I know that it may sound like blasphemy against Elune to suggest that Regrowth — or really any spell — might be a preferred choice over that holiest of holies (most restorative of restorations?), Lifebloom, in any capacity, but please bear with me.

What are the key components of a spell suitable for raid healing?

1. Must be quick enough to cast that we can heal more than one person in between refreshing Lifebloom.
2. It must not disrupt or prevent our role of rolling stack(s) of Lifebloom on the tank(s).
3. Ideally, should guard against being "overwritten" by heals such as Chain Heal, Flash of Light, or Prayer of Mending.

With the above characteristics in mind, I am going to perform an analysis of 7 seconds of Lifebloom (including its bloom since this is raid healing, not tank healing) vs. the direct heal of Regrowth. The +Healing coefficient values I will use are derived here and summarized below:

For the coefficients listed above I’m assuming the following:

• Empowered Rejuvenation (affects all four pieces unequally)
• Gift of Nature
• Improved Regrowth (+50% additional crit rate for the direct heal of Regrowth)
• 10% base spell crit (affecting the direct heal of Regrowth) for a total of 60% crit

Continue reading ’2.4 Mana Regen: Regrowth as the New Raid Heal?’…

Related Posts

• 2.4 Mana Regen: Valuing +Healing
• Method: Coefficient Testing
• It’s ARBOR DAY in Azeroth!

Excited about the upcoming changes to Regrowth‘s mana cost, I have been working on a comparative analysis of Regrowth‘s HPM value to that of Lifebloom. Part of any analysis of this nature is factoring in the +Healing coefficient for each spell — no small task when you consider the number of talents that can affect your final numbers! Usually, I’ll check WoWWiki to look for the relevant numbers. When I pulled up the numbers for Regrowth, however, I noticed something odd: WoWWiki lists the +Healing coefficient for the direct heal of Regrowth as 16.6%. That’s really low, even for a spell that takes 2.0 seconds to cast and even considering that the spell includes a HoT component with a coefficient of its own. It also didn’t seem consistent with the numbers I experience when using Regrowth. So I loaded up the game and tried it out for myself. I discovered a coefficient of 0.4582. I’m going to describe how I performed these tests in the hopes that some readers can do the same and let me know what results they get.

Because the direct heal component of Regrowth exists as a range of numbers, it’s more difficult to determine its coefficient than for something simple like a HoT tick or the bloom of Lifebloom. Therefore, I cast Regrowth on myself about 100 times to find a maximum, non-crit value of 2140 and minimum of 1989. These numbers were generated at 1617 +Healing. I don’t have 5/5 Improved Regrowth which made testing easier since I didn’t have to worry as much about critical heals (I excluded the few that did crit). If you decide to perform this test on your own (and I hope that you will), you should disregard any critical heals that you get; we can factor the crit rating and bonus in later. For the sake of clarity, I performed my calculations with Gift of Nature (+10% to all heals) and Empowered Rejuvenation (+20% to +Healing effects on Heals over Time), two talents that most non-Dreamstate, healing Druids are likely to have.

Continue reading ‘Method: Coefficient Testing’…

Related Posts

• Nordrassil Raiment and Regrowth
• 2.4 Mana Regen: Regrowth as the New Raid Heal?
• 2.4 Mana Regen: Valuing +Healing

With the release of Patch 2.4, the way that Spirit-based mana regeneration is calculated will be changing so that Intellect is also a factor. On the up side, it’s a marked improvement for Spirit-based spellcasters, and the improvement actually scales exponentially with gear. Notably, all mana users will now use the same base formula for their mana regeneration with no more delineations by class. Classes like the Druid and Priest will still derive additional benefit when talenting Intensity and Meditation, however, and the Druid spell Innervate means that we get an even larger benefit than most. Notably, this also means that a Druid who shifts into Bear Form or Cat Form will continue to regenerate her mana just as before rather than at the decreased rate prior to Patch 2.4.

On the down side, it obsoletes many of the previously written articles here at Resto4Life that deal specifically with the issue of mana regeneration. Slowly, I’ll be replacing those out of date articles with new ones to help you continue to make the best decisions with regard to your gear and playstyle. This article will be focused on helping you determine the optimal ratio between Intellect and Spirit. Because of the complicated interaction between the two, this is no longer a set number and changes based on how much Intellect/Spirit you have, the length of the fight, the use of Innervate, the presence of Intensity, and the use of the Bangle of Endless Blessings. For those that don’t want to get into the gritty details presented below, a good rule of thumb for boss fights will be to aim for 40% more Spirit than Intellect.

Continue reading ’2.4 Mana Regen: The Basics’…

Related Posts

• 2.4 Mana Regen: The Mana Regen Calculator
• Revaluing Spirit
• 2.4 Mana Regen: Getting the Most out of Innervate

I hate them. Which is why I haven’t written about them before now. Maybe it’s their non-traditional effects or the fact that many of them are triggered (which means you have to remember to trigger them). Either way, there’s never been a clear best-of-breed pair of trinkets to me. So I collect them and then I put them in the bank, waiting for the day that another Druid blogger will write this article so I can gleefully dust off the pair she’s enthusiastically endorsed. Right now I’d like to take the opportunity to say that the rest of you Restos are slackers for making me do this. I hate trinkets!

