Some generalized questions for answering.

[hacnshot]

Ah well, it's somewhat interesting I suppose. Any of you guys "master" foragers that would, when I get 3 more Foraging levels, try teaching me better points of harvesting and stuff? I guess I'm done with the new player's island. I'm coming up because I want to make me a ranged weapon I guess. See you all guys there.

[rushin]

lv51 forest forage for me o.o
and the "master" is the title you get, we arent just being big headed

[hacnshot]

I know. Ballistic Mystix or whatever the site is told me about that. People deserve it if they wait 5 million years in practice mode leveling it up. All I have to do now is be patient and stuff.

[iwojimmy]

for the sake of clarity..
I was using the term "master" as referring to the person in charge of an apprentice, not the official ingame level title. Sorry about any confusion this has caused
If you are careplanning for someone who is digging mats above your level, you will get from about 1480 to 1566 xp per pull, depending on the quality of the mats dug ( I dont know how much you get CPing supremes.. need to do some research ).
The actual digger will be getting less xp than if solo, but should be able to harvest more mats per pull. As Atys isnt the safest place to work, having a buddy nearby can be a lifesaver for other reasons also

For a career in caring, to start with you will want to combine the two careplan actions into a single one, and you WILL need a key-bound macro to target your teammates target. These are things your mentor should show you

[thurgond]

If you've finished all the missions in Silan, then you're ready for the mainland.

The fastest way to get grind mats for crafting is to slaughter carnivores or kipee then forage what ever else you need (fiber anyone).

Foraging will go quicker on the mainland because choice mats are common. I was able to get 1248 exp pulling 2x 40q choice mats right after coming to the mainland. This isn't that far behind what people were quoting for max exp as a careplanner. Note that you won't be much of a careplanner till you get the 2nd level of both resource preservation and ground stability. Level 2 of ground stability comes at level 35 forage.

What is a big help on the mainland is getting someone to show you where the resource fields are. (for non-mascaritas, this can mean learning the resource spots w/o agro)

[hacnshot]

True, true. I just got the "Choice Only Prospection" ability, so that means I can pull 2 30q Choice stuff... And I even learned myself that most choice stuff starts to come from a specific region, like the forest, and you can craft only the race's equipment which that is associated with. Like forest = Matis, and I guess lake is Tryker, desert is Fyros, and jungle is Zoraï, but I'm not overly sure.

Slaughter carnivores or kill kipees? If I knew where the kipees were, I would, since I think they drop fine materials over on the mainland, and I need skin fragments for grips for daggers. I bought some Buo Fiber from the NPC as a grip, and even though it was my best Q20 dagger ever (23 damage, and 42 hits a minute. Fastest was 46, but with like 11 damage.)

BTW what are the Warders I see sometimes outside town? Are they supposed to be enemies or what? I'm guessing so, so I kept my distance lest they pull a Goohead off on me.

[ichigono]

Just wait til you hit 50ish in skill; you'll then be able to start pulling up to 5 units per extract, plus by then you should have prospect multiple spots. Once you can prospect 3 spots, you can usually harvest two of them before they die out. Believe me, it DOES get better

As for crafting, on my main, I tried to do it all at first, but the point she's at now, there's no way she could make all the gear she needs. She can use a Q180 weapon and armor, but the best she can make is Q160 2h axe or sword, and Q120 medium armor. Her desert forage skill is at 201, though *hehehe* And harvesting and careplanning for myself, I can typically get 14-15 units of material; haven't had anyone CP for me yet to see how much I'd get just digging.

So, I would pick a craft and focus on that to start with, and maybe branch out after 50 or so; being a jack (or Jill ) of all trades means being master of none, at least, not for a LONG time.

[myseren]

when crafting at lower lvls it is best to concentrate on one tree, however, once that tree is higher, you will suddenly have literally hundreds of skill points to spend on other plans

Also, go for max quality rather than variety of plans, otherwise you will get less xp

I went the careplan route for harvest till lvl 100 and it really does help, by that point i knew how to dig, where the good mats were, and i got dappers and equipment from grateful diggers

[sx608]

When I first started crafting, I wanted to do it all, but as I had fewev and fewer skillpoints to spend for it all, I eventually realised I had to specialize in something to have enough sp, I ended up on wepons craft, specializing in max dmg Long swords, it sure took me some trial and error to find the best settup with the few mats I could dig at the time ^_^

As many have said before, Careplanning is a great way of getting your harvest up, and at the same time, you learn where the sources are and a good deal about harvesting

If you want I'd be more then happy to show you a few good spots around Yrkanis, the Matis capital, and It's always very good to have a careplanner close, what ever the level

*hugs from lil me*