Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Update: Pottermore, Hellgate, camera, SWTOR

Sorry I've been quiet for the last couple weeks. I've been busy at work, and I have several other diversions that have been occupying my free moments, instead of this blog.

As you may have guessed by the extensive Pottermore potions guide I posted two weeks ago, I've been spending a fair amount of time on Pottermore, honing my potion brewing skills, mainly. Dueling still seems to be down, so potions are the only way to earn House Points at the moment. I now have about 140 potions. While they take a long time to brew (the shortest one has to stew for 80 minutes), they don't require very long periods of active attention (maybe 3-4 minutes each). Still, if you add it all up, I've spent a fair amount of time brewing potions...and even more time in the Ravenclaw common room message boards, giving potion advice, general encouragement, and answering (and asking) some riddles. They could use some changes to the site (especially a REPLY option to comments, so we could find responses to our questions), but I still think it's a lot of fun.

My four-year-old laptop PC broke down in August, but two weeks ago I finally managed to install Windows on the MacBook Pro I use for work. My games are all on an external hard drive, so I can't play them from my office (definitely a good thing). I have to take the laptop home, boot it up in Windows, and plug in the external. It's been working pretty well so far.

At the moment, I'm using it to play an old-ish game: Hellgate. Two and a half years after I mourned the loss of Hellgate: London, it has come back from the dead, having lost the "London" from the title (but not its setting). It is largely the same in its undead form, slightly Asian-ified, less silly, a few poor translations here and there, but most significantly it has new locations...which I haven't reached yet (still too low level). I could go on about Hellgate, but this subject deserves its own post.

In other news, I finally got my new camera! My old camera, a Panasonic Lumix TS2, which at just over one year wasn't actually old at all, broke while I was scuba diving on the Big Island. Yes, I broke a lot of expensive things this summer (spent $700 repairing my car, too). The great tragedy in the camera breaking was that I didn't get any photos from my otherwise perfect and amazing birthday (dolphins and manta rays came to my party!). On the bright side, though, I'd bought the extended 2-year accidental damage warranty (phew!), and it was totally covered. I mailed it in to the Panasonic Customer Care people, they (eventually) called to tell me they couldn't get a replacement (the camera has been discontinued, I guess), so they'd be sending me a check for the full amount I'd paid for the camera last year! I was shocked. I'd been prepared to argue with them to convince them it was covered in the first place, and at best I'd have expected to be refunded the current market value of the camera. This was pretty ideal. I turned around and used that check to buy this year's model, the Panasonic Lumix TS3, which I found for less than the price of the TS2 last year. In addition to having higher quality video and a greater underwater depth limit (40 feet) than the TS2, it also has a GPS. In case, you know, you go hiking in the jungle and want to know the exact spot that you found a certain banyan tree. Or whatever. Hopefully I'll have some nice new pics with the new camera soon.

Last but not least, I was thrilled at the big announcement of the past week: The release date for Star Wars: The Old Republic is set for December 20, 2011. I'm so excited! I've already pre-ordered my copy, and I'm still hoping I'll somehow get in early for testing. On the Imperial side, I'm most interested in the Sith Inquisitor and the Imperial Agent. On the Republic Side, I'm most interested in the Smuggler and the Jedi Knight. And the Jedi Consular. And the Trooper (mainly because of Jennifer Hale). Oh dear, but they all sound so good! I think it'll come down to me starting the characters and seeing which ones draw me in to their stories and make me fall in love with their NPCs. Knowing BioWare, though, that's likely to be all of them. Yes, I'm in trouble. But it's a good kind of trouble I can't wait to get into.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions: Cost/Benefit Analysis

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions

My Pottermore username is WitchWillow140, so I take that to mean I'm a witch named Willow (how very Buffy). And this is my potion brewing guide, complete with a cost and time analysis for potion brewing. It turned out quite a bit longer than I'd originally envisioned. I don't intend anyone to read it in its entirety, but hopefully if you have questions or are experiencing some issue or other, you can find the necessary answer. If you find any mistakes, or things that have been changed, let me know.

This guide is broken into the following sections:
1. The Basics - If you've never brewed a potion, read here what it's all about.
2. The Ingredients - Where to find all the ingredients used in the 6 potions currently available.
3. General Tips - Advice that could be useful on any or all of the potions.
4. Potions Walkthrough - What you need to know to get you through the brewing of each potion.
5. Potions Cost/Benefit Analysis - OK, so which potions should you brew? I do a simple mathematical analysis to determine which potions give you the most bang for your buck--or for your time.
6. Video Tutorials - I've started doing screen captures of my potion brewing, narrating with helpful tips. If you want to see rather than just read, check these out.

Potions Cost/Benefit Analysis
Note: This guide is only current through Philosopher's Stone. Given the new ingredients available for free in the recently added chapters of Chamber of Secrets, this will need to be recalculated. 7/14/12

Not all potions are created equal. Their ingredients cost different numbers of Galleons, they take different times to brew, and now they give a different number of House Points for a successful completion. If you want to brew at least some of all the potions, for completeness' sake, that's fine. If you want to stick to the potion you find easiest, that's fine, too. But here's the math on the costs--in time and Galleons--and benefits of each potion.


