So the mana tea changes are mostly the dev’s way of replacing the mana we gain from the tier set bonus and a raid trinket.
However, the effect requires a channel time that currently does not exist in the rotation. Adding this channel means that we consequently cannot spend that time doing DPS or healing that we would be doing with that time presently.
The biggest change id like to see is so that mana tea restores mana on use but you don’t have to channel it. Think like 2-3 seconds of a buff per use. This way it is more 1 to 1 with the tier set bonus which gives you a buff for several seconds that restores mana and provides a healing bonus.
Mana tea on the PTR gives you 50% mana cost reduction for however long you channel it, which isn’t really a thrilling bonus and basically amounts to “press mana tea before Essence Font / Faeline”. This is because to be comparable to current Mana Tea, you would have to channel for 12 seconds which is just not realistic in any scenario in order to have the same mana cost reduction effect. Since the practical use case is a few seconds of channeling, you will basically get at most 1 reduced mana cost spell per window of channeling mana tea.
Because you can only cast 1 cheaper spell, you will basically always make the most expensive mana cost spells cheaper (Essence Font or Faeline Stomp). Now that we will be channeling mana tea before every possible ESsence Font / Faeline Stomp, it’s basically equivalent to adding a cast time to Faeline stomp and nerfing Essence font to have an even longer channel time.
I think a better design is to give a choice node so you can decide whether you want 50% mana reduction, a healing bonus, or a damage bonus based on the content and build you are using
This also improves player agency. Instead of just “cast mana tea before Faeline Stomp or Essence Font” to consistently reduce mana cost of your highest cost spells, giving the choice to have a damage bonus or healing bonus actually makes you have a choice of what spells to use after mana tea.
Current PTR: locked in rotation just always mana tea before FL / EF in majority of cases.
With a choice node: dynamic rotation allows you to decide what you want to spend the healing bonus on. If you need a chunky ST heal then use mana tea before vivify or better yet right before Sheiluns. Instant fun.
If you need to do burst damage to get the pack down quicker while also healing more through your damage, choose the damage amp option and use mana tea before your spinning crane kick spam (or beacon) for big damage. Instant huge fun.
This is a better design, way more interactive, more player agency, better fits the current game
Doesn’t have much to do with our utility but rather just the changes they are making to replace the current borrowed power that is propping up MW to be viable given its high mana costs