1 minute spell timers are okay in single player games, even though that is a little annoying. However, it is even more annoying in MMOs, IMHO.

I was wondering what you guys think about cutting away part of the mana pool to keep a spell on.

Example: (Plan A)

Normally Spell A (let's call it light spell) costs 100 mana and lasts one minute.

Instead of having to cast light every minute, you could have the option to lose the spell cost +10% of the spell cost out of your mana pool as long as it stays active.

So, to keep a light spell on at al times, your mana pool would go down 110 points as long as that spell is active.

OR (plan B )

You could have an option to have a spell last X minutes instead of one minute, but the cost is 25% higher per extra minute. So you want to cast a light spell for 10 minutes it would cost 100+25+25+25+25+25+25+25+25+25 = 325. But this would not be a loss of total mana pool.

Don't get caught up on the details. Just the general idea. The percents can be changed or whatever.

What do you guys think?