All right, so we see that you can earn points the fastest (most points per hour) by making the Antidote. But it's one of the most expensive ways to earn points, second only to Herbicide. If you're worried about Galleons (there is only a finite sum you can get, at least for now), then you earn House Points at the cheapest cost when you brew the Wideye Potion (see my video guide here). On a budget, you can get over three times the House Points by brewing Wideye compared to any other potion. The others, by the numbers, just aren't worth it.

Of course, this all assumes that you always succeed on each of these potions in one try. I don't think Wideye or Awakening Potion is too hard, but it is more complicated than the Antidote to Common Poisons. Ultimately, do whatever potion you feel best about doing.


That's all for now! Phew, I kind of went on a bit...Hopefully I haven't put you to sleep--but I do have an Awakening Potion for that. I'll try to update this if things change. If you find mistakes, have questions, or have advice of your own, let me know in the comments.

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions: Walkthrough

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions

My Pottermore username is WitchWillow140, so I take that to mean I'm a witch named Willow (how very Buffy). And this is my potion brewing guide, complete with a cost and time analysis for potion brewing. It turned out quite a bit longer than I'd originally envisioned. I don't intend anyone to read it in its entirety, but hopefully if you have questions or are experiencing some issue or other, you can find the necessary answer. If you find any mistakes, or things that have been changed, let me know.

This guide is broken into the following sections:
1. The Basics - If you've never brewed a potion, read here what it's all about.
2. The Ingredients - Where to find all the ingredients used in the 6 potions currently available.
3. General Tips - Advice that could be useful on any or all of the potions.
4. Potions Walkthrough - What you need to know to get you through the brewing of each potion.
5. Potions Cost/Benefit Analysis - OK, so which potions should you brew? I do a simple mathematical analysis to determine which potions give you the most bang for your buck--or for your time.
6. Video Tutorials - I've started doing screen captures of my potion brewing, narrating with helpful tips. If you want to see rather than just read, check these out.

Potions Walkthrough
Before brewing a given potion for the first time, I was very nervous not knowing what it would ask me to do. For each of the potions, I've offered a summary of the directions so you can get an idea of what you're getting into, as well as my tips. I won't give word-for-word directions, just what you need to know to make the potion (the in-game thermometer and timer, for example, should guide you when you're heating the cauldron).

Refer to the General Tips for more detail on some of the actions you'll need to perform. The potion book will show you what each of the ingredients looks like, so don't worry if you don't know Lavender from Valerian.

Important note: All brewing times listed here are for the pewter cauldron. If you're using a different cauldron, make sure you note whatever brewing time it tells you!

Cure for Boils
You can practice this one without any risk of losing points or wasting ingredients or cauldrons, so hopefully it's not a big deal.
-Add 6 Snake Fangs to mortar. Each pinch of Snake Fangs has 3 fangs, so you only drag and drop twice.
-Crush ingredients.
-Transfer 4 measures from mortar to cauldron.
-Heat to the target temperature range for 10 seconds. You'll definitely want to use High to get it to the target range. As soon as the thermometer turns green, turn it to Low. This one doesn't take fine control--just let it heat on Low until the 10 seconds are up, then turn it Off.
Note: I hadn't brewed this potion in a long time, but I just tried it again in the practice mode, and it seems that the effect of the heat settings has changed. Now, you have to keep it on High in order to maintain the high temperature needed. If it gets too high, turn it to Low or Off to bring it back down. I haven't confirmed this in the non-practice setting, but I assume it's the same. I swear this used to work--I have 24 Cure for Boils potions to prove it.
-Wave wand.
Brew for 45/39/34 minutes (pewter, brass, copper cauldrons, respectively).
-Add 4 Horned Slugs to the cauldron.
-Add 2 Porcupine Quills to the cauldron. You can position these horizontally over the mouth of the cauldron so they fall in more quickly, though you're unlikely to run out of time on this step.
-Stir 5 times clockwise.
-Wave wand.

Antidote to Common Poisons
This was my favorite until they changed the points system (they used to all be worth 5 points), probably because the short heating time makes it very quick to brew. I think it's possibly easier than Cure for Boils, but the Unicorn Horn does seem like a steep investment.
-1 Bezoar to mortar. Make sure it counts the 1 added before moving on to next step.
-Crush.
-4 measures from mortar to cauldron.
-2 measures Standard Ingredient to cauldron.
-Heat in target range for 5 seconds. So short you don't need to go back and forth. Use High to get it to the range, switch to Low, and once it approaches that top bar, turn it Off. It'll be done before it leaves the temperature range.
-Wave wand.
Brew 40/34/30 minutes (pewter, brass, copper cauldrons, respectively).
-1 pinch Unicorn Horn to cauldron. Take the pinch by grabbing from the narrow tip of the Unicorn Horn on the left. Once I grabbed from the thick base end and it thought I clicked my wand, which was hidden behind the horn. It ruined my potion. Very inconvenient.
-Stir 2 times clockwise.
-2 mistletoe berries to cauldron. These are bottled but easier than liquids, because you can clearly see each one falling out, and they don't fall out too fast. Tip over the cauldron edge and watch them drop.
-Stir 2 times anti-clockwise.
-Wave wand.

