Remove or overhaul potion-making

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Darkslinger

Notorious Pirate
Idea roundup:

The slightly overhauled system would add purpose (and fun) back to brewing potions. The best way to meet all the above requirements is to make it more fast-paced. This can be done by either replacing the mix-and-match gameplay with a more interesting alternative or by recreating the mix-and-match with a different concept in mind. This would allow pirates to receive rep and "points" at a higher rate and allow pirates to actually depend on potions before a battle rather than avoid brewing them because they require time and effort.

When it comes to leveling, there should be no grinding involved. To level up, you have to actually use the potions in different scenarios. This will mean a larger variety of potions will have to be introduced to the game and a lot of pre-existing ones (eg: swift foot 1, 2, 3 - marksmans draught 1, 2, 3) will have to be unified into a single potion. Imagine a scenario in which you're about to fight a boss that inflicts extreme amounts of voodoo damage and has high HP. With a voodoo immunity potion, pirates will be able to use it to fight said boss. Bosses should be crafted with gameplay aspects in mind - pirates should be able to take them down in a lot of different ways including using potions as a means of assistance. The same can be applied with enemies that inflict fire damage, extremely swift enemies, or stumps that overuse the earthquake ability. New potions will be created to counteract all of these issues! Bosses should be made tedious to force pirates to depend on the newly overhauled, friendlier potion-making system. So overall, there should be more potions suited to a plethora of different scenarios each pirate might face.

New potion leveling system. Players will need to use a variety of different potions depending on their playstyle. Creating potions will reward a little amount of rep and potion points - however, pirates must use the potions in action to reap the extended benefits. In their current state, the potions might not be useful enough to use. Selling (discussed later on) will also grant reduced rep and points. However, with this reworked system with multiple potions for different contexts - many pirates will be motivated to use them.

New gameplay aspects. Players might need to shrink or enlarge themselves to get past a point in a quest or even make themselves invisible to avoid a group of overpowered enemies. Another scenario can be pirates having to morph themselves to blend with enemies and be able to search around them. The gameplay opportunities are endless with useful potions! Pirates can even be forced to drink certain potions to beat otherwise invincible bosses and earn a guaranteed reward. This can be a weekly quest in which pirates need to achieve a certain feat by drinking potions and playing. They'll receive a gift and different badges in return!

Potion rarity. With potion variety, there's potion rarity. There could be different types (common, rare, famed, legendary, cursed) of potions. This will divide them into sectors of rarity and give pirates an understanding of how important each type of potion is.

Upgrade recipe. Instead of having three types of potions with varying powers or durations - why not have one? As you level up and progress, you can receive a quest that assists you inupgrading your pre-existing potion recipes to make them even more effective! When you upgrade, all your new potions have improved stats.

Potions marketplace. Create useful potions, sell them to others. Some pirates demand potions but aren't patient enough to brew them. How should we fix this? By supplying them with potions! Pirates can directly act as suppliers and sell their potions in a marketplace. This will require loads of varying potions to be added into the game. Pirates who love potions enough to brew them upon mastering will have a reason to go on and others who despise brewing will benefit too. Another advantage is pirates will probably envy your ability to sell these potions for high prices since they're too lazy to brew them and might go ahead and partake in potion-brewing themselves!

Potion points and points store. Different types of potions reward you with rep alongside varying amounts of points. Think of this as an alternative to looting. With these points, you'll be able to spend your points on exclusive items ranging from clothing to tattoos and weapons all in the points store. In addition to this, new mysterious items can be added every month forming a never-ending catalogue of mystical items. This will incentivize players to brew potions. These items are exclusive to the potions store but can be sold in the marketplace for extremely high prices, materials, and other tradeable items.

Finally, badges. A rewards system with badges and gifts could be introduced to returning brewers. These can be given out to players who achieve certain feats like leveling up, using potions in a specific manner (eg: kill 'x' enemies while drinking this and not getting damaged), selling a large amount of potions in the marketplace, crafting potions for a certain amount of days in a row, or creating 'x' amount of a certain potion.

This is not about simplifying potions, but making it friendlier and more approachable. To enjoy potion making, some pirates need to detach the concept of leveling up and start associating potion-brewing with its advantages. I, for one, mastered my sword fairly quickly since I aimed towards reaching a point where I can deal large amounts of damage to kill enemies faster and in return get more rep and loot. With potions it should be no different.


