Mana Concerns Post U60 XP changes

[Mystra]

Thought occured..... I have a bit of a concern for pure casters and mana limitations. If we are required to kill so many monsters now to hit those benchmark XP thresholds, wouldn't many of us caster classes have issues?

I mean to be honest I have currently zero mana issues and haven't had problems especially at cap. But will all this change after the XP changes? Thoughts?

 

[rabidfox]

Lots of classes can have mana issues, especially in early heroics. If you're geared to the teeth, can always land your DCs, and have solid spell power while leveling then one is generally fine. But even a well geared Druid caster will have mana issues at times when leveling, just the way the class plays. It may mean shrining more, it may result in pointing out quests where more shines are needed and/or their positioning isn't ideal.

 

[Dalois]

Overall the conquest bonus is capped at 100 kills, so past early heroics I don't think there will be too much of an issue, or much of a change for most players, but I may in the minority with that

 

[vryxnr]

Option 1: continue playing smart and conserve SP usage by gathering enemies into large groups so you can hit more things at once per casting. Unfortunately, the act of gathering enemies together can cause server issues, as until you kill them, you're aggroing more and more, which means more things that have to perform pathing calculations, which is the current source of lag the devs are concerned with.

Option 2: play more mindlessly by just blasting everything like crazy the moment you see an enemy, don't group things up, just blast away! When you run out of SP, you can buy an SP Pots from the DDO store! thus you get your kills, you don't aggro many things at once and thus keep server lag down, and you give SSG more money via store purchases to keep your SP up! It's win-win for everything (except your wallet, and possibly sanity as well).

I suspect SSG really wants us to go with option 2.

 

[Mystra]

Can't do Option 1 anymore? They changed Dungeon Alert so that if you're running through and gathering up monsters you'll end up triggering it. Luckily DA doesn't make monsters resistant to magic or stronger in anyway so we can just blast them when rounded up but still not sure how it'll jive with the new DA.

 

[Mand O'Lin]

Perhaps the developers have stumbled into a method of encouraging full and balanced party play. With more focus on melees with support from casters.

- Feel free to cue the laugh track -

 

[Mystra]

Perhaps the developers have stumbled into a method of encouraging full and balanced party play. With more focus on melees with support from casters.

- Feel free to cue the laugh track -

Since it was done completely and utterly through sheer accident . . . I believe it. -laugh track continues-

 

[DBZ]

TNT warlocks for the win

Or acolyte splash whatver pl u want for heroics

Epic ROSS are cheap and easy to grind

And add those stamina bars already so melees and ranged can support the game too buying all those pots

 

[Bjond]

Perhaps the developers have stumbled into a method of encouraging full and balanced party play

If they want party play, the first step is making sure there are enough people online to form a party. These days, it's nearly 100% solo only because there just aren't enough people online to form a group. The only time I end up not solo is for scheduled guild raids.

Hint: mega server is the only quick answer. IMHO, making mega server happen should be the absolute top dev priority. Mega server may even be the driving goal behind the server optimization press. They might have extrapolated peak server load for a mega and checked it versus cost and come up short, but not so short they couldn't get there with some optimizations.

 

[TrinityTurtle]

I play a variety of caster classes, and I have never been the pass them by type. I'm a murder machine, and I do not have mana issues. I have always leaned heavily into aoe sla type casting though, for context. Also a lot of quests have way more shrines than people actually use anymore to refill. I think we forget that as we're outta the habit of shrining these days compared to the olden days.

 

[Akor]

I like the mega server idea, i do think this is going to be a big problem, especially for new players. Maybe just remove the mana bars.

 

[Aelonwy]

I don't solo, I play with my family, but we generally slay as we go, breaking stuff and doing most/all optionals. After say level 5 or thereabouts I don't have any sp pt problems. Before level 5 just buffing can take half your sp pts. To be fair having an upgraded Vibrant Purple Ioun stone at level 5 on your caster(s) helps immensely.

 

[Geezer]

Option 1: continue playing smart and conserve SP usage by gathering enemies into large groups so you can hit more things at once per casting. Unfortunately, the act of gathering enemies together can cause server issues, as until you kill them, you're aggroing more and more, which means more things that have to perform pathing calculations, which is the current source of lag the devs are concerned with.

Option 2: play more mindlessly by just blasting everything like crazy the moment you see an enemy, don't group things up, just blast away! When you run out of SP, you can buy an SP Pots from the DDO store! thus you get your kills, you don't aggro many things at once and thus keep server lag down, and you give SSG more money via store purchases to keep your SP up! It's win-win for everything (except your wallet, and possibly sanity as well).

I suspect SSG really wants us to go with option 2.

Option 1 is what most casters will still do and this is why I dont understand the Devs reasoning for their actions, unless its just to sell xp pots. If people are just going to round them up, then there will be no difference in lag whatsoever, the quests will just take more time to complete.