Ruling out Guildwars (been there/ Done that) and DDO (I don't trust the developer), which current MMO has active combat and good PvE content?

For anyone who played the game and is leaving because of the announcement, which game are you looking at?  I personally was more offended by the dishonesty than the model, although I wasn't happy about that either.

Wizards are one of the best character class in the game, based off of their versitility and power, so long as the person who plays the character thinks about his role in the group before hand.  The mana pool is obviously much lower than a sorc (my sorc character had beat out my level 14 wizzy by level 10), but the balance is maintained through the ability to gear up perfect spells for the mission and higher DCs than a sorc can get (based upon the extra feats).

The thing about running casters is you need to adopt a different strategy at the lower levels then you would for fighters.  Since you wont have the spell points at the lower levels really to contend for the lead in kill count, it is imperative to stay behind the fighters as much as possible.  On any open battle (without obstructions that block the mobs from your location), you need to watch what you cast.  Since crowd control will be most important in the lower levels, certain spells are appropriate for open fields and certain spells are appropriate for blocked off portions.  Web is a great spell; however, if you cast web widely in an open field, you will succeed in pissing off most of the mobs against you.  Glitterdust and hypno are your friend in wide open spaces.   In choke point battles, who cares if the mobs get pissed.  They can't reach you anyway.  Blur at level 3 is a spell that you will be packing almost always, because you essentially increase the parties HP's by 20 per cent.

Level 5 is where wizards get interesting.  You get haste and fireball.  Don't use fireball in wide open spaces unless you have alot of experience, a good cc screen away from the blast radius and haste and jump.  The problem with the spell is that is causes so much aggro that the fighters won't be able to get the monsters off you until they are dead.  In choke point battle fields, burn away.

Level 7 gives firewall and stone skin.  At this point, you focus may move away from concern with attracting aggro to desire to attract aggro.  Good times.  In choke points, firewall mobs.  In open spaces, with SS on, you can plop a maximized & empowered firewall, and shield block (I'll keep a towershield just for this purpose) and the monsters won't be able to hurt you before death.   Later, you will haste and jump mobs through the firewall, and accomplish the same thing.  My sorc occasionally will follow up a firewall with a couple of fireballs just to ensure aggro. 

Obviously for caster level 5-7, there are some great spells available, depending on who you are geared.  As a buffer, you will probably always bring into high level content greater hero, stone skin, and blur.  If there is only one caster and one cleric, the wizard usually gets sucked into dropping the elemental resists. 

Final comments about wizards - you will know which fighters are good and which are not more with a fighter than with any other character.  The cleric really only knows who is taking the most damage, not who is doing the best.  The best fighters are ones who can get and keep the aggro of the mobs away from the casters and clerics.  They accomplish this by either killing quickly, intimidating, or out damaging the caster against particular mobs.