ctusk wrote:Personally for me the challenge is to find the best combination of supreme mats for the item I want to craft. Which usually means sneaking into the prime roots etc. etc.
Actually digging thousands upon thousands of basic mats out of the ground I find dull, annoying and boring and thus I am glad it is now easier than before.
I'm gonna back up and give this a big ++. Going through the tedium of harvesting is merely a path to crafting for me, and I suspect to an awful lot of people. Being able to pull so many more mats at least for a little while last night was a HUGE boon for me. Trying to pull enough mats to grind crafting on was a huge pain pre-patch1. Yes, I know lots of people did it. I know lots of people seemed to enjoy it. I think there is a middle ground somewhere in here and I also admit that we seem to have swung a bit far in the opposite direction now.
So, as one possible suggestion. Change extraction rates so that they are slower based on the quality of material being pulled. ie. Basic and Fine should be easy to pull and you should be able to pull a fair number of them at a reasonable rate (600per hour does not seem unreasonable to me). Choice should nock this down a notch, maybe 3-400 per hour. Excellent should be maybe 200-250 per hour. And supreme should be 100-150per hour.
This helps retain the value of high quality mats, while providing relatively easy access to grinding mats.
I should note of course that I am primarily a soloer, and not particularly high level as of yet. Nonetheless, I think I've been able to get a pretty good grasp on the issues through my own experience and reading about the experience of others.