A Good Post, Ruined

I had a topic for a good post:  "Least Useful Spell, Ever".  But it seems that it has been "fixed", though I'm not sure anyone really knows it.

IMO, "Goodberry"* was the least useful spell in the game.  The reason it was useless was because you could only cast it inside a quest or wilderness area, but only use the conjured berries inside of a tavern.

I was all set to write a nice post about this and even suggest a few options for making it at least somewhat useful, but it seems it has already been "fixed" - I just don't recall ever seeing anything on the change made in any of the release notes.  (Though it is possible I missed it, as I was never really looking for it.)

How it has been "fixed":  You can now cast it in public areas.  However, you can still only use the goodberries in taverns and not inside quests or wilderness areas, but at least now you can cast it inside a tavern, too.

Of course, that was the easiest way to "fix" it, but not necessarily the best way.  Another option would be to allow the berries to be used in a quest area, but just put a really long cool-down timer on either the casting time or the actual berry usage...or both.

I mean, I understand "why" they don't want the berries used in a quest - that would allow druids to have an unlimited supply of health and spell point renewal.  Which would not be good for the game - only mobs should have that kind of 'power' (hehehe).

But consider:  there are already healing and spell-point pots in the game, so what really is the difference?  The difference would be the unlimited usage for a small amount of spell points.  So, if you put, say, an hour-long cool-down timer on the casting of the spell, would that not quell that argument?  What about, say, a half-hour (or hour) long cool-down on the berry usage, that is, you could only eat one every half-hour (or hour)?  Or maybe even an 'expiration' timer on the berries, like they disappear after a half-hour or hour?  Or a combination thereof?

Being able to refresh hit points and spell points in a quest is already allowed, so if you restrict the usability of goodberries so that they cannot be an "unlimited" resource, I don't see the harm.  But maybe one of you sees something I don't?  Do you think putting a long timer (or two) on its use would "ruin" the spell?  Or make it more useful?

So, even though it is "fixed", it's still not that useful.  For one thing, the berries are bound to character, so no sharing (or selling) with others (meh - not that important).  For another, it is, essentially, just a way to "buy" food and drink using spell points instead of platinum.  So, overall, it's still rather useless.

Just maybe no longer the most useless spell in the game.


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* Oops - wrong link.  Correct one, here.