Quote Originally Posted by Leidiriv View Post
The problem with looking at the generation is that if you look at the generation in the melee combo, it's all hypothetical mana because you will overcap in that case. Mana wasted on overcapping has a potency of 0. Additionally, the reason we consider mana that could have been generated in the time spent on a weaponskill is because that mana could have been built toward a melee combo, and you can't build very far at all toward another melee combo in place of doing the melee combo.
There exists a mana range (20-180) where you could either execute a weaponskill or cast spells. That those weaponskills are the wrong choice during much of this range is irrelevant; they are usable. There's also a range (160-180ish) where you could execute a combo or continue to cast spells. Because of this, all that "hypothetical" mana is real mana.