Forgetfulness Potion
-2 drops Lethe River Water to cauldron. It comes out smoothly, so it shouldn't be too hard to measure, as long as you hold it from the top and watch the counter. Happens quickly, though.
-Heat for 20 seconds. This is on gentle heat, and a very small range at that, so you'll have to switch between Low and Off every three seconds or so.
-2 Valerian Sprigs to cauldron.
-Stir 3 times, clockwise.
-Wave wand.
Brew 60/51/45 minutes (pewter, brass, copper cauldrons, respectively).
-2 measures Standard Ingredient to mortar.
-4 Mistletoe Berries to the mortar. I find it easiest to rest the bottom of the bottle on the cauldron and tip the top of the bottle over the mortar, then stop once you've seen four berries fall (rather than bringing it all the way down to the mortar). The trick is making sure you don't accidentally drop any into the cauldron while you're carrying the bottle over it.
-Crush.
-2 pinches from mortar to cauldron.
-Stir 5 times, anti-clockwise.
-Wave wand.
Fun fact: The River Lethe (pronounced "Lee-Thee") is from Greek Mythology, one of the five rivers of Hades. Any who drank its waters would experience forgetfulness. "Lethe" means "oblivion", or "forgetfulness".

Herbicide
This may be my least favorite potion, because not only do you have to buy all three ingredients, but the second stage (after you've spent so much time brewing) is tricky; it's the only one where you have to add an ingredient while the cauldron is heated.
-4 Lionfish Spines to mortar. These are in a bottle, but you can count how many are falling out. They come out faster than Mistletoe Berries, though. Be careful to hold the bottle steady as you move it over the cauldron so that you don't spill any into it by accident (frustratingly easy to do).
-Crush.
-2 measures Standard Ingredient to mortar.
-Crush some more.
-3 measures from mortar to cauldron.
-Wave Wand.
Brew 60/51/45 minutes (pewter, brass, copper cauldrons, respectively).
-2 measures Horklump Juice to cauldron. This bottle has a tippy bottom, so put it back on the table carefully.
-Heat for 10 seconds.
-2 blobs Flobberworm Mucus to cauldron "while it's still on the heat". I hate this step the most of all the potions. Flobberworm Mucus is the worst, it comes out in little globs that may or may not count as 1 measure (maybe this was a bug they'll fix?), so you just have to watch the counter. And it's kind of slow. Plus, you have to add it while it's still on the heat??? When the heat timer is finished, get the temperature to the highest within the target range. Turn off the heat, grab the bottle, and tip over the edge of the cauldron. I interpreted the directions to mean that it still needs to be in the target heat range when they're added, but I think that as long as there's ANY heat (the thermometer is still showing), the potion will work.
-Stir 4 times clockwise.
-Wave wand.

Sleeping Draught
The second stage of this potion brewing is hard because you have to heat for one minute, meaning you're likely to be crunched for time at the end. This was the first "real" potion I attempted (not counting the practice Cure for Boils). I panicked at the end because I was running out of time and apparently didn't stir it correctly. Fail.
***I've encountered a glitch a few times in this one where the Flobberworm Mucus does not move--you can't pick it up, as if it isn't there. To avoid this problem, try making your very first step to simply pick up and then put down the Flobberworm Mucus somewhere else on the table. This seems to help "remind" Pottermore that the Flobberworm Mucus is there, so it won't forget later on. Or something like that. Glitches don't necessarily have logic ;) ***
-4 sprigs of Lavender to mortar. Make sure to position these so that no part of the Lavender is hanging over the edge of the mortar (they're very long). If too much falls outside the mortar when you let go, it won't count. Try dropping it in when it's aligned vertically.
-2 measures Standard Ingredient to mortar.
-Crush.
-2 blobs of Flobberworm Mucus to cauldron. I usually find that 3 or 4 drips need to fall before it counts as 2 blobs.
-2 measures Standard Ingredient to cauldron.
-Heat 30 seconds. Another one with a small heat range, so you'll have to switch back and forth between Low and Off about every two seconds or so. It's annoying, just be patient.
-3 measures from mortar to cauldron.
-Wave wand.
Brew 70/60/53 minutes (pewter, brass, copper cauldrons, respectively).
-2 measures Standard Ingredient to cauldron.
-Heat for 1 minute. Definitely blast this one on High so it can reach the high temperature it needs to cook at as fast as possible, then turn to Low as soon as the thermometer turns green. You don't have to switch back and forth between Low and Off too often, but it is for a whole minute, so you have to pay attention. I recommend trying to time it so that at the end of the 1 minute, the temperature is near the bottom of the target range; the faster the steam dies down the better, since it can make things a little laggier. Also try to time it so that for the last three seconds, you can just let the temperature fall and remain in the target range, so that you can have a Valerian Sprig in your hand ready to drop in when the timer disappears.
-4 Valerian Sprigs to cauldron. Fast. The low sand in the hourglass might be making you nervous at this point, but keep with it.
-Stir 7 times clockwise. You may have in your mind that cauldrons should be stirred slowly, like they always seem to be in the movies (Double, double toil and trouble...). Now's not the time for such sentiments. 1234567 quick! Just make sure the stir counter registers it. If you're about to run out of time, a 10 second counter will pop up. So you're not really in trouble until that happens, but it should be enough time to finish stirring.
-Wave wand. As long as you click on the wand before the time is up, I think it should work.
***If you're still having trouble completing the potion on time, try adding the Valerian Sprigs and even stirring while the cauldron is heating. Make sure it doesn't over/under-heat still, but as long as the thermometer doesn't turn red again, you should be fine.***

