Kin wrote:
Another gripe of mine is the fact that other than evaporating, potions have no downside whatsoever. A merc can literally just have 23789048904823 vials of heal and a few word of recalls and be almost unkillable unless you flat out zerg him, or manage to keep him bashed, which of course one missed bash, and he retreats, heals up and comes back. It becomes war of the vials, in which people don't really rely too much on their own skill more so than getting their l337 brewery friend to make them umpteen more vials.
While I'm on the subject of vials, I feel that too many spells are brewable. Sanctuary, armor, heal, cure blindness, cure deafness. Too many spells are brewable in my opinion and have no downside to their use other than they evaporate after so long, so you just need priest buddy x to make more. While I can see cure spells being brewed (i agree they're very useful to have) some things shouldn't be brewable, like Sanc. One of the reasons melee is / was so dominant is cause of the plethora of buffs that's available and easy to obtain, on top of the fact that they can heal without a cleric or priest thanks to vials / herbs.
That however, is just my opinon. Agree or disagree as you will.
This is actually untrue. Vials do have a downside that has become more apparent in recent code updates than in the past but bulk carrying of vials does hurt your character in some ways.
Also, brewed heal vials have been used in some of the most fantastic PvP battles I have either seen or been involved in.
I disagree with you on some of your points as well. I'd much rather have a priest or shaman or paladin cast a spell of sanctuary on any melee character I might have than to derive it from a source such as a vial.