I'm a druid with (in raid gear) + 1666 healing and 122 mp5 while casting.

I have been using Bracing Earthstorm Diamond (meta gem, +26 healing, -2% threat) in my T4 helmet. I so seldom overagro that the 2% threat is not that much of a difference. Also that item needs more yellow then blue and more red then blue, while most of my sockets are blue. So I have no socket bonuses to make this work.

I am wondering about the next meta though: Insightful Earthstorm Diamond (12 int, mana restore).
Reading up on it, it has a 2% chance of restoring 300 mana. That equals about 10 mp5 casting 20 heals per second.
The requirements of this meta would allow me to use blue gems in my blue sockets.

I have made some calculations (http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=305702111&postId=3054750310&sid=1#0)

These calculations show me the following values when it comes to health restored per minute.

Meta:
Insightful Earthstorm Diamond (12 int, mana restore ~ 10 mp5): 2377
Bracing Earthstorm Diamond (+26 healing, 2% threat reduction) : 499

Red/Blue/Yellow:
Lustrous Star of Elune (3mp5): 587
Royal Nightseye (+9 healing, 2mp5): 564
Dazzling Talasite (4 int, 2 mp5): 531
Teardrop Living Ruby (+18 healing): 346
Luminous Noble Topaz (+9 healing, 4 int): 313
Purified Shadow Pearl (+9 healing, +4 spi): 290

Clearly the Insightful Earthstorm Diamond is the way to go. However, I wonder about the other socketed items. Most of them now contain Teardrop Living Ruby (+18 healing). I could replace them all by a better one, Lustrous Star of Elune, or Royal Nightseye, giving me more mp5.

Now the question. Should I suffer 134 +healing to gain 27 mp5? (or suffer 80 +healing to gain 21 mp5)
(reminder of current stats: +1666 healing and 122 mp5 while casting. )
As it is currently I seldom go oom. There are mana pots for that if needed. I mostly use innervate on other people, sometimes on me. So do I need the mp5? Momentarily my guild has kara and gruul on farm, trying maggie and void reaver.

Secondly, when I am NOT in a raid, fights don't last that long. When soloing.. heck I dont use healing gear. When in groups I am most likely the only healer = I will get innervate AND fights dont last that long, making +healing a lot more worth more then mp5.

Help please.

---

Q u o t e:
Now the question. Should I suffer 134 +healing to gain 27 mp5? (or suffer 80 +healing to gain 21 mp5)

---

Your calculations fail on the simple point that they only measure healing per minute. Thats doesn't make good calculations.

Now lets make it clear socketwise: The best gem for healing is Royal Nightseye.

Take this example:
1 x Lustrous Star of Elune and 1 x Teardrop Living Ruby.

Those 2 gems give you +18 healing and +3 MP5.

However the truth is that Lustrous Star of Elune is gimped. Take a look at what happens if you use 2 x Royal Nightseye instead. They give you 2 x 2 MP5 and 2 x 9 healing, yielding you a total of 4 MP5 instead of 3 MP5, and still netting you the same +18 healing. In other words, despite your attempts to calculate you are actually rating a "gimped" gem the highest for the simple reason that your calculations only base upon HPM and not on healing output. Lustrous Star of Elune did, i believe to prevent players to stack MP5 too much, get gimped on purpose. It should normally have 4 MP5 while blizzard only gave it 3 MP5.

Now to the next point: Spirit is still a wasted stat more or less. As a ToL druid, even with spirit increasing talents and the aura, ToL relies upon HoT stacking, which means you will spend butloads of time within the five second rule. Also, there is no MP5/spirit gem while the is an MP5/Int.

My final suggestions is:
Dazzling Talasite (2 MP5 and 4 int) for the yellow slows.
Royal Nightseye (+9 healing, 2mp5) for all the Blue or Red slots. Royal Nightseye is the gem of choice for PvE raiding.

