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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsAzeroth's new plague, Potion Sickness
by Alex Ziebart 
Jul 29th 2008 at 8:30AM
Bad (good?) news for Alchemists and the people that love (hate?) them. The latest Beta build has introduced something called Potion Sickness. The tooltip reads as follows: "Unable to consume potions until you rest out of combat for a short duration."In other words, you can drink one potion per encounter. The debuff itself has absolutely no duration. It sticks on you until you drop combat. This is largely meaningless to the casual player, but what it will do to raiding will be rejoiced as well as reviled. Alchemists are going to take a huge hit to their income if this goes live. Yeah yeah, I know most Alchemists will say their profit is from Herbalism, but after seeing the insane prices on Haste Potions, Super Mana Potions and Flasks, I beg to differ.
I completely, 100% agree with this change, despite the loss of income to a profession. As someone who raids often, the sheer number of potions a raid burns through at the high end is just not right. Mana Potions, Ironshield Potions, more Mana Potions, Haste Potions, Destruction Potions, et cetera. This change will allow them to design bosses with the players in mind, not the potions the players are using in mind. Those consumables have always been a mandatory part of high-end raiding, and they really shouldn't be.
I think Elixirs or Flasks is pretty good, along with Potions for emergencies, not Potions for keeping myself capable of contributing. In the end, it was a goldsink, and a necessary one simply due to how the items themselves worked. They had to tune with potions in mind in the same way they had to tune encounters expecting you to be buffed with seven different Elixirs and a Flask at the dawn of The Burning Crusade. Sorry Alchemists, needing to do all of that was stupid. Flasks are still going for roughly one hundred gold a pop in BC, and I can't imagine how high they will go in Wrath. Don't worry, you'll still make profit.
Filed under: Alchemy, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Expansions, Making money, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 10)
dpoyesac Jul 29th 2008 10:44AM
I'm gonna partly agree with TS here. This is a post-hoc fix to something that Blizz shouldn't have done in the first place -- but now that it's done, they need to do something about it.
Designing encounters to require high consumption of consumables and chain-potting was one of the things that contributes to the rigid hardcore/casual divide -- if you couldn't devote your time to farm for potion-money you just can't see the endgame. Blizz wants a softer divide: they want a spectrum that gently fades from the crazy hardcores to the purely casual, meaning everyone can find their spot on the spectrum and can get out of the game exactly what they are willing to put into it.
But, to get there, Blizz needed to fix what they shouldn't have broken in the first place. So, while this is a needed and (probably) good change, a bit of foresight on their part and it wouldn't be needed.
gnoop Jul 29th 2008 2:19PM
While some of you are optimistic that this change will bring about positive changes in raids on the part of Blizzard, I remain skeptical.
Are Blizzard really going to start catering raids around a lack of consumables? Once we start seeing T9 level content, I'm inclined to think not. As it is, I've noticed new healing spells in the beta getting their healing lopped in half with a minuscule reduction in mana cost. If Blizzard is concerned about mana regen and not chain potting, they're sending mixed signals.
All I know is, if I'm a Resto Druid come raiding at 80, my innervate is for me.
TobiasX Jul 29th 2008 8:50AM
All I can say is: I'm glad we've got Healthstones.
Akussa Jul 29th 2008 8:51AM
I dislike this change tremendously unless they do something about boss encounters. As it is I have a hard time conserving mana during a boss fight and find myself frequently going OOM. Healers? Yeah...they're screwed. Need a heal? Sorry, my mana's almost out and I need to save heals for the tank. Hunters? Sorry, I have to auto shot for the next 30% of this boss fight because Blizzard royally effed up mana regen for us. {Thanks for that btw! t(-_-t) } Sorry...can't dps with my awesome spells because I'm also out of mana.
Seajay Jul 29th 2008 9:29AM
yes because Blizz will still design as though everyone will be chain chugging pots after they've removed them from the game...
oh wait
raedix Jul 29th 2008 11:50AM
Oh my god... DPS might not be able to get heals when they stand in the fire, don't move out from whirlwinds, or any of the other myriad of not-part-of-the-encounter ways they get randomly injured.
