You can check here how well your assumptions about the stat page dps and damage range effect on skill damage fair in practice:
http://www.spacetimestudios.com/show...l=1#post424602
Notice that the empathy tick difference is due to weapon damage range and that damage difference is carried out to other damage (and healing) spells, too. So while the incinerator indeed did yield 3 points more non-crit dps (*) than the widow in practice, the same 3 point loss in empathy ticks means 3 point loss in each spell amounting to a greatly reduced overall performance.
(*) The incinerator didn't do well with its crits compared to the widow, but in that regard the data was rather limited and a further study would be necessary to make a better claim about that. Same goes for the crushers.
Another thing I'd like to say it that I wouldn't put much emphasis on minor manapool size changes. Because as a 30/31, there is sufficiently anyway, and it's really the m/s that makes or breaks your mana. (assuming no blue potting, because if one does pot blue the mana pool size even more irrelevant) Health pool is a different matter, because that one is so easily pumped back to full with healing spells and it has a tendency to run out from time to time, so with that the buffer size is really more relevant issue.