leveling 40-60 as shadow?

[Botmaster5]

i know almost everyone and their mother's dog spec 0-0-31 as soon as they hit 40 for leveling (and fun) purposes, but...

how is the mana regen issue with casting mind flay instead of wanding, since it is keeping you out of your "non-casting spirit Mp5? if you are chain pulling single mobs back to back with your dps rotation, how often are you stopping to drink?

the reason im asking is because im closing in on lvl 40, and currently leveling as holy. Mobs die pretty slowly, but im ALWAYS topped off on MP soon after the mob dies. The only thing that im leery about respeccing into shadow @ 40 is the drinking downtime

can someone give me some non-anecdotal info on s.priest mana ussage and regen

[AgentMulder]

I am level 31, so I will not be able to answer your questions about Shadow mana regen. I only know what I've read which is that end game requires an arduous use of pots and runes.

I will ask though...are you planning to spec 5 points back into Wand Specialization anyway, eventually? Once you do then you could always just start wanding again to get yourself into your regen. I've read that Mind Flay is currently bugged and you don't even get its 3rd tick (although you're spending the full mana).

I'm leveling mainly as Disc with only 3/5 in Spirit Tap. With a 60% chance to proc I find that it procs enough to not warrant the additional two talent points. I wanted to go down into Disc first to max out Mental Agility, because I like to bubble myself for my pulls. Being bubbled = uninterrupted Smites = faster kills. It's fast enough for me, but I understand to each their own. I'll likely grab Divine Spirit as well before moving back into Holy.

I leveled as Shadow in retail during Wrath, but they gave us Shadowfiends then to regen mana. Your question is valid. If it were up to me...I'd rather have to cast two more Smites, or wand for an additional 5 seconds per mob, and walk away from the pull with over 75% mana, then kill faster and have to drink. Drinking will add more downtime than slower holy kills. Also I want my mana pool for the inevitable gank, STV is on the horizon lol.

[Ana]

You just spec into Meditation asap, and spend some money on drinks until then.
The rotation itself isn't very expensive, actually - blast -> SWP -> flay -> fearbomb -> flay -> flay -> mob is probably dead by now. I think you can downrank fearbomb to save mana, and if you have enough +shadow gear you can even skip the initial mindblast and just wand the mob near the end, waiting for the dot to finish him off. At a semi-decent pace (1 kill every 30 seconds) you'll be drinking every 6-8 mobs, I think.
Oh, I hope it goes without saying that spirit tap (and preferably some gear with +spirit) is mandatory.

[Botmaster5]

You just spec into Meditation asap, and spend some money on drinks until then.

so, from level 40 til 52 your mana regen is going to be garbage and you will have to drink every 6-8 mobs? no thank you. I think ill stick to Disc/Holy leveling

[Ana]

Yeah, but you'll be killing mobs 3x faster than disc/holy so it kinda works out in the end.
Btw meditation is only 15% base regen, it's not that much of a difference. Spirit tap is where it's at.

Oh, and if you stick to skipping the mindblast opener, you can probably go on much longer without drinking (12+ mobs is viable). And that's still assuming solid killing pace, if you have to take any kind of breaks between mobs for moving around etc you'll have no mana issues whatsoever.

PS that build you linked has no shadow weaving. That cripples dps kinda badly.

[poplar]

I'd suggest taking Shadow to 57, respeccing to Disc/Holy(pick up divine spirit) and then running BRD a couple times and do all the quests. I think some people can heal it with shadow spec, but I didn't even attempt it considering the problems I had with ST. Once you're done, you can spec back to Shadow and go hit 60 in the plaguelands or whatever.
Also Alchemy is a really nice prof to have after 40, the mana pots assure you won't have to drink water ever and the shadow damage elixir is really nice if you can get your hands on ghost mushrooms.

[gotmilk0112]

You don't have mana problems. I respecced 0/0/31 at 40 and continued to do fine. You can still wand, you'll just be doing a bit less damage for the next few levels as you put points back into Imp Wands.

But really, Shadowform is worth it. 15% shadow damage and 15% melee reduction > 15% wand damage.

Another thing to remember is that you can use rank 1 fear instead of bubble against single mobs, as it uses much less mana.

[varth]

You really shouldn't give a hoot about having to drink every 8 mobs as shadow, considering you are killing mobs at twice the rate. The fact that you don't have spirit tap maxed is extremely unwise, it's the best talent we have for leveling along with imp wands. Not having that destroys any credibility you have about debating leveling talent points