Maybe they'll have to learn to do what us old coots remember doing back in the 'dark ages' of pre-BC WoW... and step out to bandage... Oh The Humanity! (or Orc-ity, if you will)...
Gurluas Jul 29th 2008 8:53AM
Unfortunally we dont have manastones, and as a hunter i can say i have trouble with mana.
Wolftech Jul 29th 2008 8:54AM
Are they TRYING to kill Tankadin's out of the game?
First they completely revamp the Prot tree and make it even less likely we will be used for anything but trash clears.
Next, the are making it so you can only use one mana pot during a fight? I hope that is a mistake, or the seriously fix the Tankadin's mana issues or they have just pushed Tankadin's out of raid viability.
Farfromout Jul 29th 2008 9:10AM
The only place I use mana pots as a tankadin is on Bear runs in ZA, and Ill pop about 10 for the run.
Just pull more, funk CC off and rely on your healer to be replacing your mana.
I never have to use them on bosses, I can think of the last boss I used a mana pot on (excluding ZA).
Im talking raiding here, not heroics.
HolyLiaison Jul 29th 2008 9:17AM
Have you even read any of the Paladin changes? Protections had a ton of efficiency updates. As have all of our trees, and it's about damn time.
Zumwalah Jul 29th 2008 9:48AM
you now have evocate tho
matt Jul 29th 2008 10:12AM
Don't be silly they just want everyone to play deathknights I mean really this only affects those old broken mana using classes.
Bluntvillain Jul 29th 2008 8:56AM
aren't those tooltips that popup randomly collected out mining new builds?
perhaps this is only from a certain boss or mob? or can someone in the beta confirm this already?
i certainly hope this change is dropped asap.
Alex Ziebart Jul 29th 2008 11:41AM
It's confirmed. The image I posted with this entry is one I took myself on the beta servers.
Garrett Weinstein Jul 29th 2008 8:57AM
This is stupid, as someone who uses potions a lot while in a raid encounter I can see this as causing a huge problem. Now people have to choose "should I use the mana pot? What if i need a health pot later?". This could work if blizzard makes fights designed around that, but i can see problems arousing, and possibly this being removed from game before launch.
Jackarias Jul 29th 2008 8:57AM
Speaking as a mage and a pot master alchemist, I really don't like this. For my profession, it probably means decrease in income. And unless they plan on really sorting out mages' mana efficiency, then it's gonna bone us too. As a mage I have to have mana pots on constant cool down, as well as mana gems and evo, just to keep up on the dps lists.
Zumwalah Jul 29th 2008 9:52AM
here here!
ima resto shaman / pot master, imagine how i feel? atleast you have Evocate.
i have a shit totem that i can use once per boss....
and if blizz is still planning on adding more timed Events, like they keep saying they will, Wwre so fucked.
like for bear runs currently, i use over an Injector stack, easily, and drink pots almost every CD so as to not have to drink. this nerf is sooo fucking gay
John Jul 29th 2008 8:56AM
This won't just screw up raiders. I use Potions in PvP, there, I said it, make fun if you want, I don't care, I'll spend 2g a pop to stay alive (because what's 2g or 4g or 10g in comparison to the honor I can earn by staying alive and racking up HKs or defending a node?), and there have been 4-6 or more minute long battles where I'll pop a pot every cd without dropping combat, if this goes live they're either going to have to force more players to heal somehow or give me more options, because my healthstone, pot, talisman of the alliance, bandages, and drain life, just aren't enough.
DirtyPriest Jul 29th 2008 9:49AM
Huh... I never thought about the PvP effects of this. Honestly, I've never used many pots that often in BGs. The only time I ever die is when I've heavily outnumbered and a pot wouldn't save me anyway. I usually use the PvP mana pots though to keep me going if I can't get an opportunity to drink.
Kyudo Jul 29th 2008 4:46PM
Mad Alchemist's Potion
Pure fun in BG's: free Elixir buff, cheap as dirt.