Mana is a useless stat. It's trivial to have enough for everything you need it for as wisps are abundant in the Commons area of each world, as well as in the battle areas of the earlier worlds. You never have an issue with it unless you're tremendously negligent about it.
But what happens when mana is a scarce resource? We have seen this with the first round of Deckathalons. In there, we had 30 mana to get through three battles. While this was enough for people who knew what they were doing, there were others who did not. For them, the limited mana was loathsome. So much so that KI upped the mana globe to 1000 for the second round of Deckathalons, never to be a problem again.
It may be thematically appropriate for our wizards to require mana, but it simply does not add anything of value to gameplay. In fact, you can look at this other game I doubt any of you have heard of: Pirate101. It plays similarly enough to Wizard101, even having the same teleport mechanics. Except, in Pirate101, you don't need mana to teleport. You don't need mana to take actions in battle. And it works just fine.
Mana is a useless stat. It's trivial to have enough for everything you need it for as wisps are abundant in the Commons area of each world, as well as in the battle areas of the earlier worlds. You never have an issue with it unless you're tremendously negligent about it.
But what happens when mana is a scarce resource? We have seen this with the first round of Deckathalons. In there, we had 30 mana to get through three battles. While this was enough for people who knew what they were doing, there were others who did not. For them, the limited mana was loathsome. So much so that KI upped the mana globe to 1000 for the second round of Deckathalons, never to be a problem again.
It may be thematically appropriate for our wizards to require mana, but it simply does not add anything of value to gameplay. In fact, you can look at this other game I doubt any of you have heard of: Pirate101. It plays similarly enough to Wizard101, even having the same teleport mechanics. Except, in Pirate101, you don't need mana to teleport. You don't need mana to take actions in battle. And it works just fine.
both games mechanics work quite different though, maybe they just need to boost everyones base mana by 10%. I personally love having a mana globe cuz why not, it's another mechanic in a game. Just enjoy it.
I use markers quite a bit, so I'm always running out of mana. I don't mind porting back to the Commons or the World hub to collect wisps which usually takes 1-2 minutes. And if you engage in consecutive battles, you will eventually need to replenish your mana. Like health, mana is an important resource to manage. It is a integral part, mechanically and lore wise, in game built around magic. It would be strange not to have mana in a magical world.
I feel like mana is super integral to the game's identity. I agree that there is a TON of gear that gives it, but that just makes it easier to sacrifice it for better stats. To me mana is worth having, I just wish it was a bit more limited, and capped out around 200-250. I personally play with lower mana because you dont need tons of it.
I feel like mana is super integral to the game's identity. I agree that there is a TON of gear that gives it, but that just makes it easier to sacrifice it for better stats. To me mana is worth having, I just wish it was a bit more limited, and capped out around 200-250. I personally play with lower mana because you dont need tons of it.
200-250 would still be way more than you would need, given you do not typically spend more than 10-15 per battle even at the highest levels. Having more mana than you need without even trying is a good thing, because like I had mentioned in the OP, mana shortages do not contribute to fun gameplay. It's trivial to get mana, but changing this would also be bad. It essentially prevents you from playing the game. Some games do something like this, but they always, always make it so you can spend real-world money to get more. It is a gross monetization method that would have no place at all in an MMO.
As for keeping the term mana since this is a game about wizards, they could just rename energy to mana or something. It would be more thematically appropriate calling it mana instead of energy.
200-250 would still be way more than you would need, given you do not typically spend more than 10-15 per battle even at the highest levels. Having more mana than you need without even trying is a good thing, because like I had mentioned in the OP, mana shortages do not contribute to fun gameplay. It's trivial to get mana, but changing this would also be bad. It essentially prevents you from playing the game. Some games do something like this, but they always, always make it so you can spend real-world money to get more. It is a gross monetization method that would have no place at all in an MMO.
As for keeping the term mana since this is a game about wizards, they could just rename energy to mana or something. It would be more thematically appropriate calling it mana instead of energy.
So what's the actual problem with Mana? It's a mechanic that contributes to world building and as you point out it's not hard to get. I do think that Mana being used to limit markers is an interesting mechanic. But at this point it's getting down to a war of opinions.
Rather than argue with your point that it should go or not, then, I will say that I doubt KI will implement it as they recently had the opportunity to remove it when they reworked the tutorial and did nothing of the sort.
So what's the actual problem with Mana? It's a mechanic that contributes to world building and as you point out it's not hard to get. I do think that Mana being used to limit markers is an interesting mechanic. But at this point it's getting down to a war of opinions.
Rather than argue with your point that it should go or not, then, I will say that I doubt KI will implement it as they recently had the opportunity to remove it when they reworked the tutorial and did nothing of the sort.
Yeah I'm like the exact opposite. I think that the only reason mana even exists here is because it's called mana, and mechanically it only hinders us in ways that are neither interesting nor meaningful. Even using it for teleporting serves as a deterrent, and I don't really see the point of limiting teleportation.
