[dev1039] How does this work?

[Synthesis]

So they just screwed some things again. Bad to read this. I hope they will not nerf it anymore.

[tragic]

This is very strange. I am logging with 0 strength at the moment and the chop point on the trees hardly move. Sometimes they do not move at all other times I might get 1 stray item out of 7. Now I am really confused. I would think that if you where at 0 str that the chop point would move around much more frequently. Or perhaps our interpretation of the patch notes is incorrect? I would love some clarification.

[Leknaat]

Last night, I tried gathering for the first time since the patch.

I'm losing more items, and in a similar situation to TirionCrey where what I 'knew and expected' has turned into more of a crapshoot.

It's rather upsetting that SE hates gatherers so much. (the lower SP rewards, leve spots surrounded by aggressive mobs, +1/+2 items still clogging up our inventories, etc).

I'd seriously give up gathering if I didn't desperately need materials like gold sand, jade, fish, lac bugs, yew logs, faerie apples to support my crafting habit.

[Chione]

A little late to this convo. But I can't find a more active topic on it.

I've been feeling annoyed ever since whatever patch it was that made gemstones so rare and frustrating to pull up. As a goldsmith with a fondness for these shinies, it made mining just a way to fill up my inventory more or less. But I kept hoping that it'd get easier as I ranked up.

I am a r32 miner and I do my mining leves at Cedarwood and most of my regular mining in Coerthas, Camp Glory. Grade 4 nodes all, and if that means I'm mining over my rank - someone should tell my sp and class abilities that. I am feeling the same frustration as Tirion and Quicksilverfang.

Pre-patch, the sweetspot didn't really seem to matter at all. I could find anything anywhere, especially iron in Limsa's nodes. But once I knew what I had from the remainder bar, I knew where on the hot and cold game it would be 90 percent of the time. Not consistent of course, but at least reliable enough that I wasn't completely guessing with every swing.

Post-patch, with 100+ vit and using the proper level tool, the sweetspot still doesn't matter. I still get anything anywhere. But now the location on the hot and cold game is completely random. Which makes getting gemstones with their tiny little remainder bar even that much more impossible, and mining in general a lot more irksome.

I dunno what was so broken with it before that they felt they had to do this. Cause right now it feels more broken than ever. If its going to be so random now, might I suggest implementing a one swing hit or miss system and doing away with the mini game. At least then it wouldn't take twice as much time to get the same random result. -_-

So far, it feels like this patch has done the opposite of what it says, and is making gathering quickly go the way of crafting for me; something I used to enjoy but now just find too irritating to bother with.

[Zephy]

After some time with this change it seems like they implemented it as a way to curve people from entering g5 and getting consistent until about low-mid r40s. Or I suppose just preventing people from going straight to the next grade when they get the next tier of Scan ability. Basically even though I got Scans for both BTN and MIN at r38, there's no consistency at all in g5 when compared to the same item in g4. To reiterate I can get Silver Ore to be fixed in g4, heck I don't even think I have to pump VIT to do it (for g4 BTN all of my logs are fixed regardless of base STR); but the minute I try to go to g5 (with 128 alloted VIT) and specifically aim for, and subsequently get Silver Ore in my approach phase, it's all over the place!

My guess is SE needed a way to stretch out the time spent in earlier grades, perhaps to limit supply of some of the upper tier materials.

[Betelgeuzah]

SE needed a way to limit the supply of higher rank materials. If there is a reliable way to get precious high rank materials consistently, the system is broken and needs fixing.

[Chione]

I suppose I didn't realize high end materials were that great in supply now, what with how much folks charge on em. Still, if that is the reason then I dunno why gatherers keep having to bear the brunt of the measures to fix the item crisis. Especially at the cost of our sp. Gathering fatigue wasn't enough? It begins to feel as if they view gathering classes as simply a way to make gil instead of being a class all their own.

So I guess this means I am indeed too low for grade 4 even though I've had the scan for 4 ranks now, and in spite of only getting 100sp per successful attempt, and 40 something for a fail - which is a much more likely result with the new system.

If they are dead set on not letting gatherers below 50 get any of the high end items, why not make the new system apply per item, rather than per gathering grade. Either way I don't think its going to do much to the item supply, and right now it only serves to frustrate the folks currently leveling up the gathering classes.