Strongly considering mage for my main alt. I’ve always loved the magic classes in other games, and it seems like mage consistently has a class that pulls high DPS. The only drawback I see is that mage gameplay seems slow compared to rogue. My main interest is PvP going into Shadowlands.
Why do you like playing mage? Pros? Cons?
Pros: Nice visuals for each spec,
typically at least one very strong spec
blink and iceblock are amazing to avoid or completely mitigate damage
portals and teleports
various styles of play within specs to help them stay fresh and engaging
timewarp
I made my way through all casters except shadow priest this expansion, and mage became my favorite and will be what I take into shadowlands. I almost became a hunter, but they seem to be building legendaries and conduits towards the way I enjoy playing frost mage, so I stayed true to my current main.
edit: Cons–Cast bars
Pros: magical pew-pews. 
I’m simply a fan of ranged DPS
I can’t speak for many other classes because I only have 2 120s, but PvE wise, gameplay is pretty relaxed: Standing still and pressing a few buttons to take down my enemies. Especially for Arcane. Some may say Arcane is boring, but I look at it as being simple. I like simple. My 2nd fav spec is Frost. I love the feel when you launch all of your icicles and lances at an enemy for big damage. I could never really get a feel for Fire spec though.
Being able to teleport has me spoiled. My other alt is a Warlock and I missed being able to travel like that so much. Providing food for myself and party members is also a nice touch.
I play magic types in various games because I love the idea of being Gandalf/Merlin/Elminster. I love the utility (food, counterspell, teleports, etc.) as well as the various offensive and defensive spells. Blink and Ice Block are very handy. Also, being unable to heal means we rely more on our ability to avoid damage or absorb it than other classes.
Its a lot of fun blinking around and going full tilt dps. I enjoy polymorph, and the ability to teleport/portal around to places. I also like the three specs, they’re a natural fit for the class and each has a unique play style. We bash Blizz at times about mages, but overall i think they’re such a fun class to play. I remember being called a god once by a raid member, when I was the only one left fighting Thok. I kited and blinked until my mirrors came back up and i popped them. I was able to bandage and then blast away and then killed him. The cheers and OMGs in coms was so awesome to hear! One of my greatest WOW moments for sure! Its just so much fun to play a mage 
All of these answers confirm that I want to roll a mage! Like rogues, it always has at least one spec that’s in the meta and that’s always enjoyable to me.
Cheers!
Just gonna leave it at “portals.”
Pros: Feel like a watered down Jaina
Cons: Feel like a watered down Jaina
Because we’re masochists at heart.
Because daMAGE
Because I enjoy having melee glued to my * 24/7. It keeps me from getting lonely.
That and I just love having blue * fly out of my hands while jumping around.
Ahhh, good times! 
My very first character long long ago at the launch of burning crusade was a mage:) I remember I solely picked mage because you were able to conjure your own water/food. When I was really little my dad would let me play some of his toons and I never liked the idea of spending gold on how much food and water you went through those days. Of course food now is an irrelevant cost and not nearly as necessary for most classes, but still a nice perk!
This. This is what I want.
Nostalgia because it sucks now
I love it mostly for the theme. I haven’t done raiding since WoD so the rotation is easy and things melt nicely as Arcane.
The mage archetype has always been my first pick in RPG games. In this one, I liked it enough to keep it as my main for 16 years now (with the exception of a 4 month period at Wrath launch where I mained a Paladin).
On the plus side, there’s usually at least 1 mage spec that is strong for raiding. It’s pretty rare for all 3 specs to be complete garbage.
This is always so weird to me when ppl say this. Do you really spend SO much time going to major cities that it is a reason to pick mage? I mean they’re convenient to be sure, but the reason you play the class?
I love the theme and aesthetics for mage, magic in general is just cool and fun in the fantasy world.
But also just content wise, I like the style of upfront magical blasting. High damage and high impact. I also like dot classes but I find I get bored if I play them too much, which is why I like warlock/priest as alts.
But mage man, still not bored yet. Going on like 4 years now since WoD. I play black mage in ffxiv also and I have similar fun with the pew pew blasting.
Here’s the thing, I could probably have fun playing any class in the game, so quality of life/utility are big for me.
And to be fair, I save a lot of time with the teleport to pandaland.