Neverwinter Nighs 2 (and pretty much all the recent D&D powered CRPGs) does not have rest areas. You can sleep wherever and whenever you want in that game. I'm talking about a game where you are supposed to find an appropriate place to rest. Again, this is not my favorite solution to the ability spam problem, but it's surely more functional than a long cooldown.
Maybe so, but Original Sin has Inns, and a Homestead as your rest areas. But Waypoints, Teleporter Stones, and the "Teleport to Homestead" button can get you there so fast that it seems like reaching a rest area isn't going to be that hard.
I'm not against your scroll-based rare-spell idea. Point is, reagent DO have benefits:
1) Unlike mana they aren't a universal resource; so using reagents developers can prevent high level spell spamming.
2) They fit the "use/interact/collect as much as you can" philosophy of this kind of games.
3) They add "color" to the magic system. Spells aren't just other kind of active ability with reagents. They are something different.
I think we've reached a point where talking more isn't going to get us anywhere. We're not going to be able to agree on this issue, because I see 1) and 2) as drawbacks and irritations, not benefits.
We'll have to wait and see what the new build will do to try and balance things out more.
