Aura Reservation and Reduced Mana Support Gem Change

Very nice change. Hope i will see more people running with tempest shield now :D

I like this change.

Wts enlighten level 1 ~50ex each or Mjolner before nerf

Ign anx, neymar, rayanananam and etc

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Burmeister99 wrote:

How is everyone gonna use enlighten when it cost 10 exalt?. 99% of people wont be able to afford it so only people who are making a full aura build will invest in that.

I'm not making a full aura build and I still want to invest in that.

Now I just have to buy extremely rare gem and level for a month.

Maybe they're just discussing the Enlighten change so they can walk it back after outcry while retaining the Reduced Mana change.

Yeah, yeah. That's it, right? It has to be.

Honestly, I was kind of happy about them killing Reduced Mana gem, but then I read about Enlighten.

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ephetat wrote:

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Rory wrote:

...we can make reservation costs less mana intensive for characters that previously wouldn't have access to Reduced Mana...

There are characters who don't have access to Reduced Mana?

Getting pure strength amulets and master crafting strength on gear must be impossible.

Reducing Reservation costs but removing Reduced Mana and then turning Enlighten into a mini-Reduced Mana and making it more useful for really end-game min-maxed builds.

Fine by me. Good Change.

The more I think about this, the more convinced I am that there is a serious root issue here, and the more sure I am that this does absolutely nothing to address it. Basically, the problem is that absolutely every character uses auras, and absolutely every character that uses auras adds a reduced mana gem to cut the reservation. But...why is this the case? Will removing the reduced mana effect actually DO anything, assuming the balance gets worked out?

Well, first think about the only group of characters that DON'T typically use auras heavily, if at all - blood magic builds not targeting low life ES. First, these characters are unicorns. Why? Because they necessarily give up auras to do nothing more than solve their sustain issues. But why would they do that? Simple; spending life for aura buffs is a horrible trade off, because you'll die. Spending unreserved mana for aura buffs, by contrast, is fantastic because...what the @#$% else were you going to do with it anyway? In order the play the game even remotely efficiently, you have to solve your sustain issues first, meaning if you're actually depleting mana to put out DPS, you're already screwed. So there's issue number one - unreserved life or ES (whatever your use for your life pool) is essential. Unreserved mana is basically wasted within the basic, unmodified game mechanics except to increase your mana regen.

So, now what do I do with that useless resource? Well, I leverage it. If I happen to have solved my sustain issues with a large mana pool and tons of regen, maybe I use MoM or Arctic Armor. Otherwise, I want to stack as many aura benefits as possible while still leaving enough mana to use my DPS skill two or three times (or I used a BM gem in which case screw it I'll reserve it all). Of course, I'll probably do that with MoM or AA anyway as much as I can to increase the efficiency of the character. So how do I get the most aura benefit out of the mana pool? Well, I could use reduced mana and squeeze in another aura or I could....uh.....help me out here? Maybe get curse on hit with HoL?

The problem is not the reduced mana gem being so commonly used. That's just a symptom. The problem as I see it is basically threefold:

1) Your mana pool is pretty much useless within the basic game mechanics.

2) Auras are the most commonly accessible and powerful of a very limited set of tools to turn this useless resource into something that benefits your character. For many builds, they are the ONLY option.

3) There are basically no attractive ways to modify auras beyond reducing their cost and adding more of them.

By all means, make radical changes. Give us other ways to use our mana pool to make the character stronger. Change the basic mechanics of mana to make it a more meaningful resource. Give us more options to modify the auras we do opt to use. Or do all three in some combination. But do something that actually addresses the problems instead of the symptom.

I can't talk before this is completely developed and all but...

All my builds went to hell with this. Even my melee characters used 3x auras, it's an easy and non-expensive way to NOT HAVE A SHIT BUILD.

So... it's now even harder to get anything done. I don't like this. No auras, and no CwDT Cry/Totems and 5 second delay on Frost Wall. I honestly feel like everything I use is getting nerfed lmao I'm sad.

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RXXQ wrote:

I can't talk before this is completely developed and all but...

All my builds went to hell with this. Even my melee characters used 3x auras, it's an easy and non-expensive way to NOT HAVE A SHIT BUILD.

So... it's now even harder to get anything done. I don't like this. No auras, and no CwDT Cry/Totems and 5 second delay on Frost Wall. I honestly feel like everything I use is getting nerfed lmao I'm sad.

We don't even know the new reservation costs yet. Maybe your Character will still have 3x auras without reduced mana.

Maybe y'all should hold your tears until you actually played with the change.
That's the reason it's a beta.