Yesterday during our 3’s, my priest friend asked if I would try Arcane spec so I gave it a shot.

Arcane missiles, go!
Boy, do things die! The whole rotation revolves around 6 skills, sadly. Cast Slow, pop Arcane Power, Arcane Barrage, PoM Pyro, Arcane Barrage, Arcane Missiles, throw in a Counterspell and Sheep in there and usually something dies. I actually felt less skilled than before. Currently, the whole WoW community is complaining about damage scaling much higher than survivability and I’d have to agree.
For games that DON’T end in 10 seconds, I usually lack the survivability (and mad crazy skillzzz) to live. I still have a LOT to learn as far as mage goes but for the moment, Arcane is a good time killer. Most mages plan on going 20-0-51 Frost PvP spec with Torment of the Weak and I do plan on finishing with it, but for the meantime Arcane will be my nub friendly spec!
For an example of a pretty awesome mage using arcane spec (as of this posting), have no fear and look up Pookx.