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It’s a useless feature most pirates partake in so they could be labeled as “completionists” or are forced to craft certain potions.

The potions have no use whatsoever (minus the obvious such as quest-requirements) and potion-making was just added so POTCO could have a feature resembling crafting. Drinking potions doesn't greatly impact gameplay and crafting them is a time-consuming inconvenience.

Basically - potion-making is a simple, lazy alternative to crafting and the original developers added it with a complete lack of vision. They did it just so they can check something off their list.

It would be nice to have it either removed or completely overhauled.
 
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It’s a useless feature most pirates partake in so they could be labeled as “completionists” or are forced to craft certain potions.

The potions have no use whatsoever (minus the obvious such as quest-requirements) and potion-making was just added so POTCO could have a feature resembling crafting. Drinking potions doesn't greatly impact gameplay and crafting them is a time-consuming inconvenience.

Basically - potion-making is a simple, lazy alternative to crafting and the original developers added it with a complete lack of vision. They did it just so they can check something off their list.

It would be nice to have it either removed or completely overhauled.
OverHaul or Remove...
i agree with this!
 
I actually enjoy making potions. Although I will agree that you don't get enough out of it. Maybe have a possibility of finding loot like you do in fishing--if that can even make sense. Just magic up a weapon sure that makes sense I swear. But I don't want it removed because it is a fun game to just mindlessly play.
 
I use potions all the time when in battle or sailing. They work fine for me.
Then there's the goofy potions, all of which also seem to work just fine as well, if that's what yer into.
Swift foot also works well, and is perfect when needing to run through multiple caves, say on Port Royal, Padres or Tortuga in a hurry.
I find making them very relaxing, especially after stressful episodes or battles.
There is no requirement to do portions if they bother you, as well as for any skill set or activity in the game.
Savor it!

Now, I'll add a basic, quick guide to leveling potions for any interested pirates.
If yer not so good at it, the best place to grind is Port Royal, since there are no added ingredients in the mix like on other islands.
Next, if you just want to level up in potions, just do swift foot, endlessly, selling them off when full. It's probably the easiest one to make and the upper level versions offer high rep rewards.
 
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I use potions all the time when in battle or sailing. They work fine for me.
Then there's the goofy potions, all of which also seem to work just fine as well, if that's what yer into.
Swift foot also works well, and is perfect when needing to run through multiple caves, say on Port Royal, Padres or Tortuga in a hurry.
I find making them very relaxing, especially after stressful episodes or battles.
There is no requirement to do portions if they bother you, as well as for any skill set or activity in the game.
Savor it!

Now, I'll add a basic, quick guide to leveling potions for any interested pirates.
If yer not so good at it, the best place to grind is Port Royal, since there are no added ingredients in the mix like on other islands.
Next, if you just want to level up in portions, just do swift foot, endlessly, selling them off when full. It's probably the easiest one to make and the upper level versions offer high rep rewards.

Potion-making can be relaxing for some. But it is arguably the least innovative and the most useless feature the original devs implemented in the game. They implemented it in hopes of being able to follow the success of other complex MMOs. The thing is - at the end of the day, it was intended to be a kids game. So attempting to modify it and give it space to grow or evolve into a more mature online game for a wider audience will definitely be a difficult challenge.

You're definitely in the minority. No one I know uses potions while in battle or sailing - since they're not easily obtainable and aren't that rewarding. By saying that they aren't easily obtainable - I'm not complaining about the difficulty of makin them - just the fact that they're a major annoyance. Nothing will ever tell me "Oh, I need to stop what I'm doing to go craft a potion". The same applies to the countless individuals who have completely mastered their pirates, weapons, and skills including potions.

The gameplay is simple enough to sustain itself without the added (in)convenience of useless potions. Maybe if the gameplay was more challenging and potions could be crafted anywhere using certain ingredients - people would give it a chance. Not only that, though. Potions need to be attractive and have multiple potential uses. Since TLOPO is basic and straightforward, we won't need any of that in the long-term.

