The Flame Geode Thread...... Again.

[Camiie]

and again.. that chart is a limited sampling and doesn't completely reflect the weather patterns...fire was just in the forecast again for lightsday in altepa--for the fourth KNOWN time in this cycle during the first week of May.

Isn't your post just limited sampling as well?

[Theytak]

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...FakeDifficulty

There's nothing challenging about getting flame geodes. It's not hard. It's not difficult. It's definitely not impossible. But, you know, the obscene about of time it can take, as well as the stupid amount of luck, and the horridly clunky drop mechanics make it needlessly tedious, and a massive waste of time. There's nothing fun about it. That's the problem. This game has, over the years, been slowly working away from its early excessive use of fake difficulty, but right now, it's had a resurgence. That's what we're trying to fix. That's what we want changed. If we can get them to ease up here and realize that this is stupid and pointlessly tedious for no justifiable reason, then we might get the devs to realize that this system isn't one we enjoy, but it can be easily modified to one that we do.

[Komori]

What I don't understand right now is the people calling everyone here, lazy. No one is asking for the amount of geodes to be lowered, or for alternative easier ways for the 99 requirement. People here are just asking for a way to be able to farm their own geodes more efficently or solutions to make flame geodes less of a dent in everyone's wallet. The solution is so easily fixed with either making Altepa have more frequent fire weather or one of the two volcanoes. Or changing the synthesis for elemental gems from geodes to avatarites.

[FrankReynolds]

What I don't understand right now is the people calling everyone here, lazy. No one is asking for the amount of geodes to be lowered, or for alternative easier ways for the 99 requirement. People here are just asking for a way to be able to farm their own geodes more efficently or solutions to make flame geodes less of a dent in everyone's wallet. The solution is so easily fixed with either making Altepa have more frequent fire weather or one of the two volcanoes. Or changing the synthesis for elemental gems from geodes to avatarites.

It's funny when people call people lazy in general. As if doing something in a video game implies any sort of real life work ethic... or that work ethic should even be a part of a video game at all.

Also keep in mind that he said he doesn't have a problem with changing the drops / weather, he just came in here to insult everyone and call them lazy. Thankfully his trolling lead to a nicely detailed chart being posted that really sums the problem up nicely. I love when trolling backfires.

[RAIST]

Isn't your post just limited sampling as well?

Yes...but everyone keeps referring to that chart as definitive proof of how scarce certain weather is...no matter how many times contrary data is presented. For instance... 2 forecasts of light in an entire game year? And I just saw a 5th forecast of fire for the month of May (Watersday on May 27 in Altepa, one I didn't have in my notes). Yet that chart only shows 3 forecasts total for the month of May--2 for Altpep and one for the Cape.

The bigger point is that it is a repeating pattern. What that means in a nutshell....whether you have a complete data set or a partial one, once you gather enough data to be able to identify when things are in line again, you have a forecast to follow for however big your data set is. More or less, your success in hunting this weather boils down to your level of commitment (or lack of commitment) to track it.

[FrankReynolds]

Yes...but everyone keeps referring to that chart as definitive proof of how scarce certain weather is...no matter how many times contrary data is presented. For instance... 2 forecasts of light in an entire game year? And I just saw a 5th forecast of fire for the month of May (Watersday on May 27 in Altepa, one I didn't have in my notes). Yet that chart only shows 3 forecasts total for the month of May--2 for Altpep and one for the Cape.

The bigger point is that it is a repeating pattern. What that means in a nutshell....whether you have a complete data set or a partial one, once you gather enough data to be able to identify when things are in line again, you have a forecast to follow for however big your data set is. More or less, your success in hunting this weather boils down to your level of commitment (or lack of commitment) to track it.

I'm not sure what your motivation is / was for tracking weather, but I assure you that the idea of doing that would never even occur to 99.99% of the rest of the worlds population, let alone be considered something that should be required. None of these weapons are strong enough to warrant that kind of planning.

EDIT: and before dummies (not talking about raist here) come in and say "Y SO LAZY?!?"... I have several magian weapons / empys and have no need for flame geodes. I just recognize when something is broken and want to fix it.

[RAIST]

hehe.. in a way, you kinda answered the question yourself when you said no one would ever think to track it. Curious minds tend to do curious things...else we wouldn't know half of what we know about this game.

The motivation was simply to see if what felt like a repeating pattern actually was, so I started noting when it was popping while I was doing other things....trials, tracking weather for future SMN's or other people's trials, farming my own geodes (not just fire, but all elements, as I have a ton of magians), farming in abyssea--that reporting site is a great tool. And sure enough, I saw a repeating pattern---not just of season, but actual alignment of elemental day, game date, and forecast. In doing so, I discovered that fire weather really is not as rare as people seem to think it is...they just have probably never actively been lookiing for it until now, and so may not have a firm grasp of how to find it efficiently. Some people seem to have figured it out on a much grander scale (at times can see the same name sell 10+ geodes in one day in AH), but kept their methods/info to themselves and have been reaping the benefits from their efforts. Just trying to share some of that information in the hopes that it might click for more people.

[Camiie]

The bigger point is that it is a repeating pattern. What that means in a nutshell....whether you have a complete data set or a partial one, once you gather enough data to be able to identify when things are in line again, you have a forecast to follow for however big your data set is. More or less, your success in hunting this weather boils down to your level of commitment (or lack of commitment) to track it.

But how much of a commitment should one really have to make for a non-legendary class weapon? Yes a handful of these weapons are very powerful, and many of them are not. Yet apparently we all must become virtual meteorologists in order to have a chance at making one (good weapon or not) via farming. You're saying it looks as though fire weather is more common than we suspected, but that's not saying much. If it were twice as common it would still be far behind the others. It's not like people aren't checking the forecasts at all. I do even if I'm going for what's generally common weather.

Still, and maybe I'm a little extreme on this, I don't believe in content (other than holiday specific events) that requires one to log-in during a specific window of time to have a chance to get it done. I think that's one of the worst ideas ever to come out of MMO design. But, obviously we have such content and we always will, so I would ask that SE at least try to minimize it by having more windows of opportunity available so I can choose one that fits my schedule rather than having to work my life around the game's schedule.

[Raksha]

And I just saw a 5th forecast of fire for the month of May (Watersday on May 27 in Altepa, one I didn't have in my notes). Yet that chart only shows 3 forecasts total for the month of May--2 for Altpep and one for the Cape.

Even if fire weather were twice as common as the chart shows, it'd still be too rare.

[Nawesemo]

It is what it is..... We don't like it, we bitched pissed and moaned, now time to suck it up and get on getting on, .....this thread is deemed lockable..not muck more can be said,..can I get an amen.