Ah so If I get you correct by healing output you don't watch what the stats do, but just look at the gems and what gems are best. Clearly +18 healing and 3 mp5 are not as good as +18 healing and 4mp5.

But my question is; is +36 healing better then +18 healing and 4 mp5, or better then 6 mp5?

Replacing my meta and all Lustrous Star of Elune with Royal Nightseye will brind me down 80 on the healing and improve mp5 by about 21.

So...
Since I am not going oom a lot, should I do that or stick with the +18 healing shards since I have a nice mp5 already (+84 mp5 from items).

(Oh and your suggestion on the gems... that is indeed what I will have do, IF i replace my gems).

---

Q u o t e:
Ah so If I get you correct by healing output you don't watch what the stats do, but just look at the gems and what gems are best. Clearly +18 healing and 3 mp5 are not as good as +18 healing and 4mp5.

But my question is; is +36 healing better then +18 healing and 4 mp5, or better then 6 mp5?

---

Yes id say they are. Healing Output has become more important in TBC, the days i spec resto i see this. You bring a shadow priest to a raid, you automatically increase the value of +healing and decrease the value of MP5. You bring more +healing to a raid = you increase the surviveability of a tank.

---

Q u o t e:
Replacing my meta and all Lustrous Star of Elune with Royal Nightseye will brind me down 80 on the healing and improve mp5 by about 21.

---

That is clearly worth it. Id take 21 MP5 over 80 +healing in a heartbeat.

---

Q u o t e:
So...
Since I am not going oom a lot, should I do that or stick with the +18 healing shards since I have a nice mp5 already (+84 mp5 from items).

---

I might have said it wrong in my former post. Royal Nightseye is not the one and only choice for healing gems. Lustrous Star of Elune is the only gimped gem, Teardrop living Ruby is not. So Teardrop and Royal is the gems of choice for raid healing.

My suggestions if you want to boost your +healing:
Red Sockets - Teardrop Living Ruby (18 +healing)
Blue Sockets - Royal Nightseye (9 +healing 2 mp5)
Yellow Sockets - Luminous Noble Topaz (9 +healing 4 int)

---

Q u o t e:

My suggestions if you want to boost your +healing:
Red Sockets - Teardrop Living Ruby (18 +healing)
Blue Sockets - Royal Nightseye (9 +healing 2 mp5)
Yellow Sockets - Luminous Noble Topaz (9 +healing 4 int)

---

Currently I am using the +26 healing meta and a lot of +18 healing gems. I would loose 73 healing and gain 21 mp5. (replacing th meta with an other) and also gain 10 spirit socket bonus wise.

Check my armory if you want to look at my sockets.

So I want to boost my +healing but using those gems you suggested I am gimping it...

---

Q u o t e:
Currently I am using the +26 healing meta and a lot of +18 healing gems. I would loose 73 healing and gain 21 mp5. (replacing th meta with an other) and also gain 10 spirit socket bonus wise.

Check my armory if you want to look at my sockets.

So I want to boost my +healing but using those gems you suggested I am gimping it...

---

Well then my suggestion is that you stick with your 26 +healing metagem.

I could also phrase it another way: "If you want to boost your regen without sacrificing +healing"

---

Q u o t e:
Lustrous Star of Elune did, i believe to prevent players to stack MP5 too much, get gimped on purpose. It should normally have 4 MP5 while blizzard only gave it 3 MP5.

---

Actually, it should have 3 mp5. The epic gem has 4 mp5. The problem is that Royal Nightseye should actually have 1,5 mp5, but it got rounded up. That's why it is so superior.

As I noted in your other topic, the model presented is useless for raids, and should not be used to make base decisions.

---

Q u o t e:
Actually, it should have 3 mp5. The epic gem has 4 mp5. The problem is that Royal Nightseye should actually have 1,5 mp5, but it got rounded up. That's why it is so superior.

---

And that still makes Lustrous Star of Elune a "gimped" gem in comparison agree? =)