I bet the “Regainable health” mechanic and the gems\enchantments related to it doesnt often used in the late game, so here is my suggestion:
First thing is to implement new mechanic called “Regainable Focus”. Which regains small* amount of focus spent on AoE rune-attacks if it only hits one target.
Secondly the gems and enchantments have to be reworked in order to give not only regainable health but also focus.
In result…
- The “Regainable health” mechanic will be widely represented and used more often by players
- Focus-oriented builds will provide more dynamic gameplay
- Damage and cost of any AoE Rune-attack could be easily tuned, knowing that it could be compensated by “Regainable focus” in single-target fights
Thanks
Thank you for your suggestion. Here are my thoughts:
Focus is not as essentiell as health or stamina.
And even if you build around focus: There are already a lot of gems and enchantments to gain focus in different ways (evasion, regeneration, parrying etc.)
It’s also your choice, or your missplay, to use an AOE Spell against one target or only hit one enemy. It should be punished rather than rewarded. Also Focus abilities are powerful and should not replace the rest of your weapons ability and your skill.
Also we don’t know if some traits of the classsystem are not already changing the way focus is gained or saved. Still i want to pick up your premise and make some suggestions how to enhance and give more choice to the focussystem/builds:
-
Focus is always full at login and respawn.
(I think thats actually a must. Make it an Whisper upgrade if you have to, but getting slowed down by ressource gathering or food before you can take another shot at a boss is unnessecary. The current iteration doesn’t make the gameflow better)
-
Rune Enchantment (Enchantments losing 1 slot and/or 1 more curse added)
(Runes inside this runeslot are reduced in focuscost depending if it’s an magical, epic or exalted enchantment. Should be reasonable and not % because the effect would be way bigger on expensive runepowers, making them to cheap, instead of making the cheaper more into an active rotation)
-
Runeslot-Merging (Going down from 4 to 3 runeslots)
(You lose a Runeslot but the rune doesn’t cost focus at all and gets a cooldown instead. Yes it’s a heavy price, but an ability you can use even if you’re out of focus, can make the difference in a close fight. Also creates more dynamic)
-
Rune Weapons (New kind of upgrade choice)
(instead of going exalted, you can make your Weapon a rune weapon. They get a visual effect and have a good passive focus gain buff without the stamina debuff. Instead of enchantments you can add an addtional trait)
-
Tomes/Accessories (Buff weapons)
(Buff Heavy offhands for focus builds. For example tomes to create a rune on the ground that generates focus for whoever stands in, or increases cast time, or a runetrap deflecting dmg for 2seconds as soon the caster stands in it. So you could prepare the battlefield, play defensivly and than going into the offense using the runes you prepared.)
-
Combat Flow (Combo-Counter in form of a trait maybe)
(A Combo-counter for combining attacks, runeattacks, evasion etc. The focus bar starts glowing like in an fighting game. Like 3 Levels of Combat Flow. Buffing focus generation. There could be different versions for attackspeed, carryweight recudtion, attackpower etc. Rewarding great control and strategy.)
-
Meditation & Leech (Cerim Runes)
(New Utility runes to generate or steal focus)
So these just are a few ideas i had right now 
I think the better way is to create more choice and different mechanics instead of making certain abilities easier. Because your suggestions would’ve not been like the regainable health. Regainable health is regained by ATTACKING, but you described just how spells getting cheaper if they hit less enemies. It’s not regained per se, it’s more like a passive buff.
All my Ideas of course are also not perfect or whatever and open to be discussed and worked on 