varth wrote:The people saying holy levels faster are out of their minds, shadow tree gives more efficient and reliable dmg output than holy, and that's all that matters for leveling speed. Once I get off work I'll type up a point for point comparison on why its better to level as shadow
That is true. I really don't get what all these holy people are about. Sure, if you really want to level as holy then that's fine, just don't trick people into thinking it's the best spec for leveling.
Why is holy kind of crap? Because the holy spells are crap: holy fire takes ages to cast and barely outdamages 1.5 sec cast mind blast, smite levels up every 8 levels so you'll never use it, and none of the talents really help you out much in the leveling processes besides making you take a little less damage. Sure there's a 5/5 talent for +25% spell dmg, but you won't have a lot of that whilst leveling, so it'll basically give you almost none.
Shadow on the other hand gives you a HUGE 10% increased hit for your shadow spells (especially important against mobs a few levels above you), longer duration on SW:P, longer range on shadow spells, stacking % increased shadow damage debuff, self heal through damage with VE, 10% increased shadow damage and another 15% increased shadow damage and 15% reduced phys damage taken through shadow form.
All of these improvements might not seems like insane improvements alone, but together they make up quite the difference.
Do yourself a favor and level as shadow + 5/5 in wand.
