Potion Making Obsoletion has been real in my experience over the last 11 Years of playing Mabinogi. I have a few things to propose in order to make Potion Making feel less obsolete but before that, I would like to outline a few things.
In the beginning of the game, rebirths were available after 3 weeks and reaching level 30 was not that easy for most people. Many players recommended rebirthing from level 30 to level 50 as long as it was possible to reach that level. At the time new players HP was very low, perhaps between 80-200 (probably less). At the time an HP 10 Potion could help recover a fair percentage of HP. HP 30 and HP 50 were very good and worth picking up from the ground and keeping in the inventory. Times have changed and HP has increased drastically even for the newest players. With Blaanid's quests, new players can easily reach level 200 and get extra HP from just their level. With renown, players can get additional HP. These are things that did not exist, and therefore make both Potions sold in healer NPC shops and ones obtained from Potion Making become seemingly obsolete.
Furthermore, there have been many more additions to the game that should be placed into perspective and taken into consideration.
First lets mention the easiest ways for players to recover HP by order of easiest and or most immediate to attain.
1. Dorcha Explosion. I actually recommended a friend who was new to the game, to get Chain skills, only for the sake of getting Dorcha Explosions to recover quickly and easily (since any sort of combat, not related to chain will fill the gauge)
2. Glyphs. A good Lvl 10 Glyph can restore 100 HP Per Second.
3. Transformation. Although it won't necessarily heal 100% it certainly can help restore most of it plus add defensive stats and increase HP.
4. Enduring Melody. This is the slowest method almost not worth mentioning but if used in combination with everything on the list, it can speed things up a bit.
5. DemiGod. Although Slow, it gets the job done.
6. Life Drain. Practical for alchemy users.
7. Shield of Trust: Healing Hands. Another way of healing if one has given enough time to rank Crusader level and skills.
8. Vital Surge. While this is not easily available to new players, as long as they reach G22 they can fairly be rewarded a 10 minute cooldown skill to restore all their HP immediately while also momentarily increasing their HP.
9. Zone of Renewal. Another skill earned after G23.
10. Summoning Nimbus / Other Pets. This is not a free method but worth mentioning.
Next let's consider All of these things can be used in conjunction with each other.
And here are the reasons why I personally rarely USE potions:
- I make use of everything in the list.
- My combat style tries to avoid getting hit rather than tanking (I am an elf).
- Most of my skills can be used to keep enemies at bay ( I mention these because I think most people do the same )
Next, the reasons I have almost never used Potion Making over the past 11+ years that I have played Mabinogi:
- Events often give away great amounts of potions that heal more than what can be attained from NPC or what can be made using Potion Making
- I would often store the superior potions from events and didnt need to make any for myself.
- The method and interface does not feel practical and requires a lot of time. For example, making HP 300 and higher potions when inventory space is scarse (as it usually is for me), I have to not only make space for Empty Bottles, but fill them with water one by one. Considering the 10 Slots you can use for Potion Making minus 2 for Herb and HP 100 Potions, only 8x HP 300 Potions can made at a time. This makes things feel tedious.
In all my time playing Mabinogi, I have felt a need
to make potions for survival maybe twice at the most. The first time was when I was curious to see how long they would last me, then many years after when I ran out of event potions, I felt I needed some to fight against a boss from G22 or G23. Now that I have Techs and Life Drain I almost dont need potions at all and have even kept many potions stored in my inventory from events for more than 4 years.
When I was new to the game about 11 Years ago, I remember being fascinated by being able to make potions, as well as Poison Bottles. Poisoning an Enemy has always been something I liked in games I even bought a Snake pet for this purpose, only to realize most monsters (at least important ones) are either immune to it, or hardly affected by it. Being poisoned was another thing I liked about games, since they add a sense of thrill and risk. After reaching Rank 4 Potion Making, I stopped ranking the skill, it seemed worthless (although this was long ago before Dan 1-3 Patches). Nothing I would be able to make with Potion Making would add more fun to the game for me, nor did i need it to help me survive a situation.
The giving out pots during events is still an ongoing thing, it has become like a tradition in the game so I don't expect to need potions in the future either as I have many stored.
My current HP is 2116 at level 126 including +530 from Edern Renown. Compared to what I have heard from Human characters, it is not that much, and since the majority of Mabinogi population are Human, I am trying to speak for the majority and saying, most people may have more than 2000 HP.
Putting into perspective the time it takes to obtain Skills, Transformation, Techs, Glyphs, Dorcha Explosion, etc and the time it takes to recover HP, or simply wait for the next potion-giving event, compared to the time it takes to MAKE potions will that restore a decent amount of HP, hopefully make clear why I outline these things. I believe these things are important when deciding whether or not the Potions are useful and worth taking the time to make. In my opinion it is hardly worth it to make potions. Either it takes too long or its too tedious and impractical to make them, or they aren't required in many scenarios against other methods of HP recovery, plus add to this that a potion-giving event may come and one can stock up on potions for future use.
That said, I believe
Something must change and I propose many different approaches to be as flexible as possible.
First off, I think any approach should include making things easier, such as adding a new item to the game called "Empty Bottle 10x"(Meaning 10x the Volume of normal Empty Bottles), able to fill up to x10 with 1 or 2 trips down the Water Well (if you must insist on not making things *too easy*)
and this would be the most I ask for if nothing else I propose here can be done.
(edit, I previously listed 2% and 3% pots but that was a terrible example. The number is not whats important but the concept of %)
Approach 1. Allow making Potions that heal modest percentages of HP (example percentages: 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%) If necessary make them require more herbs, or some catalyst that wont require too much time to gather.
Approach 2. Allow making most or ALL of the potions from
https://wiki.mabinogiworld.com/view/Potions_List this page in the sections "Buff, Combat EXP, Tendering, Movement. These potions may be more worth the time making, if not others.
Approach 3. Create scenarios either in new Shadow Missions, New Special Dungeons, or in new Generations that rely slightly more on potions to survive or complete. Or look forward to my next Post regarding a new Survival Area for scenarios like these.