Currently the only way to get Mana Potions, the 455-585 mana version (hence the only relevant one), is to either get them as a drop (very rare) or camp the few vendors that sell them as rare stock.
This becuase they require 160 Alchemy to craft… And boy are people camping vendors! The few times I’ve tried to visit one of the vendors hoping I’d be in luck, its surrounded by 1-3 lvl 1s waiting for a restock.
For the average player, the one that doesnt have multiple acounts, bots and/or unlimited time, the only secure way to get the potions is to buy them of AH, where they currently go for between 1-3g depending on time.
Depending on playstyle and goal, a raid could end up costing 8-15g for Mana Potions only.
I dont know what is up with the systematic exploitation of systems and holes in order to get some imagined monopoly/headstart in a dad game, but for a player just trying to be self-sufficient stuff like this really just kills any kind of flavour.
Is it to much to ask for solutions now, and in the future, where people can put down time playing - not waiting - in order to get the items they need.
SSC had raid specfic pots, perhaps something like that, or simply lowering the Alchemy skill to 150 and let the free market do its thing.
Cheers