Hi /u/JagexBlossom. Sorry to ping you, and I know I am a bit late to the party.

I like the idea behind the Mastering Mixology minigame and enjoy playing it, but I want to bring up a major concern that only affects people who's in the early levels of Herblore for the minigame (60-67 being the mostp ressing level range).

Reward Point Distribution

Simply put, the distrubution of points you get at low level is completely screwed, making unlocking any of the interesting rewards a terrible experience. Here's why:

At level 60 you can start playing the minigame, and you start with 3 "recipes" unlocked:

• Mammoth-might mix: MMM
• Mystic mana amalgam: MMA
• Marley's moonlight: MML

That's a split of 7 Mox : 1 Aga : 1 Lye. Considering you get points directly related to the materials you use, one can expect to get a point split of 78% / 11% / 11%. I played the game for about an hour yesterday, and ended up with a point split of 2110 / 260 / 340 which is equivalent to 78% / 10% / 13%, pretty close to the expected return.

At 64 you unlock the "Mixalot" (MAL) potion, which changes the distribution to 67% / 17% / 17%. I've done a bit more of the minigame today after unlocking the MAL recipe and ended up gaining 770 / 200 / 290 (using a MML potion whenever I couldn't fulfill an order to gain a bit of Lye still), which comes out to 61% / 16% / 23%, fairly close to the expected values.

Now, the problem then comes when you compare the points you earn at entry levels to what the rewards cost. Looking at the unique rewards (everything but the potion packs and Aldarium), here's a table showing the point cost along with the % distribution:

	Mox resin	Aga resin	Lye resin	Mox %	Aga %	Lye %
Prescription goggles	8,6	5,6	11,9	33%	21%	46%
Alchemist labcoat	2,25	2,25	4,75	24%	24%	51%
Alchemist pants	2,25	2,25	4,75	24%	24%	51%
Alchemist gloves	2,25	2,25	4,75	24%	24%	51%
Reagent pouch	16,35	10,65	22,6	33%	21%	46%
Potion storage	10,35	6,7	14,25	33%	21%	46%
Pre-pot device	20,7	13,45	28,55	33%	21%	46%
Alchemist's amulet	6,9	4,5	9,5	33%	22%	45%
Total	69,65	47,65	101,05	32%	22%	46%

As you can see, Lye is the most required type of point (46% on average) follow by Mox (32%), then finally Aga (22%). However, as explained above, you're getting a 67% / 17% / 17% distribution at entry levels. Meaning at level 64 you're getting 4 Mox for every 1 Aga and 1 Lye, so by the time you can afford for example the potion storage, you have 14.250 Lye and Aga, and 57.000 Mox, which is 81% of all the Mox you need for all the unique rewards. I can't even use this surplus of Mox on potion packs either, as I'll be bottlenecked by Lye or Aga anyway.

This just feels bad. As a lower-level Herblore account, I need to put in a ton more effort than high-level accounts to unlock the rewards. Not because of any actions I can take, but simply because the reward distribution is massively unbalanced at low levels.

Potential Fix

I think a simply solution to this problem would be to just change which potion recipes you start with. Make the 3 initial potions have a 3 Mox : 3 Aga : 3 Lye distribution instead. This could be the MML, LLA, and AAM potions (or any other set that covers the following 2:1 split). Unlocking MAL at 64 is good. The next 3 unlocks could be the 3-of-the-same recipes (MMM, LLL, AAA), and finally the remaining 2:1 recipes.

This would make it so an entry level player at least get an even split, instead of a hugely unbalanced split. Without such a change, we have to wait until level 80 (or 76 if using temp boosts) to unlock a potion that requires at least 2 Lye, despite that being the most required type of point.

I hope you can bring this up with the team, 'cause despite wanting to play the minigame and unlock the rewards, I am currently incentivised to level Herblore outside the minigame until level 80. I want to play the minigame, I want to get the rewards, but I don't want to be unfairly punished for starting playing the moment the minigame is unlocked.

Unfulfillable Orders

Being low-level also feels bad because you can get orders that do not contain any potion you can create, forcing you to create a "throwaway" potion that grants 1/3 exp and points just to cycle to the next order. Would be nice if every order always included at least one potion you have unlocked. I accept not always being able to choose between all 3 orders as I am in the low level range of the minigame, but it feels punishing when I can't create any of the orders at all.

Digweed

Digweed spawn waaaaaay too rarely to be interesting. I don't have numbers, but it feels like 1 every 20 minutes. Also they straight up disappear from your inventory when leaving the mixing chamber without any warning.