Should mana be shown?

/signed

yep

Not sure whehter to agree or not. Would be annoying for you if you have empty mana but dont want the enemy Demigods too know...but would be useful if it were the other way round.

I think overall its revealing too much.

Couldnt agree more, manabar on friendlies but not enemies please

This is also good for using certain mana restoring items, who of us is in most need of that manascroll?

You can also see if someone around you could benefit from the 500% regen favor item or not.

Yea, friendly mana bar sounds like a great idea.

Maybe there could be some abilities/items that reveal your enemy's mana bar as a bonus?

Perhaps take it further and this item or ability can reveal everything about the enemy Demigod (e.g Items)....Ok im thinking out aloud lol

would be good!

i think it could be useful to saw mana bars and xp bars without needing to hover the mouse over the demigod. it needs to be more easily seen especially in a huge end game fight with millions of creeps around

I really think mana bars should be visible by everyone. This would mean that if you sit around with no mana then a smart enemy could use that to his advantage. It adds more strategy, which this game really needs.

I personally agree with MetDragon. If enemies can't see your mana bar, it almost caters to those with less skill by protecting them in that enemy heroes won't know to jump on said noob. If the mana bar is shown to all, it makes it much more important to manage mana, which would be beneficial to serious players I would think.

valid points

Skilled players will know when their opponent is low on manna anyway. IMO your manna should not be visible to your enemy.

i was actually thinking the same thing b4 i replied but i didnt bother, coz if it doesnt really matter then a "Toggle On/Off" option in an options menu wouldnt sound like a bad idea.

Just a moment here, you're telling me that skilled players can watch all casts from 3+ opponents (usually), know how fast it regens, and just how big the pool is by of course, memorizing mana counts of all heroes. That's really not realistic. the only way you'd know is if someone just went all out splurge with spells.

Made a small user interface mod that shows you an ally's mana with a mouse-over here: http://forums.demigodthegame.com/339330

Let me know how well it works

Mana should  be shown, I was against it at first but as you don't see the items of your enemy (which is good) seeing the mana would improve the gameplay, right now its too much of a guess game.

No, showing mana count caters to players with less skill by removing the player component in getting the enemies mana count - aka pay attention.

nah, showing mana is only bad when you also see the items of your enemies (as in Warcraft III and Dota) as that completely reveals the whole situation players are in, but when you neither show mana nor items you reveal to less - you have no way of knowing if the enemy has mana. If you show the mana bar but not the items you don't know if he has a mana potion or not which should make for great gameplay.

Yes, you have a way of knowing it. Pay. Attention.

Did he throw out a great amount of mana expensive abilities? He'll be low on mana. Does he have a mana potion in the bag? That's what you'll determine by past experience - have you fought that demigod before? Does he tend to have a mana potion? Does he use a lot of consumables, which can mean he can't afford potions?

That's player skill - predicting your opponent instead of being spoonfed everything by getting told every single point about your enemy.

DatonKallandor,

How do I know if his base mana pool is 2K or 5K ? Paying attention alone is not sufficient if you have too less information, with too less information it becomes a pure guess if he has mana or not.

How is showing the mana but not the items "getting told every single point about your enemies"? Why not removing the Health bar as well then, it would add a lot of skill if you had to predict the hp of your enemy.

DatonKallandor is conveniently ignoring my post, showing just how useless paying attention (not even touching how unrealistic it is to keep track of 3+ players) can be against heroes whose gear cannot be seen. Perhaps he should defend himself instead of jamming an underlined pay attention down our throats...?

Yet again, by paying attention - almost all (mana costing) abilities have clear visual signals and those that don't are obvious from their effects. If he uses say, 8 spells that you know will be mana intensive (that's where the skill comes in), without quaffing a potion, then you'll know he has invested in a high base mana value. You can even guess at how much that has set him back gold-wise. Unless he's faking you out, in which case - props to him, he successfully tricked you.

Oh, I'm sorry I didn't specifically answer your post - I was actually hoping it was kind of obvious why. Yes, a perfectly skilled player would be able to keep track of several opponents. Knowing the capabilites of each demigod is strategy 101, that's incredibly basic. Applying said knowledge on the field is where the skill gradient comes in. How good you are at predicting your opponent and keeping track of what is happening on the field is one of the essential skills a good player has. Note that it's not a binary thing as you make it out to be. It's not a simple switch between "I can't keep track of everything!" and "I can keep track of everything!".

Knowing friendly mana pools would be great. I certainly can't see why it should be a "hidden" stat.

okay so I see he used 8 spells without drinking a potion but what does that say me for the next encounter? Absolutely nothing, he might have sold the item or give it to an ally or get another mana item to be able to cast 20 spells in a row. Your information on the enemy mana pool is always totally outdated.

Right now Items which give mana are the ONLY items which give no clue at all away :

Health and regen : seen on the healthbar

Movement Speed : just need to take a look on the screen

Armor : take a look at your damage numbers

Items with special effects all or at least most, not sure if there are a few exceptions, have some indicators as well either on the UI or just as visual effect.

P.S. : don't try to lecture me on what skill is

I will concede to almighty Daton, and hope to see him use his amazing micromanagement skills while playing the game. Regardless, I'm not retarded, but even if I did keep track of that crap, TheBigOne has basically proved it a useless thing to do since items are not visible, and greatly affect what happens with said mana pool. Knowing the mana pool doesn't prevent a mana regen item from being sprung on an unsuspecting ganker either; that's just a thought to those liking to reverse the odds.

Why is this a debate about whether or not you should see an enemy's mana pool? (or am I mistaken?)

No, you shouldn't see your enemy's mana pool, seeing as how that's a team resource, much like gold. However, friendly mana pools ought to be shared between players of the same team so that they can more easily co-ordinate things rather than having to rely on either third party VOIP, or otherwise.

Information on your enemy should never be completely available. (That's why the Fog-O-War is used so often in stragety titles, guys.) Demigod should not be an exception.