Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
The Proving Grounds are coming
The latest patch 5.4 newsForum post of the day: Table plz
by Amanda Dean 
Jul 9th 2008 at 2:30AM
In my humble opinion the refreshment table is pretty neat idea. A Mage spend two Arcane Powders and starts casting the ritual, then two others join in. Viola! A buffet of yummy, health-and-mana-regenerating, Manna Biscuit goodness appears before your raid. The table sticks around for five minutes or however long it takes to deplete its fifty stacks of food. This is probably one of Blizzard's best additions.
In it's own way, the Ritual of Refreshment is also kind of a curse for Mages. True- the reagents cost a total seventeen silver at the vendor, that's not hard to swallow. Keylogger of Stormscale is annoyed by requests for tables. She pointed out that anyone with a friendly level of reputation with the Shattered Sun Offensive can purchase Naaru Rations, no badgering required. Other posters agreed that it's not the process of casting that's at issue, but the sense of entitlement from other folks about a table.
Yorec of Azuremyst argued that the mage table is equivalent to buffing. As a Paladin, he often has to rebuff when people are unhappy with his first cast. Group buffs from Mages, Paladins, and Priests require reagents purchased from vendors. Gold isn't a problem for most players anymore.
Conjured Manna Biscuits and Naaru Rations give back 7500 heath and 7200 mana over time. Warriors and Rogues have it easier because they need only pick up any edible food from a vendor. These are more expensive alternatives, but should be in every non-Mage's inventory in case of an emergency.
Tables are necessary in raids but a nicety in battlegrounds. I have to admit that I find "table plz" in the battlegrounds mildly irritating. I'm always happy to grab some grub when there's a table down, but I don't think it's fair to place demands in PvP. My philosophy is to come prepared and be happy if I get a little something extra. Thanks mages.
Do you expect to cast or benefit from Ritual of Refreshment in the battlegrounds?
Filed under: Mage, Analysis / Opinion, Buffs, Forums, Battlegrounds, Forum Post of the Day
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 10)
mbenitez1992 Jul 9th 2008 3:39AM
Lots of people here seem to think it's a mage's obligation to supply a random PUG BG with a table... but honestly, it's not.
I'll drop a table if I need the food myself; Mana Biscuits are NOTHING like Prayers of Fortitude etc. as every character should be expected to HAVE HIS OR HER OWN FOOD/WATER! Do people honestly expect Mages to conjure all their food for them instead of spending some of their own money and time?
And what would be the point of Prayer-of-Fortitude-et-al anyway? I'm sure all of the people you supply with an hour-long buff would all die at least once 15 minutes or less into the game... I usually just Arcane Intellect/Dampen Magic rank 1 all my BG members before the match... not like there's anything else to do on the countdown.
And all you moochers who think you DESERVE to get tables and it's our obligation to save the oh-so-starving nation of Azeroth, go ahead and stuff those 'table plz's of yours up your asses.
Clevins Jul 9th 2008 2:07PM
You forget... it costs you NOTHING. You'll get more than the cost of reagents from looting the bodies in a BG (you DO take the insignias, right?). And even if no one does that and it DOES cost you 17s... really? You're REALLY going to act like 17 silver is an issue? REALLY?
No it's not my right.... but it's not your right to get buffs either. Yes, I can use other food and water.... i always carry some. But aside from Naaru Rations, nothing else in the game gives me 7500 hp AND mana back as I use it. Yeah, I can eat and drink from different stacks... but it's way easier if I can hotkey a consumable that gives both things at once.
I'm sorry, but there's no practical reason to NOT drop a table - the cost is trivial and you'll get most or all of it back as people loot insignias. Or are you saying that, when I'm on my rogue, I shouldn't use poisons since they cost money? That on my spriest, I shouldn't do group Fort because that costs money? Is it REALLY then money? Because if it is you're being cheap.
Want to not get hassled AT ALL? Zone into a BG, get to the group, drop a table. Just do it routinely. Act like it's no big deal - because it isn't.
Juanxlink Jul 9th 2008 3:37AM
And im not meaning in raid, raid deserves arcane brilliance on every wipe, and a table anytime someone asks for food/water,no question on that
Jetson Jul 9th 2008 9:20AM
So if it makes sense in a raid, it should make sense in a BG.
You're there to win. If winning means buffs, food, soulstones, healthstones, whatever, you should be doing it.
Not helping the group means you're not committed to winning. If you're not there to win, just go afk in a corner, collect your token, and GTFO.
Smurfy Jul 9th 2008 3:40AM
Blizzard needs to do away with reagent requirements at the beginning of bg's the way they did with mana. This would make everyone happy :)
Juanxlink Jul 9th 2008 3:39AM
Not meaning in raid-pve content, that deserves arcane brilliance on every wipe, and a table cast if any asks for food/water
Juanxlink Jul 9th 2008 3:40AM
Some delay on posts...
Sry double posting, Im new on that
Eggie Jul 9th 2008 3:43AM
Mostly I just ask the mages nicely for some water, thats all I need as a shaman. I hate the 'table plx' sentence, let people get their own food and let the mages make some little water for casters (say 10/20 water per caster) which will be long enough to survive the battlegrounds most of the time.
Ezzy Jul 9th 2008 3:53AM
Pretty much the fix to this issue is to make these spells reagentless at the beginning of a bg. I mean they already did a good thing in making buffs not cost any mana but reagentless would make people more likely to buff others.
