Best mage race for PvP?

[Anythinggoes]

Which of these races is the best for PvP?

Gnome has Escape Artist (EA)on a 1 min cd.

Goblins have Exit Strategy - Rogues' sprint on a 5-minute cd that makes you unable to cast while sprinting and slows you down when you finish.

Undead have WotF, arguably one of the most powerful PvP racials in the game. 3 min cd and 5 secs of fear immunity.

Dwarfs have Stoneform which can remove poison and blind.

Orcs can resist stuns 25% of the time.

The question is, which of those is best?

Escape Artist is great against the majority of enemies in the game, especially melees, but a frost mage should beat those easily, except a rogue.

Goblins have longer cooldown on their racial and it comes with a downside. Imho, not that great?

WotF helps against the most feared(pun intended) enemy of a mage - warlocks and to a much lesser extent - priests. A mage should be able to win against a priest without WotF. It should win against a warrior too. But can a mage win against a warlock even WITH WotF? Is the racial overrated for this reason alone?

Stoneform is cool, but helps mainly against rogues, while EA can be good against more enemies. 10% more armor on a clothie is unlikely to keep you alive. Cooldown is longer too?

Stun resistance is good, but it is RNG if it will work or not, and as a mage you should rarely get hit at all. Again useful vs rogues, but so are the rest of the competitors.

For me, it boils down to gnome vs undead. Besides, for the life of me, I cannot stand orc or dwarf mages. Those bulky muscles and fangs and burly beards do not belong to a scholar. Goblins are the ugliest thing ever, cannot play them as any class. Just awful.

Anyone willing to share some thoughts?

[Gladeshadow]

Worth beginning with this: Pick what you like. There are reasons to pick all (well, most) of the potential races.

Gnome: 2 relevant racials. Escape artist: It's great. Expansive mind: An amazing passive racial. More mana and a passive higher chance to crit with spells. Seeing how people go nuts for +crit, they should also go for maxing this.
Human: Perception is great for PvP, though situational against only 2 classes. A mage can also aoe if they think someone in stealth is close.
High elf: Nothing spectacular. A weaker version of evocation. Not truly pvp relevant.
Dwarf: The stoneform racial can be good against rogues. Definitely seeing a theme of racials helping to counter rogues!

Troll: Berserking is really a PvE build since getting the most out of it requires a fair amount of planning and things working out correctly. In PvP, the opponent won't be letting someone do that.
Forsaken: Will of the forsaken is great against fear but also a fair number of engineering items. Nice overall.
Orc: Stun resistance passive is pretty big. However, mages have a bit of built in stun countering since they can blink out of it. Still, stun resistance may mean the orc mage can save blink for later.
Goblin: I want to like this race because they're small. But their Exit Strategy plan is pretty terrible for nearly any class, including mages. Mages are already slippery targets with all their cc, snares, and slows. Going fast at the cost of 2 penalties, going slow afterwards and a silence, is terrible for a mage.

So on Alliance there are PvP reasons to go:
Gnome
Human
Dwarf
On Horde there are PvP reasons to go:
Forsaken
Orc

I agree on the aesthetics thing. It's weird to look like a roided out mage. Personally, I like gnomes since they have 2 relevant racials, 1 of which is a passive you don't even have to think about. On horde side, I'd lean towards forsaken since Will of the Forsaken counters more things than stun resistance AND because mages already have a stun counter.

[Springboards]

Horde:

orc due to thousands of paladins you will face inside bgs at 60. Goblin can be o.k but the sprint silences you.
Troll for pve(and maybe pvp)pumper
I think undead are most useless, not many warlocks on alliance , lots of warriors though

human is useless so its just dwarf vs gnome. 1min vs 3 min cd but only problem is escape artist has a cast time ...lots of UD rogues on horde so dwarf may be better

There is transmog here,just put a robe on which covers the muscles of the model, boom, done.

[Zvyrhol]

The race with the best animations is the best even in PVP. Surely, you can have the best racials but even the best racials can't cure your ugliness of being gnome.

[Gladeshadow]

No robes "cover up the muscles" adequately in the minds of many. May as well tell the The Rock to put on a dress because that would cover up his muscles.

[Anythinggoes]

The race with the best animations is the best even in PVP. Surely, you can have the best racials but even the best racials can't cure your ugliness of being gnome.

I actually think gnomes look good as mages. Having something so tiny EXLODE a fireball in your face is hilarious. Their small stature fits a certain stereotype that since gnomes lack physical strength, their mind becomes their source of power. Can't say the same about gnome warriors. No matter the armor, they look very UNintimidating.

I can certainly agree that the undead have, by far, the best animations which makes other races of similar height look stiff when casting. Human females, for example. I have the feeling their upper body moves just fine, but their legs look somehow strange, too close together as if they suffer from back pain and are afraid they will trip when releasing a spell.

[Ataika]

warlock is a mage's counter so undead
well its not quite a counter on twow due to dampen magic being bugged for eternity, but once fixed it will be hella harder to fight locks as a mage