Eh, i personally find gale and its mastery useful as a mage who doesn't use shield....

Also, gale stun and ice freeze, they work on different mobs, good luck trying to freeze the curse mage in mausoleum.....
Yes, I know FB works too, but you can alternate when one's on cool down.

Side note, my gale mastery removes curse, let's see if any of your shields can do that?
Note: nilbog doesn't count as shield