Source Mode 5

[lathan]

Now it's entirely possible I've missed this somewhere along the line, since I've been away from the game and the forums a lot lately, but I have tried to make sure this hasn't been mentioned anywhere previously. Also, I was trying to do this through the ticket system, but there's only so many times you want to hear "working as intended".

I know I'm not the only person who's noticed the change that happened to Source Mode 5 a couple of patches ago. Source mode 5 used to be a polite little source mode, that you didn't have to worry too much about when you were digging. After one patch, however, it suddenly became a killer source mode - hungry for homin blood - depleting the explosion risk faster than any other and doing more damage than any other (I think.. the actual amount doesn't matter as it's lethal to anyone not digging in HP gear at 250).

Now this wasn't mentioned in any patch notes as far as I know, which means that either it is not an intended change or it was stealth-patched in, something we were told would not happen anymore. I find it a particularly annoying problem, as it runs contrary to the way that other source modes behave. Up until this change to SM5 sources were either a high risk of explosion and low damage, or vice-versa. The fact that the explosion risk care doesn't work as well as the source health care coupled with the sheer rate at which SM5 depletes the bar makes it not only a very dangerous mode, but also means that you spend a lot longer caring for it.

Anyway, just wondered which it is: stealth patch, bug or something I missed somewhere.

[vguerin]

Anyway, just wondered which it is: stealth patch, bug or something I missed somewhere.

I have not noticed any difference lately Lath... always had it listed in guide as Extremely dangerous, high damage ! Quickly reduces source life & increases extraction risk. The amount of damage is also relative to the source quality, been digging alot of choice+ maybe ?

[lathan]

I don't know, but other people have said the same to me. Maybe it's just that it's started to decrease the bar more quickly.. I just know that at one point right after a patch it started feeling very different to me. And, weirdly, that was just after I stopped digging pr so much and headed back to GoC for some craft grind.

[tylarth]

i'd agree with lath, SM 5 is not the same as it was, it was a dangerous and nasty SM before, but would cripple me not kill me if i were healthy, i had less hp then too. The sm 5 changed or rather its damage increased perhaps by 40% at a guess, making it very lethal. the only mode prior that would do this was sm4, which itself was far more prone to prematurely deplete the source, unless it occured after an unstable sm like sm5 (thus an explosion guranteed) the patch it seemed to have occured in was the fame/OP patch, as E2 was not noted for harvest related deaths, as the harvest fields are now. As far as any personal change to harvesting i've not changed really since april '05 when i got forest 250, picks used have been standard, reward and op.

[sidusar]

I noticed this too. Mode 5 was always both high damage and very fast to blow up, but the damage was comparable to that of mode 0 and 2, nowhere near the damage of mode 4. For choice materials, it was non-lethal to me in focus gear, as long as I was at full health. The only mode that was instantly lethal to me was mode 4.

Since the patch, mode 5 seems to be doing damage comparable to mode 4, killing me unless I'm in full health gear. But unlike mode 4, it's very likely to explode rapidly. I have a feeling mode 5 is now also even faster at decreasing stability than it was before, but I might just get that impression because it now kills me.

And I also saw nothing in any patch notes about this.

[petej]

Yup gotta agree 5's changed , also whats that blue line about ? seems like a timer before the source explodes if you quit the action before that max's it doesnt explode (i think) not managed to catch it quick enough most times lol , the only time it doesnt explode is if the Source Life has ended before its maxed

[katriell]

Yup gotta agree 5's changed , also whats that blue line about ? seems like a timer before the source explodes if you quit the action before that max's it doesnt explode (i think) not managed to catch it quick enough most times lol , the only time it doesnt explode is if the Source Life has ended before its maxed

Yeah the blue line thing seems new...sometimes I get a blue line and it never explodes at all...it just refills the extraction risk bar and the source is fine and dandy again.

[sprite]

Blue line came in with the OP patch.

If the explosion bar reaches zero, you get a full blue bar. If you careplan then the blue bar vanishes and the red bar starts rising again; if not, boom!

Edit: When I said "the blue bar vanishes and the red bar starts rising", it looks like the blue bar goes red and then drops again... Seems to me they just change the colour of the bar and then the bar takes a while to "reset" to what the red bar should be, so it looks like the red is decreasing.

[cygnus]

yup, I can also confirm sm5 is higher damage than it used to be. Previously only sm4 was high enough dmg to kill me outright.

As to the blue bar you have to care with the next action to "save the source" so if you had luckily just hit the care action or are quick enough to cancel the current action (I sit and stand quickly, big + key on keypad for shortcut is a real winner) and then care it wont blow but will drop back quite low still so better to care twice.

[marct]

Yes, the blue bar is a side effect of the one Outpost pick. If you use that pick, and get the bonus, that bar(The extraction risk bar) is blue and will not decrease at all on that source.

The blue bar is the visual indicator of which source has the bonus. Why that blue bar shows up when you hit rock bottom is unknown to me, and seems to be a small bug.