Debating which one to invest in at the moment. Primarily for M+, not much for raiding. I worry about the survivability of hunters once the keys get higher because their defensives are just bad but aside from that I enjoy the class. Mages seem to think they’re in a rough spot but I haven’t tested it past +5 keys myself so I don’t have much of an opinion on that yet.
I’d love to hear some feedback if anyone is playing either currently!
Give Mages a Gun
Hunters are more mobile while DPS’ing so may be easier to avoid damage vs Mages
Arcane missile is machine gun.
It is tbh
I used to be a Mage
Idk how the scaling is now but in Shadowlands, lvl 10 - 30 mage arcane missle literally melted people in Battlegrounds
Me and my friend would just stand there, channel together, and watch people dissapear 
Low lvl tuning is whacky
Arcane is still melting faces, I train cc them if they even look at me. Damn abominations. As soon as I see one coming out of stealth I don’t even wait for 3 stacks of clearcasting, nope cc instantly.
Depending on how much you care about “tier lists,”
Looked one up and apparently all 3 Mage specs are higher than MM Hunter right now
MM Hunters lost Double Tap fairly recently, apparently it was a massive nerf but didn’t realize it dropped them that hard
Guncasters are awesome.
Use the magic with the pew pews! Fire bullets without need for gunpowder or just use the thing as a catalyst.
Either way… it’s awesome.
I mean, I’ll read them occasionally but I don’t put a whole lot of stock in them, all of them are different for whatever variety of reasons.
I’m sure double tap affected them some for sure, but the ones I’ve run across do decent damage nonetheless. I’m just unsure how bad their survivability is higher up.
If you’re looking at doing higher level content mage > hunter.
On higher keys hunters die when the boss even looks in their direction, its one of the classes that I never pick up in pugs unless I desperately need lust.
A lot of higher io healers will just boycott hunters because they don’t feel like babysitting one class throughout the entire dungeon.
How high is too high? So a class balance issue?
Unless you’re looking for the 0.1% title, your own gameplay will matter more than the class you choose will.
Hunter survivability is terrible, but mage survivability is not much better. If you want to do M+ this season and survive and have fun, balance druid is what I’d recommend.
18+ keys is where I start seeing hunters drop off, this is for pugs only though.
In an organized static group hunters have seen success hence the multiple very high io hunters.
The public perception amongst a lot of healers are they are too squishy and I don’t have time to babysit them in a chaotic environment in pugs.
Passive mage survivability is bad, but if you use the tools they have well, they are noticeably better than hunters.
If u have the option to be a wizard or anything else always be a wizard!
Say what?!
Alter Time on a 50 second CD / IBx2 / Shield
Mage survivability is fine.
I really like my mage. Ice floes lets you cast while moving and it’s al most always up so we aren’t as immobile as you might fear.