Wideye or Awakening Potion
The first stage of brewing this potion has a lot of steps, but at least the second stage is very quick. If you're going to mess up one stage, might as well be the first, before you've wasted all that time brewing.
-6 Snake Fangs to mortar. Each grab from the fang bag is 3 fangs, so only drag and drop twice.
-4 Standard Ingredient to mortar.
-6 Dried Billywig Stings to cauldron. Why does it dribble out of a bottle if its dried? It's a mystery. This can come out fast (the steeper you tip it, the faster). Make sure you're tipping it over the cauldron lip and have control, so you can yank it away as soon as you need to. Hold it steady as it drips so you can watch the counter steadily approach 6, then remove it as soon as it gets there.
-Heat for 30 seconds.
-Crush stuff in mortar.
-4 measures from mortar to cauldron.
-Stir 3 times clockwise.
-Wave wand.
Brew 55/47/42 minutes (pewter, brass, copper cauldrons, respectively).
-2 sprigs Wolfsbane to cauldron. Fastest if you hold them horizontally across the top before letting go of them.
-Stir 3 times anti-clockwise.
-Wave wand.
See video tutorial here.

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions: General Tips

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions

My Pottermore username is WitchWillow140, so I take that to mean I'm a witch named Willow (how very Buffy). And this is my potion brewing guide, complete with a cost and time analysis for potion brewing. It turned out quite a bit longer than I'd originally envisioned. I don't intend anyone to read it in its entirety, but hopefully if you have questions or are experiencing some issue or other, you can find the necessary answer. If you find any mistakes, or things that have been changed, let me know.

This guide is broken into the following sections:
1. The Basics - If you've never brewed a potion, read here what it's all about.
2. The Ingredients - Where to find all the ingredients used in the 6 potions currently available.
3. General Tips - Advice that could be useful on any or all of the potions.
4. Potions Walkthrough - What you need to know to get you through the brewing of each potion.
5. Potions Cost/Benefit Analysis - OK, so which potions should you brew? I do a simple mathematical analysis to determine which potions give you the most bang for your buck--or for your time.
6. Video Tutorials - I've started doing screen captures of my potion brewing, narrating with helpful tips. If you want to see rather than just read, check these out.

General Tips
So now you have all the ingredients. What do you need to know about brewing?

When you choose to brew a potion, your potion book will give you the directions for it. You must follow them precisely, in exactly the right order (there's some rumor that certain steps can be switched in order without messing up the potion...but I say, don't chance it). Some of the steps can be tricky, though, and there's always a timer running, so you have to be efficient. If you find you have trouble with any particular type of step, here's my advice on each thing that the potion directions might ask you to do.

Adding ingredients
As I see it, ingredients can be separated into two categories that affect how they're added: "bottled" or "handled".

Handled
Includes: Unicorn Horn, Snake Fangs, Porcupine Quills, Valerian Sprigs, Lavender, Bezoar, Horned Slugs, Wolfsbane
Handled ingredients are the most straightforward: You see the item on the table, you grab some with your cursor, drag, and drop into the mortar or cauldron as directed. Be aware, though, that they drop slowly, so you might run out of time if you drop them from far above the mortar or cauldron. Let go of them as close to the top of the mortar/cauldron as you can. The other thing to be careful about is making sure the added ingredient is counted before you proceed with the next step (because the ingredients take time to fall). Watch the counter next to the mortar/cauldron, or check that the step is crossed off in your potions book before moving on if you want to be extra cautious.

Bottled
These are trickier, because you have to pick up the bottle and pour. Hold the bottle by the top so it's easier to control, catch the lower portion of the bottle on the outside of the cauldron/mortar lip, and tip it over the edge into the cauldron/mortar (see following picture). Watch the counter that pops up to the left of the cauldron/mortar, get a sense for how quickly the counter is going up, and pull back as soon as you've poured enough. Be steady with the bottle as you place it back on the table (if you move too fast, it could start spinning and spewing its contents all over).



Crushing Ingredients
This is one of the easiest steps, but since time is of the essence, it pays to be efficient. I recommend holding your cursor just above the back lip of the mortar, in the center (the pestle should also be behind the cursor here). Then click like a madman. Stop as soon as the "fineness meter" turns green. There's no reason to crush beyond that, even though it gives you a little leeway if you feel like clicking a bit more.

