Downranking Spells removed in Wrath of the Lich King
The title is pretty self explanatory. Healers typically downrank their spells in order to preserve mana during long fights and such, as well to spam a faster/cheaper spell in order to generate a crit heal that can buff the caster or the target in the case of priests/shaman/paladins.
Well those days are long gone, with good reason actually. Spirit is changing dramatically and mana regen is very nice in the expansion. As well remember that everything is running fluid now (like rogue energy) where you don’t exactly tic mana back in chunks but it fills gradually and the higher your regen is the faster it fills. Images from WOR (thanks guys)
This is not a bug.
In the latest WotLK beta push, we made a large change to the mana cost of spells. All player spells now cost a percentage of base mana rather than a fixed cost. Base mana is a special value determined by the player’s level and class, regardless of any effects or items that increase intellect. It is the size of a player’s mana pool if the player has zero intellect.
This change was made primarily to prevent downranking, as it’s a technique that was never quite intended. Rather than continue to find ways to penalize players for casting low-rank spells, we decided to essentially make doing so obsolete. If rank 5 and rank 6 of a spell cost the same amount of mana, but rank 6 does more damage/healing, then there is no reason to consider casting rank 5.
So, each spell line (eg. Frostbolt, Shadowbolt, Greater Heal, Rejuvenation, etc.) has a fixed percentage of base mana that it costs for most of its ranks. That means each time a player gains a level the cost will go up some. The percentages were picked to attempt to keep the costs relatively similar to what they are currently in World of Warcraft. For most spells, that percentage will drop some when the player receives their highest-rank spell in existing Burning Crusade content. This was done to better fit the existing cost curve, and to keep the mana cost for level 70 players as close as possible to existing costs. Level 70 characters will see most of their maximum rank spells change in cost slightly up or down, but not by significant amounts.
We anticipate there being some balance concerns due to this change, and our development staff will be ready to implement new spells, abilities, or talents to resolve those issues as the testing process continues. (src)
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Aug 14th, 2008 at 11:42 am
About damn time mana refills consistently. It’s frustrating waiting to cast a life-saving heal when you’re 20 mana short and have to wait 5 more seconds.
Aug 14th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I guess this means healing a lowbie with a spell that auto downranks for 100 hp will not cost 1000+ mana as a paladin? LAME. ASS.
Aug 14th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
You make a really good point there, but I think it’s more towards heals in general. If the highest rank heal costs less than the lowest then what’s to lose?
Aug 15th, 2008 at 8:39 am
To Cru -
… as a paladin? You’re healing a lowbie (or anyone for that matter) and not using Flash of Light? You’re kidding right? I’m ret and I would still heal a lowbie with MY flash of light (about 450-500ish non crit) - thats still more then enough to save a lowbie… not Enough? Cast it twice. Seriously? Don’t act as though its the end of the world. They’ll be able to balance classes out far better now that they dont have to worry about the playerbase manipulating mana costs.
Sorry if that came off as a personal attack, but all the healing classes have very VERY mana efficent smaller heals heals (Priest=Flash Heal, Pally= Flash of Light, and Druid… pick one). Just seemed to me like you were complaining to complain.
Aug 23rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
Since when did heals auto downrank when casting on lowbies, last i recall that was only buffs I think your confused.
Sep 2nd, 2008 at 7:48 am
Equillian -
Please note that Flash of Light for a Priest is NOT mana efficient. It is quick and for saving lives when needed, but Greater Heal(rank 1) is your mana efficient version of Flash of Light.
My 2 cents.
Sep 29th, 2008 at 12:04 pm
so if it does a % of your mana someone with high int can heal the same as someone with lower int. dur thats stupid getting good gear should mean your a better healer
Sep 29th, 2008 at 12:24 pm
“Base mana is a special value determined by the player’s level and class, regardless of any effects or items that increase intellect. It is the size of a player’s mana pool if the player has zero intellect.”
It is a % of BASE mana… so those with leet int. gear will still benefit as usual.
Sep 30th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
As marcus said, Flash Heal is not very mana efficient. Greater Heal (rank 1) is my most-used direct heal. I am not looking forward to the change.