I love my mage, but don’t like being dps-only.
Is there a reason why mages don’t have a healing spec?
Is this thinking left over from 40 years ago when D&D was a thing? Is it because this was the way WoW did it and so can’t be changed?
I’d love to have a healing spec. I don’t understand the resistance to it.
I don’t think most players really care…But Blizz cares. And unfortunately for you, they’ll probably never tell you why they will never give mages or any other class a 4th spec.
My guess is that it has to do with the amount of work involved with making and balancing that many new specs.
I’d say the fact that spellswords/spellblades exist in WoW but players can’t play as one. So if mages were to get a 4th spec, it should be something along those lines.
I didn’t realize that this idea had a following let alone a “resistance” to it. 
I wouldn’t say there is resistance to this. Because it isn’t a thing. Like, I’m not against elephant resistant underwear, but even if I was that isn’t why those aren’t a thing. They aren’t a thing because NOBODY ON THE PLANET BUT ME WANTS THEM!
Kinda like you. And this healing mage thing you have going on.
Blizzard just has never added a 4th spec to a class that didn’t already have a spec that was doing 2 things at once.
I would rather them have a tank spec actually. I would love the idea of a ranged tank. Just something different and Mages would fit the bill given the type of punishment we have seen them take in lore.
I don’t want a whole spec, but would be nice to add healing back into Evocation.
They do have the ability to heal in Season of Discovery so it seems like they have thought about it.
I don’t think 4th specs are entirely out of the question. I don’t think they’ve ever said they’d never do it and even if they did they sometimes change their mind (like when abandoning flying in WoD didn’t work out).
I like the idea, but just to argue for the sake of it, how exactly would it fit into the class fantasy in a way that already doesn’t exist? E.g. water element is used by Resto Shamans, Temporal healing is now Evoker’s thing, and shields are Disc Priests thing. So there goes the most obvious healing elements of Water/Time/Shields.
What’s left? Would they be a Cake Mage where they throw cakes into the tanks mouth to heal them?
I guess something like a Thermal Mage could work where it’s like they freeze/cauterize wounds, but then it just ends up feeling like a Frostfire Mage ultimately.
There’s also the possibility of going more towards the Support spec route where it’s more of mitigating damage through spell enhancements, maybe even mini portals to transfer damage etc… but I feel like it ends up being very convoluted and doesn’t have a distinct flavor.
Also there’s other and more prominent class fantasies that better suit a potential 4th spec like Spellblade/Spell Breaker.
OMG YES this 
There’s general opposition to this?
Huh.
The only thing I could see that would be odd for a healing spec would be… rogue. Or warrior. Maybe even DH. Those three seem to be very “Argh, I am going to kill you now!”
Anything else… who cares? Let 'em heal.
OP, who exactly are you addressing?
This is like me making a thread asking why people don’t want me skipping rope as exercise: zero people are even thinking about me skipping rope, let alone have an opinion on it, let alone oppose it.
I don’t think this matters much. Several healing specs use absorbs to some degree (disc doesn’t even use them as much as they did before their rework). Holy paladins and priests both use holy magic. Shaman/monk/druid all use nature magic. They use it in different ways though.
A mage healer I’d say would probably focus on arcane and time magic, but it wouldn’t have to be an evoker clone. SoD mage healing is basically time magic + atonement but only one of their abilities is basically a clone of an evoker spell.
I wasn’t a huge fan of SoD arcane mage honestly but I never liked atonement after the disc re-work.
…i mean.
No. Not really.
I forgot that Abjuration is a thing. So they can fit it in if they want to tbh: https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/The_Schools_of_Arcane_Magic_-_Abjuration
i didnt roll a mage to heal.
wotc and hasbro roll up in their lawsuitmobile.
"lets…
Not really.
Druids use nature magic yes but Shamans use the water element and monks use the spirit element (which Pandaren call Chi).
How would that even mechanically work? Not all damage is done from long range, so you have to hold aggro of melee mobs in melee range. I just don’t see a way to tank from out of melee range in anything but a specialized scenario, like Gruul’s Lair had, which absolutely would be cool to bring back as a mechanic in a raid fight but idk if it could create an entire viable class and role.
Considering they created heroic talents instead, I wouldn’t ever count on 4th specs coming.