Heating the Cauldron
You get three buttons: Off (blue), Low (orange), and High (red). They all respond quickly, so don't worry about it heating up more after you've pressed the Off button (as those of us with electric stoves may have found frustrating in real life). When a cauldron is heated, a thermometer pops up to the right. Two horizontal bars on the thermometer indicate the range (min and max) that you must heat the cauldron to. Once the temperature reaches this range, the thermometer turns green and a counter starts, showing how many more seconds you need to keep the temperature within this range.

In the interest of time, I recommend you always start by heating the cauldron on High, as it takes a long time to increase the cauldron's temperature when it's on Low. As soon as the thermometer turns green, switch to Low. As the temperature is about to reach the top bar of the target temperature range, switch it to Off. Once the temperature is about to reach the bottom bar of the range, switch it to Low again. Repeat as necessary until the temperature timer goes away (indicating you've heated it long enough).

DON'T let the cauldron heat up ABOVE the temperature range after the timer has stopped (and obviously not during, either, or you've ruined the potion). This is especially important if you're about to wave your wand, because while it's waving, you can't change anything. Overheating can blow up your cauldron, causing you to lose 5 House Points AND the cauldron itself! Just remember to make sure the heat is Off when you've finished with the heating step.

Stirring the Cauldron
This is also pretty straightforward, provided that you can keep clockwise and anti-clockwise (aka counterclockwise) straight. The spoon starts on the left, so you've completed a stir once you return it to the left side of the cauldron. A counter also pops up to keep track of your progress. It can seem a little odd trying to stir something that's horizontal in a 2D image (you'd have to stir into the page to do it properly), but just click the spoon handle, then make smooth clockwise or anti-clockwise circles (in the 2D plane of your screen) around the cauldron edge (you don't have to be exact--I usually make circles as big as the whole cauldron), and you'll be fine.

Edit: I haven't confirmed this, but it seems some people get a stirring glitch and have found that when doing anti-clockwise stirring, the spoon needs to start on the right side of the cauldron. If you're getting errors in stirring you don't understand, you might want to give this a try. Move the spoon to the right, and then start your stirring.

Wave the Wand
Easiest step of all, which always happens right before the end of both the first and second stages of the potion brewing. Click the wand lying on the table (you can always find the tip of it all the way to the right), and it'll wave itself for you. Just don't let the cauldron heat be on when you're doing it.

Leave the Potion to Brew
After you wave your wand the first time, it tells you to leave the potion to brew for X minutes. You MUST return between X and 2X minutes from then, or your potion will be wasted. For example, if it says come back in 50 minutes, you must wait at least 50 minutes to finish it, but if you don't come back before 100 minutes are up, the potion will have failed (you will get 0 points for your time, effort, and resources).

Cauldrons and Brewing Time
The amount of time a potion takes to brew depends on the type of cauldron you use. Pewter is the slowest, then brass, and copper is the fastest. See the Potions Walkthrough for exact timing for each cauldron.

Consult the Book
It took me a couple potions to realize that I could reopen the potion directions by clicking the book on the table. Be careful with this, though, because the timer does NOT stop while you're reading the book (even though the timer doesn't START until after you click out of the book at the beginning of the potion brewing). Still, it's a good way to make sure that a certain step registered correctly; once completed, the step will be crossed out in the book. It's also good if you've forgotten your next step. Professor Snape wouldn't have to refer to the book more than once, but you can use it as you need to ;)

If You Mess Up
If you make mistakes while brewing, then when you wave your wand the potion will start to emit green smoke, and it will tell you you've failed. The same happens if you run out of time. You'll get 0 House Points and lose those ingredients that the potion called for, even if you didn't get to the step where you were supposed to add that ingredient. It's sad. If you mess up very badly (I hear overheating the cauldron does this), you may blow up your cauldron, losing it (have to buy a new one) and 5 House Points. That's very sad.

If you know you've messed up your potion, you may be tempted simply to close the window, or click away to the comfort of your Common Room. This isn't a bad thing, but you should know what it does. The short story is that you lose the potion. You get 0 House Points, though no Owl notification about it. If you were in danger of exploding your cauldron and losing 5 House Points, then this is definitely preferable. However, Pottermore will still think you are brewing that potion. If you go to the Potion book tab, you'll see the "Brewing" button next to that potion. If you go to the Cauldrons tab, you'll see the "This potion requires your attention" link. Click on either (button or link), and it will take you back to your potion table, and force you to start that same potion over again. If you meant to give that potion another try, then great, but if you wanted to give up on that potion and try a different one, you'll have to let the potion game get to the point that it tells you formally that your potion brewing failed (quickest way to fail, I think, is to wave the wand without having done anything).

The slight exploit in this occurs if you've just run out of one of the ingredients in that potion. When you return to give the potion a second try, it will remove one of each of the three ingredients from your ingredient inventory again, UNLESS there is no more of that ingredient to remove. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't let you try to brew that potion without replenishing that ingredient, but since it thinks you're ALREADY brewing the potion, it's not going to stop you. For example, say I use my last Valerian Sprig while trying to brew a Sleeping Draught. I accidentally add too much Flobberworm Mucus to the cauldron, so in frustration I navigate away. When I return to the Cauldrons tab and click "This potion requires your attention", it makes me start the potion over, removing one more Flobberworm Mucus and one more Lavender from my inventory. But it doesn't take any more Valerian Sprigs.

