without evidence to backup my statement, I’m going to disagree here – with the caveat that we’re not talking about a dead server, or largely unpopulated zones. And what do I mean by that? Mages only excel if they are AoE Grinding – and AoE Grinding is only successful in a variety of key factors:
(a) Melee only mobs (ideally)
(b) dense population of mobs
© reasonable respawn
(d) mobs do not have status impairment effects (fear, stun, horror)
But my challenge is not a, c, or d – it’s b. On a populated server, in a populated traffic zone, finding AoE grinding spots that aren’t (a) camped by other mages (or parties of mages) or (b) being ravaged by other Horde/Alliance questers is difficult. Hunters can handle 2-3 mobs easily, with little downtime and keep pushing thru quests- mages require more downtime and are only efficient to handle multiple mobs if they can herd/handle 5+ melee mobs with room to kite/blizzard.
They are indeed great at leveling, but between mana downtime and reliability on AoE grinding to be a leader in this pack, Hunters generally have an easier time leveling faster.
Again, mostly just my two cents with no empirical data.