The Mage Issue

I like playing a mage. The only reason I didn't roll a bright wizard in WAR was the fact that there were plenty of them already. The damage you can deal with them justifies the smallest HP in the game. And you can do so many awesome things with the BW. The powerful fireballs, AoE and DoTs make the class fun to watch, fun to play and painful to play against. When a played my squig herder I would run away in search of some big rock to hide behind whenever I got so much as a single hit from a BW. These guys would fry your butt in seconds. Now that is some ranged damage dealing.
I play a mage in WoW. There is definitely something wrong with the class. It is no longer the primary damage dealer it used to be (and has to be, taking into account the lack of HP). Warlocks are now at the top along with the Death Knights. That makes the mage just a vending machine that can also provide portals. For that reason there are not many mages around and, really, it is not like people really need them in raids. They can go with a warlock and be just fine.
I blew a lot of gold on respecing this week. I initially was frost spec and it does reduce the damage by about 10-12%. That is a considerable number. First I went Arcane because I heard that it is not the joke it used to be. It is a fun spec - that's for sure: more resistance to all kinds of magic, improved blink and almost instant invisibility. Great for getting out of tight spots. It was hard getting used to Arcane but it got me to Wrathgate. The spec gave me more mana regen, took a great chunk of crowd control away but granted more damage. But still not enough.
Next I decided to try fire. Felt like a BW a bit. A lot of damage, long cast times and wild consumption of mana. Fire is for the damage but for some reason I did not enjoy it. I ran a dungeon with my guildies shortly after. I was fire spec before so I didn't have to get used to the abilities. But man was that a hard run for me! I can't live without AoE and CC of the Frost spec. Plus there is no way a mage can go about without an Ice Barrier. The squishiness of the class doesn't let you be unprotected when swarmed by mobs. Mana Shield is not the answer for me. And my guildies told me that they really miss my AoE Blizzards. So I went back to Frost. I had to bite the bullet and swap damage for AoE and CC.
The mage is facing a predicament. Not enough damage for a class that is supposed to be the primary damage dealer in the game. When you try doing more damage by respecing you lose mana and ultimately your life. There are less and less Frost mages around because of the lack of damage and less fire mages because of the lack of CC. Arcane is somewhere in the middle, so I guess that this is the spec to go with for most mages today. I'll stick to Frost however, I just love the crowd control too mush.
It looks like waiting for the new patch and hoping for some mage-love is the way for me. Dual spec will only be available at 80 and I'm not leveling fast enough.
Another thing is the graphics. The Mage spells don't look too hot. The Warlocks have received some cool spells and the imps are chatting all the way through the dungeon runs. Arcane spells look ok but both frost and fire haven't changed since 2005 it seems. If Blizzard won't give the Mages more power - they could at least make us look cool. A mage should be much more than just shooting Fireballs and Frostbolts. Make frost mages freeze the earth around them or something. And fire should be like the one we see in Utgarde Keep.