Priests. Why we are so ..umm.. difficult.

[Treesh]

A good mage will always announce, when he is going to AE, so that the priest can shield him, before he even gets started, as well as to make the priest aware that he is going to have spam Flashheals into the mage in the coming seconds.
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Actually, something I've learned having two mages behind Aleri frequently is to not shield before the AoE. Let the mage take one or two hits (depending upon how hard the critters hit of course and how many critters there are), then shield, slap on a renew and be ready for a flash heal if shield wears off before the soul sickness does or before all the critters are dead. In really nasty situations, that actually keeps the mage alive better than shielding beforehand. At least if you have renew talented up as much as possible, it does.

If your mage is prone to panic or doesn't have improved arcane explosion maxed then this method may not work quite as well, but for me and my frequently-grouped-with mages, this keeps them alive and uses less of my mana and less concentration and worry than the way you describe.