This isn't a hugely useful exploit, and it may be a glitch they'll fix in the near future. I'll update if I ever learn this has changed.

Note: Refreshing the page while brewing because you made a mistake does the same as clicking back, then returning to the potion: You get to start all over, but you lose ingredients again.


If Pottermore Messes Up
At the time of writing this, Pottermore has been a bit buggy. Sometimes when it has told me I finished the first stage successfully and now I should leave it to brew, when I click "Come back later", the Cauldron page tells me that the potion requires my attention, and I have to start it all over again. Sometimes for whatever reason it doesn't let me click on the Flobberworm Mucus--it was as if it wasn't there. The other glitch I've seen happens when I accidentally click on the mortar powder instead of the pestle multiple times, which freezes up the pestle, spoon, and wand graphics. If you just pretend they're still working and click in the right places, though, you can still get the potion done. And sometimes it says I've done something wrong that I really know I didn't (such as adding an ingredient to the wrong container--usually a pretty noticeable mistake). Other people have experienced their own problems. All I can say is, be patient. Hopefully they'll fix the glitches soon.

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions: Ingredients

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions

My Pottermore username is WitchWillow140, so I take that to mean I'm a witch named Willow (how very Buffy). And this is my potion brewing guide, complete with a cost and time analysis for potion brewing. It turned out quite a bit longer than I'd originally envisioned. I don't intend anyone to read it in its entirety, but hopefully if you have questions or are experiencing some issue or other, you can find the necessary answer. If you find any mistakes, or things that have been changed, let me know.

This guide is broken into the following sections:
1. The Basics - If you've never brewed a potion, read here what it's all about.
2. The Ingredients - Where to find all the ingredients used in the 6 potions currently available.
3. General Tips - Advice that could be useful on any or all of the potions.
4. Potions Walkthrough - What you need to know to get you through the brewing of each potion.
5. Potions Cost/Benefit Analysis - OK, so which potions should you brew? I do a simple mathematical analysis to determine which potions give you the most bang for your buck--or for your time.
6. Video Tutorials - I've started doing screen captures of my potion brewing, narrating with helpful tips. If you want to see rather than just read, check these out.

The Ingredients
Note: I am in the process of updating for the new chapters added for Chamber of Secrets.

Many of the potion ingredients can be found while exploring the Philosopher's Stone chapters. Once one is used to brew a potion, it will respawn in the scene where it was originally found (though you only get a House Point for finding it the first time). That means these ingredients are FREE! Don't bother buying these at Diagon Alley. However, all potions call for at least one ingredient that must be bought at the Apothecary (there are no freebie potions). Here are the details on how to get each ingredient.

Found in chapter: (If you've been in Pottermore, you'll know what I mean when I mention the three "layers" of each scene.)

Bezoar
Used in Antidote to Common Poisons
Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 17, Moment 2 (The Hospital Wing)
Zoom in to the third layer. It's in the cabinet.

Dried Billywig Stings
Used in Wideye or Awakening Potion
Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 8, Moment 3 (Hagrid's Wooden House)
It's the jar in the rightmost window.

Horklump Juice
Used in Herbicide
Chamber of Secrets, Chapter 3, Moment 2 (The Weasley's)
Zoom in all the way. It's in the garden.

Horned Slugs
Used in Cure for Boils
Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 10, Moment 3 (The Mountain Troll)
Zoom in to the second layer. Three sinks are on the left wall, and if you hover your cursor over the front edge of the sink closest to the back wall, the slug will start to climb out. This is the trickiest ingredient to find.

Mistletoe Berries
Used in Antidote to Common Poisons, Forgetfulness Potion
Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 12, Moment 2 (Christmas at Hogwarts)
Zoom in to the third layer, it's in the center on the wall.

Wolfsbane
Used in Wideye or Awakening Potion
Actually found in two locations:

Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 8, Moment 3 (Hagrid's Wooden House)
It's on the ground at the front corner of the house.

Philosopher's Stone, Chapter 15, Moment 2 (Into the Forbidden Forest)
Zoom in to the second layer, you'll see it left of center.

Bought in Apothecary:

Flobberworm Mucus
Used in Herbicide, Sleeping Draught
1 Galleon for 8 uses

Lavender
Used in Sleeping Draught
1 Galleon for 22 uses

Lethe River Water
Used in Forgetfulness Potion
4 Galleons for 16 uses

Porcupine Quills
Used in Cure for Boils
2 Galleons for 36 uses

Snake Fangs
Used in Cure for Boils and Wideye or Awakening Potion
2 Galleons for 36 uses

Spines of Lionfish
Used in Herbicide
2 Galleons for 16 uses

Unicorn Horn
Used in Antidote to Common Poisons
21 Galleons for 55 uses
This one's the most expensive (though in terms of cost per number of uses, it's not far from Horklump Juice).

