I havent completely sold myself on this idea, but i really do want others poeple opinions. I think we need way more to the current potion system than what there is. Its currently just blahhh a potion and other than a Forge Guard pretty boring.
While there are a few on potion use get a buff spread throughout a few different masteries, i would like there to be different levels of potions like there are in D2. Small, large, Great whatever that all heal different amounts.
I dont want to copy flask in PoE, but i would also like there to be a variety of postions other than just a single heal potion. a few such as but not limited to and all subject to change:
*Potion that reduces mobs will to attack you for 5 seconds
*Potion that increases cast/atk speed for 5 seconds
*Potion that increases armor and protections by 10% or a flat amount
*Potion that only heals minions
*Potion that increases movement speed…
D2 did great with just mana/hp potions so im not saying potions need to change in LE, but they do feel a bit blah atm… like there just there to be there…
Since you’re asking, my opinion is this:
I dislike POE’s system because, since potions can have special effects, and there are so many (5) you can use, you are expected to use them, as the game is balanced around that power that these potins give you. I n effect, you have not 7, but 7+5=12 skills to use at the same time.
I do agree that mana potions would be nice, but am always a fan of simplicity (leff coding, less assets, less complications down the road, less player confusion etc.). But, if the design philosophy is to make mana resource management a thing, mana potions would complicate stuff. Plus, you need ANOTHER button to press, so please, let’s not go that route
You already have scaling in that higher level belts allow for more potions. I’d keep potions as they are, and put effort in skills instead. I do like the D3 solution where they augment potions with the health globes that spawn off monsters, but the potions have a cooldown.
Since you bring this up, it actually gave me an idea. What if each belt in the game also included some kind of implicit bonus when a potion was used (similar to the bonuses you describe above). This removes the need for different potion types in the game while making the belt slot much more important, and perhaps even build dependent/enabling.
I personally don’t want to carry a multitude of different potions with me (like I did in Grim Dawn…chugging like 10+ potions before a big celestial fight ). I just found it clunky overall.
The only way how can I see potion with different and strong effects not being abused like in PoE are, which basically forced developers balance around potion (ab)use, is when potions will be rare, not freely buyable in towns. - it has to be resource you can spend/waste and lose. Otherwise, it will be either GD case, where you just drink tons of potions before harder fights, or PoE’s potion piano.
On a side note, there are so many idols (and a few passives) that give you boosts for drinking potions. Has anyone tried to make builds investing heavily into this ability or are they just considered stop gaps?
If there are build possibilities then potions may not really need expanding. I actually like how you have them in your belt and if it’s full and you run across one it uses it if your health is down (though this is arguably problematic for someone using ward and Exsang). I will agree though that there isn’t much other interaction or variation in them so if there are NOT builds that actually can leverage their use then, yeah, some extra flavor to them would be nice.
I’m not sure why it has to take the form of a “potion” but technically, these buffs could just be skills? or mini skills with built-in cooldown? But if we were to ask philosophically, I wonder what problem does this solve? And is the solution necessarily in the form of “potions”?
So instead of introducing more shards that affect potions (increase dodge for 4 seconds, ignite chance for 4 seconds, chance to find potions for 4 seconds, % converted to ward and ward gained on potion use) You want to change the potions themselves? Since we never actually get to manipulate our potions in our inventory how would we equip them? Or would they just drop randomly off mobs, and to pick it up we’d have to use one we have? (these are not rhetorical questions). I might be misunderstanding what you are suggesting.
I like the idea of more shards that modify potions by modifying the belts with said shards, but I sure hope whatever is decided about potions it involves a single potion slot.
How will the potions be equipped? You just load them up? Potions get auto inventoried in the potion slot. Would it work by turning every potion we pick up into that potion (like the affixes currently do?).
I think the simple solution to this is a piece of gear you can modify with shards that drop. These SHARDS are what affect the potions. The item could also determine how many potions you could carry at once… I think a good name for this item would be: BELT.
All snarkyness aside, how would these potions manifest themselves since we currently can’t actually put potions in our belt or our inventory?(asked this same question in the reply above you).
Part of the game mechanic is dropped potions (and their % chance to drop). There is a chance to find potions, and there are nodes in skill trees that are affected greatly by potions. There are builds built around this mechanic. Would we be able to just stock up w/ as many as we could carry? Wouldn’t you agree that would disrupt the whole potion drop percentage dynamic?
Ah…so filling the potions. So one bottle is 4 charges or something like that, and we’re looking to avoid using affix slots on our gear this way too.
But crafting in this game isn’t creating something from nothing. Its really just modifying something that already exists. What would we use as the base for this bottomless potion?
Bottles dropping w/ 4 affixes would they also have base stats?
If this were implemented, perhaps they would ditch the “potion slot on belt” mechanic.
Fill on hit.
I think a Flask as another equipable item would be cool. I think converting from “increased potion drop rate” to “fill on hit” doable.
Personally what i hate are fleeting mechanics like “100% dodge for 3 nanoseconds on use” like POE. I also hate multiple potion slots. So as long as I only have one potion slot to keep track of (s p a c e b a r) I’m happy.
I would like there to be a potion that has a random effect you never know what you will get. It might transform you into a wolf. It might make you take 10% more damage from all sources. Who knows. Use it at.your own risk
). I just found it clunky overall.