Potions Problem

[Bloodydood]

I'm having a bit of crisis on how I could implement potions in an arena efficiently.

By which I mean having all 4 tiers being useful instead of just the highest tier immediately in the game.

I have 4 tiers of Health potions:
Tier 1 heals 5% of the hero's maximum health.
Tier 2 heals 10% of the hero's maximum health.
Tier 3 heals 15% of the hero's maximum health.
Tier 4 heals 20% of the hero's maximum health.

I have mana and rejuvenation potions but they're the same percentages. (Rejuvenations both heal and restore mana)

My problem with this is that lower levels can't afford the higher tiers for a while and the lower tiers don't heal effectively.
I'm open to ideas as to make sure all 4 tiers have their uses throughout the game.

 

[the_ideal]

Well if you have percentage heal, it automatically adjusts by level. So why not have what you have, but not make it based on percentages?

For example, tier 1 heals 150, tier 2 heals 350, etc.

 

[Joccaren]

5% is really small. If you have a basic melee map Strength based, it will only heal 32.5 (650 Divide 100 * 5) and that does almost nothing. 10% will get you 65 hp healed. 20% will only get you 130 hp. Please note that these are all at level one. Maybe try something like a 15% heal (Almost 100 hp), 25% (162.5 hp), 30% (195 hp healed), 35% (227.5 hp healed). This will allow low level players to heal a significant portion of their health, whilst still having now PWNAGE potions. Basically, start off healing around 15% with the cheap potion then decrease the % healed bonus per level. so 15%, 25%, 30%, 32%. or something like that. After this, all you need to do is balance the creeps to mach the strength of each potion.

Note: My math may be a little bit off, I didn't check it and just worked it out quickly.

 

[Bloodydood]

Actually I think I got an idea myself:

Each tier will have a maximum level to have. If maximum level is breached, then the item is automatically removed and it's sell value is given to the owner of the hero in gold.

So I can have Tier 1 heal 50% of the hero's maximum hp, but if the hero's level is over lvl 10, then the item is removed and it's sell value is given to the owner in gold.
Tier 2 would heal 40%, but if the level is over lvl 20 then the same actions are taken.
etc.

Comments?

 

[Joccaren]

That would probably work, just make sure that you balance the potions so that two never heal the same amount on the same character.

 

[Bloodydood]

Right. Suggestions are still open, but for now I figure the idea I just came up with is good enough.