Theory: Favor proc-rate = time of day MIN = Night / BOT = Day

[kensatsu]

one question for the favor do you have to just touch other node like ephemeral node ?
or you gathering till the favor node spawn ?

[Metterschlingel]

You must deplete it, touching is not enough

[LineageRazor]

Hey, don't forget moon phase! That's always a popular one when coming up with oddball superstitions related to RNG.

Man, it's like FFXI crafting all over again. Face west during full moon on Watersday for best chance at HQ when crafting with Fire crystals! I totally tried this once and I got the HQ so it must be true!

To be fair, in FFXI, the devs kept all sorts of secrets from the player, so it's not as surprising for players to speculate that there's some kind of hidden trick to getting things done better. In this game, though? Not so much. I would be astounded to learn that there's some super-secret method to improve chances that the devs don't come straight out and tell you in some quest or whatever.

[PirateCat]

Yeah, I for one am choosing to believe the null hypothesis (it's just a straight RNG roll against a fixed percent chance, and everything else is small sample size or confirmation bias) unless someone comes up with a robust data set that suggests otherwise.

My own gathering data suggests that the HQ gather theory is likely false. Yes I've had a few nodes pop after getting 2-3 HQ items from one gather, but I've also gone 4/4 HQ (thanks to buffs) on nodes with nothing, and one of my best runs was from gathering crystals. If there's anything to this, it could be a sign that FFXIV's RNG tends to produce clustered results - if so, then there may be a correlation between the game rolling well for you on getting HQ items and then rolling well for you again when it decides whether a favor node pops. But this doesn't really lend itself to something players can influence.

[Lyrinn]

Reminds me of that JP atma theory people were swearing by until SE came out and said no such thing existed. RNG is RNG.

[blueruckus]

In all my favor grinding, I can't really see a trend where HQ gathers affected spawn rate. I'd be more inclined to think it may be weather/time related. However, at this point I'm going to go with flat RNG. I see no rhyme or reason to all of this so far.

[Aeyis]

I've had nodes spawn after missing all gather attempts. So far all hard data suggests that only RNG affects it.

[Empty-handed]

I have a question, what happens if I get hq can I still hand them with the NQ ones?? Or hq and nq to be handed separately ; ; ??

[PirateCat]

I have a question, what happens if I get hq can I still hand them with the NQ ones?? Or hq and nq to be handed separately ; ; ??

You can use the "Lower Quality" action to change the HQ items to NQ then combine them with your stack of NQs to turn them in.

I haven't had enough HQ items at once to see what happens if you try to hand in 10 HQ items, but I'd imagine that it would let you do it (possibly after giving you the "are you sure you want to hand in HQ items when you don't need to" prompt.)

[Sibyll]

Reminds me of that JP atma theory people were swearing by until SE came out and said no such thing existed. RNG is RNG.

I was thinking the same. They'd be better off just having us trade scrips for the materials directly. This is the biggest waste of time.