Priest leveling talents

[Exedore]

A few of my friends are going to be starting characters on Ursin (new PvP realm) and I decided to try my hand at a priest to help them out. I know that basically everyone says to go shadow for leveling until the mid 50's, but I started looking at the talents a bit more and started to have second thoughts. Other than Spirit Tap, it seems that there isn't much in Shadow that outweighs the damage and healing bonuses that I can get from Holy talents. I was comparing Smite and Mind Flay in terms of DPS and DPM, and Smite has a much higher DPS, but significantly lower DPM. The tradeoffs seem to balance each other and that's the main reason for my question. Is there something I'm overlooking such as a synergy between shadow talents, or is a holy build viable for leveling?

[dave]

Silence, imp fear are very worth it.

[antisnow]

Shadow Mastery
Spirit Tap Rank 5
Blackout Rank 5
Improved Shadow Word: Pain Rank 2
Shadow Focus Rank 5
Improved Psychic Scream Rank 2
Improved Mind Blast Rank 5
Mind Flay Rank 1
Shadow Reach Rank 3
Silence Rank 1
Shadow Weaving Rank 5
Vampiric Embrace Rank 1
Darkness Rank 5
Shadowform Rank 1
Shadow Total: 41


Discipline Mastery
Unbreakable Will Rank 5
Martyrdom Rank 2
Improved Power Word: Shield Rank 3
Discipline Total: 10



is what i did to grind to 60

[Exedore]

... is what i did to grind to 60
Any reasoning behind that? And what I'm really looking for is something I'd be aiming for around 40 or 45, not 60. Also, which talents are important, how do they help, etc. For example, spirit tap is very good because it drastically reduces the amount of downtime you have. Silence is nice, but I can get by without it using mana burn or just out-lasting caster mobs.

[Crossbones]

Smite takes an hour to cast, is terribly mana inefficient, has no snare, and even if it really was the equal to mind flay, the talents you get in shadow also make SW:P and mind blast better. The biggest altercation I'd make to my dear antinoob's build would be to lose shadow focus for mental agility and imp mana burn. MA makes SW:P/renew/mind blast more efficient and mana burn is good for caster mobs, enemy priests, and paladins. If you planned on playing beyond 60, I'd also lose martyrdom/FC in favor of improved fort.

I went straight to mind flay, then got imp PW:S, then went to shadowform. Some people go straight for shadowform, but I could never stand 30s weakened soul.

The new servers are fun. I have a paladin on Kelecgos.

/NINJAOUT

[Exedore]

I've played to 18 so far and I'm noticing how crappy some priest spells are. I usually smite to pull a mob, mind blast while it runs to me, SWP it, and then either use PWS or renew and wand it to death with the occasional mind blast. I've only tested with 3/5 in Blackout (went to bed right after 18), and while not that reliable, is very nice when it procs.

Mind Flay isn't all that great anymore because of the changes to wands. It may be better once you get Shadow Reach though. Improved PWS is very enticing, but the 5 "wasted" points in Unbreakable Will keep making me want to put it off.