Those particular mobs in BWL have a certain weakness to a random element. That element will do insane dmg :P Hitting non-crit 5k nuke dmg spells isn't uncommon.

-- Speaking for mages --

+1, I've gathered +dmg bonus items to reach at the moment a total bonus of 303 to magic/frost damage.
I already own this ring, and I would like to get a second one ;)

To mages who think that, with no stats, this ring sucks, just wonder if there is a single situation where your 8k mana pool is usefull.
In MC, you just have to max your int on Garr and Golemagg, that's ALL. Outside instances I prefer casting 750~ frostbolts and having 5,5k mana pool instead of casting them at 500 and reaching 8,5k.

Sorry but, a situation where it worth having more than 8k mana doesn't exist today, you're a damage dealer, let's deal more damage :/

You're a mage. What's your job? Well, about 10% of the time you're a utility player. You conjure some food/water, give everyone a nice Intellect buff, sheep a mob, counterspell that caster, and remove the occasional curse.

What do you do the other 90% of the time? Kill things. And what's the best way to kill things? Doing high DPS with spells.

So if you want to be better at your job, what stats should you care about?

Stamina? Well, staying alive is good, but you'll never have enough to make up for the paper-thin armor you wear. As long as you have enough to survive a few hits while soloing or to absorb that random spell attack of certain MC bosses, you're fine.

Intellect? You need enough mana to cast all the spells you need to take down your target. If you've got halfway decent gear by Level 60, you'll have >6000 mana unbuffed. Throw in a Mana Ruby and you should have enough to weather anything but a long MC boss fight. Since you need 100 Intellect just to get 1% more to crit, trying to max Intellect doesn't do much for your DPS.

Spirit? In a long boss fight, maybe this makes a difference. Otherwise, who cares?

Agility? Strength? Yeah, right.

So what's left? +dmg and +crit%. As for which of these matter more, I'll let you do the math. But regardless, these two are the only stats that will significantly affect your DPS.

Therefore, if you want to do your job as long-range damage dealer better, a +33 dmg ring is certainly a step in the right direction.

FYI: Instant-cast spells count as 1-sec duration spells, hence why when you activate your Talisman of Ephemeral Power, you only receive a +50 damage bonus to something like Arcane Explosion. To see why:

50 received / 175max = .2857
1 sec instant / 3.5sec full bonus = .2857

Also, I really did not understand your comparison between a weapon enchant, and an equippable item. You're saying you'd rather have the equippable item over the enchant? I don't get this, you're comparing apples to oranges.

In case no one noticed... Molten Core was itemized for PVE content. A PVE mage (at least right now) is casting Arcane Missile and Frostbolt, and therefore receives a MUCH larger bonus from these +damage items than an instant-arcane explosion PVP mage. Conversely, a mage who is a Molten Core regular will probably not sacrifice too much +damage or +int equipment for +stamina, given the fact that their mana pool and DPS is the reason they are there in the first place.

In my opinion, of course.

<edit>

Edited, Sun Jun 12 04:42:35 2005

Yes and I bet many many caster myself included foolishly chose the shroud of the exile instead :(

You must've been joking, right?
This is a kickass ring. Any caster would kill for it anyday. And it is not unique so you can wear 2 of them.