Mmm.
I agree with the popular Intellect love and Spirit hate dichotomy...to a point. There's a difference between worthless and worth less. Now moreso that Rapture isn't worth neigh everything.
Case 1 is someone who stacked 133 Intellect to maximize his mana regen through Shadowfiend.
Case 2 is someone who stacked 133 Spirit to maximize his mana regen through Meditation/O5SR.
In the case of Case 1: 133 Intellect
1 Intellect equals an increase to your mana pool by 15 mana. Shadowfiend attacks 10 times, for a mana regain of 5% of your mana pool per hit. If you have a 15,000 mana pool Shadowfiend would return 750 mana per strike or 7,500 overall. If you had a mana pool of 17,000 mana Shadowfiend would return 850 mana per strike or 8,500 overall. If you had a mana pool of 19,000 mana Shadowfiend would return 950 mana per strike or 9,500 mana overall.
I'm aware he technically has 11 attacks, but I'm also equally aware the little twit likes to be *comfortable* before he can get down to business and wastes that first potential swipe circling a spot on the rug.
So,
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133 Intellect = 2,000 mana pool = 100 additional mana per swipe = 1,000 mana per shadowfiend.
In the case of Case 2: 133 Spirit
With full Meditation and Intellect of an approachable 500.
The Mana regen formula is this:
Quote:
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MP5 = 5 * (.001 + sqrt(Int) * Spirit * Base_Regen) rounded up
The part that got nerfed is the Base_Regen, which was formerly 0.005575 at 80 and now is 40% lower at .003345.
MP5 = 5 * (.001 + 22.3606798) * 133 * .003345
MP5 = 5 * (22.3616789) * 133 * .003345
MP5 = 111.8083945 * 133 * .003345
MP5 = 14870.5164685 * .003345
MP5 = 49.74 Rounded up = 50
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Roughly 133 Spirit (given 500 intellect)= 50 MP5 O5SR = 25 MP5 I5SR with Meditation.
To put this into perspective, shadowfiend has a cooldown of 5 minutes.
There are 60 5-second-ticks in 5 minutes.
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133 Intellect would net you an additional 1,000 mana from Shadowfiend.
133 Spirit would net you and additional 1,500 mana I5SR / 3,000 mana O5SR with Meditation.
Now this isn't meant to say Spirit > Int.
Afterall while the Mana Regen formula mostly depends on Spirit, it does include Intellect to a lesser degree. There are more % based abilities I didn't go into: such as Hymn of Hope and the new Rapture. Intellect increases the Mana you have to work with before going OOM at the start of a fight, and increases your Critical Strike. Shadowfiend and Hymn of Hope restore alot of mana in a short period of time of your choosing, while Spirit ticking a little bit all the time means it becomes moot when you have full mana. Then again, Shadowfiend and Rapture cost mana to make mana - Spirit is free. Having mana replenishment under your control, also means it's your responsibility to remember to push the button every 5 minutes, while Spirit will happily tick away no matter what your doing.
Same can be said for +MP5, sans the O5SR potency.
What I'm trying to say here, is that everything has an upside and a downside, Mana Regen via Intellect and Mana Regen via Spirit (and even Mana Regen via Critical Strike) are no exception. Trying to look at the solution to mana as one particular one-trick-pony, is not recognizing that all these mechanics exist in balance. And the optimal solution will be less A, B, or C but D: All of the Above.
Edited, Mar 31st 2009 5:54pm by Zemzelette Edited, Mar 31st 2009 6:47pm by Zemzelette Edited, Mar 31st 2009 8:35pm by Zemzelette