I haven't really commented about the upcoming mana cost increases for Holy paladins in 4.2. I'm still waiting to see how things pan out. Though naturally the forums are up in arms over the changes.
But I'm coming to the conclusion that there is too much mana regen running around these days. In a lot of respects, it feels like my mana bar is swinging around wildly during fights these days.
We were doing Heroic Maloriak the other night. On the first attempt, the phases at the end of the fight went Blue->Red->Green->P2. I entered the Green phase with about 40% mana, which in retrospect was a bit too low.
On the second attempt, which was a kill, the phases went Red->Blue->Green->P2. This time I entered the Green phase with 90% mana. This is because the healing needed in Blue phase is pretty light, making it a total regen phase. Pop Divine Plea, cast Holy Lights instead of Divine Lights, etc.
Sadly, a lot of my mana went to waste because WoW crashed on me in P2. It was quite infuriating. Why didn't it crash the previous attempt when I was bone dry?
But this "swinginess" of mana seems too much to me. Bouncing around from 40% to 90% and back down is really weird. If a fight has a regen phase, you can gain a ton of mana back, probably too much.
Personally, I'd rather Blizzard nerf mana regen rather than increase costs. It seems like it would make healing mana more stable and predictable.
Divine Plea is likely the culprit. For top raiders, every phase can be a 'regen' phase because the other healers can just step it up to compensate. For casual players, it's a bit much to expect your healers to balance out like this.
ReplyDeleteAlso bear in mind that you're talking about a Paladin-specific problem to some extent. Other healing classes have mana regen concerns, but they're very different.
@ Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteThen again, is it really wrong that more skillful teamplay gets better results?
The players on the more average level of gameplay can simply tell each other to take turns on mana cooldowns.
Well, it potentially becomes a problem when you're balancing the class against what top players can do rather than what average players can do - or when you have mechanics that force such a distinction.
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind we're not talking about the skill level of the Paladin here. We're talking about the skill level of the raid leader and other healers. Putting a skill tax on a player is one thing - forcing the rest of the raid to pay that skill tax is something else entirely.
Good post and I agree, I rather see them slighty nerf our regen from seal vs up the cost of all our heals.
ReplyDeleteCompared to my priest (disc), I only get about half the mana regen on my paladin (rapture vs. seal) but still notice that I can't run oom on my paladin unless I'm trying to or if I switch to my haste gear from my 4pc bonus.