Good harvesting strategy for evaluation levequests

[CeruleanSpirit]

Hi,

I have got my Botanist class to level 50. I am currently trying to do the same with the Miner, currently level 35.

Here's the problem, my gathering percentage keep going down as I go up levels. It used to be around 90-92% when I was around level 10. But now it is 80% for the lower quality item and 57% for the higher quality item in a typical field levequest with evaluation. That's not good enough. I usually barely get the +5% bonus.

My gear is as updated as possible. What can I do to get a better gathering rate?

Thanks!

[Staria]

This is the method i use it works for me to get the 25%+ score most of the time. On the first node i hit Sharp vision 3 and put the 57%~ option to 100% mine all 6 of them. From then on I use sharp vision 2 on each node. This allows me to gather 5 of the 80%~ items at 95%~ . After 5 successful attempts in a row use Deep Vigor to raise items to 100% and use the last one to get the highest level item. This gets me well over the 25%. If you have to lose a little of the time bonus to make sure you have enough GP to get the 25% bonus it's more than worth it. I normally finish with 15-16 minutes remaining on the timer. this works for the 8 node levequest.

For the 4 node i have to eat some time but i use Sharp vision 3 on the first 2 nodes and collect the highest level items. Then regen some GP and collect the rest using the sharp vision 2 method. I'm usually able to complete the 4 node leve with 16-17 minutes remaining. I hope this was helpful in some way.

[CeruleanSpirit]

Hi Staria,

thanks a lot for your tips, Deep Vigor is an ability I don't use quite too often. Also, I did discover the trick about running around between gatherings to gain back some GP. I will try your method when the servers will be back up again, down for maintenance right now. From my experience with Botany, I know level 46-50 are the worst in terms of gathering odds.

[CeruleanSpirit]

I also came up with a few ploys of my own since I posted this:
- Cordials: I managed to find and buy 87 Cordial potions on the Marketboard. It restore 300 GP. This will forever solves the problem of bad luck on evaluation leaves. It should even bring me through the Fisherman class.
- Materia melding: haven't done this yet, I was just entertaining the idea. Have 3 or 4 Gathering materias and stick it to your stuff. I am just wondering how much I can raise my gathering with this.
- Lucrative farming: This isn't really a method for the levequests, it's an alternate leveling method. Study the Marketboard. Find a high level item in your gathering log that there is a lot of demand and has a good price. Go out there and take the time to harvest a good number of them. At level 40 where I am, I went for the Raw Spinel, Took me ~290 successful gathering to get to level 41, but I have made 120 000 Gils in the process. Not bad, this allow me to save on the daily leve allowance.