Life and Mana Flasks mechanics

I'm not really enjoying the use of the life and mana flasks.

It seems as though most of the time, when my life is at 20-70%, I have to remember to *preventively* drink something, not so much to survive, but to make sure I get the most out of the recharges because they fill up during combat.

Mind you I'm level 20, and the default regeneration rate seems to be very slow. This may change at later levels?

I remember watching a video where the developers suggested that their solution was a viable alternative to Diablo 3's health orbs.

But in practice, I find that they're really there to stress me out. It's like those virtual animal things you just have to keep an eye on. It's a chore.

Think of it this way:

If you made them AUTOMATICALLY trigger whenever the health or mana goes below 50%, it would remove the chore of keeping an eye on them, all the while MAKING NO DIFFERENCE whatsoever to my gameplay, because they're not instant heal (I haven't found any instant heal so far!).

So in fact, thought it is not a very satisfying solution, I think the combat would be more enjoyable if I simply didn't have to remember to PREVENTIVELY top my health and mana to make the most of the potions.

If I wasn't clear enough yet, consider there are FIVE of them.

I don't fint it challenging at all, just a chore to have to trigger them manually.

If they triggered automatically, my guess is I'd be more attentive to going in and retreating to manage incoming damage.

But as it stands, there is no incentive to manage, you just BARGE IN, and SPAM the potions while you can.

Let me try again:

Having to keep an eye, not just on ONE health and mana flasks, but on FIVE of them, each with their own keyboard shortcut, is what's really annoying.

Things could be improved by adding the following keyboard shortcuts:

USE LIFE FLASK
USE MANA FLASK

(in order from left to right).

I think that'd make the flask handling less of a chore.

With the variety of flask mod properties, automatic usage would be problematic. For example, I wouldn't want my game draining my flask that dispells burning because I might need it if I get ignited. Also, I wouldn't want the game to use it automatically if I were ignited, because automating strategic responses seems very lazy and boring to me. That same thing is true regarding flask usage in general.

If the game did it automatically, there wouldn't be a need for the system at all.

It's pretty much D3's system of getting heals as you kill stuff, but with a buffer kept in the flasks.

Oh, and spamming flasks isn't much use because using two flasks doesn't heal you twice as quickly (just twice the duration of healing).

I'm not sure I manage to get across the feeling,

I think it's:

* Partly that there are FIVE flasks. Having to cycle through five different keyboard shortcuts I feel is slowing down the gameplay.

Perhaps this explain why D3 went for orbs: the player's attention remains on the combat area, instead of having their eyes constantly switching between the combat area (center of the screen), and the potions area.

As I said, adding shortcuts for LIFe and MANA flasks, regardless of slot would make this less cumbersome. You just put the better ones to the left. Less thinking overhead.

But maybe the value of this system will be more apparent once I get to higher difficulties...

PS: I also felt, somewhat related suggestion, that it was weird that you have five slots unlocked right from the start. Perhaps it would feel less overwhelming for the new player, to have 2 slots, then 3 then 4 then 5.