06-03-2008, 05:58 AM
Quote:Also on socketing, the blue text heal / MP5 gem is over-value. In fact, any blue text half / half gem with MP5 is overvalue because the actual gem value would have it at 1.x MP5, but they roudned up to 2.0 MP5.
As such, generally socketing is done so that blue and red and "I don't care about socket bonus" sockets get Royal Nightseye (+9 heal / 2MP5). Then 2 sockets somewhere are chosen for INT / MP5 gems (or Heal / MP5) to make the meta requirements. This will go a long way in helping with the mana issues that any pally without illumination is going to have.
My problem with the 9/2 gems is that when you apply the point system to them, they pretty much always lose out. I fully believe you that they are over-value according to how blizzard does things. The problem is that what blizzard considers the proper ratio and what is correct for a prot pally healing is different. GG and I both ended up with 10 +heal = 4 mp5. I believe wimpy meant 10 +heal = 3 mp5 since that favors mp5 more than what he said. So let me use the 10=3 scale for the example since it favors mp5 more than what I think should be.
We have 18 heal vs 9 heal and 2 mp5 on gems. 18/10=1.8 which would be the value of the red gem according to the scale. For the other gem we have 9/10+2/3=1.5667 as the score. So we have 1.8 vs 1.5667 which means that the +18 heal is better even according to the scale that I think favors mp5 too much. If you go to the 10=4 scale then you end up with 1.8 vs 1.5 and so the +18 heal is even more ahead. Now if you gain a socket bonus that gives more mp5 or +heal then the values are close enough that the 9/2 gem pushes ahead. 2.23333 vs 1.8 on the 10/3 scale and 1.9 vs 1.8 on the 10/4 scale for a 2 mp5 socket bonus.
Lets say you had an item with 2 blue sockets and a +2 mp5 bonus. That ends up with 18 +heal and 6 mp5. So with the 10/3 scale that is 18/10 + 6/3=3.8. An 18 in both slots is 36/10=3.6. So on the 10/3 scale the double 9/2 is slightly ahead due to the bonus. On the 10/4 scale you end up with 18/10+6/4=3.3 vs 36/10=3.6 so now even with the bonus the 9/2 gem loses.
So basically the numbers seem to say that in the best case 9/2 gems are only worth it if you can get a bonus for using them. Now using them to activate the meta you mention is probably enough of a bonus to make it worthwhile. On their own though, I just don't see them as better than the pure 18 +heal gems. It can also be argued that the scale is simply wrong, but well...that is the point of this thread.
I should probably go back through the list of items and switch out some of the gems for 9/2 ones where there are bonus's to be gained. My gut tells me there were very few cases where that was the case. I recall many of the items having a red, yellow, and blue slot on them. In those cases you can't get a socket bonus that makes it worthwhile to not use 3 +18 gems. At least without putting some kind of purple quality gem in the yellow slot. Even then you are looking at (on 10/3)...(18+11+9)/10 + 4/3+5/=5.1333 vs (18+18+18)/10=5.4 Now that ignores the int from the purple gem, but even if we value the int super low at 20 we end up with...5/20=0.25 so 5.38 vs 5.4 which means the three 18 +heal gems win even with a purple quality gem in the yellow slot and using the scale that favors mp5 more.
I may go back through the spreadsheet and think of a way to represent gems seperate so that I can change them easier and see which items have them, but I'm still not sold on the 9/2 gems except as a means to activate the meta.