Larian Studios
Posted By: Brazuca Potion Balance? - 25/08/14 12:45 AM
So I am wondering what everyone thinks about Potions. If you decide to reply here are some questions you could consider when making your response.

1) What are you opinions on the balance of Healing Potions?
a) How do they scale in usefulness from Level 1 to Level 20?
b) Are they too abundant or too scarce?
c) How do they compare to healing spells?

2) What changes would you suggest to Potions?
a) Should they heal more? less?
b) Should they have side effects?
c) Should they cost more or less AP to use?
d) Should they cost more or less Gold to buy?

Keep in mind PennyBun Mushrooms can be used to make Small Potions and with enough Crafting 2 Small Potions can make a Large Potion.

I have seen people say they are very powerful from Levels 1-10, but I haven't seen any mention of them past that.
Posted By: strider24seven Re: Potion Balance? - 25/08/14 02:10 AM
1)
a) Unless you started with Minor Heal or Cure Wounds, they have little to no use beyond level 1. Outside of their use in crafting other potions, that is. If you did start with either Minor Heal or Cure Wounds, they are not terribly useful outside of crafting other potions.
b) Neither.
c) They are much weaker.

2)
a) More
b) I am ambivalent about this suggestion.
c) Less

For what it's worth:
In my ten playthroughs (five complete), I have used exactly four healing potions. All were self-crafted large potions, all made on the spot, and all in rogue/ranger only games. In all other cases, a spell was generally more useful.

In terms of other potions, other than invisibility potions, I have only made use of STR, CON, SPD, PER, and INT potions. None of the others are terribly useful outside of being ingredients in crafting recipes.

Please do not read this as "Spells OP." That is not the intent I am trying to convey at all. Rather, my intent is, "Potions UP"
Posted By: Horrorscope Re: Potion Balance? - 25/08/14 02:42 AM
Semi-Releted: I found I needed to reduce the cost of nearly all potions to make them worth the gold vs using a spell which has no gold cost.
Posted By: LeBurns Re: Potion Balance? - 25/08/14 01:42 PM
Well, I used the mage companion and his minor healing spell kind of carried my through the whole game. I think I can count the number of times I actually used a potion during combat on one hand. The problem was when I did finally decide I need to use some AP to drink one, it really didn't do enough healing to be really helpful.

By game end I must have had 50+ each of minor, medium and large healing potions. I didn't feel like I should sell them, but they were basically just taking up space.

I suppose if I didn't have a healer I would have used them more, but seriously by level 15+ they just would not do enough healing to be worth the use. By then enemy attacks could be doing 200+ in damage.

So:

1) What are you opinions on the balance of Healing Potions?
a) How do they scale in usefulness from Level 1 to Level 20? - NO
b) Are they too abundant or too scarce? - Too abundant
c) How do they compare to healing spells? - Spells much better (since they are basically free)

2) What changes would you suggest to Potions?
a) Should they heal more? less? - More at higher levels. 'Extra Large Healing Potions'?
b) Should they have side effects? - No
c) Should they cost more or less AP to use? - The AP seemed fair.
d) Should they cost more or less Gold to buy? - I would assume in the world they would be common, so the price seemed ok to me.
Posted By: dirigible Re: Potion Balance? - 26/08/14 06:14 AM
I'm running a 'no mages' playthrough. Only Man-At-Arms, Scoundrel, and Marksman abilities allowed.

There are so many mechanics that are improved by this that I almost wonder if the game was designed without mages in mind.

I bring this up because without a mage, potions (and cooking) become much more important. Healing potions, invisibility potions, resistance potions, etc.

When I ran through the game initially, with a balanced party, I ended the game with stacks and stacks of unused health potions.

On my no-magic playthrough, I have to use health potions so consistently that I frequently run out (which is where cooking comes in), and then have to distill some more potions.

That said, I do notice that they start healing less of my maximum health, proportionately, the higher level I get. Even max-rank health potions have trouble keeping up with the damage my characters take.
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