WoW newbie looking for advice

[TriggerHappy]

Wand DPS really is starting to drop off, and I'm only level 32 with the Priest. Even with a blue wand and 5/5 in wands spec, I find it too slow to kill thing with it when I start at 70-80% mob health on even level targets. And Mind Flay does such pitiful damage at this point (rank 2).:(

I find myself relying more and more on using Mind blast twice, so I'm thinking of respeccing again to get points into improved Mind blast, so I can go Shield ... Mind blast, SW: P, Mind Flay, Mind blast, Wand to death from what is now ~40% mob health.

At which point does Mind flay actually begin to do serious damage? It doesn't seem like it ever does, judging from the damage listed in the future ranks.

I tried out Vampiric Embrace as well, and there was basically no point to it till Shadowform, I came to realize (and perhaps not even then). I almost never heal myself during combat (unless I get 2-5 targets on me). Shielding myself before combat and if really necessary again during combat, has resulted in my barely ever using my healing spells. So with hardly ever needing to actually heal myself, I found Vampiric Embrace to interfere with spell rotation, taking up valuable time, but hardly providing any benefit.
I'm sure this will change, but at this level, I just want more spell damage rather than utility.