The New Innervate: Some Simple Math

#0 - April 30, 2009, 8:56 p.m.

Please note that this isn't a QQ of any form but just a simple and quick look at some new changes.

I know this is still really really early on the PTR and definitely subject to change but this math is a decent idea to see how much it recovers.

First off, the new change itself:

Q u o t e:
Innervate: This ability has been redesigned to grant 450% of the casting Druid's base mana pool to the target over 20 seconds.

Source: http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/underdev/testrealm.html

Now some base mana values (note that only mage has a lower base mana than druids)

Q u o t e:

Druid 3496
Hunter 5046
Mage 3268
Paladin 4394
Priest 3863
Shaman 4396
Warlock 3856

Druid base mana at 80: 3496 (according to wowwiki, not the best source but...)
3496mana x 4.5 = 15732 mana recovered over 20 seconds
15732mana/20seconds = 786 mana per 1 second

Definitely excited for this change, it was a needed fix to an archaic system however...

It won't scale. I say it won't scale because base mana never increases. Let's take a look at other mana returning abilities:

-Shadowfiend (15 sec active time / 1.5 aspd = 10 hits x 5% caster's max mana = possible 50% Mana gain over 15 sec) - scales
-Divine Plea (based off of total mana) - scales
-Mana Tide (based off of total mana) - scales
-Water Shield (also a set value, does not scale) - does not scale

Also keep in mind that we aren't giving to you unless we don't need and won't need it for that encounter; you have other mana returning abilities and this is our only. We are keeping this for ourselves for the most part, unless we're really nice.

This isn't a QQ post, it's actually a relatively decent change, but it just doesn't scale, which could be a problem depending on how much Int they decide to put on future gear. I could imagine this being an even larger problem in the next expansion, where it would also need a change. In this light, it seems to be more of a bandage fix than a really well-thought-out fix. A bandage fix is nice too but a proper fix is something we should look forward to in the future.

Ghostcrawler

#49 - May 1, 2009, 1:02 a.m.

I posted a similar response in the damage forums, but in a nutshell:

Pros
Much more mana for PvP druids
Doesn't give too much mana in PvE
Worth using Innervate on paladins, shamans and other non-Spirit based casters
Scales with level

Cons
Doesn't scale with gear

But we don't necessarily want it to scale with gear, since that gets us back in the problem of being too good for PvE druids (regen stats are much lower on PvP gear). Furthermore, unless your mana pool grows from the 20s to the 40s by Icecrown (unlikely), you're really going to be off by only a few K mana even at max gear. Furthermore, several mana-return abilities don't scale well with gear.

Ghostcrawler

#86 - May 1, 2009, 7:47 p.m.

Q u o t e:
Wouldn't it be better to just make it a percentage of our total mana (or target's total mana) rather then base?

Not in this case. That is a great solution for some problems in the game, but it doesn't solve the problem here.

We don't want Innervate to give say 5000 mana to druids in a PvP situation and 25,000 mana to raid-buffed druids (I'm picking extreme numbers to help make the point). Mana is already too scarce in PvP (little Spirit on gear, fewer buffs) and fine in PvE (or honestly, perhaps still too abundant). A flat number in this case does exactly what we want it to do.

We don't think the lack of scaling at level 80 is going to be any kind of problem unless we introduced say 5 more tiers of content without also bumping the level cap. We aren't going to do that.

Lack of scaling is not something to be avoided at all costs. It is only important when it actually matters. If Innervate fails to scale when you have 60,000 mana at level 80, then it isn't an issue because that situation will never come up.