Mana. Energy. Spirit. Rage. Hatred. Call it what you want, but it's a resource that has allowed a player character to use abilities since the dawning of D&D. And now, I'm starting to wonder if Mana or the concept of it still exists in RPGS.
With D3 almost upon us, and a distinct lack of mana potions in the game, I can't help but wonder how we got here and what it's implications are when it comes to the future of RPGs. If Mana becomes an nearly endless resource, then is it really there? Do we even need a blue bar (or orb) on our screen anymore?
"OOM. Out of mana." One of the perils of any caster back in the day. A good battle was marked in that a caster was clutching to their last bits of mana. But things have changed as of late. I'm not sure if you noticed it anywhere, but I saw it happen in WoW for example. It started simply enough, "We want more spirit gear so we can generate mana" was a common line on the forums. Then it turned into "I keep losing on boss fights or PvP because I run out of mana." Over the years, once achieving a heightened level in the game, mana became something that you simply don't worry about. Now, it may have changed since some of the recent WoW expansions, but just know that there was a time when mana simply didn't matter. To cast a spell was to get mana back. Mana didn't count anymore. And without it, what was Blizzard telling us about the direction RPGs were going?
RPGs have always been about spending mana for casters. It's a staple of them. To not have that, we have something else entirely. We have casters who cast whatever, whenever. No mana management required - which has been a time honored part of the challenge of playing a caster class since the beginning. "I shouldn't cast this spell because it takes up too much mana, I should cast this one." It's been there since the start. A warrior may wield a sword without spending a resource, but the trade off is that you are across the room hurling fireballs at your enemies. Now that trade off is nonexistent.
By removing (or changing) the concept of mana, Blizzard has changed the landscape of RPGs. D3 even showcases Wizards who signature spells cost....0 mana. And I'm sure none of us raise an eyebrow at that concept. We accept it, like it, even. I mean, why should we spend something to get something, right? This is because the recent change in RPG is more of a reflection of where we are in society than gaming. We arguably want something for nothing more than ever. As gamers we expect constant action, constant appeasement. If we run out of mana then something must be wrong with the game.
Now, don't get me wrong. I see how they've set up D3. There'a kind of force feedback system happening. The Demon Hunter for instance: I spend Hatred and then I use abilities that generate it. If I don't play my class well, then I run our of hatred and I'm forced to...use different abilities. I don't have to run or use a potion. I just switch it up. It's brilliant in many ways because it keeps us in the action, keeps us feeling like we have a bad ass character. But it's philosophical implications are that we are living in a world where people are obsessed with getting more for nothing. For instant results, gratification. It's something to ponder while you're not spending even a second checking your Mana/Hatred/Spirit/Whatever meters to make sure that you're managing it correctly. This begs the question: Are our meters containing our mana on the right of the screen just illusions?
This mentality is also reflected in other parts of D3. Remember scroll of identify? Now it's a bar on your screen. Just a blank cast bar. And Blam! You know what the item is. Because spending scrolls was just too much? Because having a backpack filled with cool, extra items to help your adventurer discover new things was just too...thoughtful? Now you just look at an item and know what it is. No mystery or magical intrigue. Instant gratification.
So while I look forward to how Blizzard has evolved the classic RPG and how D3 will keep the action going as it should, I feel that the lack of Mana mattering is a reflection on us and how we live today. What cost does making mana a ghost of its former self really have in the end? Is it better now? In some ways, yes, but are we missing something? Most definitely. I'd love to know your thoughts on it, if any. It could end up being a great discussion.
It's odd that mana is such an RPG mainstay yet these days we also have make up ways to make it nearly obsolete. It's a strange balance to make a game with a mana user who can't run out of mana. People don't accept that pitfall anymore in gaming, but when I was growing up with D&D, losing all you mana was part of the experience.
The newer systems in which you get mana back for casting a spell concern me, but what you said about rewarding skillful use of spells with mana back is definitely cool.
Mana is so important as a lesson in RPGs. It's spending energy to make great things happen. Take that away and you just have kids playing superheroes in the backyard. No cost for any ability they make up.
Mana also makes using a big a spell a bigger deal. I really don't want to see it become a ghost of it's former self just so that some players can avoid learning to be skillful. I'm sure in D3 they will have a solid balance when it comes to this though.
