gathering in nature

[InuraBera]

I'm a bit disheartened to see that Gatherers are being sidelined to some extent, however in general the answers were either as expected or what makes sense. Also, whomever said everyone should have combat levelled - were it not for the ability to 'main' Botanist I definitely would have quit this game and that probably wont change unless the Combat Revamp is rock solid and enjoyable. Rank 43 Botanist compared to 27 Lancer here.

At the same time I still think the Main Story should be for everyone, but have events such as Ifrit etc seperate. Example would be you see a group of Garleans and escape - mission ends but you can then get extra story and cutscenes by going back armed with a group, rather than telling craft/gather they are worth less.

[Xenor]

I bet more people have quit because the story missions are so terrible than would quit because they can't main class as a gatherer. I've yet to even do the rank 47 mission and it's supposed to be the best. Just no motivation knowing it will just be more running around and nothing to fight. This game probably has a more boring story than FFX and that was awful.

[Xenor]

You get grade 5 leves at 35 so you should be getting grade 6 leves at 45. A player of 35 can target grade 5 fine outside of leves too and get 3 hits on the node. You just need more time and skill to find the nodes. Why shouldn't this be encouraged in the form of reward = effort? You get the scanning abilities at X8 so I should be able to scan for grade 6 at 48 and get 4 hits on the node. This is why it's so painful to rank up from the mid 40s. The SP formula is fine, it's the lack of grade 6 that's making it appear terrible when you reach the mid 40s.

It's the same reason rank 40 battle leves and behests start to suck by the mid 40s. Sure you can up the stars on the leves but sometimes that makes the leve hell with lots of death unless your party is big. Rank 50 battle leves and behests should exist from 43, not 50. Just like grade 6 should exist from rank 45. It's laziness on SE's part, nothing less.

[Sigmakan]

You get grade 5 leves at 35 so you should be getting grade 6 leves at 45. A player of 35 can target grade 5 fine outside of leves too and get 3 hits on the node. You just need more time and skill to find the nodes. Why shouldn't this be encouraged in the form of reward = effort? You get the scanning abilities at X8 so I should be able to scan for grade 6 at 48 and get 4 hits on the node. This is why it's so painful to rank up from the mid 40s. The SP formula is fine, it's the lack of grade 6 that's making it appear terrible when you reach the mid 40s.

It's the same reason rank 40 battle leves and behests start to suck by the mid 40s. Sure you can up the stars on the leves but sometimes that makes the leve hell with lots of death unless your party is big. Rank 50 battle leves and behests should exist from 43, not 50. Just like grade 6 should exist from rank 45. It's laziness on SE's part, nothing less.

Except for battle jobs you can kill normal mobs that are R50+ or do more stars on the R40 leves. With BOT/MIN those Grade5 nodes are the highest SP sources, and the SP goes downhill fast as you progress through the mid-40s. A fair comparison would be saying that no R50+ mobs exist at all and you have level up off of R40-50 mobs.

Its beyond lazy and ridiculous that Grade 6 nodes aren't in the game. Now SE is saying they'll gimp the Grade6+ fishing instead of putting in Grade6 nodes for MIN/BOT. Unbelievable.

[Tiraelina]

DoL was supposed to not have to deal with hostile mobs as well but that didn't happen either. Tree Speak mining will regularly get you the Goblin NM on top of one of your nodes or Dwarf Diremites they scattered everywhere. There's practically no thought in mob placement/distribution, the thing I hate most about trying to rank up DoW/M is the horrible respawns coupled with rank distribution.

[Bayohne]

Hey gang. We have another set of answers here for your perusal. Unfortunately, this isn't the entire list as we're still going through and organizing/translating them. Sorry for the continued delay, and believe me when I say that this has been a learning experience for everyone involved (so many questions...) and we'll be working to ensure we smooth the entire thing out going forward.

Is the feature that allows low-level gatherers to follow high-level gatherers around their leves and get more hits at high-grade nodes than otherwise possible working as intended?

Yes, this was planned to work this way.

Can you make a more efficient system for the consumption of harvested items? For example, a system where you can trade-in/exchange gathered items etc. It's not possible to get rid of them just by selling them, using them yourself, or by selling via retainers.

While this is already part of the Guild Task series of quests, we will look into expanding it in the future as well.

Will you be revamping skill effects/recast timers, as well as gatherer skills in general?

We are looking into it.

Please let us know the current direction of gathering classes.

