Is the (Shadow)Priest the better Mage in WOW?

[playingtokrush]

The higher level stuff I can't get into, yet, but I've played my priest to a decent 17 now so I know how shadow priests do then.  My mage killed in less, but was probably sitting to drink every 4th or 5th mob at that level.  My priest never drinks.  I was content swinging with the Mace when Spirit Tap didn't proc before it was 100%.  Now, I can live off my spell damage for a few guys, hold back a little occasionally and just swing the mace, and I'll never run out of mana.

The overall time might be slower, but it's still close.  More importantly, you're involved the whole time.  It's not "kill kill KILL", "drink drink drink".  It's a constant moving on.
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It will change at higher levels. The relative effectiveness of mana regeneration, spirit tap, and your melee damage will change such that you'll spend more mana casting damage spells -- or, if not that, more mana healing yourself.