Pottermore v.9

[threecats]

I have a question for experienced potion makers.

Spoiler: show

In the directions for the Herbicide potion it says:

2. Heat to medium temperature for 10 seconds.
3. Add 2 blobs of Flobberworm Mucus to cauldron while still on heat.

Does that mean, I have to add those 2 blobs during the 10 seconds, or should I continue heating after the 10 seconds and add the Flobberworm? I tried the second option and blew up my cauldron, but didn't tell me what my mistake was.

[BrianTung]

Originally Posted by threecats

I have a question for experienced potion makers.

Spoiler: show

In the directions for the Herbicide potion it says:

2. Heat to medium temperature for 10 seconds.
3. Add 2 blobs of Flobberworm Mucus to cauldron while still on heat.

Does that mean, I have to add those 2 blobs during the 10 seconds, or should I continue heating after the 10 seconds and add the Flobberworm? I tried the second option and blew up my cauldron, but didn't tell me what my mistake was.

Spoiler: show

You know, I'm not exactly sure, but what I did was, I made sure that at the end of the ten seconds, the temperature was near the upper end of the viable range, then added the flobberworm mucus as quickly as I could (after the ten seconds had elapsed). That worked, but I'm not sure what the criterion is.

[rodent]

Originally Posted by leah49

Spoiler: show

You no longer gain a point for failing a potion, so that trick is over.

Spoiler: show

Cool Step in the right direction. I'd really like to see a diminishing returns mechanic to encourage making different potions for points... and harder potions giving more points than the easy ones for sure! For dueling they could do something similar so that people can't keep making new accounts and beating them or just have ranks so that the high scorers won't get any points from the low scorers. There are tons of online game sites that have had these systems in place for many years. They could just grab one of those and it's done.

[UnicornDust]

Originally Posted by Tiram

My potion is done brewing now, but when I click on it I have to start again.. Does anyone have the same problem?

Yes, that is happening to me. It is really frustrating.

[threecats]

Originally Posted by BrianTung

Spoiler: show

You know, I'm not exactly sure, but what I did was, I made sure that at the end of the ten seconds, the temperature was near the upper end of the viable range, then added the flobberworm mucus as quickly as I could (after the ten seconds had elapsed). That worked, but I'm not sure what the criterion is.

Thanks, I will try that!

Spoiler: show

I guess you could interpret"while still on heat" as "while still in the viable temperature range".

[UnicornDust]

Originally Posted by leah49

Spoiler: show

You no longer gain a point for failing a potion, so that trick is over.

Right. So we still have the unexplained huge point gains by leading scorers. I suspect my missing points from my potions loop are going to them, hehehe.

[padfootrules]

Hey guys. I am on potions loop nightmare. No matter what I do, I am unable to brew any potion because my last potion is always at 100%. Does anyone have a problem like this? Anyway of overcoming it?

[FurryDice]

Quick question on the boils potion:

Spoiler: show

How do you get to the second step, to add the slugs and porcupine quills? The first stage has been brewing for days, according to the Potions book, and whenever I click onto it, it seems like I have to start over.

[RiverEcho]

Originally Posted by threecats

Thanks, I will try that!

Spoiler: show

I guess you could interpret"while still on heat" as "while still in the viable temperature range".

I think it is better to add the mucus when the temperature is rising, because it rises slower than it falls. How I do it: Red heat to almost in the range. Turn to orange heat, grab the bottle. Wait until it reaches the range, then spill the mucus in. Then go back to the temperature control as needed.

[BrianTung]

Yet another math-geek post. Note the Pottermetrics subthread heading; this is your official warning.

Originally Posted by RiverEcho

I think it is better to add the mucus when the temperature is rising, because it rises slower than it falls. How I do it: Red heat to almost in the range. Turn to orange heat, grab the bottle. Wait until it reaches the range, then spill the mucus in. Then go back to the temperature control as needed.

Pursuant to this, I did a few experiments with the Cure for Boils practice potion. I mentioned earlier that I thought that extra animation slowed the cauldron's heating (and possibly accelerated its cooling). Well, it certainly does slow the cauldron's heating.

These trials were all conducted on a single machine, a two-year-old (or so) dual core Intel, running Fedora 13 Linux. Each time, I ground the mortar ingredients until the fineness just reached into the lower end of the acceptable range. I dumped the ground ingredients into the cauldron, and turned the heat on to high.

Using a stopwatch, I measured the time until the temperature gauge turned green (indicating that the temperature had entered the acceptable range), and then continued until the ten seconds elapsed. The reason for doing this is that the moment at which the cauldron temperature turns green is not entirely predictable, so reaction time comes into play. The moment at which the ten seconds elapses is much more predictable, because of the countdown clock that Pottermore gives you.

