Screwface on the forums has an interesting idea about a PvP tweak, even though his implementation isn't quite right. He says that since healers are so overpowered in PvP (well that's his first problem), abilities like Rend and Garrote should not only bleed blood, but also bleed mana off of casters. Of course, simply making all bleed abilities also take off mana would make them overpowered on their own, so his plan of making a sweeping change like that doesn't quite compute.But the idea of more abilities that directly affect mana is an interesting one. Right now, there are only four "mana drain" spells in the game (warlocks can steal mana for themselves, priests can turn mana into damage, and hunters can sting mana off of a target). But as much as mana pools and regen have grown in the last patch, it's true that there hasn't been a balance in the opposite direction. No, warriors don't need another buff, but what if shaman were given a mana drain totem somewhere in the next ten levels? Or Boomkins got a spell that negated mana over time?
It's nothing to play around with lightly. But Blizzard does have to come up with ten more levels of abilities and talents for the next expansion, and messing with mana is something they haven't done much of lately. In Northrend we might not only be worried about health and DPS, but mana draining and mana attacks might become another piece of the class balance puzzle.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
1-29-2008 @ 5:09PM
Makros said...
"But the idea of more abilities that directly affect mana is an interesting one. Right now, there are only four "mana drain" spells in the game (warlocks can steal mana for themselves, priests can turn mana into damage, and hunters can sting mana off of a target)."
1. warlocks can steal mana for themselves
2. priests can turn mana into damage
3. hunters can sting mana off of a target
4. ???
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1-29-2008 @ 5:14PM
Ametrine said...
Profit.
1-29-2008 @ 5:15PM
Leiven said...
Following the link provided in the article will point the WoWWiki, where Feedback (Human Priest Racial) is included as one of the "Priest Mana Burns".
http://www.wowwiki.com/Drain
http://www.wowwiki.com/Feedback
1-29-2008 @ 5:15PM
Freehugz said...
Priests have mana burn and feedback
1-29-2008 @ 5:16PM
Elionene said...
Priests have 2 abilities, Mana Burn and Feedback. So they have 2 of the four drain abilities.
1-29-2008 @ 5:21PM
Makros said...
Thanks guys. I forgot that they changed the feedback racial. I haven't played a human priest since before BC.
1-29-2008 @ 5:10PM
Schadenfreude said...
I've always thought there was a niche for a class focused on mana drain from enemies and regen for allies (maybe a Spellbreaker hero class or some such) but I wouldn't nearly be up to the task of trying to conceptualize it beyond that.
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1-29-2008 @ 5:18PM
Naix said...
I think Rogues should get a mana burn ability deep (like 51 point talent) in either Sub or Assassination tree.
Warlocks should get a mana drain dot. Much like a swarm of little worms from EPL.
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1-29-2008 @ 5:18PM
Sky_Paladin said...
I see no problem with it, provided non-mana based classes also lose rage/whateverThatYellowBarIsCalled from the same effects that would drain mana.
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1-29-2008 @ 5:18PM
Rudolphe said...
Are you kidding me? Mana draining abilities are already OP. Priest + Hunter = OOM healer in under a minute.
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1-29-2008 @ 5:28PM
Bloodelfer said...
ARE YOU kidding me??
"Stings the target, draining 1368 mana over 8 sec. Only one Sting per Hunter can be active on any one target."
so enemies who have like 10k mana pool, its useless
1. A paladin/druid will simply dispell it
2. it has 15sec cooldown (so no spamming)
+ it takes 270 Mana from hunter, hunter would be oom himself soon
1-29-2008 @ 6:02PM
Rob said...
Yeah viper sting isn't OP at all. you'll get 1800 drained if you have the 5 points in imp. stings, over 8 seconds. And its a 15 second cooldown. So you'd have to hit the healer 5x at least to drain their mana, that's 75 seconds of pummeling the healer. Its much better to just burn them down and hope they dont heal through the hurt. As it is, its just an annoyance.
1-29-2008 @ 5:25PM
Zach said...
Did he say Healers are OP? Ouch. Please roll a Healer. Tell me how OP it is when you actually need friends to kill something for you.
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1-29-2008 @ 5:29PM
Rudolphe said...
Yeah you could simply dispel it... if you didn't have 4 or 5 other debuffs to get through first.
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1-29-2008 @ 5:34PM
Algorithm said...
Having played a mage, priest and druid to 70, I think many of you forget that attacking mana is NOT attacking healers. Healers have spirit, mp5, free heals, and other tomfoolery.
Mana burns, drains, etc. don't hurt healers as much as they hurt mages. My druid gets innervate; my priest gets inner focus, symbol of hope or vampiric touch (spec and race, I know). When my mage goes OOM, he's totally screwed.
I can't speak for elemental shamans, but I imagine they're screwed in much the same way.
Warlocks are pretty much immune to mana depletion since they can drain it from others or convert their health.
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1-30-2008 @ 7:34AM
Crys87 said...
Mages have mana gems and Evocate....
1-29-2008 @ 5:35PM
Rudolphe said...
And i said Hunter + Priest = OOM healer in under a minute. You can't dispel a mana burn, and If you haven't experienced it first hand you wouldn't know, multiple times i've looked up at my mana bar to see it under 70% (and yes i'm well over 10k mana) after only casting 3 or 4 flash heals. Also explain your logic on going oom with using a 270 mana skill that can only be cast every 15 seconds. They'd have to use it 30 times for it to use over 8k mana which would take just over seven minutes to do... so no the hunter wouldn't be soon OOM himself.
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1-30-2008 @ 10:48AM
Bloodelfer said...
yea BUT im not ONLY casting Viper string but arcane shot, auto shot esacpe skills etc. all take like 100-300 mana
and u CAN dispell viper sting (it goes under posion class or something), so for me its useless to use
1-29-2008 @ 5:39PM
hisame said...
I'd be all for this the day casters get rage and energy drain moves (and no, being slapped silly by warrior and rogue moves does not count!)
Only casters are affected by pushback.
Only casters can be rendered useless by silence and what not (unless wanding counts).
Silence a warrior and they just can't use shouts. Silence a caster and it's melee or wand time.
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1-29-2008 @ 5:44PM
Freehugz said...
only melee are rendered useless with roots/snares