The Lifecycle..

[Haligali]

Here's a simple example of a good mage: Say he has Gale, Clock, Shield and Lifegiver memorize.

Group of mobs pull by whoever (mostly war, occasionally other classes)
A smart to above average mage before or about to do crowd control is...Gale (to stun up to 6 mobs) then Clock after and then use LIFEGIVER After that. Thats how you stay alive even if LIFEGIVER aggros. And if he likes to cast shield before or after that, that's his choice.

That's what i mean by good to above mages who can play their class well.

Therefore, IMO. There are tooooooo many mages who do not know how to play their class well and therefore they are either AVERAGE or BELOW AVERAGE players.

Very good build but try replace clock with curse, go with a warrior who use rally cry plus a rogue who use combat medic and charge shadow pierce always. Passive skill I suggest damage and speed maxed out so you can run away from mobs faster. Pet is deary of course, if you haven't got then scorn really helps, or the short cd misty.