Resto shamans, mp/5 or +healsFollow

Mp/5 or +heals, which is more important to a resto shaman for raiding?

I have two people telling me that the other is more important, thanks in advance for replies.


Edited, Feb 27th 2008 12:37am by Draeneipally

Considering all of the Shaman mail and accessories with +heal on them are going to have MP/5 anyways, it's a pretty pointless argument. Any +heal gear without MP/5 is going to be cloth or leather and have spirit on it which means it's Priest or Druid gear.

well i count around 150mp5 for ok raid healing i do go oom but not before fight is over on long fights. i count around 1mp5 = 12 healing at the moment. but later it will be around 14 healing per 1mp5

I hate comparisons like this. Reminds me of the old D2 days where we judged every item's value by "SoJ's".

Experience. There is no substitute for it, kiddies. If you're not having mana problems, stack more +heal. If you find yourself going OOM on extended fights or getting too low on mana too often, get more MP/5. Big heals are great, but a smaller heal is better than no heal at all because you're OOM.

When you guys talk about mp5, do you mean mp5 while casting or mp5 in general?

Both are important. Typically items have both. Ideally you want both on an item, due to how itemization is calculated (you get more bang for your itemlevel with mixed stats than focused stats).

Each fight in WOW is different. All fights fall somewhere in the spectrum between needing a high rate of healing (+healing) or needing a high amount of longevity (MP5). So if you want to just have one singular set of healing gear, you'll probably want a balanced set. Otherwise you'll want to slip in specialized pieces for a given fight (although Blizzard limits this by keeping fairly tight control over the spread of items that exist for a given slot, at each itemlevel tier; so often there aren't choices to make.)

They're both important. It really depends on level of progression, specific fights, and party composition.

Early raiding like kara, you'll want to stack the m/5 for the lasting power; the fights are considerably longer than heroics. As you progress m/5 becomes less important but you'll still want a balance.

For fights that are designed with a lot of movement--aran, gruul's, supremus--you won't be casting as much and can sacrifice m/5 for healing power. Other fights can be heal spams--attumen, kaz'rogal, gorefiend--for which you'll need more m/5 simpily because you're casting more.

Also if you have mustiple resto shamans or a shadow priest in your group, you can sacrifice even more m/5 for healing, relying on them to refill your blue bar.

In short, I find it best to carry a few pieces dedicated more towards m/5 or healing and switching them based on circumstances. Either way, be sure to bring tons of mana pots anyway.