The one thing i remember about the sorc ..pregear.. in D2, was the shortage of mana you almost always had.

Of course, you had mana potions to help with it, but it always seemed like you were just aching for the next mana potion to drop so you could grab it and use it.

I can see a very similar trend in D3 with mana orbs.

So why not give the sorc a spell that gives back mana. In the sorc vid, you can see she has a melee attack, that looks like blueish green claws (or something). This melee attack requires the sorc be close to an enemy, and could easily be given the effect, "generates 'x' mana" for each hit. Kind of like a mana leech.

I feel like this would allow the sorc to be more versatile. Who knows...maybe that skill already has that effect. If it does great. If not, i think it should be considered.

How do you even know that the Wizard's mana regen will be bad? The close-up attack is in the conjuration skill tree, it's used for close combat with enemies, why would the Wizard (If not already) go into the conjuration skill tree, get that attack, and need to run up to enemies to gain their lost mana back? It seems like the mana regen problem can be fixed much more easily than that.

Also - The Wizard is the only class that can have mana orbs drop for them, this has already been implemented and will surely help the Wizard, no?

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Q u o t e:
How do you even know that the Wizard's mana regen will be bad? The close-up attack is in the conjuration skill tree, it's used for close combat with enemies, why would the Wizard (If not already) go into the conjuration skill tree, get that attack, and need to run up to enemies to gain their lost mana back? It seems like the mana regen problem can be fixed much more easily than that.

Also - The Wizard is the only class that can have mana orbs drop for them, this has already been implemented and will surely help the Wizard, no?

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im pretty sure i touched on everything you asked or stated in my OP

Why did all sorcs have to put 1 point into warmth?

And the idea is that instead of using a staff to attack when youre low on mana, you switch to another form of melee attack. You are still going into melee distance, you are still putting yourself in danger, but you gain a reward. It would force the sorc to move close range and long range at different intervals, so the playstyle wouldnt be solely, stand behind everyone, throw bolt.'

the bolded text in your statement makes no sense. You are asking, "Why would a wizard use a skill they just got in the conjuration skill?" wtf...Obviously it would still do damage, it would just give a little mana back as well.

risk/reward...its a staple concept in video games.

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Q u o t e:
Obviously it's just too early to say the wizard does or does not have mana issues, that all comes down to balancing and fine tuning, and ideally of course the goal is that each class is very playable and not frustrating. Especially at early levels.

Mana orbs are actually the product of a passive skill in the wizard's arcane tree. Since we can't guarantee people will get that skill I don't think it can ever really become the deciding factor in mana regen. It is an early skill in that tree though, easy to pick up, and sure to be helpful.

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I'm guessing that means the Witch Doctor's Soul Harvest skill also requires people to put a point in it to use it? Mana regen itself must be pretty quick since people might not decide to get their mana regen skills over other skills.

Does this mana orb skill increase the drop rate of mana orbs or will they drop without it?

Too quick and it makes those skills useless, though.

Ideally, there should be "cheap" skills that you can spam without improved mana regen (Charged Bolt and Magic Missile, probably), and then there should be expensive skills that you can only use regularly if you have the regen skills or crazy items (Blizzard, Tornado).

Mostly, mana was really bad in Diablo II. At lower levels, you never had enough of it, and at high levels, even if you never touched Energy and didn't bother with any Mana items, most characters would have all the Mana they could ever need. This meant that you had to slog through early levels with not enough mana, or gimp yourself with way too much mana later.

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Q u o t e:
Too quick and it makes those skills useless, though.

Ideally, there should be "cheap" skills that you can spam without improved mana regen (Charged Bolt and Magic Missile, probably), and then there should be expensive skills that you can only use regularly if you have the regen skills or crazy items (Blizzard, Tornado).

Mostly, mana was really bad in Diablo II. At lower levels, you never had enough of it, and at high levels, even if you never touched Energy and didn't bother with any Mana items, most characters would have all the Mana they could ever need. This meant that you had to slog through early levels with not enough mana, or gimp yourself with way too much mana later.

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Meh... It's gonna come down to items... again. Since I doubt that you'll be able to get mana globes dropped when just fighting a boss... Unless all bosses call out little minion dudes that can drop them. Otherwise you'll just have to have high mana regen if you wanna be able to bust out the uber skills and not run out of mana every third or fourth cast... Bah.

And the problem with items being involved is... what, exactly? Casters need more item dependence...

I agree it's interesting feature which will impact balance. If melee character as barbarian already has problem solved via fury increase with continuous fight, something similar had to be done with caster classes too. Mana orbs spawn as result of direct skill point invested may seem 1 step behind melee class, but I doubt it will be such big problem as it was in DiabloII.
I believe that keeping in mind that this will be totaly new game should leave burden of DiabloII behind, and hope that final nail will be hit when we get our hands on working demo. ;)

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Q u o t e:
Mana orbs are actually the product of a passive skill in the wizard's arcane tree. Since we can't guarantee people will get that skill I don't think it can ever really become the deciding factor in mana regen. It is an early skill in that tree though, easy to pick up, and sure to be helpful.

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Please, make that skill somehow PvP-compatible if we're going to see it in the final build. Having skills which are only useful in PvM and not PvP (or vice versa) would be pretty disappointing.

How about a system like the barb? Mana is used as per usual, but you have three mini-bubbles beside the mana globe. When all three are full you can perform an ultra intense mana based attack?

OR

You can chose to forgo the ultra attack and chose something like 50% extra mana regen for 30 seconds...but during that 30 seconds you are unable to gain any mana-rage?

Just an idea.

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Q u o t e:
Please, make that skill somehow PvP-compatible if we're going to see it in the final build. Having skills which are only useful in PvM and not PvP (or vice versa) would be pretty disappointing.

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I believe bashiok or jay said at some point that bosses have a chance to drop orbs at a percentage of health or somthing like that, cant remember where i read it but im sure it was said at one point or another

I'm sad to see this extremely uncreative skill that increases mana globe drops. In Diablo 2 you had Warmth which was an extremely good idea and that fit really well because it made sense.

Having a skill that increases the mana globe drop rate just sounds like lazy work to me and I totally agree with Pneumococcus in the following quote:

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Q u o t e:

Please, make that skill somehow PvP-compatible if we're going to see it in the final build. Having skills which are only useful in PvM and not PvP (or vice versa) would be pretty disappointing.

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Q u o t e:
I'm sad to see this extremely uncreative skill that increases mana globe drops. In Diablo 2 you had Warmth which was an extremely good idea and that fit really well because it made sense.

Having a skill that increases the mana globe drop rate just sounds like lazy work to me and I totally agree with Pneumococcus in the following quote:

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There's going to be respecs, it won't be much of a problem. Put a point into it, then ditch it for something you like better. That, or just don't get it.

Customization is a good thing, deal with it. Gone are the days of 99% WWbarbs, and 90% cold sorces.

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Q u o t e:


There's going to be respecs, it won't be much of a problem. Put a point into it, then ditch it for something you like better. That, or just don't get it.

Customization is a good thing, deal with it. Gone are the days of 99% WWbarbs, and 90% cold sorces.

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you know why people cant take your posts seriously? You talk like you have played the game, like you know how things will work.

YOU DONT! Yet you sit here, writing these posts like you are a diablo deity.

Mana orbs only drop for wizard, but if you pick it up by another player will it give it mana too?