The problem of burst drinking
by Mike Schramm 
Feb 20th 2008 at 6:30PM
Yes, burst damage is an increasingly important factor in class balance, but have you heard of burst drinking? Apparently that's a big problem, too, as the latest update to the patch notes adds a very strange function to drinking: as of patch 2.4, "the benefits of drinking have been delayed," and the real mana regen won't start until five seconds after you've started drinking. Wha?But it's true-- apparently Blizzard felt that anyone drinking for only five seconds (either in a PvP or PvE situation) was getting too much mana. Drysc confirms that it's a serious change, and that anyone worried about their mana regen only needs to drink for six seconds, at which point they'll have as much mana as before the patch (which suggests that there is a burst of mana given at the 5 second mark, to make up for the delay).
But is this really that much of a problem? Sure, with the changes to spell haste, things are going to get faster in the battlegrounds. But are we at the point already where an extra second of out of combat drinking makes all the difference? Blizzard thinks so.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Cheats, Buffs
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Malignus Feb 20th 2008 7:03PM
Argh! I use "burst drinking" all the time. I guess it's just my play style, but as a Mage in a heavily populated area, I'll pop out the flask and get a quick top up before moving on. This is gonna really be annoying.
I guess if it's only 5 seconds though...
Dipstick Feb 20th 2008 6:44PM
It was getting pretty silly, a healer would literally pop out from his hiding place, through a heal or whatever instants/HoTs, and then pop back. Wait for combat to drop, drink for 1-2 seconds to gain the mana just used, then rinse and repeat.
It's gonna have a big impact on teams that rely on ninja drinking (those with priests/druids) and will force them to change their tactics.
Freelier Feb 20th 2008 6:50PM
In the PvE world, it will also have a big impact. I'd guess that about 99% of the time or so, there will be no real impact, but there will be that one time when someone on some server somewhere will need it. They will post on the forums.
You know what? A lot of other people will be irritated at the lack of instance gratification that they will pretend to agree with the person. Nerfing instant gratification is the real problem, and I predict that Blizzard will have to cave in to this eventually.
It might not effect anything in PvE, but it's not fun in PvE.
GuyGascoigne Feb 20th 2008 6:51PM
I really don't care about PvP, all this does is slow the whole group down in PvE whilst they wait for whoever's mana starved. Lots of annoyance for as far as I can see absolutely no benefit.
Sad.
therationalpi Feb 20th 2008 6:59PM
The change is being implemented so as not to change water's PvE effect. Water is used differently in PvE than PvP. It is to recoup between fights, and no one drinks for less than 5 seconds. So, there will be no change in that situation.
PvP is where the change happens. Apparently, Blizz sees it as an undesirable tactic for people to break combat to drink. If that is done too regularly, then drinking water becomes a psuedo mana potion.
GuyGascoigne Feb 20th 2008 7:16PM
No, as a Pally I do short bursts of drinking whilst raiding all of the time. I'll start drinking as soon as I get the leaving combat message and keep on drinking after the fights started as the group's wading it's way through trash all of the time. I very rarely take more than say 10s and quite often have to stop much sooner, it's just a fast top off between frenetic pulls. Other pallys and healers in the group all seem to do the same thing, it just really cuts down on the down time between fights. Maybe the 5s minimum won't make much of a difference, but still it seems like a pretty needless change from a PvE point of view.
Bootsanator Feb 21st 2008 4:03AM
Yeah guy, but the point is the "burst".
for the first 5 seconds, you're getting less than pre-2.4
at the 6th second, you get a Burst of mana, which makes up for the lower amount on the first 5 seconds, making it equal to pre-2.4
from then on, it's normal.
At least, that's what I get from the article. I haven't been anywhere near the PTR myself.
therationalpi Feb 20th 2008 6:55PM
I think the idea is that this is something that can be exploited, but rarely is. Blizz wants drinking to be something that mana using players can do to get back in the fight after using their resources in a previous fight. If players can easily use their water in combat, then it needs to be balanced against mana potions, which is bad for people who use it properly.
