AOE Mage is a trap for sure.
I died hundreds of times learning the aoe farms when classic vanilla launched. SM, ZF, BRD, ect .
High risk, high reward.
My rogue is 38 but if it ever dies I might try mage. Won’t touch aoe till like 23+ though.
Mage playstyle has never resonated with me in this stage of game. I don’t think I ever got one to max level until Cata and he was still like my 6th alt I ocassionally took through LFR at best.
They are freakishly good though and one of the easiest classes to level if you know what you’re doing. They are definitely the fastest, but I think there’s some subjectivity to best HC class. They are definitely up there, but super boring IMO though. Warlocks or spriests playstyle resonates far better with me and I’ll always roll one of them over a mage.
Roll warrior if you’re super hardcore. 
I’ve mained a mage since 2006, the spells are imprinted in my muscle memory, and I still got munched by a Son of Arugal on my first one.
That aside, I think the class is a lot of fun (obviously), and the portals/food/water are super efficient, and helpful to the community as well. All the defensive tools are great even if you want to play a bit riskier, i.e., using more Fire spells than Frost. Pyroblast does insane damage but it’s only good as an opener, or as a follow to Frostbolt if you don’t mind taking a hit…but when you get your talents right you’ll see a nice chunk of mobs frozen in place after that Frostbolt, and, well…it’s just fun. If you just spam Frostbolt it can get boring but it’s way more mana efficient than Fire, but since you can make your own water and use mana gems, I don’t really get annoyed by needing to drink every so often.
Amazing combo with synergy - warlock + spriest. One of my faves.
But playing mage + priest as a pair in hc. It’s been pretty interesting watching the mana issue which improves for mage as you get more tools/gear/levels. Lulzy though being the priest and not the thirstiest one in the group.