Thanks for the quick response, how about the second part? Any ideas on that? If I just set one of the mages to follow but had it cast exactly the same spells then this would be a simple way of increasing dps? (though not really having the same benefits of working as a team with another mage).

I really feel I lack the co-ordination to do anything more than this, but I've got a feeling it'd still be a quicker way to level up (playing 'solo' in effect)