Can someone explain to me which item is better for me to equip for healing, and why?


Omega Orb, Increases Healing done......by up to 11.
http://thottbot.com/?i=4073

Vital Orb of Healing, with +8 Healing Spells
http://thottbot.com/?i=22689

I don't know how much either of these would affect my healing spells.

Thank you

+8 is clearly better. upto 11 = 0 to 11 randomly. so imo +8 all the way. if you see upto i'd stay away from it.

The "up to ... " equipment isn't a random amount. It is scaled by the casting duration of the spell you are casting. The longer the spell cast, the higher teh effect. The limits are that instant spells get about 35% of the effect while 3.5 second and higher spell casts get 100%. Everything else scales imbetween. I've never really seen a +healing item that doesn't scale up this way. So that orb is either a typo or so low a level that they don't really care.

The reason for the scaling is that you can get quite a lot of these healing bonuses - druids can get upwards of +500 healing points. But if that applied equally between rejuvenation and healing touch, it would unbalance them, making the instant cast spells much much better than the longer cast spells.

Thanks

Lawdog, I'm not sure what you mean by "I've never really seen a +healing item that doesn't scale up this way. So that orb is either a typo or so low a level that they don't really care."
I already have the +8 Healing Vital Orb. I also have a +22 Dagger of Healing. This Orb is approx level 34.

You are right, I just looted a piece of waist armor that give +44 healing but has no other stats. Very odd that the wording is different than the usual "up to 44" I will do some testing with this, casting instant spells to see if they get the full 44 healing increase or if it scales like the usual stuff.

This is the item, and now that I look on Thottbot, there are many more like it - but all are green items. The ones that say "up to" seem to be mostly blue boss drops.

Mighty Girdle of Healing
Waist Leather
86 Armor
+44 Healing Spells

Cool, can't wait to hear how it works. Hopefully there is a noticable benefit.
I should test it as well. Need to find a victim to heal.

I believe that the "up to x" healing is based on the type of spell you cast. For example, I believe that healing touch may get the entire benefit and rejuvination may only get part of it (or vise versa, I've heard both sides). However, the "+x to healing" works on all. The reason for the "up to x" should be an attempt to balance a piece of equipment, because they usually come with stats as well unlike the "+x to healing" pieces.

Just some thoughts and stuff I've picked up on the official boards, though I could be totally wrong because I've never tested any of this :p

Okay, I tested this using the following items:

Hide of the Wild - "up to +42 healing"

Mighty Girdle of Healing - "+44 healing"

I'm level 60, am resto specced and I stripped down so I was completely naked.

My goal was to test my rejuvenation spell. I believe these are the exact numbers but I did the test a week ago. I am sure of the result, each rejuv tick was 10 pts higher with the each piece of equipment on - here are the results:

Naked:
Cast rejuv and got the 4 healing bursts of 220, 220, 220, 220 health each.

Hide of the Wild Only:
Cast rejuv and got 4 healing bursts of 229, 230, 230, 230 health.

Mighty Girdle of Healing:
Cast rejuv and got 4 healing bursts of 230, 230, 230, 230 health each.

Conclusion (with respect to Rejuv):

1) the "+healing" items provide the same bonus as the "up to __ healing" items do.

2) Rejuv gets the FULL EFFECT of + healing items.

Now #2 is quite a revelation as it causes the rejuvenation to move from a druid's least mana efficient spell to its most mana efficient spell. I think we were all under the impression that the + healing effect scaled for rejuvenation, but testing shows that it gets the full effect. Hard to believe but true.

Numbers:

Top Level Rejuv
(without talents)
335 mana for 756 healing = 2.25 healing per mana
(with talents)
335 mana for 907 healing = 2.71 healing per mana


Top Level Healing Touch
(without talents)
790 mana for 2100 healing = 2.66 healing per mana
(with talents)
671 mana for 2205 healing = 3.29 healing per mana

So Healing Touch is much more mana efficient as is appropriate, it takes longer to cast, you have to invest more mana, etc. However, add in what would be good +healing equipment build and you can get +400 healing. So add that to the effect of the Healing Touch and Rejuvenation:

Rejuvenation (w/ +400 healing)
335 mana for 1307 healing = 3.90

Healing Touch (w/ +400 healing)
671 mana for 2605 healing = 3.88

So with + healing gear, rejuv is now slightly more efficient than healing touch, which goes against what you would expect.

I will try to test regrowth, but I was testing solo and couldn't damage myself enough to get past the initial heal of the top regrowth. Plus the damn thing kept critting. Will have to find a warrior with a huge health pool and test.