Potions ingredients form incorrectly

[StueGryffindor]

Though I don't know that this is a bug, it is something not correct in the game so I figured this was the place to post.

Potions ingredients are not combining in the appropriate location, which can be a real bog-down factor as a player advances. When a set of three is combined, the new ingredient should form where the Center ingredient is. So, if two ingredients are on top of each other and another is to the side, the new ingredient will form where the two are vertically aligned. Or if three of the same ingredient are side by side by side, they will combine where the center ingredient is. This is especially important because in POTCO a user could intentionally form a string of FIVE ingredients to form a new ingredient two tiers down. Currently, TLOPO is splitting those runs of 5 in two directions, as well as the occasions when one more ingredient is needed to form a next-tier ingredient needed--and then the ingredient forms away from the others. I have seen a lot of new ingredients formed all the way to the right of a set--and even a few occasions where the new ingredient formed ABOVE. I'm only about a third of the way through the potions list and have already nearly lost twice because of ingredients stacking instead of combining where I was working to combine them.

I don't know if this is something where you will need to rewrite the code or if its a simple fix, but it would be appreciated if it is fixed. I will post pictures to help visualize my case:
1) This photo is before the action, and I dropped the ingredient straight down from where it appears at the top of the screen:

The intention was that a set of five green gators would be formed, and thus a tooth would be formed in the center. But alas, that's not what I got...instead the game split the three new ingredients and I was left with the following:

Although this is not as much of an issue at first, later in the game it gets more difficult to form advanced ingredients. At the wrong time, such a move could run the player out of space to finish a potion.

 

[Bo Hanson]

I've already mentioned this, and I totally agree with you. The staff patronized me, defended their work, and decided that nothing will be done about it. Apparently, when they said they were making the game exactly like POTCO, they didn't really mean EXACTLY. I'm guessing "thereabouts" is acceptable work for them.

 

[Stephen Teague]

I've already mentioned this, and I totally agree with you. The staff patronized me, defended their work, and decided that nothing will be done about it. Apparently, when they said they were making the game exactly like POTCO, they didn't really mean EXACTLY. I'm guessing "thereabouts" is acceptable work for them.

Ok I think that's taking it a little extreme I don't think anybody patronized you, it's their belief that it is correct, if more people report this issue, then they'll obviously look into it. I didn't say anything because I never really make potions so I had no say in the matter but the point is, TLOPO will fix it if it is an issue, I just don't think they realized it was.

 

[ArabellaDrummond]

Though I don't know that this is a bug, it is something not correct in the game so I figured this was the place to post.

Potions ingredients are not combining in the appropriate location, which can be a real bog-down factor as a player advances. When a set of three is combined, the new ingredient should form where the Center ingredient is. So, if two ingredients are on top of each other and another is to the side, the new ingredient will form where the two are vertically aligned. Or if three of the same ingredient are side by side by side, they will combine where the center ingredient is. This is especially important because in POTCO a user could intentionally form a string of FIVE ingredients to form a new ingredient two tiers down. Currently, TLOPO is splitting those runs of 5 in two directions, as well as the occasions when one more ingredient is needed to form a next-tier ingredient needed--and then the ingredient forms away from the others. I have seen a lot of new ingredients formed all the way to the right of a set--and even a few occasions where the new ingredient formed ABOVE. I'm only about a third of the way through the potions list and have already nearly lost twice because of ingredients stacking instead of combining where I was working to combine them.

I don't know if this is something where you will need to rewrite the code or if its a simple fix, but it would be appreciated if it is fixed. I will post pictures to help visualize my case:
1) This photo is before the action, and I dropped the ingredient straight down from where it appears at the top of the screen:
View attachment 70491
The intention was that a set of five green gators would be formed, and thus a tooth would be formed in the center. But alas, that's not what I got...instead the game split the three new ingredients and I was left with the following:
View attachment 70495
Although this is not as much of an issue at first, later in the game it gets more difficult to form advanced ingredients. At the wrong time, such a move could run the player out of space to finish a potion.

