Diablo 4 Resource System (and cooldowns)

General Discussion
1

Hello there,

I’m sorry if this post is gonna end up being a little bit long but I’m gonna try my best to keep it as short as possible :slight_smile:

So let’s begin.

As far as you understood I’m gonna be talking in regard to D4 current resource system, which to say the truth in my humble opinion isn’t that great. It’s not the worst probably and we have that system in D3 but, I’ve already seen some concerns from other players as well.

The problem with it is that this whole generate/spend idea is kind of restrictive and not that fun… I mean generate, generate, generate or in other words use a skill which you probably don’t even want (those are usually some lowest tier/primary skills which might not always feel effective and right) and only then play a skill, a spender you want…

This is working but in it’s core it’s just meh… Not to mention you’ve got to sacrifice a skill slot on the bar just to produce resource or chase very specific Uniques that remove or narrow the cost of only one specific skill… Meh again.

So my proposal is (and some other people thought of it too I’m sure) to better introduce Mana bar back for every class and also Mana Potions. We already have Health Potions which is a step in a right direction (maybe only a Cooldown could use some tuning, my opinion again) so why not have Mana pots and Mana Bar to fuel skills again?

I think the idea then would be that you don’t need to restrict yourself to producing your resource via some whatever skill, you could play any skill in any fashion you’d like.

Also, Mana Bar would be more faithful to ARPG roots, especially Diablo :slight_smile:

So now you might ask but what do we do with this cool current resource system, just get rid of it? Well you could but maybe there are more creative ways to utilize it?

Let’s say this resource would be locked until level 30 or 40 maybe and at this level you unlock your “Ultimate” ability which has enormous Cooldown, for example Conduit? it was called on Sorc?

So now comes my second thought to remove the Cooldownds on such skills (Ultimates) and instead making them use a full resource bar for example which isn’t refilled so easily. Yes, probably a lot of balancing would have to be done around it but I’m sure it’s possible.

The question you might ask is but how do we produce that resource? Well it could refill itself/Regenerate , some globes could drop, some wells/shrines in the game but at max level there could be a way to convert one of your primary skills (that are generators now) to a generator instead of a skill that uses Mana.

What we have here is all your skills are then fueled by Mana and only your ultimate ability depends on you class specific resource. We eliminate that huge Cooldown and maybe could in the endgame produce resource for our ULT or not use it at all. This kind of gives a freedom of choice instead of constantly mashing one button to then use a proper spell.

Again, you are not forced to convert anything or use it, THIS IS YOUR CHOICE ! Also it should be balanced so that you wouldn’t feel like not using this makes you much weaker. It rather should be just an additional build/option to make more versatility :slight_smile:

I think this, along with some items that might be designed specifically for such idea of a ULT build might end up being fun :slight_smile:

Anyways this is only a wild concept but in short, it would be nice to get Mana Potions and Mana Bar for skills and eliminate 90sec or so Cooldowns.

Thanks if you were reading this and sorry for such a long post but I really wanted to explain all of this in detail.

2

In contraire, I think a system with mana bootles and no cooldown at potions is a huge step back. Without the need of thinking while playing, it will end up like mario cart racers.
In Diablo there is just one bootle, not more. Think about other games have also other potions for boost and buffs, this could be higher resistance durring the time of effect or more movement speed. And all with cooldown. So one bootle and to have patience while it is on refill cooldown is not so hard to manage.
And there are builds in D3 for examples without real generator skills, that use other options like items, reduce management of cooldowns and resource cost and work without to force you to use a certain generator skill.
There is no sacrifice of a skill button. The builds are working without having multiple different skills that do same function like damage against trash or single target damage. There are players that not even need all 6 skill buttons for doing actions.
I am no friend of spamming mana or health potions, the game is already easy enough.
There are a lot of mechaics when some skills have direct influence on other skills cooldown times. Like HotA can reduce the cooldown of your berserker as barabarian. To know is all it needs.
No I don´t think, we should have Mana pots again or change anything about cooldown of health potions.

3

I do agree in part with this, though it works well in some cases like Fury for barbarian. But most of them were kind of lame, like arcane power which the new sorceress’ mana is based on. Not being able to spam Fire Ball for instance feels very weird and not fun.

I think mana pool should be much bigger but with the same slow regeneration, so you would need a way to fill it. How ? Not potions, which are a bit brainless, but something like mana globes, similar to the D3 health globes. That would inject a bit of strategy since you would have to move in combat to get them at the right moment.

Of course there can be additionnal ways to get mana with passives and legendary affixes but this could be the unique mechanic for the sorceress class since barbarians have their 4 weapons and druids have metamorphosis.

4

Yea, I think I have suggested already that there could be mana globes to refill your mana and fountains/shrines maybe even something else.

Bottles/potions could be present too, why not? They would just need to have some sort of a cooldown and slower regeneration. A lot of people had beef with rejuvs in D2 since they said those are OP. Well maybe.

Another interesting system for potions could be something like PoE’s flask’s especially for mana, since those are limited to some extent.

But getting rid of mana and mana pots in general is a very weird move, at least in my opinion.