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Phaelia MP5 vs. Spirit

Published on August 31, 2007 by Phaelia
Analysis, Obsolete
11 Comments

This article became obsolete as of Patch 2.4. For Spirit and MP5 comparisons relevant as of 2.4, please see 2.4 Mana Regen - Part 1: The Basics and 2.4 Mana Regen - Part 2: The Mana Regen Calculator.


Within each class, the playerbase debates different game mechanics. Rogues debate Mutilate vs. Hemorrhage. Mages debate Fire vs. Arcane. Warlocks argue about whether they'd like their Fel Fire of Ultimate Win to be green or red. And for Restoration Druids, we frequently argue about the value of Spirit relative to MP5.

According to WoWWiki's calculations Blizzard considers 1 mana per 5 equal in value to 2.5 Spirit. That means, for the same item budget, you could get 100 MP5 or 250 Spirit. Which would you rather have? Let's look at each stat individually to shore up your rationale (whatever it might be).

What Spirit Does

From the official site, Spirit is described as the stat that:

Increases Health regeneration rates out of combat and Mana regeneration rates when not casting spells.

Sounds pretty good. More mana means more healing, right? Sort of. Not all classes benefit from Spirit in the same way. Some classes benefit more than we do from Spirit (like the Priest - boo! hiss!) and some classes — such as the Warlock and Paladin — benefit far less (these classes are inferior and undeserving of our Innervate). Here's how it breaks down among the four healing classes:

Class Mana/Tick MP5 per Spirit
Druid (Caster, Tree, Moonkin) (SPI/4.5) + 15 0.555
Druid (Kitty, Bear) (SPI/5) + 15 0.5
Paladin (SPI/5) + 15 0.5
Priest (SPI/4) + 12.5 0.625
Shaman (SPI/5) + 17 0.5

As you can see, Priests regenerate the most mana for each point of Spirit, followed by Druids, followed by everyone else (including us when we shift into a Feral form). Interestingly, a Druid with the Living Spirit talent has mana regeneration per point of Spirit higher than that of Priests:

Class Mana/Tick MP5 per Spirit
Druid (Caster, Tree, Moonkin) (SPI/4.5) + 15 0.555
Druid with Living Spirit ((1.15 * SPI)/4.5) + 15 0.639
Priest (SPI/4) + 12.5 0.625

Spirit and the Five Second Rule

One of the biggest limitations of Spirit is that you only receive the benefit of its mana regeneration if you haven't cast a spell within the last 5 seconds. This is known as the "5-Second Rule" (5SR):

After a character expends mana in casting a spell, the effective amount of mana gained per tick from spirit-based regeneration becomes a ratio of the [the values listed above], for a period of 5 seconds.

The default percentage of mana regeneration within the 5SR is 0%. However, there are several talents and abilities that boost this value, including Priest Meditation and the Druid-equivalent Intensity. Both of these are 3-point talents that afford an additional 30% of mana regeneration "while casting" (i.e., inside the 5SR). Having three points in Intensity is a prerequisite for Nature's Swiftness so it's unlikely to find a Restoration Druid without it.

Class Mana/Tick MP5 per Spirit
Druid with Intensity 0.3 * ((SPI/4.5) + 15) 0.083
Druid with Intensity and Living Spirit 0.3 * (((1.15* SPI)/4.5) + 15) 0.096

There are also a few items which can boost your mana regeneration while casting, at least temporarily. Perhaps the most notable is the Bangle of Endless Blessings which has a chance to proc an additional 15% mana regeneration while casting for 15 seconds (at level 70):

Bangle of Endless Blessings
Binds when picked up
Unique-Equipped
Trinket
Requires Level 70
Equip: Your spell casts have a chance to allow [15 - max(PL - 70,0) / 2]% of your mana regeneration to continue while casting for 15 sec.
Use: Increases your Spirit by 130 for 20 sec. (2 Min Cooldown)

Of course, you already have one of these after reading the article on Getting the Most out of Innervate, right? And speaking of Innervate it's worth noting that since Innervate is based upon its recipients base mana regeneration (outside of the 5SR), the more Spirit the better. This also means that giving your Innervate to a Warlock is less efficient than to a Priest or another Druid (or to yourself).

