Ah, right, that makes sense. My strategy is kind of the opposite, since I play squishy mage characters that need to stay out of melee at all costs, and therefore want allies to tank for me, while you're running a defensive melee character that prefers ranged support. Anyway, thanks; I'll keep you updated if I have any success!
Edit: Gah, I just realized that my description of the Elemental spell needs verification, as I never actually tried to cast it without targeting anything... If I get the rune again, I'll experiment and give you my results.
Update #1: I have Insight at GODLIKE again with three pieces of Crystal gear (It's quite easy, given that Scholars essentially have base Great insight with their Enlightenment ability, and am looking to up my Resilience and hopefully Charm as well. It seems that I cannot in fact craft all the recipes I know with all tiers of materials (the compatible recipes, of course)- you mentioned something about leveling up recipes?
Also, the Crystal Ingot crafting tip was much appreciated- I don't think I would have ever gotten this much Crystal otherwise, and it's a huge boost to a mage.
Anyway, DeathMage out!
Update #2: Ran into the Arcane Researcher, traded away all my shards. Got, among other things, a Rune of Elementals! Will post my trial results after I find a good spell combination. Also, is Slowness good on a long-ranged spell?