Interesting. Never even saw that before. Quite weird.

 

[Bo Hanson]

Ok I think that's taking it a little extreme I don't think anybody patronized you, it's their belief that it is correct, if more people report this issue, then they'll obviously look into it. I didn't say anything because I never really make potions so I had no say in the matter but the point is, TLOPO will fix it if it is an issue, I just don't think they realized it was.

It's not extreme. That's what happened. I was told "Oh well, I guess it will take longer to level up, then." They said "That is weird, because we have thoroughly gone over the potion code." They didn't sound like they cared at all.

Interesting. Never even saw that before. Quite weird.



Explain how issues with the Staff are relevant to this thread?

Well, here's how this conversation is going to go:
I'm going to take the bait. You are going to accuse me of slandering the staff, and then I'm going to have a big target on my back.

Well, let's just save some time, and go ahead an ban me, because I don't have to explain anything to you.

 

[Drewski0199]

It's not extreme. That's what happened. I was told "Oh well, I guess it will take longer to level up, then." They said "That is weird, because we have thoroughly gone over the potion code." They didn't sound like they cared at all.

Well, here's how this conversation is going to go:
I'm going to take the bait. You are going to accuse me of slandering the staff, and then I'm going to have a big target on my back.

Well, let's just save some time, and go ahead an ban me, because I don't have to explain anything to you.

You're not going to be banned for presenting you argument in a calm and respectful way lol

 

[Davy Darkrage]

Nobody's getting banned here, but let's not veer too far off topic please. If the potion stacking behavior can be verified to be incorrect, then I would consider it a valid bug. Unfortunately, however, it would probably be a rather low priority.

 

[StueGryffindor]

Low priority is okay. I wasn't a great fan of potions on POTCO so I don't have screenshots of the original, though I am definitely sure things are different because I even got to the point I would intentionally get myself in trouble so I would have to puzzle my way out.

That being said, I will be doing more documenting in the future to work to help clarify the case; perhaps that could help it to be worked on when the time comes around.

I think that, above all, we just will need to have consistency. It is the patterns that allow users to make a strategy and so I will search for patterns in the game play and maybe make forward progress on this post with them.

I wish to close by saying thank you again to all of the developers who are working on this. You have undertaken a great project here and deserve highest amends from a very beloved community for giving us a shot at coming together again. Even here in its early stages, it is already fantastic to be around again. And I know if I can say that now with only potions and fishing, oh boy will it ever be something when more is added on. Well done!

 

[StueGryffindor]

Nobody's getting banned here, but let's not veer too far off topic please. If the potion stacking behavior can be verified to be incorrect, then I would consider it a valid bug. Unfortunately, however, it would probably be a rather low priority.

Question: How do we go about "verifying" something to be incorrect? Or is that something your staff do?

I've another post coming

 

[Davy Darkrage]

It depends on the context of the bug/feature, but in this case I would think POTCO gameplay videos (YouTube, etc) would be a valuable resource. If it can be demonstrated that POTCO behavior does not match TLOPO behavior, there's probably a bug somewhere.

 

[StueGryffindor]

Thought I'd start off with a case where things DID go correctly to help make my case here:
I drop the pair of alligator teeth with intention of a tooth dust forming, they form three fang shards, which then join to form a tooth dust.

But then there are cases where I drop an ingredient and it's a definite "what just happened?" factor. For instance:

I dropped the alligator teeth. They should have formed a fang in the middle (3 columns from right), then the red scorpion stinger would fall and trio of stingers would form a venom next to the other venom (also 3rd from right, the venom would have formed under the fang). But instead of the fang forming three columns from right--where the center is--

--What?? It formed all the way to the right, which besides being a mess and far away from the tooth dust, that means the fang went UP and AWAY from where it was meant to form.

I have one more post, which will define my main issue and discuss the strategic gameplay that was already formulated from time in POTCO.

 

[StueGryffindor]

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.

