World of Warcraft looks to be introducing a new spell for all characters that will set up a campfire and automatically restore their health when out of combat, making having to buy or cook food for healing purposes obsolete.
As spotted by Wowhead on the public-test-realm-build for patch 11.1.7, the spell, Recuperate, restores 150% health over 30 seconds, has no cooldown, and can be used an unlimited number of times. It’s similar to the spell that Delve NPC companion Brann Bronzebeard occasionally busts out when players are injured. The spell’s healing properties, Wowhead notes, are actually stronger than the best cooking profession foods available, and it can also be used inside dungeons and raids.
It’s a nice little addition that in many ways feels overdue. Having to buy food from a vendor or eating just to regain lost health is definitely a core part of early WoW but hasn’t been especially relevant as a mechanic for many, many years at this point. That’s particularly true for characters with mana who have healing spells. Since running out of mana is almost unheard of in modern WoW unless you are in a lengthy PvP battle or extended raid encounter, classes with access to a heal can easily use that to restore their health fast instead of taking the time to eat.
Just because Blizzard is giving every player an easy way to heal up after encounters doesn’t mean cooking or buying consumables from vendors will be obsolete. Recuperate, notably, does not restore mana. It also doesn’t provide any stat-boosting buffs–the primary reason players sit down and eat a snack before a fight. That makes the game’s cooking profession still relevant.
Recuperate is just one of many interesting additions coming as part of the game’s next patch, titled Legacy of Arathor. It’s also introducing a new story-focused way to level characters called Lorewalking and adding a rotation assist tool that can even go so far to turn a class’ damage rotation spells into a single button.
Patch 11.1.7 doesn’t yet have a release date, but Blizzard in the meantime continues to share more details about how the MMORPG’s upcoming housing system will work. In its latest blog discussing the topic, Blizzard revealed how old expansion content and professions will be relevant again when it comes to acquiring housing items, and that the game will retroactively reward housing items based on past achievements.