The Magician's Tower

So it is well known amongst the majority of raid magicians that 2h weapons provide more DPS than 1h/shield combo. The proc on 2h is generally a DD which adds damage, the amount of SD is a little higher, and staff block has been parsed to block better than shield block.

In TDS, mob hit points have risen dramatically. As a result, length of kills has also increased a lot. I imagine that magicians are managing mana more than ever, and running OOM more than ever.

1h weapons have a proc that returns mana, instead of DD proc. While I have not found a raid event where mana is an issue, I do find having to manage my mana more in the solo/group game. Which got me thinking if maybe I should consider getting a 1h for the mana return proc. Not sure if this is more beneficial over the course of, say, two hours or not... but I am thinking about it.

Any thoughts or comments? Are you still sticking with your 2h and medding more? Or are you thinking 1h for a mana return?

I will preface this by saying I have 0 data to back this up. This is solely based on educated guesses I've made, and I'd love it if someone more knowledgeable in this are could clear up any misconceptions I have.

Personally, I'm not having huge mana issues in TDS. Assuming I'm using Thaumatize/Gather/Mod Rods/Mana Reserve when able, keeping mana regen buffs up, etc, I'm not medding very often (though I am medding more than in CotF). My impression is that mana return procs are not particularly powerful, or more people would have used them even before TDS. However, I don't know how much mana they actually return over time, so I can't say for certain.

I'm also of the impression that procs in general are not huge DPS bonuses. They help, but they're one of the many small things that collectively boost your DPS. As I'm under the assumption that neither is particularly game changing, I will probably go for the 2H because DPS is my primary focus. It probably could be argued that a mana return proc would increase sustained DPS, but I'm personally not sold it would make much of a difference.

If someone who had access to both procs could put forth mathematical pros and cons (you lose x DPS but gain y mana), it would be greatly appreciated.