Mana cost progression

"

dear123000#3577 wrote:

How will that limit the choices?

It's very simple. If with leveling up gem, both damage and mana efficiency go up, there is no reason to level it up as high as you can, there are 0 choices to make about this. But if mana efficiency going down, then, depending on your mana situation, you might for example level up to a max only one main skill and others level only to a certain level, you can sacrifice something to get more mana and level up everything, or do something else, the point is you have now more choices to make about your build.

"

Axterix13#5693 wrote:

"

dear123000#3577 wrote:

The mana consumption curves for higher-leveled gems need to be adjusted I think. Some builds like Ancestral Totems need high skill levels to scale well in terms of damage so settling for a lower skill level won't cut it.

I'd say that depends. You are hopping to the assumption that the mana cost is the problem, rather than the performance of the totem(s). So plenty of things that could be done there, short of lowering all costs. To list just a few:
- Up performance of totems
- Add some mana related nodes to parts of the tree that currently are very devoid of them.
- Lower the cost of a few specific skills, like totems

That's true. I agree on all points, especially the part about mana-related nodes on Warrior's part of the tree. Blood Magic and "convert % of the mana cost of skills to life" nodes are okay, but they all come with downsides, unlike other nodes on the opposite side of the tree.

And yeah, maybe just only a few specific skills that need a bit of lowering on the mana cost.

"

dear123000#3577 wrote:

It's not like everyone's gonna be pigeonholed into stacking +skill levels suffixes just because the mana costs are lowered.

Bonus skill levels (from affixes) are currently mana-free, they don't increase mana cost.

PS Oh, actually I only checked if they don't increase attribute requirements, I think I didn't check mana cost, not 100% sure about it.

"

Suchka_777#4336 wrote:

"

dear123000#3577 wrote:

It's not like everyone's gonna be pigeonholed into stacking +skill levels suffixes just because the mana costs are lowered.

Bonus skill levels (from affixes) are currently mana-free, they don't increase mana cost.

PS Oh, actually I only checked if they don't increase attribute requirements, I think I didn't check mana cost, not 100% sure about it.

Yeah, they do increase the mana cost. And by quite a lot, I'd say.

"

dear123000#3577 wrote:

Yeah, they do increase the mana cost. And by quite a lot, I'd say.

Good, then it make sense. I didn't see the reason to make those upgrades mana-free, for the same reason as decreasing mana efficiency during general leveling up.

While it seems reasonable, it'll be good to have a way to downgrade your skill gem.
In the curret status, it's hard to balance your build, or try different setups. And if you upgraded it a bit beyond your limit, speced out some mana regen nodes or even try to spread the damage between two skills, you're stuck and need to re-invest in a new 4/5 socket gems on a lower level.

"

moonretealoud#1487 wrote:

these +15% damage

This is base. This gets multiplied with increased, and multiplied over again with more.

It is the most valuable stat in the game.

"

Kilopo#7063 wrote:

need to re-invest in a new 4/5 socket gems on a lower level.

Please consider uninstalling this game.

People are spending tons divines for corrupted 20+ level gems. Having access to this limited resource is one thing - I can see how people want to power spike, without having to farm one week for the op gems.

But complaining about mana costs and considering downgrade...

Hoooooooooly shit.

"

moonretealoud#1487 wrote:

There are other ways to increase damage that do not entail such a need to scale the mana resource.

What other ways? And if the problem is the "way" (using mana resource as a barrier for characters not having more power than they can handle), how would "another way" solve this for you?

"

SteamSkullerR#7239 wrote:

"

moonretealoud#1487 wrote:

There are other ways to increase damage that do not entail such a need to scale the mana resource.

What other ways? And if the problem is the "way" (using mana resource as a barrier for characters not having more power than they can handle), how would "another way" solve this for you?

Gain as Extra damage
Increase damage
Critical bonus multiplier
Increase effect of curses
Increase magnitude of shock
Increase effect of Withered
etc.

Mods with speed tag (skill speed, attack speed, cast speed) have not such problem with mana scaling.

In its current form, mana without SIGNIFICANT investments in it, for casters with a high level of stone, is very much like the stamina system. The character "runs out of steam" and becomes useless and helpless.
If you think that this is cool and correct and that we should play around it, then I don't know what to talk to you about. I've already said everything, no need to convince me otherwise.
I just want to use the game mechanics and have it have an effect, and not eat up my skill points just to plug a gap.