I agree to say that at lower levels it might make a little difference (though then again at lower levels the mana return per INT point is less I believe, so you'd want +mana gear rather than being a DE if mana is an issue).
With that said, I'm an Ogre SK and I don't remember going through serious mana issues at any point, though I did most of my leveling with an enchanter admittedly
[You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] A slightly larger mana pool gives you a tad bit more of autonomy when soloing, but really a tad, and is that little extra mana really offsetting the extra DPS & HPs you'd have as an Ogre for the same soloing purpose? I'm not so sure.
In groups, the point is moot because as long as you have Breeze/C1/C2/bard song according to your level, you should not be running oom even if the group is killing very fast. One SV per mob is enough between 2 DCs at pull and you can go on keeping aggro with DC only after that, and DC costs virtually nothing. Possibly, at lower levels when fighting fleeing mobs you might need a small break eventually to med up that mana lost from casting engulfing or so, but that's solved in your 40's with the BE gauntlets (which become less often used once you get 54ish and have C2 around).
TL;DR: If you want mana, get a clarity, don't be a Dark Elf.
I understand why people would want to play a Dark Elf for a SK. It's by far the most fitting race from a RP perspective, Dark elves look awesome and you're not a dumb fatty. But don't pretend it's for the stats, please. Having 2000 or 2300 mana Ogre vs DE at lvl 60 doesn't change shit, it's all about mana regen and smartly consuming it
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