greengimp wrote:
kk, it looks like i'm just gonna regem for a little extra mp5 then, if it works then yippee, if not, then o well, i'm already doing a good amount of damage anyway.
Do NOT regem for MP5, thats a really bad idea. Gem for pure DPS, the mana reg will have to come from different sources.
What are you fighting if your fights tend to be 8-12minutes? Thats at what level of content are you currently?
The only really long fights I know of are Illidari Council and Illidan (~9-15min, and 14-25min).
Usually if mana becomes an issue there is not much a single person can do. The best ways of getting you mana is by raid support.
Your personal mana reg is rather limited (manaoil has 16mp5; 16mp5 from a mageblood elixir; you might gem/gear for mana reg or even use manareg buff food). It won't bring you beyond 100 or 125 mp5 and this can not cover your mana expenditure. Mana pots add a lot more than that, so by using pots in a smart way (potting early), you can DPS a while longer.
However the real manareg comes from raid support (blessing of wisdom adds 41mp5, mana totem is ~40mp5?, mana tide is ~100mp5, a shadow priest adds > 200mp5, a pally seal yields ~200mp5).
And of course you have to consider your mana consumption. Scorpid sting and improved hunters mark cost a lot of mana, so make sure that you spread those tasks and assign scorpid sting duty to the hunter with the best mana reg (usually the SV hunter).
Thus if you constantly have mana issues, try to get better raid support (get that pally to put a mana seal on every boss and you'll never have mana problems again).
If you cannot convince your raid to support you better and you still cannot sustain Kill Command, then don't use it once you are low on mana (that is use it during the first 2-3minutes. Once you are at 40% mana stop using Kill Command and use your Steady rotation only).