Potion Brewing

Bo Hanson

Bo Hanson

Buccaneer
The potions don't work like they did before. The tiles are supposed to combine towards the middle. These combine randomly in different directions, sometimes splitting apart, thus defeating the purpose. Needs work.
 
Interesting, we've had potions available for quite a while now, and you are the first that's indicated this is an issue. We even went so far as to validate the contents of the potion brewing code for accuracy, it was a real mess and definitely WAS buggy around this time last year!

I'm sure we have a fair number of users that have even gone so far as to max potions, has anyone else seen tile combinations misbehaving like this?

Thanks for the input Bo!!
 
I've tested potions out for quite a while in TLOPO. It is acting as I remember it from POTCO. If you follow the trick of making columns for each type of piece, then there will not be random combos. Any time that the pieces get mixed up/not 'sorted' there will be what appears as random combining.

Every time a set of three pieces are matched, they will pull toward the center of those sets. If the three are stacked on each then the center will be on the vertical. However if the three pieces are off set, they will pull toward the side that favors two pieces stacked on one another. Any time 4 or more pieces stack, the 'larger' pieces will seem to split.

Remember, the trick is to try to stay as organized as possible when working on each potion. There are videos out there showing how to make potions with the pieces stacked according to their color/type in columns.

Here is a video showing how the pieces combine:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnrsWcqIaFA


Here is a video showing the trick of using columns:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKQmuPPk6bc
 
Not trying to be a jerk about it. I recognize patterns. In POTCO, I was able to recognize the patterns of how the tiles combine. Learning those patterns helped me to figure out exactly how to stack the tiles in such a way to get a level 4 tile using only 7 level 1 tiles. That is how I know it's different.

I'm sure others figured it out, but I don't know of anyone who did. That might be the reason I'm the only one to say anything
Kate Goldwalker said:
I've tested potions out for quite a while in TLOPO. It is acting as I remember it from POTCO. If you follow the trick of making columns for each type of piece, then there will not be random combos. Any time that the pieces get mixed up/not 'sorted' there will be what appears as random combining.

Every time a set of three pieces are matched, they will pull toward the center of those sets. If the three are stacked on each then the center will be on the vertical. However if the three pieces are off set, they will pull toward the side that favors two pieces stacked on one another. Any time 4 or more pieces stack, the 'larger' pieces will seem to split.

Remember, the trick is to try to stay as organized as possible when working on each potion. There are videos out there showing how to make potions with the pieces stacked according to their color/type in columns.

Here is a video showing how the pieces combine:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnrsWcqIaFA


Here is a video showing the trick of using columns:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKQmuPPk6bc
Click to expand...
This is the basic way to do it. I'm telling you there was a quicker way to do it in POTCO. You do it in columns, it takes 27 level 1 tiles to get a level 4. You do it the way I discovered, you can do it with 7.

It was consistent. You could do it the same way every time. TLOPO combines in different directions.
.
 
The code is written out exactly as it was in POTCO. @Captain Star has mastered potions in TLOPO already. If I remember correctly, it was either she or @Pretty Polly who mastered them on POTCO Test server when potions first showed up there.

If you test out your way and it starts working, I'm very interested in hearing it. But I've only known of one way. And I used the one way to increase my chances of getting the max for a color to get bonus rep while working on a potion. If you happen to find a video on YouTube of the way you say worked for you, I'm interested in watching it as well.
 
I'm unsure what might be causing the issue, and (as @deanaug said) the code has been through numerous verification checks (and manually decompiled in the process to ensure it!).

May you please provide a video showing the way that it worked in POTCO if you have one? We'll definitely be looking into this, I am curious what might be making it act up.
 
View: https://youtu.be/i_V0cA1dPCo


Here's a video that I hope helps. It was uploaded from 2010. You can see that as the tiles combine, they all stay together in the center.

lively bucko II.jpg


Now here's a drawing of what I'm talking about. It's not about columns. It's about grouping as many tiles together at the same time, as possible. If you drop these tiles just like this, you group 8 level 1s that will become 6 level 2s, then 4 level 3s, and finally 2 level 4s. This gives you a Lively Bucko after only dropping 8 sets of tiles. Everything groups together and stays together, continuing the cycle.

The way it works in TLOPO, some tiles will be separated from the group after level 2, breaking the cycle.

This is the whole reason I brought this up. If you do it in columns, it will take 54 tiles. You could be there all night!
 