Mana was taken out of most RPGs because it's a farmable. I mean, if mana potions do exist, you can simply farm then until you have a unlimited stock of potions and go to your adventure. No mana management is required then.
Mana and potions in general are highly exploitable, unless you make a game were farm is not possible (no monster respawn like Diablo 1).
Another option is completlty remove mana potions from games. Now this is too unforgiving because if you run out of mana you're doomed. Theres nothing you can do but backtrack or restart the game. The situation is rather binnary: or games have farmable mana potions and management is not required OR; they don't and the game might be impossible sometimes.
Designers find the solution in make resources matters in the encounter, not in the entire adventure. Between monster gauntlets one can fully restores his resource, but in one particular gauntlet you will have to manage it correctly. To be honest the change between the old system and the new ones is rather small: at all games you 've to spend mana to achieve victory and you have to generate mana in order to beat it. In old games you generated it by farming huge mana stock, in new games you have to use a weaker ability. The new design is favored because farm is seen as an fundamental bad thing: it wastes playtime with boring/unchallenging confrotations and takes out player out of tracks.
Great post OP.
I would also have to agree that we as gamers are becoming extremely lazy.
I think Bashiok even stated earlier this week that the old D&D tough luck gamer annihilation era is over.
Which I want to disagree with, but find it difficult.
Americans want to feel all-powerful. The second you tell us we have done wrong, or that our dismay is in anyway our fault..
We leave.
That's why so many people are on the kindergartener, pass go & collect $200, time treadmill that is WoW.
We can't stand loss, or humility. We want unlimited mana, & an ability on all of our characters called "big dick swanggg" that only our character can use that hits for 9 million damage in a 3,000 yard radius.
We need hard games. I really hope hell & inferno are damn near impossible & good items are rare, & scarce.
It would do this topic a bit of justice.
Note: I'm aware I'm blabbering & mostly off-topic :x Just food for thought.. Lalala.
Resources are there to limit the use of abilities to a certain extent, imagine a barbarian without fury smashing all the fury-requiring skills, that would be pretty op
Also, it only made sense that the melee fighting classes don't use mana, simply doesn't make sense.
I think switching from everyone using mana to separate resources was smart since it just does not make sense for a Barb or a Monk to use mana. I think that they did what they did to give each class much more active combat.
I remember playing D2 and always running out of mana on my Pally, luckily pots were plentiful, but with the ability to build resources through use of skills, playing D3 will be much more exciting.
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With D3 almost upon us, and a distinct lack of mana potions in the game, I can't help but wonder how we got here and what it's implications are when it comes to the future of RPGs. If Mana becomes an nearly endless resource, then is it really there? Do we even need a blue bar (or orb) on our screen anymore?
"OOM. Out of mana." One of the perils of any caster back in the day. A good battle was marked in that a caster was clutching to their last bits of mana. But things have changed as of late. I'm not sure if you noticed it anywhere, but I saw it happen in WoW for example. It started simply enough, "We want more spirit gear so we can generate mana" was a common line on the forums. Then it turned into "I keep losing on boss fights or PvP because I run out of mana." Over the years, once achieving a heightened level in the game, mana became something that you simply don't worry about. Now, it may have changed since some of the recent WoW expansions, but just know that there was a time when mana simply didn't matter. To cast a spell was to get mana back. Mana didn't count anymore. And without it, what was Blizzard telling us about the direction RPGs were going?
RPGs have always been about spending mana for casters. It's a staple of them. To not have that, we have something else entirely. We have casters who cast whatever, whenever. No mana management required - which has been a time honored part of the challenge of playing a caster class since the beginning. "I shouldn't cast this spell because it takes up too much mana, I should cast this one." It's been there since the start. A warrior may wield a sword without spending a resource, but the trade off is that you are across the room hurling fireballs at your enemies. Now that trade off is nonexistent.
By removing (or changing) the concept of mana, Blizzard has changed the landscape of RPGs. D3 even showcases Wizards who signature spells cost....0 mana. And I'm sure none of us raise an eyebrow at that concept. We accept it, like it, even. I mean, why should we spend something to get something, right? This is because the recent change in RPG is more of a reflection of where we are in society than gaming. We arguably want something for nothing more than ever. As gamers we expect constant action, constant appeasement. If we run out of mana then something must be wrong with the game.
