lyrah68 wrote:The BEST skill, in my less than humble opinion, since basic prospecting is...With knoweldge. You gain this skill at level 50. At the first level of it you get the icon of the TYPE of material it is.
This is SO helpful when nodes are mixed together and you want fiber, for instance. You use prospecting with knoweldge and see the icon for resin, Nope, turn a tad, reprospect, Sap, turn a tad, wood node, Crud, turn just a hair more BINGO...Here is hoping it is choice or excellent. WOOT excellent.
I have seen MUCH higher level foragers using their prospect and it honestly looked like they were tossing stones out onto the desert floor. From six to ten nodes with EXACTLY what was in the node labeled over them (basic node of Silverweed sap, choice node of Buo fiber, choice node of big shells Etc).
To say I am looking forward to this skill is more than obvious and quite the understatement.
@lyrah68:
Prospecting Knowledge 1 (lvl50) will only yield you the raw type. (Node, Preservative, Shell, Honey)
Prospecting Knowledge 1 (lvl100) will yield you the raw name and raw type. (Dried Goo, Anete Fiber, Fresh Wild Berrys, Abhaya Wood)
Prospecting Knowledge 3 (lvl200) will yield you the quality, the raw name and raw type - the complete name as it is shown in your inventory. (Phial of Basic Visc Sap, Superb Small Egg, Supreme Prime Root Zun Amber, Plain Old Kitin Cocoon)
@bcharles:
Basically there's two different types of prospecting specialisations:
Craftable Item Part Specialisation
|--> Minor Craftable Item Part Prospection
|--> Major Craftable Item Part Prospection
Raw Material Specialisation
|--> Type of Raw Material Specialisation
|--> Exact Raw Material Specialisation
Yes, I know that's not exactly the names of the actions in the action book, but it shows the differences better. So, what's the magic about that?
Craftable Item Specialisations will find you sources of the raw material type needed to craft a certain part. Those are kinda duped, because every raw material type can be used to craft two things:
Shell -> Blade, Point
Wood -> Barrel, Armor Shell
Amber -> Jewel, Magic Focus
...
Be careful that you only choose one skill of the item pair, else you'll waste SP...
When prospecting at a spot, this specialisation will yield you sources specified by the type of material. I could not make out a difference between major and minor specialisation there.
When tracking raw material deposits, this specialisation will take you to the nearest spot where you, dependant of season, weather and time of day, can find the raw material needed to craft the specified part. Here, the major specialisation will give you much more accurate results.
Raw Material Prospecting Specialisations will, too, find you sources of a specified raw material. There's more of them, as there are less raw materials, but more "named" raws.
Fiber Specialisation
|--> Buo Fiber Specialisation
|--> Shu Fiber Specialisation
|--> Dzao Fiber Specialisation
|--> Anete Fiber Specialisation
....
When prospecting at a spot, the general specialisation will yield you sources of the specified raw material type, but when using the exact raw material specialisations, you will then, of course, only find sources of the specified raw material. If you use Soo Amber Specialisation in a Region where Hash and Beng Amber is present, you will find nothing.
When tracking raw material deposits, this specialisation will take you to the nearest spot where you, dependant of season, weather and time of day, can find the raw material you are looking for. Here, there's no difference in accuracy but only in which specific "named" mat you will find (if it's present within range).
I personally prefer the Major/Minor Craftable Item Part Specialisations, because I don't really need to get one specific raw material.