Your numbers and ranking only work for a Frost Mage. Because of the difference in mechanics among the trinkets ToA actually does better than ToEP if you are a Fire Mage or Frost/Fire Mage. Here is why.

ToEP works for 15 seconds with no number of spells limit; thus you could either cast 5 Improved 3 second Fireballs at a 100% plus damage for 175*1.0*5 = 875 in extra damage, or 6 Improved 2.5 seconds Frostbolts at 81.4% plus damage 175*0.814*6=854.7 in extra damage and get similar total output. Using Improved Fireball, this translates to 18375 damage (instead of Frostbolt’s 16950) added over 30 minutes.

ToA gives you more time at 20 seconds (instead of ToEP’s 15 seconds) but caps you at 5 total nukes; thus to maximize ToA, you will get more damage by using 5 Improved Fireball at 100% plus damage for (200+160+120+80+40)*1.0 = 600 extra damage, than it would to use 5 Improved Frost Bolts at 81.4% for (200+160+120+80+40)*0.814 = 488 extra damage. Using Improved Fireball, this translates to 18600 damage (instead of Frostbolt’s 15140) added over 30 minutes.

So using Fireballs for sustained damage in zero lag conditions, the order of damage added is ToA > ToEP.

Also, although above for consistency I used the same number of times per 30 minutes that a trinket could be used as was used by Malentra, the adding by Malentra of 1 extra use to the number of uses per 30 minutes gives a misleading number that does not scale over time and artificially inflates the value of trinkets with longer cool downs. Had Malentra picked 2 or 3 hours instead of 30 minutes, the artificial benefit of the extra use would not scale and the numbers for trinkets with longer cool downs would not grow as rabidly as compared with trinkets with shorter cool downs. Adding 1 extra use over 30 minutes to MQG changes it from 6 uses to 7 uses, which is and increase of approximately 16.6% for that 1 extra use; adding one extra use to ToA only changes it from 30 to 31 uses which is an increase of only approximately 3.3%. Had Malentra added 1 extra use over 2 hours to MQC, that extra use would only have added an extra approximately 4.2% to the total damage number.

Using Frostbolt over 30 minutes and not adding the extra use to the calculations would yield: MQC at 15728 (6 uses) of added damage, ToEP at 17,100 (20 uses times 855), ZHC at 14,115 (15 uses times 941) and ToA at 14640 (30 uses times 488). Thus for Frostbolt the correct order is as follows: ToEP>MQC>ToA>ZHC.

Using Fireball over 30 minutes ToA at 18000 (30 uses times 600) of added damage jumps to the front of the class over ToEP at 17500 (20 uses times 875). Thus for Fireball the correct order is as follows: ToA>ToEP>MQC> ZHC. ToA with Improved Fireball produces the best overall additional trinket damage.



Edited, Nov 2nd 2006 at 8:19pm PST by Itstoast

See above.

Edited, Nov 2nd 2006 at 8:28pm PST by Itstoast

Edited, Nov 2nd 2006 at 8:31pm PST by Itstoast

Very good and well written roundup of the active trinkets for the mage class!
I would like to comment on one aspect though.

Since you analysed the trinket on a 30 minute period, only an increase in overal DPS is shown. Burst damage is not taken into account.
Therefor I think it is appropriate to take the 2 passive trinkets available for a mage into consideration too.
The 2 contestants are the Neltharion's Tear (from Nefarian) and the Briarwood Reed (from Jed Runewatcher (rare) in UBRS).

The Briarwood Reed posesses 29 Spellpower meaning it will add 29 * 0.814 = 23.606 damage to each Frostbolt.
In those same 30 minutes (30 * 60) / 2.5 = 720 Frostbolts can be fired.
This will result in a flat increase of 720 * 23.606 = 16996 Damage over a period of 30 minutes.

Neltharion's Tear posesses 44 Spellpower meaning it will add 44 * 0.814 = 35.816 damage to each Frostbolt.
This will result in a flat increase of 720 * 35.816 = 25788 Damage over a period of 30 minutes.
But this is not all. The Tear also has +2% hit with spells. This is bit hard to calculate and very dependant on mob lvl, talents and allready obtained +%hit. But lets try anyway.
Since we are comparing on a 30 minute span, we aren't solely shooting at lvl 63 bosses, but also lower level trash. You have a default hit chance of 96% on mobs same lvl, and 83% chance on lvl 63. This can be increased through gear and talents and is rumoured to be capped at 99% to keep the RPG element of luck in it.
Lets take an average of the hit chance and assume that throughout those 30 minutes we fire at a range of mobs from lvl 61 to 63, making our average chance to hit (95 + 83) / 2 = 89%.
Every self respecting mage has elemental precision, increasing this with 6% to 95% in our scenario. Now lets add 2% hit from gear (2 ZG enchant for example) and we reach 97%.
Now for every 100 bolts we shoot, 3 will miss and 97 will hit. meaning that in the 720 we shoot, 22 will miss and 698 will hit (rounded).
With the Tear we pump this up to a hit chance of 99%, making only 1 bolt miss per 100 and 7 per 720 (rounded).
This means that, due to the +2%hit an additional (713 - 698) = 15 will hit.
We were talking about 983 Damage Frostbolts, adding an additional 15 * 983 = 14745.
Making the grand total of the Tear at 25788 + 14745 = 40533

But keep in mind that the 14k addition of the +2%hit is _severely_ circumstantial.
When you reach your hit cap, be it through gear, talents or low lvl mobs, the effectiveness of this extra Damage will diminish.


Last but not least I would like to add that active trinkets will have a lower DPS output in real life then in theory, especially when talking about a big span like 30 minutes.
In this span the trinkets need to be popped immediatly when the cooldown is up and there need to be mobs in combat to fire at, else the active trinkets start to lose DPS.

wrong. as the asjustment will effrect this trinket ASWELL. not just the toEP and ZHC - ALL use trinkets will have the same effct - coolodwn on your other trinkets.

i does reduce casting time of teleport - AND portal making AND (yes you got it) HARTHSTONE :D but i'm pretty sure you cant POM teleport even with this on as the 'listed' casting time is still 10 even if it only takes 7.5. however i will log on - just for you - and test ;p

EDIT: nope doesn't work. good idea though :)

Edited, Fri Feb 3 09:30:38 2006

I'd like to see you cast 2 scorches in a row with less than 1.5sec between them... :D

Mages suck (dmg wise)...consistantly in our raids, there are no mages in the top 10 for damage, and occasionally there are 1 or 2 in the top half...so stop bitching...This is a good trinket, and very useful, however i prefer my Talisman of Ephemeral Power

Edited, Thu Sep 1 14:46:06 2005

sounds like a plan ... cry more noob

GG