As it stands, I never drink for any length of time shorter than 10 seconds anyhow. If I'm drinking, I'm down a lot of mana. As long as the change doesn't effect that aspect of drinking water, I'm fine with it.
outforprophets Feb 21st 2008 4:17AM
It doesn't sound like you do too much Arena because this tactic is used a hell of a lot there. In PvE, I don't think it will matter much if in the end you're getting the same amount of mana in the end anyway.
Still, if it's a needless inconvenience for PvE I wonder if they can just change it for Arena matches or not. Could also be a bug that's been around for a long time but just got noticed due to the fact that it's highlighted the most in PvP.
Icepuck Feb 20th 2008 6:56PM
While Blizzard is at it... can you do something about the "endless" energy that rogues have. That needs nerfing.
If Blizz insists on this change, I hope they reduce the time required to drink a water.
Dahk Feb 20th 2008 7:03PM
Understandable for PvP, but a ridiculous nerf to PvE, particularly to raiders that often need to have everyone take short drinks between pulls to conserve time (Ex. ZA and Hyjal). Imo, they should just disable drinking in arenas and leave it the hell alone in PvE.
Ametrine Feb 20th 2008 7:30PM
YES.
If Arenas are the problem, fix Arenas, not the whole game.
Like I've said before; you don't rewire your entire house just because your bedside lamp blows a bulb.
superfrank Feb 21st 2008 5:35AM
This problem, along with the changing armour in arena problem, stems from them reducing the time it takes to get "out of combat" (which was a buff to rogues and druids).
If it took 10s to get out of pvp combat then it would be much easier to keep people in combat and thus much easier to prevent them changing their armour or ninja drinking.
Messing with drinking is a massive nerf to fast pulling in instances though; as a tank I am often pulling the next mob less than 5s after the previous one died. If it takes longer for the healers' mana pool to get to a level where I am comfortable pulling then it will slow down my pulls. Furthermore as my health bar is mostly cared for by others I nearly always finish fights on 80%-100% health, so the rare times that I do eat between pulls tend to be for only a few seconds to top my health off so I shall be even more affected by this change than most.
breezer Feb 20th 2008 7:35PM
I think the Mike Schramm is mistaken. It's not that the "real" mana regen starts after 5 seconds. It's after 5 seconds, you will have regened as much mana as you would have before 2.4.
In other words, it's not a big deal.
Heleth Feb 20th 2008 7:39PM
It's specifically a nerf targeted at arenas. Once again arena's have a negative impact on the pve game.
rafe.brox Feb 21st 2008 1:08PM
There is, of course, a very easy fix.
"No eating or drinking in arenas."
Why this isn't the answer, I can't begin to say, but there it is.
Sneakstar Feb 20th 2008 7:48PM
So on my mage and my priest i have gotten into that habit of just dropping onto my butt everytime i leave combat, top myself up so that if we get adds or whatever i am more equipped to handle it, trying to enter every pull with as close to full mana as possible for extra heals or some AoE spam.
IF after 5 secs you get a "mana kick" that is equal to the amount you would have gotten for drinking for 5x1sec ticks then its not so bad i spose :S
Though seems strange to screw with something that is only broken in one area, ie arenas
Chainfire Feb 20th 2008 8:04PM
So ANOTHER change to the whole game because of Arena? Really Arena is just making the parts of the game I like much more annoying, you know all the PVE parts. But what do I know? The game is all about PVP now right?
theRaptor Feb 20th 2008 8:57PM
The amusing thing about Blizzard nerfing everyone because of Arena, is that they don't even think that the Arena on live realms is good enough for tournaments. As seen by them setting up special servers with pre-made characters for their 3v3 tournament. They are nerfing the whole game to give one aspect "e-sports credibility" yet have to rig it to run a tournament.
terra Feb 21st 2008 9:40AM
@18 If they want to have all the best players compete with each other, then they have to set up a special realm. The best players aren't necessarily all in the same battlegroup, and it doesn't make sense to ask people to transfer just for a tournament (although there are people who transfer to particular battlegroups for sake of PVP competition).