More benefit levelling Crafting than Harvesting?

[xmojo]

I've been levelling Crafting by gathering mats off creatures and making armor. It struck me that there is a spin-off benefit in doing this in that I also gain XP in Fight from killing creatures so that I can use their mats for levelling Crafting. There is no such benefit in harvesting ground resources. Anyone else think the same?

[iphdrunk]

I've been levelling Crafting by gathering mats off creatures and making armor. It struck me that there is a spin-off benefit in doing this in that I also gain XP in Fight from killing creatures so that I can use their mats for levelling Crafting. There is no such benefit in harvesting ground resources. Anyone else think the same?

Not at all Well, of course, you will not get fight xp harvesting; but you'll get harvest xp, allowing you to extract higher quality materials, safer and in more quantity. If your goal is to improve your crafting, (in the sense that crafting is not something to use your loot for) , imho Harvesting beats looting (as a means to get grind mats) hands down. The only minor point is that harvesting implies a steep learning curve and pays-off largely later.

Main reasons imho (top of my head):

- Deterministic: you know what you get and what you look for. You can specify the type, grade and quality digging. Getting to a dig spot is easier usually and depends less on seasons than mob placement changes.

- Downtime: there is little to no downtime digging. Harvesting means a streamlined, constant rate influx of specified mats. Focus regens after each extraction to the amount you had when you started the pull.

- Quantity: at higher levels; getting ~15 mats per pull is common. Carefully selecting your mobs based on xp, fast kill and other factors can, in the short term, be more productive, but when you take into account downtime and lack of mat selection, it isn't.

- Grade: easier to get choice and better mats digging. Getting supreme mats solo fighting is .... way harder. When selling items to the NPC the higer the grade of the item, the higher the benefit. At the right season, excellent mats can be way easier to get in good amounts.

- Choice: dug mats are all available in qualities, from q10 to q250 and in all colors. This is not the case for hunted mobs. Not a major factor, but notable.

- Balance: crafting needs all kinds of mats in specific proportions. Some mats are exclusively dropped by herbibores (lining, skin, eyes, toes) and less common, while there is no fundamental difference digging. since XP is higher for carnivores making them preferred targets for hunters, and herbibore drops scarce, one needs to harvest often to "get the missing ones"

- Less risk: provided both activities are done solo, and you need high quality mats, one dies way less often digging, imho.

- Quality: harvesting matches crafting in the sense that qualities are (unless failures) rounded up : 10, 20, 30...

- High quality mats: e.g. getting q250 mats is streamlined and can be done (provided the level) at a constant rate. After 210+ a fighter that needs to obtain the insane amount of mats needed to craft will have troubles. For the specific case of q250 a fighter has great jugulas, great kirostas, great cuttlers, and a few herbs on steroids that you can't solo, drop 5 mats top and takes you ages to kill.


I do think there is a reason why most high level dedicated crafters are also dedicated diggers.

[cloudy97]

You'll find much more materials in the ground than on mobs. Usually of higher quality too. So, you'll level crafting faster with harvest, but quartered mats will prove more useful for some recipes.

But you're right, there is no spin off effect on the harvesting skill tree.

[vguerin]

But you're right, there is no spin off effect on the harvesting skill tree.

I will disagree slightly here, I Mastered harvest before anything else was above 100... this gave me the HP of a level 160/210 (IIRC) fighter/mage. That didn't hurt me a bit to have under my belt already...