R.I.P. Crit

In a previous post, I wrote about the stats shaman healers like. There are three different choices for shamans -- heavy crit, heavy haste, or a balance of the two. I've always tried to balance the two, but have leaned closer to the crit side.

As I get further into Ulduar, I am starting to see a new pattern emerge, and am expecting it to continue. The pattern is two-fold. First, MOVE MOVE MOVE. Second, damage spikes that need healed now. Both of these favor haste.

The benefit to crit is actually mana regen. With the right talents, the more often you crit, the more mana you get back. So what's changed? Mp5. Along with patch 3.2, items with Mp5 now return more mana. This means that you really don't need to stack so much crit for regen. It frees you up for -- you guessed it -- haste.

The result. I'm now swapping out crit gear for haste gear. I will also be playing with gems once again, as I find the balance between intellect\regen & haste. Yes, I will be starting to replace intellect gems with haste... something else that was a no-no prior to 3.2 .