Collectable gathering rotations?

[LinguisticMassacre]

I've had a hard time finding a collection of information on endgame gathering, and I was wondering what rotations everyone uses for gathering collectables. What are the most efficient rotations for blue scrips, red scrips, and Rowena tokens?

[LineageRazor]

Take a look at this thread. It's pretty old, so it's not a surprise you couldn't find it:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ible-Rotations

It mentions two methods for getting collectables, one of which uses three hits, and the other of which uses four hits. I've found the four-hit method to be more reliable (in fact, it's pretty easy to prove mathematically to be the better strategy over time, but I'm too lazy to do the math right now), but the three hit method gives you roughly a 1/9 chance of collecting four collectables from one node, which can be exciting when it happens. Both methods require at least 600 gp.

The four hit method:
1. Start with Single Mind (200 gp) and Utmost Caution (100 gp)
2. Use Impulsive Appraisal three times.
3. If any of them trigger Discerning Eye buff, use Single Mind (200 gp) and Utmost Caution (100 gp). Use Methodical Appraisal, and collect three collectables.
4. If none of them trigger Discerning Eye buff, use Discerning Eye (200 gp) and Utmost Caution (100 gp). Use Methodical Appraisal, and collect two collectables.

The three hit method:
1. Use Discerning Eye (200 gp), then Impulsive Appraisal.
2. If Impulsive Appraisal triggered Discerning Eye buff, use Single Mind (200 gp). Otherwise, use Discerning Eye (200 gp). Impulsive Appraisal again.
3. If Impulsive Appraisal triggered Discerning Eye buff, use Single Mind (200 gp). Otherwise, use Discerning Eye (200 gp).
4. Use Methodical Appraisal, and collect two collectables, plus one for each Single Mind you used.

[Alisi]

I've had a hard time finding a collection of information on endgame gathering, and I was wondering what rotations everyone uses for gathering collectables. What are the most efficient rotations for blue scrips, red scrips, and Rowena tokens?

It is hard to find. I had the same problem. Basically, with collectables, you have three skills that cost no GP. Those are the appraisal skills. Two cost 10 dura and the other costs 15. You have a total of 30 dura in all. Think of that like crafting. If you go over, you can't collect. Discerning Eye buffs the quality of the collectable (think HQ bar in crafting) 200GP, Utmost Caution halves the dura lost for 100g, and Single mind makes it so that the next appraisal doesn't cost a turn for 200 GP (as in, a swing.)

So the basic rotation is dis eye -> meth app 3 times and collect. This will get you 2 collectables. When you have the lvl 58 set, you'd do dis eye -> meth app twice and single mind -> meth app and collect for your blue scrips. This'll get you 3 collectables. ATM (since my gear is high enough) I do dis eye -> implus app -> dis eye if no proc or single mind if proc'ed -> implus app -> dis eye if no pro or single mind if proc -> meth app when I'm gathering my red scrips. This gets 2 to 4 collectables. For the special collects to turn in for the foil (or whatever it's called), I do DE -> meth app -> DE -> meth app -> Utmost -> meth app -> utmost -> meth app and collect. This gets one at a very high level.

To get my red scrips, I tend to go after the greens and ada ore collectables. Those two are back to back. Work on getting to 600GP, first and foremost. Don't forget to do the quest for the ephem nodes too. You use the collectable method to gather those too, so you can break them down.

[PirateCat]

I've found the four-hit method to be more reliable (in fact, it's pretty easy to prove mathematically to be the better strategy over time, but I'm too lazy to do the math right now)

Math for the record:

The four hit method yields an additional collectable item if at least one of the three Impulsive Appraisals gets you the Discerning Eye buff. The chance of this not happening (which is easier to calculate) is 0.7^3 = 0.343, which means that there's a 65.7% chance of a proc that gets you the extra collect. In other words, the average EV is 2.657 items per node. (This doesn't account for the fact that multiple DE procs will raise the collectability to higher tiers and get you slightly more scrips on occasion.)

The three hit method gets four collectables 9% of the time (two 30% chances succeeding) and two collectables 49% of the time (two 30% chances failing). The remaining 42% is the chance that one proc happens and you get three. The expected yield is therefore (2*0.49)+(3*0.42)+(4*0.09) = 2.6 items per node.

So there's only a tiny marginal advantage to using the four hit method if you just look at average number of items collected, but I still like the four hit method better for a few reasons:
- Potential for higher collectability. While you're not going to ever get enough to collect four items, if more than one DE proc happens you'll get higher tier collectables. This is arguably the best way to go for counterfoils as well since you'll naturally get some items that could be traded in for these as you gather primarily for scrips.
- Less streaky RNG. You get the better result almost 2/3 of the time with the four hit method compared to it being a coin flip for the three hit method, which in turn means you're less likely to hit a bad streak.

Now for blue scrips, there's a clear winner for the rotation. Use Methodical Appraisal three times, fitting in two Discerning Eyes and a Single Mind in there somewhere. This works for blue scrips and not red because of the lower collectability threshold, but it guarantees you three collects, RNG-free (unless you don't have enough GP to hit a gathering chance buff, then you still need to deal with the occasional gather failure.)

[LinguisticMassacre]

Thanks for the info! I was also wondering about gathering from Ephemeral nodes. When going strictly for Dawnborne Aethersand, is it most efficient to just use the rotation for leaf/landborne, or is there a more efficient rotation that just gets to 5 or 6 rarity for Dawnborne while allowing more gathering attempts?

[Deathgiver]

Thanks for the info! I was also wondering about gathering from Ephemeral nodes. When going strictly for Dawnborne Aethersand, is it most efficient to just use the rotation for leaf/landborne, or is there a more efficient rotation that just gets to 5 or 6 rarity for Dawnborne while allowing more gathering attempts?

You can get 5 collectability/2 gathers by doing the blue scrip 3 gather rotation listed above. That being said, you're probably still better off trying for 7/8 or 8/8 since the leaf/landborne sands are worth way more than dawnborne is. I f you don't need them, just sell them and buy 5 or 6 dawnborne for every 1 you sell.

edit- mathed wrong >.<

[Alisi]

You can get 5 collectability/2 gathers by doing the blue scrip 3 gather rotation listed above. That being said, you're probably still better off trying for 7/8 or 8/8 since the leaf/landborne sands are worth way more than dawnborne is. I f you don't need them, just sell them and buy 5 or 6 dawnborne for every 1 you sell.

Depends on your server. They are all about the same price on my server's MB (leafborne is actually selling for less than the other two.)

[Alien_Gamer]

An overview of what aetherial reduction gives you and an 8/8 rotation guide.
http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wi...rial_Reduction
http://imgur.com/r20AcgT

Two scrip gathering rotation guides
https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comme..._rotation_and/
http://www.ffxivguild.com/ffxiv-gath...scrip-farming/

Where/when to get ephemeral nodes.
http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Ephemeral_Nodes

Where/when to get scrips.
http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wi...d_Mining_Nodes
http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wi...es#Heavensward

[Hanmerreborn]

http://home.eyesonff.com/showthread....ectables-Guide is what I more or less live by rotation wise.