For more information on mana regeneration and the 5 Second Rule, be sure to visit Egotistical Priest and Priestly Endeavors.

The Tree of Life Aura

With the release of the Burning Crusade (technically just before), Blizzard added new talents for all classes, among them the 41-point Restoration talent, Tree of Life:

Tree of LifeShapeshift
28% of base Mana
Instant cast
Transforms the Druid into the Tree of Life Form.  While in this form you increase healing received by 25% of your total Spirit for all party members within 45 yards, your movement speed is reduced by 20%, and you can only cast Swiftmend, Innervate, Nature's Swiftness, Rebirth, poison removing and healing over time spells, but the mana cost of these spells is reduced by 20%.

The act of shapeshifting frees the caster of Polymorph and Movement Impairing effects.

While in Tree of Life, a Druid causes all heal spells cast upon her party members to receive 0.25 points of +Healing for each point of Spirit she has. At 400 Spirit, that's 100 +Healing (115 with Living Spirit). (For more information about how the +Healing coefficient affects our spells, see Mystery No More: +Healing Explained.) In a 5-man instance, that's effectively 100-115 extra +Healing for the Druid since she won't be healing anyone outside of her party. In raids, this healing bonus generally only benefits one or more main tanks, assuming the Tree has been placed in the MT group and the dynamics of a given encounter allow for the form to be used.

Mana per Five Seconds (MP5)

This term is pretty self explanatory as how many points of mana you will regenerate within five seconds (2.5 ticks). While it's often used as an overall measure of a character's ability to regenerate mana, both in and outside of the Five Second Rule, it's also available as a pure statistic on many pieces of gear. Unlike Spirit, MP5 runs all the time, disregarding the 5SR altogether. Acquiring a new item that grants you 4 more MP5 than you had before will therefore increase your mana regeneration while casting and while not by 4. There isn't much more to describe about MP5 since it's a pretty straightforward stat.

Spirit vs. MP5

According to WoWWiki.com, each point of MP5 is valued equal to 2.5 points of SPI. How much each is actually worth to you personally, however, depends on how much time you spend inside the 5SR. The more time spent outside the 5SR, the more beneficial Spirit is. More time spent "casting" increases the value of MP5 relative to Spirit. A good way to determine how much time you spend inside the 5SR is to run a UI addon like RegenFu (Ace2, FuBar required), which not only summarizes the amount of time spent inside the 5SR by each fight, but also calculates the relative value of Spirit to MP5 for that specific encounter. It is a more significant relative measure on boss fights than for trash when raiding since it's more rare to run out of mana on trash.

Sample Data from RegenFu

WoWWiki.com includes an incredibly useful article on Mana Regeneration formulas (albeit, based upon Priests) that we can adapt to determining the relative values of MP5 and Spirit for Druids. Adjusting the formula to account for Druids' slightly lower base mana regen:

Spirit required to match 1 MP5 =

Applying the above formula, we can derive a graph of the amount of Spirit required to equal MP5 based upon the amount of time spent within the Five Second Rule, both with and without Innervate*. Rather than only evaluating mana regeneration from Spirit at the new 30% Intensity, I also calculated it at the previous 15% for comparison's sake. Once again, I've graphed it over the % time spent within the Five Second Rule and according to the use of the following talents and abilities:

  • Intensity (both 2.2 and 2.3 versions)
  • Innervate
  • Living Spirit
  • Possible combinations of the above

Here's the graph of the new Intensity vs. the old Intensity. Future values are shown in a darker shade of the plots of their current values (eg. Red for "2.3 Living Spirit + Innervate", pink for the current value.

