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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Patryn of Elvenshae" data-source="post: 3757300" data-attributes="member: 23094">I can't recall; have you played WoW?Continuing in that vein, I think WoW might actually be a good indication of how this sort of thing works.My current favorite character is a Paladin (For the Horde!) and I have several different types of resources.I have my blessings, which can be given to both myself and any allied characters.  They take a ridiculously small amount of mana and last 5 minutes.  They are, essentially, small, at-will abilities.Then I have my seals, which are personal buffs.  These, too, tend to not cost much mana.  They are, for most purposes, at-will abilities.Secondly, I can release those seals on an enemy, but this tends to be mana-intensive.  Accordingly, I have a number of per-encounter abilities.In the same vein are some area-effect spells and certain anti-undead and anti-demon abilities.  They have a fairly long recharge time, which turns them into definite per-encounter abilities.Similarly, my healing ability, which tends to cost a lot more mana than the seals and judgements, are per-encounter abilities.Then, there's your long-recharge abilities, like Lay on Hands, using certain trinkets, etc.  These can each be used once, but have a recharge time from about an hour to several hours.  These are, certainly, "per-adventure" resources.The resource management game is certainly alive and well in WoW - determining whether I should use my LoH now or wait until a more critical time is certainly analgous to whether or not a 3E wizard should drop his only fireball! - and that's with only a few "per-day" resources (generally, once you use your long-recharge items, you'll be done with whatever dungeon you're exploring before they come back).Of course your first inclination in any fight is to turn to your at-will or per-encounter resources: they'll come back and be available much, much more quickly.  That doesn't mean using a particular resource is not an important decision.EDIT:If I can arrange things such that all of my per-encounter resources have come back before tackling the next challenge, then I'm essentially operating at 100% capability for most of the time, which lets me do stupid things like attack three or four bad guys, each of which would be a moderately challenging encounter, simultaneously. (Or, as is more likely to happen, fight one guy, almost win, only to have his friend join in, when the 3rd guy rounds the corner.)  However, this will probably cause me to dip into my per-day resources.  But that's okay, because really, what I've done is just taken away that small safety net I used to have.  All of my other resources are no less effective than they were before; I merely lack the opportunity to press the "Save my Butt" button.Now, it's entirely possible that, as a player, the "smart" thing would be to press that "Save Me!" button and head back to the nearest inn until it comes back (analogous to Celebrim's belief on what will happen).However, the number of WoW players you'll find who do that are vanishingly small (I'd say that none of them do, but I'm sure there's an outlier somewhere).  Why?  Because sitting in the inn for an hour after each fight is boring.Instead, you say, "Yep - no more safety net.  Maybe I'll be a bit more careful this time!" and then you continue on, hacking and slashing your way through the Keep until you find the BBEG.  And maybe he beats you.</blockquote>

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