But I don't have issues winning fights, I just feel like my mage isn't contributing as much as I was hoping.
What build are you using and what is your team comp. You may just be doing it wrong.
Pretty much what Igniz wrote; you'll need to supply us with a bit more information as to what your game plan, your party composition, your expectations of the foe variety/density, your play style, and your criteria of 'enough contribution'.
For example, let's just say at the Alexander fight at around level 8, if my mage who goes first can CC Alexander and deal some amount of health damage then he/she has done their job with minimal to no exploits then I consider that competitive and the mage to have fully contributed (because Alexander will be dead by the second or third character). How the mage gets there within those parameters doesn't matter as much but your expectations might not be the same.
I could tell you how to do it and what the bare minimums you would need to do it, but if you're going to say "but that's close for comfort" then we're more limited on our options to make your vision work.