The trinkets I’m going to be looking at are the Eye of Gruul, Fel Reaver’s Piston, the Lower City Prayerbook, Essence of the Martyr, Living Root of the Wildheart, the Ribbon of Sacrifice, Bangle of Endless Blessings, Scarab of the Infinite Cycle, the Alchemist’s Stone, the Pendant of the Violet Eye, and the Darkmoon Card: Blue Dragon.

Prioritizing

From these summarized values and excluding those trinkets irrelevant to the Druid HoT-based style of healing, I would personally prioritize these trinkets in the following way:

* The differences between these are marginal and largely dependent upon external factors such as cast speed. Use your best judgment.

Without a doubt, the Bangle comes out on top. It simply blows all the others away. I was shocked to discover this, especially considering that it’s a blue item from a non-Heroic instance. A significant portion of its value comes from its use in conjunction with Innervate, so if you aren’t already doing this … well, I can’t believe you’re reading Resto4Life and not already doing this! I’m strongly considering a follow-up piece to this one that looks at the Bangle in more depth .. and I suspect I may not have a choice in the matter once the incredulous comments start.

Math

Because not everyone likes math, I’ve separated it out from the comparison portion. Here are some of the fundamentals used to determine the values of these trinkets:

Proc to Restore Mana

The formula to determine the MP5 value of an item that procs a mana restore a certain % of the time is as follows:

MP5 = 5 * (mana restored / (cast frequency/proc rate))

This formula can be applied to the [Eye of Gruul] and applied toward the 415 mana cost of a Rejuvenation when in caster form:

MP5 = 5 * (415 / (2/0.02)) = 20.75

Proc Duration for Items without an Internal Cooldown

The formula to determine the proc duration (in %time) for an item without an internal cooldown is as follows:

t% = 1 – (1 – proc rate)^(duration of buff/casting frequency)

We can apply this formula to the [Living Root of the Wild Heart] (3% proc rate with a proc duration of 15 seconds). This works out to (1 – (1 – 0.03)^(15/2) or 20% of the time, assuming a cast rate of 2.0 seconds. At a cast rate of 3.0 seconds, it drops to 14.1% of the time.

Applying this formula to the [Darkmoon Card: Blue Dragon] (2% chance with a proc duration of 15 seconds), we find that the buff should be active (1 – (1 – 0.02)^15/2) or 14% of the time at a cast rate of 2.0 seconds. At a cast rate of 3.0 seconds, this buff should be active 9.6% of the time. I found the additional 70% mana regeneration provided by the Dragon card when the proc was up (100% – 30% from Intensity) and discarded the at least 5.56% of the time you’d be likely to be under the effects of an Innervate. I then graphed the contribution of the Dragon Card to your mana regeneration at values of Spirit ranging from 300-700:

Proc Frequency for Items with an Internal Cooldown

The formula to determine the proc rate (measured in PPM) for an item with an internal cooldown is as follows:

PPM = 60 / ((casting frequency/proc rate) + internal cooldown)

We can apply this formula to the [Bangle of Endless Blessings]. With a 10% proc rate and 45 second internal cooldown, the Bangle would have an average PPM of 60 / ((2/0.1) + 45) or 0.92 PPM, assuming a cast rate of 2.0 seconds. At a cast rate of 3.0 seconds, the PPM would drop to 0.8 PPM. So that we can reuse the method used to determine the MP5 value at varying levels of Spirit for the Blue Dragon, we need to convert PPM into the percent of time that the buff will be active. This formula is simply:

%t = (duration * PPM) / 60

With a 15 second duration and cast frequency of 2.0 seconds, the percent time this buff will be active is 23%. With a casting time of 3.0 seconds, 20%. As with the Blue Dragon, the proc is worthless to us while under the effects of Innervate, so we have to exclude its benefits by multiplying what it gives by (1 – 20/360) or 94%. Graphed against values of Spirit ranging from 300-700:

Of course, the world would be too simple a place if this were the only component involved in determining the value of the Bangle. We also have to take into consideration its on use effect, twice without Innervate and once with Innervate. Luckily, this calculation isn’t too heinous since it’s a flat Spirit bonus of 130 for 15 seconds (149.5 if you have Living Spirit). We can determine the value of a tick of Spirit-based mana regeneration with the following formula:

MP5_Spirit = SPI/4.5 * 5/2

We then multiply this value by 4 since there are 4 ticks in 20 seconds:

Mana Return = MP5_Spirit * 4

And then multiply it again by 0.3 due to Intensity and given the nature of Lifebloom:

Mana Return_{in combat} = Mana Return * 0.3

So if we plug in 130 for the value of Spirit, we get 86.7 total mana back when used. With Living Spirit, we’d get 99.7 mana back each use. In a six minute period, we’ll include two of those uses and then a third use in conjunction with Innervate:

Mana Return_Innervate = SPI/4.5 * 5/2 * 4 * 500%

Without Living Spirit this comes out to an additional 1444.4 mana. With Living Spirit, it’s worth 1661.1. To determine the MP5 afforded by this trinket’s on use effect we consider 2 instances of it without Innervate plus one instance of it with then divide the total additional mana return by the number of ticks in 6 minutes:

MP5_{w/o Living Spirit} = (86.7 + 86.7 + 1444.4) / (6*60/5) = 22.5 MP5

MP5_{w/ Living Spirit} = (99.7 + 99.7 + 1661.1) / (6*60/5) = 25.8 MP5

Since the two components rely upon cast frequency, your Spirit total, and Living Spirit, we end up with a range of possible values.

Valuing the [Alchemist's Stone]

Using the analysis from MP5 vs. Intellect and assuming a fight length of 8 minutes and the 10% bonus from Blessing of Kings, 15 Intellect converts to 2.58 MP5. Applying the analysis from MP5 vs. Spirit and assuming Blessing of Kings, Living Spirit, Innervate, and 80% of the time in FSR, the 15 Spirit converts approximately to 6.67 MP5. The MP5 value from stats alone is therefore 6.67 + 2.58 or 9.25 MP5. The MP5 value of its potion augmenting effect will depend upon the type of potion used but can be determined as:

MP5_{Potion Increase} = Avg. Additional Mana Returned/Ticks in 2 Min

Therefore, the additional MP5 contribution for various mana potions will be:

• [Major Dreamless Sleep Potion]: 1440/24 = 60 MP5
• [Fel Mana Potion]: 1280/24 = 53.3 MP5
• [Super Mana Potion]: 960/24 = 40 MP5
• [Mad Alchemist Potion]: 880/24 = 33.3 MP5

By summing the MP5 value of its stats and the MP5 increase for various potions, we arrive at the following values:

• [Major Dreamless Sleep Potion]: 9.25 + 60 = 69.25
• [Fel Mana Potion]: 9.25 + 53.3 = 62.55
• [Super Mana Potion]: 9.25 + 40 = 49.25 MP5
• [Mad Alchemist Potion]: 9.25 + 33.3 = 42.6 MP5

Valuing the [Pendant of the Violet Eye]

As with the Alchemist’s Stone, we can convert the 40 Intellect on this item into MP5. Assuming a fight length of 8 minutes and the 10% bonus from Blessing of Kings, 40 Intellect converts to 6.88 MP5. Since the mana regeneration afforded by each application of the buff within 20 seconds increases in a linear fashion, we can determine the likely number of applications (based on cast frequency) and use the average mana regeneration between the first and last applications:

Avg. MP5 = ((duration/cast frequency) * 21 MP5) / 2

At a cast frequency of once every 2 seconds, the average MP5 value of this trinket while the buff is active would be 105 MP5. At a cast frequency of once every 3 seconds, this value is 70 MP5. If used every cooldown, it is active for 20 seconds out of every 2 minutes or 16.7% of the time. Multiplying this percentage by the MP5 values gives an MP5 of 17.5 with a cast frequency of 2.0 and 11.7 with a cast frequency of 3.0. Adding the MP5 equivalent of its passive +40 Intellect, we arrive at a final value of 24.38 at 2.0 and 18.58 at 3.0.

Related Posts

• Getting More out of Innervate
• Omen of Clarity
• Revaluing Spirit

This article became obsolete as of Patch 2.4. For Intellect 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.

Intellect and Mana per Five share an interesting relationship. While every point of Intellect gives you mana up front, the MP5 statistic returns mana over time, assuming you aren’t already at your maximum. As you might have intuited, determining their relative values involves a consideration of time. Luckily, the formula that determines their relationship is one of the simplest.

For every point of Intellect, a caster adds 15 more mana to her base mana pool. And every point of MP5 returns 1 Mana every 5 seconds. Therefore, at 1 minute and 15 seconds, a single point of MP5 is worth a point of Intellect. This sliding scale can be expressed by the following formula:

(Fight Length in Seconds/5)/15 = Intellect required to Equal 1 MP5

If we consider the value of Blessing of Kings, a buff grantiing 10% to all stats that is available in most 25-man raids, it increases the value of Intellect by 10%, changing our formula to the following:

(Fight Length in Seconds/5)/(15*1.1) = Intellect required to Equal 1 MP5

Applying these two formulas to fights varying from 0 to 10 minutes, we can derive the following graph:

Therefore, to know how much you value Intellect, you will want to consider the average length of those boss fights which which your guild is currently struggling (i.e., disregard encounters you have on farm; they are less likely to require optimization).

Related Posts

• 2.4 Mana Regen: Paladin Blessings
• Blessing of Kings vs. Blessing of Wisdom
• MP5 vs. Spirit