If you are bg'ing for a few hours, it would get "expensive" to drop a table or completely buff everyone every single game you are in. It is understandable if they don't want to every once in a while.
Peoples' sense of entitlement also is a complete turn off. If I get pestered to do something, over and over and over again, I might resort to not doing it at all, even if it hurts me as well. I also think a lot of people take advantage of mages especially. Not only are they being pestered in BGs to drop a table, they are also asked to do so in trade/general. On top of that, mages also are constantly asked to make portals. Its not like I won't do those things when I am on my mage, it just gets old to get asked every five seconds to do those things.
From what I see mage tables are the only "buff" that people whine about not having.
Redlocker Jul 9th 2008 3:56AM
I think it would be awesome if we could buy this as a skill for anyone to use.
But I guess we need some reason for a mage in pvp ?
Hoof Jul 9th 2008 5:51AM
I always ask nicely the first bg/bg's I enter.. when you get a reply back "sorry out of reagents" which happens a lot you just get annoyed.. Best time was in AV where we only had 1 mage, we got that reply.. on Galv the mage wrote "Spell dmg totem plz" where as I just had to stop and write "Sorry, I left the Air Totem in the bank".. got quite a lot of pwned messages.. made my day.. next AB there where 2 tables waiting on my arrival :D
I had another AV where another mage replied the same thing and on Drek he yelled "Heroism ffs!" where as I ofc had to reply "sorry, oom"
ofc one understand a mage that does 40 bg's per day and get asked every BG... on the other hand, Blizzard could have made each stack you take cost 34 copper so the mages wont loose their precious money they can't "farm" for :)
Or they could just remove all reagent costs while prearation buffed, why even have them there?
Roxton Jul 9th 2008 5:30AM
Yes, because conjuring foodstuffs out of the twisting nether is a common warrior skill, isn't it? Tell you what - you can have your table when we can wear plate. Because that makes just about as much sense.
Tushar Bharadia Jul 9th 2008 1:05PM
I shall take your deal. If you wear plate, you might just get an idea of your tank's repair bills after you pulled aggro.
endofcake Jul 9th 2008 4:05AM
My little brother plays wow too, as a warlock. He targets every single bg player he can and casts unending breath and detect invisibility before every game. He drops soulwells every bg. I don't think he's ever complained about this. In fact, when I berated him on wasting time on casting almost useless 10minute buffs on everyone, and REFRESHING them at every opportunity, he calmly ignored me and proceeded to slowly, aggravatingly target and buff yet another bg/raid.
He's not very good at explaining the things he does, and I'm not very good at being sensitive, so it took me quite a long time to understand why. He does this because it's one of the only ways he can directly contribute to the well-being of everyone else on his team. I stopped yelling at him to stop being an idiot when I realised that he was putting more into any bg than I do on my holy priest (who hasn't been buffing as well as she should have). Putting Prayer of Fortitude and Shadow Protection on every group each time a bg began slowly stopped after running av after av. That was just me getting burnt out, not about the gold cost of the reagent, not about the "fort plz" and "omfg priest fort pllz!!1". At that time it's a good idea to log off and bake a cake :)
Dave Jul 9th 2008 4:13AM
I think anyone who complains about dropping a table in almost any situation seriously needs to stop whining and just play the game and start being nice to everyone instead of just assuming that only your guild is worthy of your politeness.
I have a mage, i put up a table in every single BG. I don't mind at all, especially since they took the suggestion of making them Unique(80) and one douchebag can't ruin it for everyone. I also arcane brilliance everyone at the start (OMG REAGENTS) just because it might help. (it helps a lot in AV where sometimes you just don't die at all). I know most people sure don't bother even throwing a single buff out in a BG ever. Personally i have Grid, it shows me who needs a buff I can supply, and I'm happy to help.
I also keep a mod (Steal Your Carbon by Mod Superhero Tekkub) that automatically fills me up with 3 stacks of arcane powder and a stack of the portal/teleport runes every time I hit up the reagent vendor. I hate being the space cadet who always says "oh lol i forgot to get candles" or whatever. Mods are useful, they prevent you from having to remember trivial crap.
I've yet to see an appreciable dent in my cashflow. I don't do a lot of dailies, just the fishing and cooking ones and that keeps me supplied in reagents and raid consumables. I guess if you can't be bothered to do just a couple dailies when you log on every day, the 1-2g/day output of reagents might be a burden.
Otherwise I think people just like to whine about trivial crap that doesn't really matter and just makes them look like self-centered jerks.
PimpyMicPimp Jul 9th 2008 4:13AM
TEARS OVER ANYTHING
Aurea_Nagrand Jul 9th 2008 4:24AM
Alliance, set the table at FWGY... make em work for it...
Shakool Jul 9th 2008 4:32AM
When a Mage refuse to drop a table, I avoid healing him for the duration of battleground. If i can't drink, i don't waste my mana.
Sorry for the english.
Roxton Jul 9th 2008 5:30AM
Shouldn't you have your own water anyway? Or whenever you play do you always have a mage in your group for you to pester? Clearly, mages are a support class.
Adorenko Jul 9th 2008 4:39AM
This is just the same symptom with my paladin. The only upside for me is if i dont feel like providing the class shared buff. I just use the shorter 10 minute buff if i have the time before the start of a BG. But if I had a mage and I didnt feel like dropping a table to bad everyone can go pound sand for all I care. The mage already provides a buff ne way. The table is the cherry on top and thats it.