Difference between revisions of "Mana Globe"

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[[Image:Mana-orb1.jpg|thumb|250px|Mana globes and a level up.]]'''Mana Globes''' are orbs of magical energy that function much like [[Health Globe]]s; they restore mana (25% of the maximum was the listed amount) when a character runs through them. As you might expect, they look just like health globes, but are blue, instead of red.
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[[Image:Mana-orb1.jpg|thumb|250px|Mana globes and a level up.]]'''Mana Globes''' were orbs of magical energy that functioned much like [[Health Globe]]s; they restored mana (25% of the maximum as a default, though some character skills were designed to boost this total) when a character picked them up. As you might expect, they looked just like health globes, but were blue, instead of red.
  
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Mana globes were removed from the game prior to the Blizzcon demo build in August 2009.
  
'''In the latest [[GamesCom 2009 demo|Diablo build]] in August 2009, the Mana Globes were taken out of the game, replacing them with a [[Wizard]] skill to gain [[mana]] as well as [[health]] through Health Globes.'''
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==How They Dropped==
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When mana globes were a feature, they only dropped when a Witch Doctor or Wizard was in the game. At that time Wizards used mana for their resource, and had a (since removed) skill called [[Mana Recovery]] which gave a % chance for a dead monster to drop a mana globe. Mana globes did not benefit Barbarians, since they did not provide any boost to their [[Fury]] [[resource pool|resource]]. Monks and Demon Hunters were not in the game at that time.
  
  
==How they Drop==
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==Removal Explanation==
No mana globes were seen during the BlizzCon 2008 demo play, and they are only mentioned in the description of the [[Arcane_Skill_Tree#Mana_Recovery|Mana Recovery spell]]. The only thing we know for sure is that they dropped for [[Wizard]]s, with skills in [[Mana Recovery]]. It's not known if they ever drop when a Wizard with points in that skill isn't around.
 
  
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The Diablo 3 team explained that while mana globes were functional, they weren't necessary. Only Wizards (prior to their mana becoming [[Instability]], and then [[Arcane Power]]) and Witch Doctors were able to use mana globes, and this added needless complexity to the game. It was easier to make health globes replenish both health '''and''' mana. This is not always the case; Witch Doctors must spend some points in the various skills and traits to enable them to gain mana from health globes.
  
==Speculation==
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Giving health orbs that double purpose also made the health orbs more valuable to all characters. [[Jay Wilson]] said[http://diablo.incgamers.com/blog/comments/jay-wilson-exclusive-full-transcript/] that prior to the change, Witch Doctors often had no use for health orbs, since they weren't taking much damage while staying behind their tanking pets. Post-mana globes, Witch Doctors need regular health orbs, since even if they aren't low on hit points, they generally want the mana boost.  
From one perspective it seems likely that Mana Globes only drop when a [[Wizard]] is around, and considering the loot system it would only be visible for the Wizard. [[Health Globe]]s work completely opposite of that, dropping for all players and usable by all, healing all in the vicinity. It's also possible that the Mana Globe functionality is similar to that of the Health Globe.
 
  
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::'''''Diii.net:''' Do you envision the health globes will boost [non-mana resources] in the way that the Wizard and Witch Doctor gained mana from them at Blizzcon?
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::'''Jay Wilson:''' Um, maybe? *sounding intrigued* Usually in the third or fourth skill revision on classes we look at that kind of thing. For the Witch Doctor we figured that a lot of the mana things we had on the Wizard would work better on the Witch Doctor. We were having trouble maintaining enough mana while play testing the Witch Doctor. Especially if players didn’t take a specific mana recovery skill. So we focused on spreading that out across a lot more of the class so he can pull mana back more easily. When we get to other classes I’m sure we’ll look for more of that.
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
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[[Category:Items]]
 
[[Category:Items]]
 
[[Category:Wizard skills]]
 
[[Category:Wizard skills]]
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[[Category:Witch Doctor skills]]
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[[category:Gameplay]]
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[[Category:Archives]]

Latest revision as of 04:41, 9 December 2013

Mana globes and a level up.
Mana Globes were orbs of magical energy that functioned much like Health Globes; they restored mana (25% of the maximum as a default, though some character skills were designed to boost this total) when a character picked them up. As you might expect, they looked just like health globes, but were blue, instead of red.

Mana globes were removed from the game prior to the Blizzcon demo build in August 2009.

How They Dropped[edit | edit source]

When mana globes were a feature, they only dropped when a Witch Doctor or Wizard was in the game. At that time Wizards used mana for their resource, and had a (since removed) skill called Mana Recovery which gave a % chance for a dead monster to drop a mana globe. Mana globes did not benefit Barbarians, since they did not provide any boost to their Fury resource. Monks and Demon Hunters were not in the game at that time.


Removal Explanation[edit | edit source]

The Diablo 3 team explained that while mana globes were functional, they weren't necessary. Only Wizards (prior to their mana becoming Instability, and then Arcane Power) and Witch Doctors were able to use mana globes, and this added needless complexity to the game. It was easier to make health globes replenish both health and mana. This is not always the case; Witch Doctors must spend some points in the various skills and traits to enable them to gain mana from health globes.

Giving health orbs that double purpose also made the health orbs more valuable to all characters. Jay Wilson said[1] that prior to the change, Witch Doctors often had no use for health orbs, since they weren't taking much damage while staying behind their tanking pets. Post-mana globes, Witch Doctors need regular health orbs, since even if they aren't low on hit points, they generally want the mana boost.

Diii.net: Do you envision the health globes will boost [non-mana resources] in the way that the Wizard and Witch Doctor gained mana from them at Blizzcon?
Jay Wilson: Um, maybe? *sounding intrigued* Usually in the third or fourth skill revision on classes we look at that kind of thing. For the Witch Doctor we figured that a lot of the mana things we had on the Wizard would work better on the Witch Doctor. We were having trouble maintaining enough mana while play testing the Witch Doctor. Especially if players didn’t take a specific mana recovery skill. So we focused on spreading that out across a lot more of the class so he can pull mana back more easily. When we get to other classes I’m sure we’ll look for more of that.

References[edit | edit source]