Saturday, October 8, 2011

Willow's Guide to Pottermore Potions: Video tutorials

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.


Video Tutorials

I should have done this sooner. Sometimes it's easier just to watch and follow an example than it is to read descriptions, tips, and explanations. So, if you want to see some potion brewing in action, you've come to the right place.

To start off, I've only done a video tutorial for the Wideye or Awakening Potion. It's possibly the most popular potion, since it's the most cost efficient of all the potions, and it's not as hard as a couple of the others. If people find this helpful, I could do videos for some of the other potions. So let me know what you think!

Wideye or Awakening Potion

For best quality, go to full screen and select 720p.
This is the link, if you'd like to see it on YouTube.

13 comments:

MidnightPixie99 said...

Much better video than the ones on youtube. I was finally able to brew this one. Thanks

Eleni said...

Cool, thanks! :)

Anonymous said...

Just so you know, I returned to Hagrid's hut in Ch. 8 to restock the ingredients like you said and since I already collected them once they don't reappear (at least haven't yet for me). Maybe they've changed it now so that you have to purchase them.

Eleni said...

Last time I checked, you are only able to re-harvest them if you don't have any left. Thus, if you collect them, then use them to make the potion (you have to get down to 0 of the ingredient), they should reappear when you return. If that doesn't work, then it would seem they've changed it.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for posting that video- I was FINALLY able to get it to work! Turns out I was making the simple mistake of trying to keep the cauldron heated up to the end of the potion (I was going by the appearance of the thermometer being visible rather than stopping when the timer goes away)
As a side-note, do you know what the purpose (if there is one) of the items in our trunk is? Do you get house points for sending gifts?

& thanks for the tip on replenishing our ingredients once we run out :)

-Chaserwitch11867

Eleni said...

Glad it helped :)

I don't know of any use for the items in our trunk, other than that I think you can give them as gifts to other people (but since they can get them for themselves, this seems not too helpful). It would be fun if having certain items could be useful in future chapters, but I haven't heard any plans to implement such a thing.

Anonymous said...

Just confirming that going back to previous chapters and collecting ingredients does work! Thank you so much for that, I would have wasted loads of galleons otherwise! You do have to have none left but it does work. ~anon from Hufflepuff

Anonymous said...

You can also do this with the mistletoe berries when you run out :)

Eleni said...

Check out my link for "The Ingredients" to see where all of the free ingredients can be found once you run out. Maybe when the later books come out for Pottermore, there will be even more free ingredients found in their chapters :)

Anonymous said...

This was SO helpful! Especially with the video! THANK YOU SO MUCH! <3

Anonymous said...

I was having so much trouble with potions (temperature control is such a nightmare!!) that I gave up on potions (it's only a game, right
?). But then, I found your blog, and you know what, hope might not be lost for me. I haven't successfully brewed any potions so far, but your blog makes things seem that much more simple. Therefore, I'm tempted to give potions another shot. Let's see what happens! Thanks for your tips! :)

SeekerShadow23930 said...

this is so awesome,thanks a bunch <3

Anonymous said...

thank you for this video, now maybe i'm finally able to make it myself:):)