Valerian Sprigs
Used in Sleeping Draught and Forgetfulness Potion
1 Galleon for 19 uses

Other:
Standard Ingredient
Used in Antidote to Common Poisons, Forgetfulness Potion, Herbicide, Sleeping Draught, and Wideye or Awakening Potion.
You never really know what this is, though it looks like some form of fluffy plant matter. You don't need to find or buy it; it just shows up on your table if it's required.

Ingredient Quantities
Note that each time a potion is brewed that calls for a given ingredient, one "use" of that ingredient will be removed from your ingredient stocks, regardless of however many measures of that ingredient are called for in the recipe. In your Ingredients tab, you can see all your ingredients with numbers showing the remaining quantities. When you brew a potion using one of the ingredients, that number will decrease by 1 even if, for instance, you actually used 6 Snake Fangs.

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions: The Basics

I was lucky enough to get into Pottermore early, so I got an early start in perfecting the art of potion brewing. Potions are a delightful little mini-game that can win you House Points without the stress or risk of competing against other people.


Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions

My Pottermore username is WitchWillow140, so I take that to mean I'm a witch named Willow (how very Buffy). And this is my potion brewing guide, complete with a cost and time analysis for potion brewing. It turned out quite a bit longer than I'd originally envisioned. I don't intend anyone to read it in its entirety, but hopefully if you have questions or are experiencing some issue or other, you can find the necessary answer. If you find any mistakes, or things that have been changed, let me know.

This guide is broken into the following sections:
1. The Basics - If you've never brewed a potion, read here what it's all about.
2. The Ingredients - Where to find all the ingredients used in the 6 potions currently available.
3. General Tips - Advice that could be useful on any or all of the potions.
4. Potions Walkthrough - What you need to know to get you through the brewing of each potion.
5. Potions Cost/Benefit Analysis - OK, so which potions should you brew? I do a simple mathematical analysis to determine which potions give you the most bang for your buck--or for your time.
6. Video Tutorials - I've started doing screen captures of my potion brewing, narrating with helpful tips. If you want to see rather than just read, check these out.


The Basics
When brewing a potion, your table will look something like this:

All potions require three different ingredients, though some also use an additional fourth "Standard Ingredient" (see Ingredients section for details). Potion brewing always follows this basic structure:
1. Do stuff*
2. Wave wand
3. Leave for a while
4. Return and do more stuff*
5. Wave wand
6. Profit!**

* "Do stuff" can include any combination of:
-Adding a number of ingredients to either the mortar or the cauldron
-Crushing ingredients to a certain fineness in the mortar
-Heating the cauldron to a certain temperature for a certain amount of time
-Stirring the cauldron a certain number of times in a certain direction
See General Tips for details on how to deal with each of these types of steps.

** You don't actually gain Galleons for this, but you do win House Points, which are incentive enough. Also, you get a nice potion for your collection. At present, though, potions don't have any use other than as potential gifts for friends.

You have a limited amount of time to complete all of those steps. The hourglass shows your remaining time. An additional timer will pop up if you're down to the last 10 seconds. If you mess up any of the steps (add too much of an ingredient, stir the wrong way, etc.), or if you run out of time, then the potion fails, and you get 0 House Points. If you fail really badly, the cauldron may explode! If that happens, you lose the cauldron, and 5 House Points.

You can only brew one potion at a time, so choose wisely.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Terminator the Second: Coming this October!



Last spring, a project seeking funding on Kickstarter caught my eye: Terminator the Second, a live theater production Shakespeare-esque retelling of Terminator 2. The genius of it was that it wasn't just taking the Terminator 2 script and adjusting its lines into mock-Shakespeare language (Verily, I shall return anon). It was taking actual lines from many of Shakespeare's plays, switching out the few necessary nouns and pronouns here and there, and using them to build its entire script. This sample, posted on their Kickstarter site, takes place after the Terminator first rescues John:
(Click for larger view.)


I loved the idea--the Bard does sci-fi!!!--and happily threw in some money to fund the project. As it turned out, it was such a successful Kickstarter project that not only did they reach the $3000 they'd originally set as a goal to fund the project, but they made a new goal for $10,000 and passed that, too! A bigger budget means better costumes, props, sets, and equipment, and hopefully a better show.

Well, the show is a go. William Shakespeare presents Terminator the Second, a Husky Jackal Theater Production, premiering at the Nashville School of the Arts, October 14th-17th. Tickets are $15. You can find more details on their lovely website.

Unfortunately, Nashville is a long way from where I am, so I won't be making the trip to see it. But if any of you are in the area, or happen to be going there in mid October, I highly recommend you check it out. And spread the word to anyone you know in the area. I think it's really going to be epic. If you like Terminator 2, or Shakespeare, or--even better--both (and I really can't see why you wouldn't like both), this show is for you. I excitedly await my copy of the DVD.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Where I was

Yes, the obligatory 10th anniversary of 9/11 post. I don't have anything profound to say. No astute observations, no personal losses, no hopes for the future beyond the usual platitudes. But recounting the story of what I did that day, unremarkable as it is, will be my way of remembering the tragedy and honoring the victims and the heroes from 9/11.

