Do you still use the shawl aug? I was thinking about replacing it. I'm using the caster version that returns mana.
My new cle on Cazic doesn't have it, but if she did I sure wouldn't be replacing. It's not as good as Tome of Manipulation, but passively returning some mana is a heck of a lot more than other augs do.
I removed it in TBL due to the fact that I can't seem to run low on mana, in group and in raid. The only time mana is an issue is when I start dotting everything. Just melee the mob instead.
I still use mine (caster version as well), along with a Tome of Manipulation (Spec. Alteration Mod) and a Helping Hand (SIB 5 mana proc) aug. I used to use the Dark Shield of the Scholar (SIB 13 mana proc) but replaced it because the increased AC on newer shields became harder to ignore. Of these, though the shawl aug is least useful for mana recovery, it still has decent-ish stats, so it is an easier choice for most to keep than the others. I consider usage of these things to be mostly optional, though, with the possible exception of the Tome, given the rarity of that mod and its effect. As Pano mentioned, the purpose of all of these things is to prevent us from running out of mana before a raid event ends so if a cleric can accomplish that without these things, then they are not technically necessary and I cannot fault a cleric for using augs to enhance survival instead. That being said, they can be useful when we are recovering from death as without outside help from other classes, our ability to restore our own mana pool is somewhat limited in combat. VP helps, sure, but since its timer is tied to QP (which we often need to give to druids or paladins who die more often than we do) and the timer on both is 20 min., without help we will be stuck working with a limited mana pool and Yaulp (which is duration-based) will only help us so much. It is possible to cast Remedies for a while with a small mana pool, but once group heals and more powerful, expensive heals like Dissident Blessing are necessary, not having the mana to cast everything we want/need to becomes a real possibility. Granted, at some point without outside help to increase our mana/regen even these things won't allow us to cast everything we want/need to at the same rate we could with a full mana bar, but they will extend the time we can do so even if it is not by that much. So I still use these things but it is mostly for comfort, as they give me more confidence that my mana will last longer and in low-mana conditions if those conditions should arise (though they often do not given the efficiency of my raid team). I also (again, taking my raid team into account) do not feel a few more stat augs would enhance my ability to survive the type of damage that usually ends up killing me. Ultimately, though, it is up to the cleric to decide which is more important/likely to be of use to them and I do not feel there is a "wrong" choice as neither option is super-impactful either way, making it more of a comfort choice than anything.