Myself alongside multiple other pirates will never brew another potion upon mastering the skill. As you said, it's a grind. A grind that does not prove useful in the short or long-term - one that is completely forced and unnecessary. Why should I keep on brewing potions and trash them for no reason whatsoever. If anything, that's a counter-productive point you just made that proves some of my previous points.

Brewing potions is a boring, repetitive routine that doesn't enhance gameplay nor add new exciting features to the game. If potions were truly useful, making them wouldn't be such an annoying exercise that had to be justified. If they were useful, I wouldn't be forced to trash them to make room for more with (tiny) incremental rep increases in return that would finally make me stop partaking in the horrible practice that is potions!

Regarding one of your points - actually, there is a requirement for me to master potions. Not only do I need to master it since I'm a completionist, but I also need it to complete the Raven's Cove quest (staff enchant potion required). So it is quite forced in that sense.

But obviously that's my opinion and I respect yours. If it's an activity that pirates hold dearly (and they don't give up on it as soon as they master it), it can be kept in the game. However, as a small mini-game similar to repairs. It shouldn't have the status or level of fake importance it currently has. They should leave words like 'potions' and 'crafting' for future updates that could support more well-thought-out and complex gameplay elements.
 
like swift foot, ghastly visage, belchin' brew, etc..

All are unnecessary additions to the game. The original developers were clearly out of ideas and motivation. To cater a young, easily amused audience - they'd implement useless "fun" additions like this to the game to keep pirates occupied for a month or two until they get their stuff together.

Potions were a mistake - instead of enhancing the system they created, it deteriorated it and gave them less wiggle-room for future ideas.
If a change were to take place I'd like to see one of the following happen: remove them, reimplement them as small mini-games or completely overhaul them.
 
because it is a fun game to just mindlessly play.
That seems to be the primary reason behind some of the players' interest towards potion-making. Having it in the game doesn't bother me, however it embodies a larger role that it does not accurately portray. So that is the bothersome part.

Therefore, it would be best if it were downgraded into a mini-game similar to repairs. This way, the current developers would be free to play around with ideas like complex potions, crafting and high-seas trading without worrying about completely removing a relatively large chunk of the game.
 
"Oh, I need to stop what I'm doing to go craft a potion".

Amen to that, I cannot stand the potions thing, unless it's the comical ones like the fart or burp tonics/color change/huge/tiny tonics... but an overhaul would be cool, if not no worries, good idea though
 
I'd like to add to the whole "most people never potions ever" thing. It's ridiculous. You can only carry so many, and they give you maybe a 5 minute buff, tops. Who is going to craft a bunch of potions, go to Tormenta or Outcast, and then once they run out of buffs in 15 minutes say "okay I'm going back to Padres to craft more potions".

The whole point of consumable buffs is to allow you to get your job done faster. But consider all the time wasted in the example above - you would get more rep and loot just by not going back to craft more potions. This effectively renders potions useless in such cases, and most people know it. Therefore the only reason people ever craft potions is to level up, or to use the "goofy potions" @Crashalot mentions (the goofy ones are fine, those are for social environments).


My recommendation to overhaul potions is instead of requiring a potions table, you can craft them anywhere. However, you have to loot ingredients. You could still be limited to holding a small amount of the potions and their ingredients, but this way you could occasionally gather enough ingredients and actually craft a potion while grinding, which makes them not so useless anymore, while not allowing pirates to be using their buffs 100% of the time.

Whether or not you would still include the current "minigame" doesn't matter so much to me, you could just allow the player to craft the potion with a simple animation and a short wait once they get the ingredients. This would also allow players to level up their potion making naturally as they progress through the game, instead of the dreaded "ugh I have to grind potions today". It also opens the possibility to add awesome new potions (or modify existing ones) based on the rarity of their looted ingredients!

Of course, overhauling a system is a little overkill for the team at this stage. They have more important things to take care of. But I'm just saying, that's how I would implement potions.

Note: The ingredients could be stored like ship materials! Feast your eyes on my lazy photoshop skills!
Ms7iNhU.png
 
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If the devs decide on expanding the world of TLOPO and enhancing the islands into larger, living islands - the ingredients could be found in the game world. However, since TLOPO is tiny that wouldn't work as required.
 
I think there should also be a fairly steep cost to this. Maybe match souls to get stuff into your potion's bar?
 
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