Harvesting thread and ideas, thoughts, etc

[aedri]

Ok Ive harvested primarily since the start of the game. I am Tryker, and still on the noob island.

I haven't left because Im waiting for a few of my buds, and we are doing some seriously needed help by crafting for people on the island. My problem is I harvest, and I am going out of my mind.

Weapons not a problem, found the best mats, getting choice ql 20 top blades, shafts, counterweights, and grips.

Found the best armor materials to use. Herein lies my problem. To craft a medium set of armor requires 4 materials, in four different cities (not an issue). However, the locations of the materials are not the easiest to be found, they move constantly, and I know they move, I died from a harvesting action, my team member was still there, did not move, and when I returned to where he was, POOF it wasn't there.

Secondly, I know there is a bug with 50 m prospection (at least in noob land). Once I use it, I find the appropriate materials not an issue. Then I move to another city, and no matter where I stand it says the materials are there. I reported the bug, and was told it was working as intended. Now, if I relog (easiest way to do this is going into the trainer and coming back out it works normally. SO, is there a bug here????

Harvesting in my opinion needs a serious look at, at least on the noob islands. As many people have stated before, when it takes 4 harvesters to keep up with one crafter, it is getting a little ridiculous. I understand it takes time, and some serious investment of time. But it took me 4 hours to get enough materials tonight to craft one set of armor. (Primarily because of the shifting materials)

Even with weapon crafting it takes me anywhere from 1/2 hour to one hour to harvest mats for a sword dagger combo. (no moving materials). I am 48 level harvest, prospect source time 45s, aggressive harvest that gets two mats out of every harvest, reset harvesting to get source one each time to make sure I get two,. Many a time, I have two other harvesters with me to provide care actions to make sure.

Anyways those are my thoughts, my rants, my raves.

What do you guys think, does it get any easier on the ML, like once you find the materials they are more easily marked and able to find? They don't move as much, what about types of materials ( I think the easiest for me to find are cloth for cloth armor, oil, sap). My biggest issue was with the armor shells.

Anyways, I am rambling so I will leave this at that for now

Aedri

[baron66]

Things to not about Harvesting..


The tracking is working properly. It is just possible that you arent facing the the node it found directly. I have had times where I had ot come back to a spot at a few diffrent angles before I found the resource.


Also are you sure you didn't exaust the resource? Alot of the time when you blow up a source it can exaust the area and you'll have to wait for it to regenerate, as well as their are some places where they can be multiple mats in verry close proximity or even on top of each other.

[tekkor]

Ok....see if I can help a little...

First of all unless your area is just bugged your 100% wrong on the resources moving. I can tell you for a fact they dont. Now let me explain a few reason why you may think they are.

First of all if you exhaust a resource (and Im sure you know what that is) if you go look for it again it will just tell you that the resource was there but not availbe etc etc. If you wait about 5 minutes the resource comes back.

The other reason you may think its not there is because sometimes the area for error is VERY small. For instance.....on noob island I had a spot that had choice bark and about 3 feet away choice fiber. In order to get the choice fiber I had to be in the perfect spot....if I backed up 3 feet too much I got the bark...if I went 3 feet past it I got shell. The areas are very small sometimes. But I mark my spots on the in game map (by right clicking on my player icon on map) and then I go back and find the materials later. Sometimes it takes me a couple minutes of prospecting and moving 2 feet prospecting again...move again...until I find it. But I ALWAYS find it again in the same spot.

In regards to tracking....it does work. What happens though is if it says your on the materials what you need to do is if you have the cone search back up about 5 meters and then do the search with the specific item on the prospecting. For instance....

I use 50m tracking with magic focus on it. It says 1m Im on it.

I back up about 4-5 meters and I then do a prospecting action that has the magic focus stanza in it . Bam it comes up.

If you do a prospecting that is just a generic Choice search then you may not get the magic focus you may get other things. So if your really needing a specific mat type you need to build that item type stanza into both the tracking and the prospecting.

[ichigono]

Things to not about Harvesting..


The tracking is working properly. It is just possible that you arent facing the the node it found directly. I have had times where I had ot come back to a spot at a few diffrent angles before I found the resource.


Also are you sure you didn't exaust the resource? Alot of the time when you blow up a source it can exaust the area and you'll have to wait for it to regenerate, as well as their are some places where they can be multiple mats in verry close proximity or even on top of each other.

So, using that skill doesn't do anything, like make the resource a target in your compass? What exactly DOES it do?

[svayvti]

Yes, the way harvesting was implemented (it never got its time for serious review as too much time was spent on melee/magic in beta) it is imbalanced for the economy.

Harvesters power level like mad, and still can't fill their role in the economy of supplying crafters. At level 60 a harvester can pull quality 148 resources (level 140+ crafters around anywhere???), but can't pull any quantity to advance crafters meaningfully. The harvester is punished with wasted focus consumption, damage, and source exhaustion for even trying. I wish Nevrax would release some statement of intent about this and what their priority is, but admittedly they've got their hands rather full.

The resources don't move unless they're "at the moment" sources. Do you get the message no materials available in the area at the moment? I'll agree seeing many areas where this is excessively used, and not to mention that most of them are time related and we get no clues for it. Just available 2 seasons of the year and only at one random hour of the ryzom day.

[aedri]

Thanks for the responses guys, I understood most of it, and the last post before mine sums of up some of my discontent.

However as for 50 m tracking, it is bugged. After you use it once, NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE, you are on top of the node. I mean I was all over the island, at the lake in the center, under a kippee in noob land, Hell there was apparently armor shell EVERYWHERE. Now when I went back into my trainer and back out, worked properly.

Explain that one.

As for the moving materials you may be right and I will look into it. After using tracking I always back up 5 m and use 10 meter 40 meter cone. and do a 360, and its normally there when the 50m was not bugged.

Anyways. . . .

[lyrah68]

What likely happened to the node is that you destroyed or exhausted the node. I have found that there are multiple nodes of the same materials. I have also found that EACH city has its own TYPE of materials (beng amber seems to be around ALOT of cities, so I exclude it). So if you map for instance Dung resin...you will find Dung resin in that area IF another player hasn't destroyed the node.

There are a few things I would tweek about harvesting. For one, EACH race would get a visual clue as to where to look for a node to prospect. Matis I do NOT know HOW you do it. Tyker clue is a bit harder to see than Fryros, and I didn't see any clues as a Zori but I wasn't one for long either.

If you only knew about ONE node, and destroyed it and went back around the SAME city and found another node...the original node did NOT move. You just found a different node.

I have found that I could fill the needs...with the help of another crafter/harvester...of the Fryos newb area after about 10 pm central time. I understand it is MUCH harder to forage as a Tryker and Matis is a lesson in frustration...until you find all the nodes and map them. But is it truly SO bad as other have said?

[lucasd]

In Zora i have found every specific type of every mat in acceptable quantities, maybe its just other races. As for quantity, it is quite easy to pull large numbers of mats, 5-6 per pull is easy at around 70 and at 150 i can pull 10 ql 200's, you just have to learn how to harvest effectively. If you are exhausting quickly or are unable to pull large amounts, its because you have not figured out many of the tricks of harvesting, but once you do, its pretty easy,

[ayne31]

Regarding Tracking I still have a hard time using it without empying my focus pool for nothing but realized that it helps changing from run to walk once I get into a 10 m range.

[svayvti]

If an area is depleted, then you get a message saying so.

Being that you're Tryker I half expect that the area is bugged anyways. Do they even have spontaneous resources sites appearing yet?

Tryker harvesting is unfortunately extra problematic. Have you tried bug reporting this yet and seeing what a GM says?