From this graph, note the following:

  • With 2.2 Intensity, you would need to be inside the 5SR (considered casting) no more than 32.5% of the time for the value of Spirit relative to MP5 to match that which is currently budgeted by Blizzard. With 2.3 Intensity, that number is increased to 40%. With Living Spirit, the number increases from 45% to 53%. With Intensity and Innervate, the number increases from 62.5% to 78%. With Living Spirit, Intensity, and Innervate, the number goes from 75% to 92.5%.
  • Assuming a Druid has both Intensity and is using her Innervate at every opportunity, the changes to Intensity with Patch 2.3 will make the value of Spirit much more closely match that currently being assigned in Item Values, especially if she is able to remain outside the 5SR 22% or more of the time.
  • Even if you were always within the 5SR (Lifebloom maintenance) and assuming you are using Innervate at every opportunity, 1 MP5 will be approximately worth 3.1 Spirit (down from 4.3 prior to Patch 2.3). With Living Spirit, 1MP5 is worth approximately 2.8 Spirit (down from 3.7 prior to Patch 2.3). That's an increase of value in Spirit by 28%, 24% if you factor in Living Spirit (the additional mana regenerated with Living Spirit is outweighed by the mana regenerated by Innervate so even though you will get a substantial increase, the rate of increase is not as high).

Factoring in Blessing of Kings

By popular request, I've added a graph that compares the valuation of Spirit relative to MP5 with Blessing of Kings, using the 2.3 value for Intensity (30% mana regeneration while casting). Non-BoK values are graphed in a lighter color than their BoK values and, as one might expect, the 1.1 factor on total Spirit causes each plot to shift slightly down:

Spirit vs. MP5 with BoK

Related Posts

  • Revaluing Spirit
  • Spirit vs. MP5, Blessing of Kings Version
  • Blessing of Kings vs. Blessing of Wisdom
11 Comments
Categories: Analysis, Obsolete

Phaelia Yes! Laser Chicken!

Published on August 31, 2007 by Phaelia
Community
4 Comments

Delos of Cenarion Circle has a new Balance blog (Ba-log?) that embraces my most beloved of Moonkin monikers, Laser Chicken! His first content article is about the use of cooldowns (Balance Druids have cooldowns?) in Arenas. Here’s a sample from his post:

Force of Nature: It’s fairly obvious that these should be used whenever the cooldown is up. Extra dps and casting-pushback make these treants very very powerful. I’ve made it a point to open with these, so that I never end an arena smacking my head after I realize I didn’t use them.

I know next to nothing about PvPing as a Balance Druid, so I expect I will have a lot to learn from Delos! Be sure to stop by and make him feel welcome.

Related Posts

  • It’s Aftereight. Do you know where your Heals are?
  • Forum Watch: Garrthos’ and Chariet’s Resto Arena Guides
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4 Comments
Categories: Community

Phaelia 2v2 and 3v3 Points Increased, Cyclone Buffed (Sorta)

Published on August 30, 2007 by Phaelia
PvP
2 Comments

Great news for Druids who selectively compete in smaller Arenas (where admittedly, we do our best):

Arena calculations have been modified. In addition, the penalty for smaller arena teams (2v2, 3v3) has been slightly reduced.

Let’s hope that “modified” doesn’t mean an across the board reduction with a compensatory increase for 2v2 and 3v3 Arenas (i.e., simply a nerf to 5v5 points).

And something else about the upcoming patch that I hadn’t considered:

  • Druids: Hibernate and Entangling Roots duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.
  • Hunters: Freezing Trap and Scare Beast duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.
  • Mages: Polymorph duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.
  • Priests: Mind Control duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.
  • Rogues: Sap duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.
  • Warlocks: Banish, Seduction, Enslave Demon and Fear duration against PvP targets has been reduced to 10 seconds.

These changes are an indirect buff to Druids, or at least to our 6-second crowd control ability, Cyclone. Because while the potency of Warlock Fear, Mage Polymorph, Hunter Freezing Trap, and Rogue Sap was reduced by 17%, our 6-second Cyclone remains untouched. In a manner of speaking, Cyclone is getting buffed 20% relative to the adjusted forms of crowd control.* Of course, our Entanging Roots ability is one of the forms of crowd control whose duration is being reduced, but Roots seldomly lasts its full duration anyway.


* The calculated 20% increase is based upon the fact that Cyclone currently lasts 50% of the duration of maximum length CC but will soon last for 60% of the duration. Increasing from 50 to 60% represents a 20% improvement over the original value (50 * 1.2 = 60).

Related Posts

  • Druid Changes May Indicate Possibility of Indoor Arenas
  • PTR Patch 2.1.2
  • PTR: Cyclone Range Reduced to 20 Yards
2 Comments
Categories: PvP

Phaelia Welcome, Karthis!

