Quote:
Originally Posted by htabdoolb
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I think the biggest problem with Manastone is that it is just absolutely, ridiculously overpowered. It was removed because it should never have been made in the first place. So of course everyone, and especially every cleric, wants one. The solution is to just make the damned thing expendable. Give it ten charges, and then it's much more balanced. Maybe even make it rechargeable too, for the low low price of 10k.
Seriously, fuck manastone. It's a trash item that subverts intended mechanics and trivialized the game.
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That's such a slippery slope, though. While Manastone is definitely broken and should never have been in the game in the first place, the fact of the matter is that it was. If they start nerfing items because they're too good, it opens the floodgates for players to demand all manner of idiotic balance changes. I realize they actually have done this a few times with things like Ivandyr's Hoop, but that was a case where the item was gamebreaking even past the scope of classic.
Since Manastone can only be used in classic zones, and not even in the planes, it has a pretty limited impact in the grand scheme of things. Even for druids and wizards who can port back there and use it, its range of effectiveness isn't that great. You can mostly just do it when quad-kiting solo or whatever. It's not as if having a Manastone makes you a vastly better cleric throughout the whole P99 timeline.
Manastone's impact on actual gameplay is kind of overblown once the server is in Kunark. Its value has more to do with the rarity, novelty and near-mythical status of the item. If we look at what the item actually does, it's not worth a fraction of what people try to sell them for. I'd go so far as to say that Circlet of Shadow is a better item across the full timeline of a server, but since it's much more common, it just doesn't cost very much even when the server is years past the point where it stops dropping.