Philosophy behind Replenishment?

#0 - Feb. 11, 2009, 3:41 p.m.

If an answer to this can be found elsewhere, please point me to it...just some questions that I've had in light of the incoming mana regen changes.

1. Why Replen as "the" primary regen mechanic?
I understand wanting to make mana regen less complicated than it currently is (I really enjoy the current priest model, as it is very active and fun, but admittedly OOFSR calisthenics are not the most intuitive thing for many players). The new changes indicate that Replen is going to be *really* mandatory this time, for 10- and 25-man raids, which I take to mean that you are in extremely real if not guaranteed danger of going OOM without it.

I'd like some clarification on this mindset. I don't mind re-working of regen mechanics, but I find it a bit limiting that to play my character to its full ability, I am dependent on the presence of another class/spec instead of my own skill. I was discussing this with a friend who suggested that this symbiotic relationship was similar to warlocks "needing" spriests in TBC raiding...except the difference is that he was first on DPS with an spriest, and third without one. The mandatory Replenishment theory sounds like potentially we will just be plain unable to heal past a very early cutoff without it, regardless of our personal skill.

2. Why the deep-tree spec requirement?
This question is probably somewhere else...but why is Replen always so deep in a given tree? In 25-mans, especially with the upcoming additions, odds are you'll have it, sure. I'm part of a 10-man only group (we all burned out on the large-group one after three years of Vanilla and BC raiding, and are thrilled with this 10-man progression option), and we NEVER run with Replen-- which is fine currently, with our pally + holy priest combo. After 3.1, we will have ONE member whose class actually has the option to pick up Replen, but he will have to change out of the spec he enjoys the most. This seems a bit incongruous with the goal Blizzard has been working towards of spec-freedom ("We don't want all mages to have to spec Frost to PvP", etc.).

It occurred to me that a possible option might be to give the Replenishment buff/talent to healers instead of a handful of random DPS classes-- you're always going to have at least two, in a raid, even with only five specs to choose from; whereas even with the addition of more DPS specs it is still possible to not get it, if you have a funky composition. And, it gives us a little more personal agency in mana management.

If anyone knows the "whys" to any of these questions...would love to hear them. Danke. :)

Ghostcrawler

#1 - Feb. 11, 2009, 3:58 p.m.

1) WoW is a social game. We think it's cool when the game changes because of your group in PvP or PvE. While we want you to be able to bring a Fury warrior or a Retadin, we also want you to notice a difference.

2) It's a similar answer. Spec is a big choice in the game and offering different buffs is one way to make the choice you make as meaningful and obvious to the rest of the group as it is for you. It's more exciting when you get that second member of the same class when the benefit to you is different. Some groups run with a Shadow priest and some don't. We think the game is more interesting that way. :)

Ghostcrawler

#5 - Feb. 11, 2009, 4:08 p.m.

Fights are based around the assumption that you have a tank too. As long as that requirement is not too big a hurdle, we don't think that really gets to the level of raid stacking.

With 4 tanking classes and 5 replenishing specs, you should be able to get what you need in any 10 or 25 player group. We don't think you need Replenishment for 5 player groups (though you do need a tank for pve).