Bottoms Up!

One of the changes is patch 1.2 was that potions will now persist after death. The general consensus seems to be that this was a very good change. Prior to the change, you would lose the effect of the potion when you die. In RvR, you die a lot. So potions never seemed worthwhile. As always, there are some folks who did not welcome the change.

An argument against potions persisting is that they are now mandatory. As they are a must have, it adds another mindless grind to the game.

Are potions now mandatory? I don't believe so. Let's take a look at some of the high end potions. Thanks to Stunty Stomper, we have a nice sample here. As an Engineer, I'd most likely like the +100 Ballistics and +3% ranged crit for 60 minutes. The ballistics bonus, for a high end engineer (~ 1000), works out to be approximately 10% increase in dps. The crit increase isn't bad, but tough to measure.

While a 10% dps increase is nice, I would hardly call it mandatory, especially in RvR. For PvE, people have not had many issues beating Lost Vale prior to the change. For certain 1 vs 1 fights, a potion may tip the balance in your favor. However, in a large fight, it will really become meaningless. There are many more important factors than a potion buff.

This argument is a result of the min/max mindset, where every stat must be tweaked to maximum potential. If that is how you play the game, then yes, it is mandatory. Personally, I don't really care about anything beyond my basic equipment. I have several open talisman spots and don't use many potions. As for my performance, I have fun and never have to grind anything.

Potions fall under the want category, not the need. A need in WAR would be warded armor. If you don't want to grind gold or seeds, then don't. It is really that simple. Potions are finally viable and actually pretty neat. There are many more kinds of potions than I thought. Did you know there is a Napalm potion? Even non-engineers can throw down some napalm (it isn't the same, but similar).

Posted in: WAR