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I just spent about 3 hours doing potions and at first they seemed to be working as they did in the original... But I did notice that there was some differences from the original. As I recalled when you dropped a pair of tiles and they combined with another to form 3 and combine into 1 they would always form the combined tile in the middle if you has one in each column and would always form the combined tile in the column that had 2 tiles in it if the 3 tiles were in only 2 columns. Sometimes I am see it form the combined tile in the column that had only 1 tile and when it is a 3 column combination it doesn't always form the new tile in the middle. As the OP said this makes it difficult because you can't control where your combined tiles form.
 
I have been experiencing inconsistent combining patterns as well. Separately, I also noticed that I don't get experience for the last tile (or set of tiles if i had a larger combo) to finish the recipe, when the completion message pops up.
 
Yeah basically they would combine and fall down with the lowest "like" ingredient. Or towards the centermost ingredient. As of right now they will sometimes combine and stay on a higher level, on top of a stack of other ingredients. Or left isolated when combining a large group on the same level. Its a minor difference but I've noticed it. Its also a bit hard to explain.
 
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@Mike Wass @Kate Goldwalker I saw that you were moderators previously in this link and wanted to be sure I notified you in person. You mentioned getting a youtube video to help divulge potions issues we're having, and I've put together a sequence. The "columns" approach is one that we can still use, but I've always felt that what is coolest about puzzle games is the options we have, the different strategies we can form. In its current form, we are being denied a particular strategy not only myself, but others perfected in POTCO. One of the things I enjoyed most about this game--and already love again--is the relationships formed. In addition to that, I learned so much from other pirates ingame...this is one of those things. Without further ado:

Unfortunately, I was a fool and started a different thread, but this is where it belongs. Potions ingredients on here should form to the center, and that is how they worked in POTCO. But I reference below an instance where they do not. I'd just like to add my proof to the others here.

StueGryffindor said:
This YouTube video should show what I'm trying to prove:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_V0cA1dPCo

First, view at :13 as the gator teeth drop and form all in the center, which then forms 4 fang shards next to each other, which join. There is no separation, everything goes to the center.

Then, at :19 is the main point. See how the stingers form 6 next to each other, which then turns to 2 poison extract? Especially for Swift Foot, it is very common to shoot for that...you form 6 stingers and those join to get two poison extract which is all the potion requires.

Here I attempt the same. It doesn't matter where a set of 5 or 6 is. In this case, I was joining 5 stingers, which form 3 venoms. In this case, the 3 venoms being formed should form around the one already there. That makes 4 venom, which will then make 2 poison extract. View attachment 70521
View attachment 70523
View attachment 70524 I apologize for missing my shots a bit here, but from the second shot you can see that it splits the venoms 3 and 1. That resulted in one extract and the one venom being left alone. From the POTCO video you can see they should have formed a set of four venoms, joining to make two extract and thus fulfilling the quota for the potion.
Click to expand...
 
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To the developers it may look like we're just trying to get our shortcut back, but the case here isn't that it is difficult to form light potions. We're running out of space working on simple potions and when we progress to the potions with 4th or 5th tier ingredients we won't have the space to operate. I have even gone into the game to see if there is a pattern to how things work here, but I can't find one. I've even seen ingredients go up and away rather than down and to the center, as you can see from my previous post where a venom was formed in the exact opposite direction of the action instead of centralizing with the others.

I know you have an awful lot on your plates right now, and it will take time. I just hope this eventually is worth looking into for the developers
 
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@StueGryffindor you are not a fool. And I'm glad that someone else sees that it was not done properly.

Also, it's not about a shortcut. It's a higher level up skill. Anybody can just sit there and make columns, but it takes some critical thinking to form these higher level combos that we're talking about. This is the way Disney designed it. This is the way Disney intended it.
 
Haha, much appreciated @Bo Hanson ! I just like the humor of calling myself a fool in this case; I would have done better to look more extensively for threads.

And I totally agree that it is a skill. It's something that makes potions rather like Tetris or Dr. Mario...we puzzle things out. And we may not have had potions long in POTCO and it may not have been released on its own like the aforementioned blockbuster games, but potions had its genius in how it was made and played. When its not reformed exactly as it was in POTCO, we are denied the genius of it; and furthermore the opportunity to exercise our own genius as we solve on an increasingly higher level of brain-work.
 
Lol, was not trying to challenge your statement. If anything, I was trying to support it. But, you're absolutely right. The puzzle aspect of it was probably why I enjoyed it so much.
 
Sorry, I was in agreement with you also. Haha, I meant to further elaborate on your comment...though that may have been unnecessary. I wasn't as much a fan of potions as some other activities in-game, but I have found I rather enjoy it.

It's just frustrating when it doesn't do what we expect it to, and I sense that you and I are not the only ones who have had issues.
 
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