Poolboy, definitely go 100% elemental, and get the caster based rewards (even cloth) until you hit Outlands. Outlands quest rewards actually have decent MAIL caster gear.

I boosted my team with a 70 mage to lvl 45 before attempting ZF by myself. ZF was fun to solo... and it wasn't all that hard. Just make sure that you have shield + 1h equipped in instances. Oh, and you haven't seen overpowered until you hit lvl 50 and get Totem of Wrath x 5.