition of it). The only thing I find oMages get better is easier access to Aggravated.
Both games have about as many 'core' abilities. Moreover, both games have similar expectations: 4d is 'average,' 6d is 'professional,' 8d is 'expert,' 10d is 'legendary.' Given this, the contrasts between a Mage in the oWoD and a Mage in the nWoD are stark.
The oWoD mage gets:
2 extra attribute dots (7/5/3 versus 5/4/3). It's actually 3, but the Mage gets a free dot of a resistance attribute.
5 extra ability dots (13/9/5 versus 11/7/4)
15 bonus points, which will generally be invested into arete, but still get you 7 extra points to spend on more shit
-much cheaper costs to raise certain things in chargen (for example, WP at 1 bonus point/dot.)
The 2 extra attribute and 5 extra ability dots are pretty huge since that's enough to take something in your primary from okay (2/3/3 attributes, 2 dots in that) to 'expert, can generally expect to be the absolute best in that field even when surrounded by people in that field' (5 in the attribute, 3 in the ability) without any freebies. This is ignoring the ability to use freebie points-Westin started out with 6-8d dice pools in all the physical skills a killer assassin would use, had a 9-die firearms pool right out of chargen, was competent in the mental areas, and
also managed to buy up a bunch of computer science and medical knowledge.
5 extra ability dots and 2 extra attribute dots is the ability to gain broad competence in an entirely different secondary field. A oWoD mage spreading himself thin is a Renaissance Man, a nWoD mage spreading himself thin is a dilettante.
To me at least, that says more about the system than anything else? Dice manipulation being the only thing nMages can do is more because thats all the nwod system allows, rather than a statement of in-universe capabilities like what MJ12 was saying?
Also yeah, another reason I prefer Awakening: the game is actually about what the title says.
You get the ability to do permanent enchantments from Arete 1 in oMage, and the scope and scale of the things you can do with even 2-dot spheres are often significantly larger.
E: Also you get access to convenient
de facto immortality in oMage way faster than you get it in nMage.
