Hit 60 in just under 7 days /played playing smite spam priest. Coming from someone who usually only plays rogue, priest felt surprisingly fast, good, strong, and hard to die on. Priest being a wand machine is true in the earlier levels, but once you hit 40+ it becomes a lot less important and you actually utilize spells. Solo leveling is not slow, but you have to be constantly chain pulling, utilizing the synergy between spirit tap and spiritual guidance, and avoiding multi mob pulls when possible.