Suggesion to revamp Gathering (Please leave your Feedback)

[Jinko]

Because you felt bad for being rude, of course. Let's move on!

More like you are being quite condesending lol, but yes lets move on.

[SeleneVenizelos]

Or I'm just not rising to it...

[Scherwiz]

So I think the gathering system could do with a revamp, It seems pretty obvious what needs to be done :P, but I'll detail it below, hopefully a Community Rep will see this and forward it to to yoshi-p.

Logging/Fishing/Mining

Would work pretty much in the same way as it does now, you select the skill "Abor's Call" "Lay of the Land" or "Gulleye"

Instead of displaying text "You sense .... to the northwest" you would get an arrow on the minimap and a high-lighted circle similar to how fieldleves work.

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/8666/67394293.jpg

Main map

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/6999/69961624.jpg

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Harvesting/Quarrying/Spearfishing

Firstly we need more of these nodes per area !!

Remove the skills Triangulate, Prospect and Dowse and replace them with Harvesters Call, Quarrymasters Call and Spearfishers Call. (I'm sure SE can think of better names)

Like above the map would be marked with a highlighed circle and arrows on the minimap showing you where a suitable site to gather from is located.

I think these are fairly basic and simple changes as the system is already in place for fieldleves.

What do you guys think ?

Something similar to this?

Mini map nodes.

[Teakwood]

Am I the only one who actually enjoys the hot/cold minigame? (I would -probably- gather faster if I memorised the nodes, and after enough time in a zone I actually start to without even trying, but I still do the hot/cold game because I think it's fun and minigamey.)

I like Ravidrath's ideas concerning new crafting leves, though. "Go here, gather" gets pretty old after a while, although the rewards from DoL leves are such that I don't mind terribly.

[Ravidrath]

A vocal minority posting on these forums does not represent the playerbase, don't assume to speak for it. Whilst I'm not saying either is right or wrong, this thread is an opinion thread where direct feedback was requested; my opinion is no less correct or incorrect than yours, please don't dismiss it using what the playerbase that you don't represent wants as the reasoning.

There is already a reward for efficiency: increased gathering speed and yield. Those who take the time to learn the class thoroughly and practise various methods and styles will always perform more efficiently than those who don't. This applies to every class in the game, why should gathering be any different?

Skill and practise should always be rewarded, regardless of what style of job or class you're playing.

If you don't enjoy gathering stop doing it, nobody is holding a gun to your head. Leave it to those who do enjoy it and maybe find another hobby in the game to pass the time?

I think you have more posts in here than anyone else, at this point, which would make you the most vocal of this "vocal minority." And as someone with BTN50, you are not only in the extreme minority but also represent an entrenched interest.

The point of this thread is that people who do not have their class maxed would like the classes to be more fun because they would like to enjoy maxing them, or for others to enjoy it more. I find gathering nice and relaxing from time to time, but that doesn't mean it can't be better, and none of Jinko's suggestions make the class worse. To me, everything he's said makes the classes more accessible and fun to me.

As I see it, your advocacy of keeping things the way they are is in keeping with FFXI/XIV's tradition of hiding information or making it difficult to use, which is not what this game needs right now. You are certainly free to express that opinion, but at this point it is not constructive to the rest of the discussion.

Additionally, as someone with BTN50, I'd expect and hope you'd have some ideas on how to improve these classes so that they might be more fun to you, too. Your voice could be the most valuable, but instead you seem to be trying to stifle discussion.

Surely you don't think the gathering classes are perfect the way they are? If not the things Jinko's suggesting, then what would you do to improve them and make them more fun for people that aren't you?

[Jinko]

Something similar to this?

Mini map nodes.

Well I was more thinking along the lines of the current local leve highlighted circle icon, that would work too of course but would probably A) require extra programming and B) annoy a lot of people who want the game to remain challenging.

@Teakwood yea i kind of like the hot and cold game also, it can be a bit annoying when the area is busy and suffering from lag but besides that it does add a bit of fun and skill to the gathering process.

[Ravidrath]

@Teakwood yea i kind of like the hot and cold game also, it can be a bit annoying when the area is busy and suffering from lag but besides that it does add a bit of fun and skill to the gathering process.

To clarify, I'm advocating making the Hot/Cold thing actually Hot/Cold and random.

Right now, it's Hot/Cold exactly once. So you either find them yourself or read all the sweet spots on DoL, and you're done forever.

This could actually be gameplay if the sweet spots are randomized per tree... or maybe per session. That way you could find them and keep using them for some time before having to refind them. However, I would advocate having the UI telling you what you found for future trees so you don't need to keep notes to do this effectively.


Also, semi-off topic...
Did they change Botany in this update to be more like Fishing? Or did I just not notice until now?

I no longer get the "You are getting closer to the mark" messages in Botany, and my success rates seem very low if I aim for the middle. If I aim below the middle, though, my output goes through the roof.


Either way, something like this could help make Botany and Mining more interesting, ala Fishing - messages about cutting "against the grain" to adjust your angle, or having "hard rock" that requires large strikes to break through. If you played Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, something similar to their Underground excavation mini-game.

Also, with Mining - heavy (outer ring) strikes could be good for larger items like ore, while lighter strikes (center dot) could target smaller items, like gems, fossils, etc.

[Jinko]

I agree with that also Rav.

I would like to see them completely change the current hot and cold game to be more like 3 gauges which you have to alter to get the best outcome for a the item you are trying to gather.

It could work like the following:-

A guage for perception, one for output and one for success, raising one would have a negetive effect on the other and it would be up to the player to set the gauge before trying to gather.

Increasng perception would increase the chance of finding rare item, increasing output would increase the chance of scoring multiple items, increasing sucess would well obviously increase success.

Some people may increase perception and output and lower the chance of sucess, others may increase success and output to gain more items and others may increase perception and success to gain more rare items.

I also think they should lock lower level classes from gathering at nodes above their level, which doesn't seem to be an issue as you generally only get one chance and lose a lot of stamina anyway.

I hope this constructive enough for Selene.

Edit - perhaps the perception bar could have small icons of the items avalible from that node.

Edit 2 :- Added a picture to illustrate what i meant :P (it certainly won't win any awards)

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/9986/unledccm.png

I suppose items could change place each time you went to gather just to liven things up a little, each bar would start at the 50% mark and you would change them as you saw fit, stats from armor would have an effect on the gauges also.

This would obviously replace the existing +5-----0-----5 bar.

[Scherwiz]

Well I was more thinking along the lines of the current local leve highlighted circle icon, that would work too of course but would probably A) require extra programming and B) annoy a lot of people who want the game to remain challenging.

@Teakwood yea i kind of like the hot and cold game also, it can be a bit annoying when the area is busy and suffering from lag but besides that it does add a bit of fun and skill to the gathering process.

But there is already little challenge, but thats just my opinion.

[zerrith]

My only gripe about gathering is the fatigue.