Is Bastian's Insight meant to work like this?

ectoplasmicninja · June 2021

His perk states that it gives a 30% chance to improve potions dropped from monsters. I was under the impression that it is supposed to be active at all times as long as he's with you, but it isn't. I levelled him all the way to 20 and killed many monsters along the way, and the only potent potions I saw the whole time were the low level potent potions in the box he gave me as the reward for his first quest.

However, once I got him maxed, and received his Julianos medallion keepsake, I suddenly started getting potent potions.

I thought that the perk supposed to be active when he's with you and the point of the medallion was to make his perk active permanently - i.e. even when he isn't with you.

Am I wrong? Is this working as intended?

LordArconSeptim · August 2021

I agree with you the passive is not even clarified yet and I haven't seen anyone with examples of how it works.

Can someone explain this and is this really useful at all since potions are something you can easily buy or craft yourself with much better effect.

virtus753 · August 2021

LordArconSeptim wrote: »

I agree with you the passive is not even clarified yet and I haven't seen anyone with examples of how it works.

Can someone explain this and is this really useful at all since potions are something you can easily buy or craft yourself with much better effect.

The perk was originally bugged and had to be fixed in a later incremental patch. It now should work properly on all platforms: you have a chance to get a “potent” version of a trash potion as a drop from mobs when Bastian is with you. Potent versions add a second effect, like Major Sorcery to potent magicka potions or mag restore with Major Intellect to potent health potions. After earning Bastian’s token, which includes getting him to level 20 but also giving him a piece of purple gear and doing his personal quests, among other things, the perk is active all the time, whether or not he is with you.

These potent potions are objectively better than the original trash drops, as they add additional effects, and sell for at least a little more than the regular ones on the trader, at least on PC-NA. They vendor for the same amount as the regular ones, though, and can otherwise just be treated like the regular trash ones if you don’t want to use them. They are not going to be as powerful as the best potions you can craft once you level alchemy, as they are not meant to replace or devalue player crafting or impact the market for crafted potions. But for anyone using trash pots to get through the easier content instead of wanting to use expensive mats (even with max passives to make four at a time, it can cost over 200g in mats to make a single endgame magicka potion with crafting), these potent versions can be a step up without costing any in-game mats or gold to make.