At the time of the 9/11 attacks, I'd never been to New York City. I had, however, driven past The City just a few days earlier--if I recall correctly, it was the weekend right before 9/11. My whole family had piled into the car as we drove my older brother off to his first year in college. On the car ride back, I remember looking from I-95 right toward the famous skyline of the city I'd never been to. I remember seeing the twin towers. How could I miss them? They were the tallest buildings, and there were two of them. Who could have known, then, that just a few days later, the skyline would never look the same?

It was a Tuesday. Everyone knows the date 9/11, and probably most people know it was in 2001. I remember it being a Tuesday as clear as anything, but I wonder whether kids too young to remember the attacks--or born afterwards--would have any idea what day of the week it was. I was a junior in high school at the time. Strange to realize that I was already a junior in high school ten years ago... Or is it strange to think I was that young only ten years ago? I can never decide. My best friend, a senior, was celebrating her 18th birthday. We hung out in the hallway as usual, in front of the lockers near the bottom of the stairs in the lower A Wing, waiting for first period to start. It was a perfectly pleasant morning.

During second period, I was in English class, and we were in the library. I don't remember what we were doing there--researching for some class project, I guess. I was sitting at one of the big tables in the middle of the library when our teacher, Ms. DeGuzman, told all of us that there was some sort of attack on the World Trade Center in New York. A bombing, or something? She was particularly upset, because she'd lived in New York City for a significant part of her life.

The librarian wheeled out the TV, and turned it on. Both towers had already been struck by this point, and they were showing replays of the second plane. As they showed footage of the towers, the voiceover featured a reporter interviewing someone answering questions from the Pentagon. Then, a crash. The reporter, knowing the sound was on the Pentagon end, asked if everything was all right. The guy answered that it sounded like a bomb went off or something--and went to stick his head out in the hallway, see if anyone knew what was going on. We'd find out soon, of course, that a third plane had struck the Pentagon.

During the passing time between second and third period, the hallways buzzed with the news. Did you guys hear what happened? Not many classrooms had TVs, and not all teachers were willing to stall their lesson plans to watch the news. In between classes, those who were in the dark got filled in with what they'd missed. My band class proceeded as usual, and it was in the hallways afterwards that I learned that the twin towers had collapsed. My friend exclaimed in disbelief, "Why is this happening on my birthday???" She didn't really mean it that way--as if it shouldn't be happening in particular on her birthday--she just didn't know what to make of it. It shouldn't have been happening at all. It's true, though, that now her birthday will long be associated with the tragedy.

The only other class that day in which I remember watching the news was physics. Mr. Bradford's physics class piled into the adjacent classroom, also a physics class, where one of the TVs was set up, and we just watched the news coverage: replays of the towers collapsing, and updates as more information became available. My greatest shame from that day is what went through my mind that period: No new lesson in physics today means no homework tonight! Score! I still didn't truly understand the enormity of what was happening. I had vague memories of the Oklahoma City bombing, which was a horrible tragedy, but I didn't really remember any terrible repercussions from it. I was too naive to see yet that this was different. That it was bigger and scarier and would have a profound influence on the country for years to come.

When I got home, I learned that my two cousins in New York City were fine. One was teaching a few blocks from the World Trace Center when it was hit. Close enough to witness the chaos, but far enough to be safe. The other was even farther away from the attack (I don't know where, though). Thank goodness, both were safe. I don't directly know anyone who died in the attack. I was lucky.

By that evening, it had finally sunk in that these events were a really big effing deal, and I felt horrible that as thousands of innocent people were dying, I had been thinking about a homework-free night. I tried to erase that thought from my memory, pretend it didn't happen, but obviously it didn't work. I still feel awful about it.

That night, we all watched as President Bush addressed the nation. Listening to him, I felt nothing but support. The American people were all united; everyone was a patriot, and no one was accusing anyone of being otherwise. Even other nations were with us, offering support and condemning the attacks. After our high school football games that fall (which I was forced to attend as part of the pep band, a requirement of people taking honors band), they would play "God Bless the USA" over the loud speakers, and everyone would join in singing, passionately, even earnestly, how "Proud to be an American" we each were.

It's odd thinking back to that moment, when we were all united. When I could listen to Bush speak without feeling any derision or embarrassment. Ah, how times would change. Bin Laden is dead now, but that's little comfort in a world where the sentiment that led to these attacks remains strong in the minds of a tiny but determined subset of the population. Plenty of mistakes have been made since the events of 9/11. I'm not an expert. I can't say what was a mistake vs. a blatant bad decision vs. an unfortunate necessity vs. making the best of a bad situation. But that's not the point of today.

On the anniversary, the only point is to remember and honor. Remember the tragedy, the people who died in the airplanes, in the towers, in the collapse, in the rescue efforts (and continue to die from health problems traced back to the rescue efforts in the rubble). Honor those who gave their lives, or risked their lives, to save as many as they could. Honor the people in United Flight 93 who managed to keep their plane from reaching its target and taking more lives than their own. Honor those who have been made to give their lives in wars meant to keep such a tragedy from happening again.

For today, I lay aside all the bitterness that has accumulated in the ten years since the attacks. I return to the purity of that day, and the unity, sympathy, and the pride I felt.

Rest in peace. God bless America.