People who have leveled as Balance

[:1]Hey guys, I'm going to start leveling a druid and have been doing some searching around to see which spec I would like to level as.

I'm thinking Balance, but I've been reading a lot of posts where people say they had to drink pretty often. I hate downtime, so I just wanted to ask the opinion of those who have leveled as a boomkin, if there is that much downtime. I'll be in full heirloom gear if that makes a difference.
I leveled 1-83 as a balance druid. It was really fun and I enjoyed it but downtime was kind of a problem. I was okay with it but if you really hate drinking and waiting then you might not like it.
As soon as you get lunar shower mana concerns go out the window. lvl ~60-ish. And as long as you innervate liberally I don't think there'd be a mana problem. Solo'n I can't think of any particular instance where I was hurting for mana, and up until 60 your healer doesn't need your innervate anyway, sooo......
level as feral and you get very little downtime. as well, you can tank if you get bored of questing. makes for faster leveling
I leveled 1-85 as balance; just to see how it was, I casually played a second, feral druid up to ~50. Leveling 1-60 is very simple right now, so you shouldn't have too much downtime due to mana.

Another observation of mine is that it was a lot easier to solo Outlands and Northrend group quests as a balance druid than as a priest or a mage.

If downtime is a problem, level feral until you have enough talent points to get Moonkin Form and respec. Once you've got moonkin, it's really on for leveling.
You should not level as balance, and there's a really simple reason why. Feral gets 30% increased move speed and has a charge that gets you to the next mob faster. You can level as balance, but why would you do it when you can have 30% increased move speed?

Also, you don't have to have a second spec to get instant queues in dungeons. Sacrifice a couple talents that only matter in high end raiding to get tank talents, and you will be able to do it np.
Likewise, if you level as balance you will have the gear to be able to heal, which isn't exactly an insta-queue but its fast enough.
I leveled feral because I could Pounce>Mangle>Ravage>Dots>on to the next mob.


It was actually a pita for those mob packs that were far apart, because I always had to go back and loot for the quest objects.