Mages: Yay or nay on the Burnt Wood Staff?

[Thugnuts]

I'm playing through my first mage here, and wondering if this staff is something I should invest in? It's a a 13.5 second clicky bolt spell that does around 500 damage starting at level 46. Sounds alright, but I keep running into the following thoughts:

1. If I'm soloing with a max level, buffed, and armed pet and keeping him alive from one fight to the next, it seems like it would be difficult to outdamage him so that I get full experience. 13.5 is a long casting time and at level 46+, how many casts do I need to get off, especially counting for resists? If my pet is getting smacked hard and I need to heal him, that's going to make it even more difficult to get enough damage off with the staff before the mob dies. Using the staff in this situation seems like it would be less ideal than using a level appropriate nuke to guarantee full experience.

2. If I'm soloing via chain casting... 13.5 is a loooong casting time. How can I possibly integrate the staff into that scenario without fubaring my chain casting? I suppose I could use it for the finishing blow once a mob starts fleeing, but wouldn't it be more efficient to just use a fast casting lower level nuke and finish it off quickly instead of waiting for one or more casts from the staff, and possibly risking picking up additional aggro?

3. If I'm grouping, I could see it being somewhat handy in providing mana free damage in situations where it takes a long time to kill each mob. Otherwise, most good groups are going to kill each mob so fast that I'd have trouble even getting the bolt off before the mob dies.

4. There's also the stat loss resulting from equipping a 2 handed staff and losing my slots. As of right now, that would mean the staff's stats are actually -15 INT, and minus some hit points and resists as well. That's a big chunk.

5. And finally... it's a bolt. If I move or try to use it in twisty areas or multiple elevations... it's going to strike out anyway.

All in all, it seems like a lot of sacrifices to be made for a questionable return.

Is there something I'm missing here regarding the utility of this thing?

Any firsthand experiences you can share would be great.