It turned out that my reaction time was fairly consistent, so the effect would have been measurable either way. When the potion was prepared according to recipe, I clocked the time to acceptable heat at an average of 25.5 ± 0.6 seconds (all confidence intervals are 95 percent). This includes my reaction time, so the actual time was probably a hair shorter than that. It then took an average of 11.0 ± 0.1 seconds, to finish the ten-second count. That's right--their clock does not count actual seconds! (At least, not on my machine it didn't.)

I then ran a series of trials in which I created additional animation load while the cauldron was heating. I did this by picking up pinches of the ground up ingredients in the mortar and dropping them back into the mortar. The dropped ingredients raise a puff of smoke, which is animated by the Flash engine. It's hard to do this perfectly repeatably, but I made the effort by doing exactly 12 drops, and each one was done from about the same height (the top of the pestle, at rest).

In this sequence, the time to acceptable heat was an average of 29.6 ± 0.5 seconds; it then took a further average of 11.1 ± 0.1 seconds to finish the ten-second count. The difference in the ten-second count is not statistically significant, but clearly, the time to acceptable heat is significantly different when extra animation load is created: a difference of about 4.1 ± 0.8 seconds.

Interestingly, my subjective impression was that most of the variation in the timings was not measurement error, but true process variation. I'm not sure why that would happen, although it could be due to whatever other processes were running on the machine at the same time.

I have a speculation about why they do this. The clock seems to run at a constant (although evidently not accurate) rate, no matter the amount of animation, but perhaps the temperature gauge is pushed up at a rate that depends on how much else the Flash engine has to do. One thing that happens as you heat up the cauldron is that the contents of the cauldron steam up more--that is, more animation. So that slow-down might be used to simulate the cauldron heating up slower as it gets hotter. That would in fact happen in reality, though for a different reason: not because the flame was adding less heat to the cauldron, but because the cauldron was radiating away more heat. The user's impression, though, would be the same either way.

[kristen423]

Originally Posted by FurryDice

Quick question on the boils potion:

Spoiler: show

How do you get to the second step, to add the slugs and porcupine quills? The first stage has been brewing for days, according to the Potions book, and whenever I click onto it, it seems like I have to start over.

This is not going to sound good, but it definitely sounds like you got stuck in the potions loop. The only thing I can really suggest is try blowing up your cauldron because that works for some people.

[owlycherries]

Urrghhhh! Pottermore's down again! (for me, at least.)
It annoys me when it goes down but there's no noticeable improvements when it comes back up.

[Kathleen Malfoy]

Originally Posted by padfootrules

Hey guys. I am on potions loop nightmare. No matter what I do, I am unable to brew any potion because my last potion is always at 100%. Does anyone have a problem like this? Anyway of overcoming it?

Mine has been like that for weeks now. I can't make any potions either and it's really frustrating at this point. I can't earn any house points and my house(Hufflepuff) is always last and I can't give them any points! AHKSLtadltkadgl

[FurryDice]

Originally Posted by kristen423

This is not going to sound good, but it definitely sounds like you got stuck in the potions loop. The only thing I can really suggest is try blowing up your cauldron because that works for some people.

Potions loop? I haven't heard about that, what is it? Sounds like it's one of the glitches.

But, blowing up the cauldron? I'll try it, thanks. I already melted it a few times in the practice version.

[silverowl]

Originally Posted by owlycherries

Urrghhhh! Pottermore's down again! (for me, at least.)
It annoys me when it goes down but there's no noticeable improvements when it comes back up.

Spoiler: show

Same here. It was a close call too. I just finished a potion about 5 min. before it went down!

[padfootrules]

Hopefully when it goes back up my potions problem will be solved. Or I may have to just blow my cauldron and lose the points. Seems like a small price to pay really. I can at least brew after that... otherwise it is just boring sitting there practising my spells...

[Kathleen Malfoy]

Originally Posted by padfootrules

Hopefully when it goes back up my potions problem will be solved. Or I may have to just blow my cauldron and lose the points. Seems like a small price to pay really. I can at least brew after that... otherwise it is just boring sitting there practising my spells...

What I hate is having to buy new cauldrons when it doesn't seem like there is any way to get more galleons in the game once you find them all. :/ There should be a game to get more. I'm afraid I will run out.

And if I do blow up the cauldron but am still stuck on the loop I'm going to be really mad.

Also my loop is stuck on my really expensive cauldron. -_-

[padfootrules]

Ok no matter how high I keep the temperature, my cauldron refuses to blow up! I am really stuck. Is there a way to complain to the moderators or anyone about this? Any help is appreciated

[BrianTung]

Pottermore is apparently back up, so return to your potions, everybody!

[MerryLore]

Originally Posted by padfootrules

Ok no matter how high I keep the temperature, my cauldron refuses to blow up! I am really stuck. Is there a way to complain to the moderators or anyone about this? Any help is appreciated

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