2/17/15

How to Fix Pottermore Vol. 2

Today we're talking Potions. Potions are a bit of a difficult spot on Pottermore that could use a good deal of fixing, not just for the sake of the game but for the sake of balance between the two as a whole.
So to quickly describe how this is going to be ordered, first there are general changes, changes that could work regardless of the main changes I would suggest, and two alternate scenarios, which would FINALLY give brewing a bit of balance comapared to duels in the long run. The whole idea behind this list is what could/would be changed to give some semblance of balance to the game as a whole, and provide some logic to Pottermore?

General Change 1)
Allow the sale of found items and potions, as well as the actual sale of ingredients between users. This would solve some of the galleon problems, and enable users to buy more cauldrons for collecting things and sending them out. The general effect is to basically make ingredients collectable and it would create a natural economy on Pottermore as a result.

General Change 2)
Allow collection of all ingredients. This breaks another one of the limits on Potions as certain ones become impossible to brew unless you have friends to send you ingredients. This is bad. A game should let you play more, not less, with time, and if potions are not brewed, it should only be because they are beneath the player, not because the player lacks the resources to play.

General Change 3)
Allow people to send in bulk, and without sending a friend request. This should keep friends back to the original purpose, of friending ONLY people you know, and this allows young children to avoid making unnecessary friends on Pottermore and remove a possible problem Pottermore could have.

General Change 4)
Make new cauldron or three with varying effects, this would basically help add a bit of strategy if we keep with the usual potions system and add variety to the game over time. For example:
*Silver Cauldron: reduces brew time by 10 more minutes, minimum time of 3 minutes
*Self-Stirring Cauldron: will automatically cross out stirring steps in brews, has the same brew time as Brass
*Self-Heating Cauldron: automatically eliminates heating steps in brews, has the same brew time as pewter
*Collapsable Cauldron: Same brew time as silver, and cheaper, however, it is prone to overheating, as the heating range is narrower.
*Iron Cauldron: Same brew time as Copper, but gives the return times of Pewter.
*Steel Cauldron: Same brew time as Silver, but gives the return times of Pewter.
*Gold Cauldron: Reduces brew time by 20 minutes, but each potion only has a 5 minute return window

General Change 5) Allow the use of Potions, no one can be affected by a potion more than twice a day. For two hours, the potion will take effect on their account, but can be undone with it's counter-potion. This will prevent bullying as well as giving some more reason to brew potions even if they are not the most point-profitable activity, as the chance at sabotage would be good, and the reliance on counters would encourage communication with others as they ask for help. Current effects are as follows
*Sleeping draught-Unable to brew or duel for 2 hours
*Wideye- cures sleeping draught/draught of living death

*Antidote for common poisons-undoes most "poisons"

*Forgetfulness-spells cast in duel will be random for 2 hours

*Swelling solution- all brew times increase by 30 minutes
*Shrinking solution- undoes the effects of swelling solution

*Herbicide- remove 10 random "plant" ingredients from the victim's trunk

***Sub-change, give some potions effects in the story***
~Doxycide, eliminate Doxies in moments when used for the day, allows collection of doxy eggs.
~Polyjuice, allows entry into slytherin common room for chamber of secrets moment.
~Herbicide, eliminates any plant barriers in the story, allowing collection of certain items, can be done every 2 hours.


Scenario 1) Potions can not be brewed with duels. Unfortunately, as potions move up, barring any other change, dueling must step down a little to have the minimum change in how many points are encouraged to be earned via dueling, so there needs to be some sort of drag on it or more competition in the form of OTHER games.

- Potions all operate on a basis of roughly a point per minute for the copper brew times, with the exemption of cure for boils being 15 points, Polyjuice is worth NO points till ALL of Chamber of Secrets has been explored, after which part 2 gives 200 points, Doxycide would be 30 points, and Shrinking Solution, 110.

Scenario 2) Potions can be brewed with duels

-Duels must be limited to 1000 points won/lost per day, so approximately 200 duels per day. This could happen or not, but influences the numbers I'm thinking of for the points increase. Naturally, the amount points increased must be greater if there is no cap on dueling, and the general purpose is to shift the game away from duels.

-Potions increase by 10-15 points per potion as it is currently, save Polyjuice which will ONLY give points after all of Chamber of Secrets is completed, and gives 200 points per brew.

So what do you think? Would you change other things, and if this was the case, do you think brewing would take more prominence?

3 comments:

  1. Birdie's wishlist: 1. Include a potion timer in the game. We all have our ways to set a timer that reminds us of a finished potion, but those are either external devices or browser extensions. Young players on their parents' or school computers often are not allowed to install extensions. Why can't it be part of the game?
    2. Add an incentive to earning badges e.g. allow those who have earned a badge to use more or better cauldrons

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  2. One thing I'd like to see is more variety in brewing times so that brewing is more adaptable to different schedules. In addition to the current brew times, I think there should be at least one potion that earns points in each of the following time ranges:
    -less than 5 minutes
    - 2-4 hours
    - 6-8 hours
    - 10-12 hours
    - approximately 24 hours
    It wouldn't hurt to have more potions with brewing times in between these too.

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  3. Here are a few sample points schemes for potions that are based on brewing time, the number of steps the brewer must complete, or both: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KJGbDJcmK8R-pVBvqTJ4k4wu6rEiekrw24krgCHkawE/edit?usp=sharing
    My preference would be for the points awarded to take into account both the brewing time and the number of steps completed. There could also be points awarded for the portion of the potion that was completed successfully prior to whichever step failed.
    It would also be nice to have a reward in galleons for every 10 consecutive successfully brewed potions with a bonus at 100 consecutive successful potions.

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Tell me what you think?