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.

 

[Cheysa Finn]

If it can be demonstrated that POTCO behavior does not match TLOPO behavior, there's probably a bug somewhere.

I'd like to add a disclaimer to this - POTCO had many bugs that Disney never got around to fixing. For most (if not all) of those, TLOPO does plan to fix them so that the game works properly as originally intended. So basically, there will be some things that differ between POTCO and TLOPO.

Please keep this bit of info in mind when helping us test and verify that everything is as it should be

 

[StueGryffindor]

Understood, Cheysa. I would hope that the inner workings of potions would be something that always worked as they intended, though, since they put potions in well before it was looking like it would close. I more than understand that a lot of the game play was buggy, though, especially where players were running through boundaries or action was happening in an inappropriate direction or location.

I kinda have the feeling that the directional actions and engaging in-game enemies is why the developing stage for battles is going to take a while

 

[Bo Hanson]

@Cheysa Finn , thank you for that absolutely worthless piece of information. Clearly, the game doesn't work the way Disney designed it. It isn't a bug. It isn't a glitch. It is a mistake on the part of the developers. That much is obvious. Once again, the staff comes to the defense.

 

[StueGryffindor]

Bo, I appreciate that you want things fixed. It may just be my opinion, but your comment seems a bit harsh to me.

I know the developers have a lot to do, and have accomplished a ton in getting the game even to its current stage. As a third party, I feel like they deserve respect from all of us, no matter the situation. I don't have an issue with your challenging their ways, but the way you did seems a bit blatant. I do believe in telling things as they are, but there's a rude way to do it or a respectful way to do it.

I just ask that in the future you lean toward the respectful end more, because it really makes a difference to them and may be the difference between our cries being ignored or them being acknowledged.

That being said, I can tell you've been around this a while and I definitely empathize with your impatience with how it has been handled. Patience is certainly a struggle for me as well in some situations, and this can well be one of them. Just another opportunity for some practice at it

 

[Bo Hanson]

Acknowledgment would be "Thank you for bring that to my attention. We will look into it." We never get that.

We get "We went over the code thoroughly" and "it will just take you longer to level up". That is ignoring the problem and defending their incomplete work.

You want to talk to me about respect. The staff needs to respect that we brought up a problem, and they need to acknowledge it. I am responding in kind to the way I have been treated.

 

[StueGryffindor]

Fair enough. You make a good point. I didn't mean to be on the attack there, I just know that stress can be a hard factor for all, players or admins/devs.

 

[Bo Hanson]

Very true, my friend. Don't mind me. I'm about 4 crown+cokes into the evening. That is why my spelling and grammar have been a little off. Lol

 

[Davy Darkrage]

@Cheysa Finn , thank you for that absolutely worthless piece of information. Clearly, the game doesn't work the way Disney designed it. It isn't a bug. It isn't a glitch. It is a mistake on the part of the developers. That much is obvious. Once again, the staff comes to the defense.

That was completely uncalled for. @Cheysa Finn did not say anything at all about this issue in particular, she was simply clarifying something I had said earlier about differences in general. You are interpreting it out of context. Please be kind.

Acknowledgment would be "Thank you for bring that to my attention. We will look into it." We never get that.

We get "We went over the code thoroughly" and "it will just take you longer to level up". That is ignoring the problem and defending their incomplete work.

You want to talk to me about respect. The staff needs to respect that we brought up a problem, and they need to acknowledge it. I am responding in kind to the way I have been treated.

You never get that?

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'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.

Those were the last statements from developers regarding this issue. Any other replies were not from TLOPO staff members. They do not mean to say they are absolutely positive that the behavior is correct, just that they don't understand why this would be happening when the verification tools indicate that the code matches Disney's. Nowhere has anybody been disrespectful to you. I'm sorry if you feel this issue has been neglected, but there are bigger priorities at the moment.

If this particular behavior does not match POTCO's (which I take your word that it doesn't), then it is incorrect, and it will eventually be fixed.