World-of-warcraft – loot specialization in WoW

As a Holy Paladin, look for gear that has Intellect (increases Mana pool), spellpower (bigger heals), crit and haste. don't specificially gear for MP5/spirit. Unforunately for levels 60-70, gear will be a hodge-podge. Look at cloth, leather and mail gear as well, as some of the pieces are better itemized for healing, then the plate items available from outland. Keep you divine plea up, and use judgement of light up to help your healing and keep your haste buff up. Switch to judgement of wisdom if you're mana is getting real low. Also decide if you want to spam Holy Light (more crit) or Flash of Light (more SP). Check out EltistJerks.com, their fourms have a lot of useful info on gearing, though it is aimed more at end-game raiders.

The "five second rule" no longer exists in Cataclysm. You have a fixed rate of mana regeneration while in combat, and another fixed rate of mana regeneration while out of combat.

Out of combat

Your out-of-combat mana regeneration rate is based on your spirit. "Mana per 5 seconds" (MP5) no longer exists on items, and has been replaced by spirit. (You'll still see it on mana oil, though.) Every class that has a mana bar will regenerate mana this way while out of combat.

In combat

All classes start with a baseline regen rate of 5% of your base mana per second. (Base mana is the amount of mana you would have with 0 intellect.) Classes using healing talent specs gain a passive ability called Meditation, which lets half of your out-of-combat regeneration continue while in combat.

For non-healing specs such as mages, warlocks, and shadow priests, spirit does absolutely nothing for your combat regen. Many talents and abilities exist that give you bonus mana in combat, however: Replenishment, Archangel, Hymn of Hope, Shadowfiend, etc. Mages can passively regenerate mana using Mage Armor.