Now, don't get me wrong. I see how they've set up D3. There'a kind of force feedback system happening. The Demon Hunter for instance: I spend Hatred and then I use abilities that generate it. If I don't play my class well, then I run our of hatred and I'm forced to...use different abilities. I don't have to run or use a potion. I just switch it up. It's brilliant in many ways because it keeps us in the action, keeps us feeling like we have a bad ass character. But it's philosophical implications are that we are living in a world where people are obsessed with getting more for nothing. For instant results, gratification. It's something to ponder while you're not spending even a second checking your Mana/Hatred/Spirit/Whatever meters to make sure that you're managing it correctly. This begs the question: Are our meters containing our mana on the right of the screen just illusions?
This mentality is also reflected in other parts of D3. Remember scroll of identify? Now it's a bar on your screen. Just a blank cast bar. And Blam! You know what the item is. Because spending scrolls was just too much? Because having a backpack filled with cool, extra items to help your adventurer discover new things was just too...thoughtful? Now you just look at an item and know what it is. No mystery or magical intrigue. Instant gratification.
So while I look forward to how Blizzard has evolved the classic RPG and how D3 will keep the action going as it should, I feel that the lack of Mana mattering is a reflection on us and how we live today. What cost does making mana a ghost of its former self really have in the end? Is it better now? In some ways, yes, but are we missing something? Most definitely. I'd love to know your thoughts on it, if any. It could end up being a great discussion.
It's odd that mana is such an RPG mainstay yet these days we also have make up ways to make it nearly obsolete. It's a strange balance to make a game with a mana user who can't run out of mana. People don't accept that pitfall anymore in gaming, but when I was growing up with D&D, losing all you mana was part of the experience.
The newer systems in which you get mana back for casting a spell concern me, but what you said about rewarding skillful use of spells with mana back is definitely cool.
Mana is so important as a lesson in RPGs. It's spending energy to make great things happen. Take that away and you just have kids playing superheroes in the backyard. No cost for any ability they make up.
Mana also makes using a big a spell a bigger deal. I really don't want to see it become a ghost of it's former self just so that some players can avoid learning to be skillful. I'm sure in D3 they will have a solid balance when it comes to this though.
Mana and potions in general are highly exploitable, unless you make a game were farm is not possible (no monster respawn like Diablo 1).
Another option is completlty remove mana potions from games. Now this is too unforgiving because if you run out of mana you're doomed. Theres nothing you can do but backtrack or restart the game. The situation is rather binnary: or games have farmable mana potions and management is not required OR; they don't and the game might be impossible sometimes.
Designers find the solution in make resources matters in the encounter, not in the entire adventure. Between monster gauntlets one can fully restores his resource, but in one particular gauntlet you will have to manage it correctly. To be honest the change between the old system and the new ones is rather small: at all games you 've to spend mana to achieve victory and you have to generate mana in order to beat it. In old games you generated it by farming huge mana stock, in new games you have to use a weaker ability. The new design is favored because farm is seen as an fundamental bad thing: it wastes playtime with boring/unchallenging confrotations and takes out player out of tracks.
I would also have to agree that we as gamers are becoming extremely lazy.
I think Bashiok even stated earlier this week that the old D&D tough luck gamer annihilation era is over.
Which I want to disagree with, but find it difficult.
Americans want to feel all-powerful. The second you tell us we have done wrong, or that our dismay is in anyway our fault..
We leave.
That's why so many people are on the kindergartener, pass go & collect $200, time treadmill that is WoW.
We can't stand loss, or humility. We want unlimited mana, & an ability on all of our characters called "big dick swanggg" that only our character can use that hits for 9 million damage in a 3,000 yard radius.
We need hard games. I really hope hell & inferno are damn near impossible & good items are rare, & scarce.
It would do this topic a bit of justice.
Note: I'm aware I'm blabbering & mostly off-topic :x Just food for thought.. Lalala.
Yeah, & you're really bright.
Also, it only made sense that the melee fighting classes don't use mana, simply doesn't make sense.
I remember playing D2 and always running out of mana on my Pally, luckily pots were plentiful, but with the ability to build resources through use of skills, playing D3 will be much more exciting.