Like most games of this nature, I'm guessing that DPS depends on gear more than skills. I've seen a few post that state that mages don't get good crits, so I was wondering if anyone has discovered a build or certain types of gear that can make a mage effective at DPS?

Don't worry, mages have the potential for great DPS! In fact, their AoE DPS is what sets them apart from the other classes- although the brunt of the "DPS," for most spells, is inflicted in one initial burst. So, although mages don't stack damage the way the other two classes do, their burst damage, and residuals from spells like Ring of Fire/Gaseous Blast/ etc., make up for it.

I've heard that certain spells have a higher crit chance than others, but the main thing is spell boost. To maximize power you want to concentrate on boosting a single element. You can click 'Dezda' in my sig for an example- there are many others, also.

Mages dont rely on dps from staffs they use uber amounts of mana to dish out the damage with their spells and actually do more than warriors if using AoE spells