Playing Pool Of Radiance got me learning the ins and outs of 2nd edition AD&D and I came to the realization today that I prefer games with a magic points or mana system. Probably because I grew up with JRPGs which exclusively deal with MP over spell slots. Don't get me wrong, D&D is great, but it's such a pain when you get into battle and you realize you forgot to memorize Detect Magic and now you have a bunch of potential good loot.
I like mana/mp systems. For long thing, it bends easier to mechanics around reducing or increasing spell costs for different effects. I also prefer the idea of similarly tiered spells costing different amounts of magical energy.
I dont call it mana, has too many weird real world religions connotations.
True. It's strange to think about how it slipped into a placeholder for magic points