Along with crafters, we are defining it as a class that supports the battle classes.

Are there any plans for the adding a visual notification of the limits of gathering (such as 0/250)?

We do not have any plans for adding some type of visual notice/notification.

Please increase the amount of times you can mine at a single node. It's incredibly boring having to move all the time.

We are looking into it.

Are there are members of the development team that are playing gatherer classes and enjoying it?

There are actually quite a few dev. team members playing gathering classes!

In the future, are there any plans to drastically change gatherers?

We are planning to focus on adjustments and the addition of new elements.

In regards to fishing, will you make it possible to rely on the fish you caught for skill points instead of the grade you're fishing at?

We will look into whether or not doing so would have any adverse effects on obtainable items.

Will it be possible to fish up fish of various rank while fishing on the boat (similar to FFXI's boat ride)?

We are looking into it.

How come the skills that gatherers can utilize in active mode are so limited?

We are planning to add more abilities for them to utilize in the future.

When will grades beyond grade 6 be implemented for Mining and Botany?

We're planning on implementing this for gatherers who reach Rank 51 or higher.

"Fatigue" for the Disciples of War is being scrapped, so will the gathering cap for gatherers also be removed?

There are no plans for this at the moment.

Please raise the gathering cap. It's something that all Gatherers feel is a burden on their shoulder. As we reach higher ranks, our gathering duration can become as short as 2 hours before we are unable to gather anymore. In addition, the SP we obtain can be less than 100 even at grade 5 when our rank is in the 40s. 15000 - 20000 per gathering is mentally tough. We really would like to receive more SP (including the release of higher grades).

We're considering increasing the amount of obtainable SP via gather.

Since obtainable SP is fixed by grade level, it doesn't feel right that obtainable SP is the same for gathering low and high rank items. Are there any plans for adjusting the SP?

We're taking into consideration the possibility of SP being affected by the type of item that is gathered.

Why does Arbor Call have no affect on lower grades while Triangulate does?

This was done to avoid any confusion that may occur when gathering locations of different grades are present in the same area.

Auto-attack is being implemented for the Disciples of War. Will auto-gather be implemented for gatherers?

That might be a nice idea for an ability.

I hope Botanists will be able to use the hatchet on their backs to attack monsters. It would be a lot more effective than throwing rocks.

Similar opinions have been expressed from within the development team.

Are there any plans to implement fighting abilities or the ability to avoid monsters for gatherers?

We're currently brainstorming an ability to help gatherers avoid monsters.

What are your ideas for the endgame content for Gatherers?

We're brainstorming "content where gatherers will target and gather rare items."

It seems like certain fishing baits are too effective, making all the other ones virtually useless. Are you considering making changes to them?

We're considering making adjustments.

Please give Gatherers more weapons and armor. Currently, gatherers of the same rank lack uniqueness because they all wear the same equipment.

We’re looking into it now.

What sort of affect do Elemental stats have on Gatherers?

They affect the gathering of shards.

Gatherers should be able to hold their tools like the Disciples of War. It just doesn't cut it when I'm taking a screenshot and gatherers are standing around like a log.

We'll take it into consideration.

[Sorel]

Hey gang. We have another set of answers here for your perusal. Unfortunately, this isn't the entire list as we're still going through and organizing/translating them. Sorry for the continued delay, and believe me when I say that this has been a learning experience for everyone involved (so many questions...) and we'll be working to ensure we smooth the entire thing out going forward.

Late night I see. I don't envy you, sir.

[Roaran]

We're planning on implementing this for gatherers who reach Rank 51 or higher.

Not sure if this has been confirmed otherwise; and, although it was fairly obvious, this is the first time I have seen confirmation of the level cap being increased. Not really news though I guess.

Thanks again Bayohne! All these little tid bits go a great way to satisfying our daily thirst for information

[Lienn]

Hey gang. We have another set of answers here for your perusal. Unfortunately, this isn't the entire list as we're still going through and organizing/translating them. Sorry for the continued delay, and believe me when I say that this has been a learning experience for everyone involved (so many questions...) and we'll be working to ensure we smooth the entire thing out going forward.

Very nice! ^^ Much more interesting answers this time! Would've been nice if you guys said what region these questions came from. ^^ Looking foward to the last batch of Q&A.

[quantumsaint]

Are there are members of the development team that are playing gatherer classes and enjoying it?
There are actually quite a few dev. team members playing gathering classes!

Am I the only one that found this response funny?