We want to increase conflict around map objectives that provide sustain (Blue Buff and Ocean Drake), where recently the cost for ceding those objectives to the enemy has been much lower.
Mages should pay clear costs when they use their spells to clear waves quickly and safely, especially if they’re not investing into items that specialize in mana. Mages should run out of mana if they’re casting constantly in long fights. We’ve seen mages solve a lot of their mana issues with a single component for quite a while, and we don’t think that’s good for the mages, or the game at large. The result of these changes is that mages will get more spellcasts at low levels, but will remain at risk of OOM'ing themselves even after their first back, compared to live.
This should also have the benefit of opening up a wider range of starting items for mages. This item has done a lot of things well for quite a while, and we are attempting to bring it inline with other starting items. Doran’s ring is being reduced in power.These changes are targeted for next patch, 8.9. We wanted to go over the general changes, and also talk a bit about why we’re making changes.
We have a few changes landing on the PBE today focused around how much mana mages have at each stage of the game. Here's Riot Axes with details on mana changes coming to the PBE this cycle: We’re looking forward to your constructive feedback, and hope you guys enjoy the new feature! If there are any questions, comments, or issues found, please let us know in the comments section.