Published on August 29, 2007 by Phaelia
Community
1 Comment

A special welcome goes out to Karthis of Garona, author of one of the newest Druid blogs, Of Teeth and Claws. His first content article, Setting the Pace tackles the topic of ensuring that a group doesn’t stagnate. He includes such considerate tips as monitoring regular mana usage to gauge whether a particular party member needs additional preparation time before the next pull. Here’s a snippet of what he writes:

With very few exceptions, a group cannot progress without the designated tank being ready to accept an enemy’s ire – mass death usually results from an ill-prepared tank. So, the first thing you must ensure is that you are ready. Your hit points must be at full (so bring food if your healers neglect this), you must be adequately buffed (try to remember Thorns, and also check if your Pally buff is still up), and you must know what you are tanking next. This should take a matter of seconds.

Be sure to check out Of Teeth and Claws and help make him feel welcome!

Related Posts

  • Community Spotlight
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1 Comment
Categories: Community

Phaelia Mmmm … Bacon …

Published on August 28, 2007 by Phaelia
Community, PvP
3 Comments

This quote from Megan of the Out of Mana blog was just too good not to share:

And I’ll say this once, I’ll say it again — against DOT heavy teams who rush the tempo or even Bloodlust/Heroism gib teams in Blade’s Edge, powering a Tranquility underneath the Blade’s Edge Bridge while the fighting goes up on top tastes so good it should be packaged and sold next to Bacon.

Am I the only Durid (the Druid equivalent of “Huntard”) who hasn’t figured out how to make this work, yet? I once tried this in a 5v5 and watched helplessly as my four teammates were turned into so much guildmate-flavored paste. And were subsequently eaten by the 5-year old playing a Warlock on the opposing team. He was alone, too.

Related Posts

  • (No More) Water Under the Bridge
  • Arena Class Breakdown Statistics
  • 5-Man Moonkin Arena Team
3 Comments
Categories: Community, PvP
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Recent Comments

The Sprout(ed) Seed (87)

tkc
15 short years till he wants to borrow the car! Cheers!

Phaelia
As much as I loved writing Resto4Life and am enjoying playing again (even if in a very limited capacity), I don’t have the time to devote to blogging anymore. Instead, I’ve been learning2play from Keeva at TreeBarkJacket.com and Lissanna at Restokin.com. :-) I am excited that BRK is back, though!

tkc
Soooo, with BRK back in action, I’m wondering if Phae will get recruited too.

Jezi
CONGRATS on such a cute little one! <3 Jezi .-= Jezi´s last blog ..VIGIL =-.
The Belkin Nostromo N52 TE (73)

Marc
Hi, Too bad this blog is no longer maimtained. Thanks for you post though. I wanted to address the issue of lefties. I am on, and use the N52TE. I use a trackball with my right hand and the n52TE with my left, no problems.

Costo
I didn’t read the pages upon pages of comments so I don’t know if these issues have already been hit, but I can think of two things as a boomkin/tank druid that have helped immensely with my nostromo. First off, turn off the diagonals on the D-pad. Wow kindof accounts for these innately by combining vert/horizontal key presses. Having the nostromo keyed to do this is redundant and screws up movement. The second is key spam macro’s. I have my nostromo 6 buttom set to...
Andrige’s Shapeshift Skins (72)

Asher
Sweet thanks for sharing! And i thought I was the only one disappointed in WoW’s art and character customization! Let’s hope Cataclysm has more in the works of real visual art like this instead of middle school quality graphic farts!
Direct Healing in Wrath (103)

Phaelia
@Otta: This article is out of date and no longer relevant. I understand Nourish is now the preferred choice over Regrowth, though you should keep a RG on your tank for its HoT component. As the methods for finding this information are explained, someone should be able to apply them along with the new values to create an updated comparison. I, however, am not that person. :-)

Otta
Ok, just found this post, and it’s long and interesting, quick dumb question tho, the numbers for nourish with hots, is that the healing both by the nourish alone or also the hots that are running? I used to use regrowth and now use nourish, debate is whether to switch back. I also am specced into tranquil spirit – am guessing thats weird comapred to this info!
Resto4Life Closing Its Doors (260)

Bruce
:( /cry I love you, ty for everything.
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