World of Warcraft/Classes/Mage

Mages
The Mage is the primary ranged damage-dealer in World of Warcraft. Their class role is to deal as much damage as possible to certain targets while still keeping the aggro (aggression of computer controlled monsters) on the tank (a character who has high health and armor who maintains aggro so the weaker party members can perform their duties.) This role of dealing lots of damage in combat has given the Mage (as well as the Rogue, a melee damage dealing class who performs the same function of a Mage in groups) the title of "DPS Character", after the term DPS, meaning "damage per second." DPSer is a term used (slang) to refer to classes that deals lots of damage. Mages, Rogues, and in most cases, Hunters fall into the category of DPS characters. Mages also boast many kiting and Crowd control abilities. While these spells pale in end-game content, they are highly useful in beginning instances. Mages also can summon food and water for allies and themselves.

Party Role
As was said above, the Mage's role in a group is to deal as much damage to a certain MOB (MOBile — meaning anything that is opposed to you that moves) with the least aggro possible. A mage can do this by proper spell management, waiting for the tank to establish aggro, and knowing what mobs are the best to hit. Typically, the best mobs to target and destroy first are the "soft" targets, those with the least health. These are usually the caster mobs, who most always have some annoying spell or healing ability that will hurt your group in the long run. Soft targets are also chosen because the mage needs to kill as many targets as possible in the shortest amount of time.

In many instances, mages are also very handy at CCing (Crowd Control) mobs with a spell called polymorph.

Class Pros

 * High Damage — can conjure food and water for allies to eat/drink, reducing downtime (the time spent healing after combat) to a minimal margin. This also allows mages to pass up the peripheral healing skills (Cooking and First Aid), saving time and money.
 * Has lots of AOE (Spells that effect a certain area, hence the term 'Area of Effect' spells) potential, being able to deal lots of damage to lots of mobs at once (however, this can be dangerous as it causes lots of aggro and should only be attempted in certain situations).
 * Is very fun to play if you enjoy being the "glass cannon" (low health, high damage).
 * Polymorph is a spell that allows the mage to turn an enemy into a harmless sheep for X seconds. This can be extremely useful in both PvE (Player versus Environment - fighting computer controlled mobs or instancing) and PvP (Player versus Player) combat.
 * Blinking, Teleporting and Portals — mages have the ability to move themselves from one place to another instantaneously. This varies from moving very short distances – or "blinking" – to teleporting themselves across the world to major cities or even creating portals for their whole group to travel to a major city. Blinking is especially useful for escaping combat situations which are not going favourably. Getting to a certain level of health is usually the time to use any stun/freeze spells to impede your attacker and then blinking away and running.
 * Invisibility allows mages to rapidly reduce aggro

Class Cons

 * Low health
 * Very fragile, and easily killed in melee range.
 * Difficult to prioritize targets for newer players in the heat of combat
 * Subject to binary resists on their frost spells. Binary resists mean the spell is either 100% hit, or 100% resisted, unlike fire spells. This is being reviewed.
 * No innate ability to heal themselves.