11-15-2006, 05:21 PM
Quote:As far as spirit is concerned, It is often necessary to choose between stats. In this situation I feel that Mp5 is superior to spirit because it applies in all situations. In addition spirit is not as effective for druids as it is for priests and mages. For druids 2 spi = 1 Mp5 where with priests and mages 1.6 spi = 1 Mp5.
Good news for druids though -- this is one of the things being changed. They will soon receive the same benefits for mana regen as priests and mages. Hmmm, I bet that is in the patch.
Quote: In VL's example lets assume that you would spend fully half your time out of the FSR it still would mean that for druids 4 spi = 1 Mp5, and I believe this only applies in unique situations.
You can attempt to try and gauge the relative value of spirit over MP5 when picking your gear by making a mathematical model of the fight. Remember that budget wise though, you can get a lot more spirit than you can MP5. The 1.6 SPI = 1 MP5 can really only be used to determine when it is ALWAYS preferable to pick the MP5 over the spirit (i.e. you are never under the FSR). It all has to do with the amounts available and the time spent under FSR.
I used to use a spreadsheet where I filled in % of time under the FSR, and duration of the fight. It would calculate for you the total mana for a given piece of gear under those conditions, even taking into account talents for spirit regen.
The real trick, and the 'holy grail' of the mana effciency healing model, is to do a good job of entering +heal into the equation. It's quite easy to compare spirit and MP5, quite difficult to add +heal. The model could of course add in the +heal gained through Int.
Quote:One considerations that I haven't discussed is the impact of spirit on the effectiveness of innervate. Perhaps this merits more analysis.
The effect of innervate is also easily added to my spreadsheet.
I really like the balance/resto hybrid -- if I had a druid that would be how I would go. Another consideration is that spirit isn't so great for DPS as you are trying to spend your time casting constantly for damage. It'd be nice to have DPS gear overlap with your healing gear, and Int + MP5 help both.
A tree druid, however, has additional incentive to stack Spirit. It's a very interesting set of choices to make.