The fire pet is really nice for leveling with the torch focus. The extra HP makes all the difference. With good mob selection (they key is finding low blue cons, preferably ones with low HP for their level) you should be able to use one fire pet per mob, dismiss it when the mob gets low, and finish with a nuke. This avoids the 50% XP penalty from the pet and is very mana efficient. I was able to do this consistently on my Mage until level 50ish.
Alternatively, if you wanted to level alongside your friend it would be a great opportunity to level up a Cleric bot. Mage/Cleric is an extremely strong leveling duo and is dead simple to play (if anything some people might find it too boring because it's so easy). With decent twinking the Cleric can melee and tank well enough 1-40 to add DPS and level up the defense skills. After that you just get a max level pet, buff it to the gills, and keep it healed while it chainsaws through everything (Burnt Wood Staff on the Mage helps a lot 50+). The Mage brings tanking and damage, Cleric brings heals and CC. It's a less powerful but way more relaxed version of Ench/Cleric, and one that can easily level 1-60.
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