Catalyst for this post - Sharpening Stones and Mana Oils being removed in wrath.
I like Raiding, don't get me wrong. I could spend a whole lot of time in an instanced dungeon, stomping around with 24 other people, and pretending they are the extent of the WoWplayerbase. There were times that I forgot that there were textures and architecture other then the shiny insides of Tempest Keep, or the dank caves of SSC.
There is, however, a whole rest of the world full of stuff - and one of the things that coaxed me out into it was consumables.
All of a sudden, I'm seeing that there are rolling hills, dense forests, and barren wastelands, full of... look! - a Rich Adamantite Node! World PvP! A Rare Spawn! That Guy with the Server First Legendary! Whether your farming mats or doing dailies, your taken all around the world, so that you stay engaged with the server as a whole. Heck, even a trip to the AH gives you a chance to see other players (and view the 'colorful' trade chat).
So all flowery-RP reasons I liked having to gather consumables aside; there are also some very serious reasons I think that consumables are important.
Its one thing to read a strat, and watch videos. This gets you, the player, prepared for a fight - but it's not all of it. There is something very concrete about having a stack of food, two flasks, a stack of sharping stones, a stack of wards, repair bots, resist cauldrons, and ammo. Your character is as prepared as you are.
When you put in time getting ready to raid, you are more focused about the time you are raiding. That flask is ticking, and you want to put it to use! It also gives raid leaders, and those around you, a visual indicator that someone has put in the time and gold to be there. I can't imagine a situation where someone is ready to pour full consumables into a fight they haven't read up on.
Consumable gathering time is also flexible - you can do it whenever you want, regardless of your guilds raiding schedule. Assuming that consumable acquisition was a time-sink factor in progression, it allowed guilds with less together time to get more done. We may now see fights where the consumable farming time is built into the learning curve of bosses.
Compared to Vanilla WoW, Consumables are easy to get. Gone are the days of needing to get theOny Head Buff, Lung Juice Cocktail, FR Buff from UBRS, Gone-on-Death Flask, Unlimited Stacking of Elixirs, Dire Maul buffs, ZG Buff, ect.
And for most - Mana Oils and Sharpening Stones were the cheapest buffs to keep up - hour long, persistent through death buffs, that stacked in your bags.
Anyway, I'm against the removal of stones and oils. I think consumables are an important part of raiding, and think that this is an un-asked for, and unneeded change.
5 comments:
I disagree. In my opinion, if you need consumables to get through an encounter, you're not yet geared/good enough for it. Period.
I very much welcome all the new changes: Remove the stones & oils. Potion sickness. Elixiers that can't be stacked endlessly.
There's a whole bunch of class-based buffs available already. There's gear, sockets and - what many tend to forget when talking about raiding effort - skill.
If your guild needs flasks and food and still struggles on progression content, better take a step back and gear up some more. Not only is it less frustrating and cheaper not to waste a couple 100 gold on every try, it's also more of an accomplishment to get it done.
Also, this comes in handy for the casual folks. For us, it's time-consuming enough to farm reputation and afford all those enchants, sockets, crafted gear and such. Add to that consumables and I'll never get that damn epic flying mount :)
I couldn't agree more.. I enjoy the time spent preparing for a raid inside the game (as opposed to simply reading strategies).
Preparation was an outward sign of dedication and commitment to a raids success.
It's a tough call for me. I agree with a lot of what Yakra is saying. Cheap consumables which can add varying effects which help out, but require a bit more gathering time. One of the things I am hopeful to get rid of is gathering for content, since I'll need all of my time to gather just for professions.
As a blacksmith, not having to blow materials on consumables while working on things means less time invested doing those outside things. For me, I need that time to get the dungeons completed & get the drops.
I guess in the end, it evens out, but it's still sad to see these things removed from the game completely.
"I disagree. In my opinion, if you need consumables to get through an encounter, you're not yet geared/good enough for it. Period."
I would only agree to the Gear enough part. I'm sorry but my old guild killed Illidan more than half of them wearing Kara/SSC loot last year and I know they werent the only ones.
Now back to the part where I agree ... beating yourself up in Gear check encounter where you know you are nowhere near ie Patchwerk and Brutallus comes to mind. Trick is knowing where the line is and if you keep pushing who knows you might get that last 2% thru pots.
All that being said buffs and pots have been changed. BUT min/maxing will always have a spot on the guilds that pushes for faster progression be it spec/enchants/gear/pots.
Min/Maxing is not for everyone, it is a good "filter" though if you are in that kind of guild, of course every guild would be different.
One last thing though min/maxing won't really do any good if you can't get away from virtual fires.
I disagree. It seems in BC, our guild spent 20 minutes each raid making sure people have all the buffs up to the best efficiency - consumables just add to that.
The new raid wide buffs shortened that considerably, and by removing consumables it reduces the time even more.
Fact is - if most people use a "potion of uberness" for raids - then the raid encounters have to be balanced presuming everyone will always have a "potion of uberness" unless they outgear the encounter.
If everyone is required to have something - then you might as well include it in the "base" abilities. I.E. Use windfury instead of a sharpening stone.
I spend 4 nights a week online - and i raid 4 nights a week. I hated spending a 5th night just to be prepared for the other 4. I am much in favor of this change.
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