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

[Skandranon]

I'd venture that two unassisted mages > two unassisted warlocks, and mage + warlock is better yet -- let the mage start first, then both are uninterruptable and the full AoE DPS of the warlock is applied

None of these facts are in dispute. However, two warlocks assisted by Concentration Aura > 2 mages assisted by Concentration Aura. And after you get the first caster going, all AoE casters after him get a free ride, so you gain more by adding additional warlocks, not more mages. If you don't have Concentration, you might have use for one mage, but no more.

The only point we disagree on is that I think that because mage AoE is easier to apply, it is "better", even though the potential DPS output is less.  That's a pretty fuzzy line.

I suppose it can look that way. In my experience, once one has learned how to AoE and you're coordinated with the group puller, mage AoE doesn't become any easier to apply. And especially in a raid, the fact that mages are the only ones with moving AoEs doesn't change anything, since if you want the entire raid's AoE on one target area, you *have* to hold still since everyone else's AoE doesn't move.

The only trick I use with moving AoE is in cases where there are mixed pulls of elites and non-elites, like the two dwarf + two dog pulls in BRD. In that case, I let the tank take aggro on the elite initially, then move forward and hit AE just once to take the aggro from the nonelites but not from the tanked elite. Then I back up to a safe area and AE the nonelites. But the point of this tactic is to avoid getting the elite's aggro, and the only reason I do that is because I don't have the damage to kill the elite fast enough. When I move when applying AE, it's to make sure I don't break CC or don't hit an elite that I don't want the aggro from: it's a compensation for the fact that I don't have enough damage. Moving AE is the freedom to not hit things, but I'd rather hit them all for bigger damage.