I got my Solace of the Fallen today which is absolutely amazing, so with that and my Spark of Hope should I get the Idol of Flaring Growth? The ring is such a huge upgrade for me cant really decide which to get first.

Another question: At what point should I swap out the Insightful Earthsiege Diamond for the Ember Skyflare Diamond if ever? One of the gear weightings I saw on here had the Skyflare diamond on all the helmets.

thanks I figured the same but was confused by a BiS post that had the 2%int one in the helms I couldnt see a reason to take it at all

You are forgetting 2% INT and replenish. You are also assuming that we don't have enough mana to last through these fights -- even now let alone with double Solace in the future. I'm currently using two throughput trinkets (with regen components that pale in comparison to what Solace will offer) and I do not need the extra regen from Earthseige. 25 sp, 2% INT remains best meta as far as I'm concerned.

The 2% intellect comes out to nearly the same amount of additional intellect given by Insightful Earthsiege, so no it is not forgotten. The correct comparison is 25sp vs ~60-80 mp5, so until you are valuing MP5 at 0.4 to spellpower's 1, the earthsiege is the better gem, and you should try to drop regen from other sources if you still have mana excess.

I agree on a pure stat weight comparison that Insightful Earthsiege is better than Ember Skyflare. I wasn't arguing that (though I will agree I was hasty and didn't do my 2% INT math to strike that from the comparison). That said, I'm not avoiding throughput elsewhere -- I have stacked as much throughput as the random loot number generator has allowed and will only prioritize regen over throughput in my gemming or gear selection if/when I ever begin to encounter mana issues.

So, if one has itemized to the best of their access to items for throughput AND they still aren't ooming on the most active fights, they should continue to stack throughput over regen in their gemming. I think this is commonly accepted. In those cases (which honestly is pretty much the case with most druids in my experience), Ember Skyflare is the best meta to select as, regen aside, it has the best throughput.

EDIT: Now, late last night, I just got Idol of the Flaring Growth (haven't had the chance to test it and my current gear setup against Hard Modes yet). If I find that I start to have mana issues in my current gear setup in the interim due to this Idol change, I could see swapping Skyflare for Earthsiege so that I can leave both current throughput trinkets and the new Idol in place without having to go to a pure regen trinket. However, if all is still well on the western mana front even without the Rubber Ducky, I'll keep Skyflare in place. Also, once I have one Solace (let alone two Solace) I really see don't see regen as an issue again even with the Idol change. So, long term I don't see needing to meta for regen in the future any more than in the past. Swapping in Earthsiege would really just be a stop-gap measure until I get Solace.

Assuming commonly available 25-man raid buffs and 5/5 GotEM talented, 359 will get you to a one-second GCD on HoTs.

Has anyone else noticed that when Idol of Flaring Growth proccs and it does the animation that it seems to keep you from immediately casting your next spell? This could just be my imagination, but I swear when it does the animation if I try to cast a hot about the same time I can't until the animation is almost over. BTW they need to remove the animation lol. With as much as it procs I am constantly do that.

The only time I don't put a straight spell power gem in is if the socket bonus is also spell power. In those cases I am giving up a small amount of spell power for overall stat balance weighting. It's not that I NEVER choose regen, it's that I do my best to prioritize spell power. I also have Darkglow instead of Lightweave embrodiery. I have thought about switching that up for Lightweave and probably will once I get Solace as well. I am riding a line on some of the more aggressive hard modes right now and using Innervate at every 3 min cooldown on those so I have to be thoughtful about how far I push the throughput envelope.

Also, I'm slowly replacing whatever normal gems remain with epics -- alchemist so I am transmuting as I go. I'll probably just buy the rough gems though and then transmute to make the money back so I can finish these off before next raid night.

You're contradicting yourself. You agreed that Ember Skyflare should only be used when it is the FINAL sacrifice of regen for throughput.

Thank me for this math: after epic gems, but following your current gemming theory in [Conqueror's Nightsong Robe], you're choosing 19 spellpower + 10 int over 23 spellpower. That is exchanging 4 spellpower for ~5 mp5*. In [Conqueror's Nightsong Handguards] and [Boots of Hasty Revival], you're choosing 19 spellpower** + 10 spirit over 23 spellpower. That is exchanging 4 spellpower for ~4 mp5***. So, if those gem choices are:
Then certainly a higher ratio would be better? *1 Int is worth ~0.5 mp5
**1 spirit is 0.194 spellpower, I rounded up
***1 spirit is worth 0.374 mp5 (these #s are from the 1st post in this thread)

Doesn't it do the animation every time it procs? Seemed like it did the animation each time it restarts the 9 seconds. I'm at work so can't check.

Well the whole point is that IED vs. ESD gives you a gigantic amount of regen for how much throughput you lose, and it is better than almost every other possible tradeoff in the game. Which means that if you are using ESD and darkglow, you should ASAP switch to lightweave even if it means you have to switch metas to keep your mana up. This trade will gain you about 22 spellpower *and* 35-55mp5. It's a no brainer. IED gives you 2-3 times the regen of darkglow, and costs you just over 1/2 the spellpower vs. the alternative throughput option. If after getting rid of darkglow, getting rid of all your regen trinkets, equipping the new idol, and resocketing all your gems for pure sp except as needed to activate your meta or for extreme socket bonuses (like +8sp or more), you *still* have no mana issues ever, *then* you swap metas.

It's better in some cases to wear hitless *caster dps* gear in place of natural healing gear for more throughput than to swap out IED. You really need to be in a place where you have made very dramatic tradeoffs of regen for throughput elsewhere before swapping to ESD makes sense.

Thinking in terms of tradeoffs is critical when making these decisions. For every possible tradeoff, look at how much throughput you gain for how much regen you lose. What kind of mp5 : sp ratio is it. Make a list of all the places you can do this and make your changes in the appropriate order until you have just enough mana to feel comfortable.