Without the animation, there would actually be a reason for players to drink pots even without perma death, simply because it doesnt reduce your DPS and won't get you killed. It was probably the easiest solution to the problem without spending hours re-designing pots and boss AI.
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Theres definately plenty of "better" ways to revamp the potion system other than removing the animation, but derpcat only gets creative when they are trying to sell more runes.
There are other simple solutions. For example, the new reward system based on damage dealt could instead be based on the player's number of deaths. The planned reward systemcould be changed to
- 40%+ dmg dealt, +1 core
- 80%+ dmg dealt, +2 cores
- less than 3% dmg dealt, only 1 core rewarded
- no deaths, +1 core
- two deaths, -1 core
- four or more deaths, only 1 core rewarded
Potting is now incentivized. DPS is still incentivized by competition and not wanting to spend 15 minutes in one battle. Armor enhancement is incentivized, encouraging rune sales. This also avoids a situation where a player might say, "Hey, I only have a +12, I'm not gonna join that party with a +18/19/20 player and risk getting only 1 core." (Although personally, I think rewarding only 1 core for less than 3% probably won't actually be an issue for players who are making an effort, and it's a good deterrent against bringing alts for cores.) No need to redesign pots or boss AI. No need to remove animations.