The Most Worrying Part About 2.0

I am very excited for 2.0 and how it will (hopefully) change gameplay for the better with ability trees and archetypes. I am excited for new build reworks, quests, and the new raid. However, for me, all this hinges on one specific change that for some reason hasn't been talked about all that much. And that is, the new changes to intelligence and our mana pool, of which we have shockingly little information on, and especially how items will be affected. For those unaware:



This is a pretty MASSIVE change for the game on multiple fundamental fronts. How will this affect spell cost IDs? How will this affect mana regen/steal IDs? I think it should be brought up first how this synergizes with the new ability tree. It is pretty commonly agreed upon that the player in 2.0 is going to become massively stronger with new archetype additions (although how strong enemies will also become is unclear) but, it might not be as big of an increase as people might suspect due to the new mana changes. I say this because, overall, spells might just not be as spammable as they once were to compensate for the overall increased strength of individual spells which I fully believe can be a GOOD thing.

As said earlier, we still know incredibly little about this new system which is in part as to why I'm writing this thread. One of my main issues with Wynn gameplay currently is that spell combat revolves around being able to spam spells as often as possible for DPS. This isn't bad on paper, but becomes a nightmare for balancing any sensible endgame challenges when you look at the effects that these spells have. The player currently is already incredibly strong which goes weirdly unaddressed, as spells for every class have insane mob controlling effects. Shaman was able to infinitely trap mobs with aura, assassin could infinitely stun and blind mobs with spin attack, and archer spells have massive knockback. In a game where spamming spells is the main form of combat, you can start to see where problems arise. This overall strength of the player is the main reason behind the introduction to CCI/CCR, which I truly believe was overall better for the health of the game (I do not, however, claim that CCI/CCR in its current state is a good system, and is actually very flawed). My own thoughts aside, how does the ability tree and consequentially, the new mana system tie into this? With intelligence no longer reducing base spell costs, it might not be an unfair assumption that spells, for at least certain archetypes, will be generally less spammable. Two new archetypes seem to have abilities that are specifically designed to work in cohesion with this new system, as seen with Paladin and Arcane Mage:

Spoiler: holy fck these images are huge

It seems pretty clear that these two abilities are designed to help compensate for massive mana costs that will result from the intelligence change, and would likely be unviable in the current system. So when people say that the player will become even stronger in 2.0, it remains unclear as we still don't know how often we'll be able to use these spells. That being said, I think it would be a pretty great change if spells were actually less spammable. CCI was designed to counter the spammable and powerful abilities of the player, and we may no longer need it if spells are stronger, but used less often now.

That was simply my own thoughts on how it will impact gameplay, but how is building going to be impacted? There are so many things to be accounted for that go currently unaddressed. The balance of the entire current item pool is designed around the 20 mana system we now have. Water/Intelligence based items are designed around intelligence reducing spell costs. Will spell cost items like Demon Tide, Cardiac Arrest, Fantasia and more become even more dominant in 2.0? How exactly will spell costs, both % and static be changed proportionally? Will base mana (base regen, mana steal/regen IDs) simply be increased across the board? It would be foolish to think that changes won't come at all, but do the IMs truly have enough time before the release of the update to adjust the entire item pool for these changes?

There are definitely some benefits to these changes, as it can address the strength of the player and possibly enable heavy spell (heavy spell enjoyers rejoice), but it's such a massive shift that could either end up incredibly good for the game, or potentially disastrous on release. Realistically, the first couple months of the update will be a nightmare for IMs. And so, I am hyped, albeit very cautious, for this update. Let me know what you think.

 

I don't really get why that would be the most worrying part. If they are reworking the entire int/mana system, it goes without a doubt all items that affect those IDs will get changes as well - be it %spell, MS, MR or int. They don't need to rework ALL items, they just need to adjust whatever is being updated in 2.0. If your max mana pool goes from 20 to 100, just x5 the values of mana regen to make it as it was before (if they want to keep spells as they currently are).

Think of it as how health works. We could basically have 1000 hp end game builds if monsters did less damage to you, that just depends on how you wanna increase any IG number according to your level.

Speaking of the archetypes having some wierd/new interactions with mana, I'm assuming it's just some new playstyles being added. If we take a look at the current mage state, it revolves around spam spells, wait til mana regen hits, spam spells again. Adding new mechanics would allow people to "ignore" some MR and focus more on damage using some special archetype properties/skills (and thus making new builds possible).

I obviously think this update is NOT gonna be balanced when released as some archetypes/upgrades are gonna be insanly strong where some will be completly trash which will inevitably need some balancing in the long term.

 

I wouldn’t be worried right now. It’s understandable given that we don’t know a lot, but I’d say that’s also why we shouldn’t be worried. Even if we knew every detail now we’d still have to play it to really know what the meta would be. Plus given how much will change during the Beta anyway, I wouldn’t give much thought until the middle of the Beta. Inevitably, the update isn’t going to be balanced, even after the Beta, but the same went for the Gavel update and Wynncraft is still here and playable.

 

Pretty sure a CCI rework was mentioned in the trailer, and the perks mean that there's going to be a lot more build archetypes, so hopefully people start using builds they find fun rather than because they're more powerful

 

It was not.

 

Dang it, must have confused it with the Status effect rework

 

I think it'd make sense if they made mana regen and steal percentage-based (because int increases your max. amount of mana).

So for example if an item currently has base +2 mana regen it could have +10% mana regen in 2.0. If your max. mana is 150 then you gain 15 mana per 5s.