Milthuran
This afternoon I spent a few hours out and about trying to level up my mining and quarrying. In that time I found 4 rares, 2 ultra-rares and had another 2 rare ores and slabs drop from common nodes (first, and second, time I've seen that happen, although I was talking to someone else who had heard of it). I also crashed 5 times and fell through the world, ending up about a thousand miles from where i started but that's par for the course.Anyway I was wondering what other people were seeing "in the field". It seems to me that there was an initial glut of rares and ultras when the patch dropped, but now that they've been harvested it's settled down a bit. For me personally I feel that the rare drop rate has increased slightly, and that ultras aren't much rarer than rares. What I haven't seen is the alleged massive increase in rare nodes. What I have seen is a substantial increase in rare "bonus" drops like gem samples.
Sepi
I have disagreed with various patches in the past, but this one sits at the top. Rare rates have not simply increased...they have gone off the charts and will eventually ruin the economy. Many will probably disagree, but I will give you some stats just from my friend's and my own experiences the past two days.I have harvested for only an hour or two, since I am leveling up in a new main, but in that time I harvested 2 warped trees (rare t4). 2 arid (rare t3), and, best of all, 2 obsidian trees, (ultra rare t5). Basically, when I'm leveling my alt, my friends tell me when a tree is up and I go harvest it on my other character. This may not seem like much from a single character, but the numbers add up.
My friend, on the other hand, has harvested probably 6-7 hours, and in that time he has found 5 ultra rare t5 and nearly an entire stack of regular rares, all veilthread. These numbers are devastating to an already suffering economy. When checking the broker just on Qalia, I found nearly 30 warped timbers in only two days of harvesting.
Think about all the harvesters right now, pumping out rares and ultra rares hours each day. In time, you will not see a character without an entire suit of ultra rare gear, because that's how many ultra rares are spawning. In my opinion, this change (sorry for all fans out there) is simply WOWinizing Vanguard, by making it so EVERYONE can wear highend gear by buying overstocked harvests.
Sorry I made this post so long, but I feel this single change will end up changing too much in VG, thus changing the overall game greatly. Why do dungeons when you can simply harvest a few hours a day and entire suits of ultra rare gear?
Dushy
I spent a large part of today mining and quarrying also and came across 4 rares and 2 ultra rares. I would hope that they slow down the rates somewhat, just for the fact that these rare and UR nodes are becoming somewhat common. I guess we shall see.Nazgule
I can understand that harvesters are not liking the idea that these nodes are more common now, but you have to took at it both ways. I'm a blacksmith so going yo use nickel as an example. On Varking, when the game first came out nickel ore sold for about 1g an ore. Right before patch it was up to 4-5g an ore, which was insane, I thought. I think the prices went up not because the nickel ore became more rare, but because harvesters were taking advantage of gold buyers, which in turned ruined it for anyone who dosen't buy gold. So VG deceided to make the nodes more common, to increase the supply, which in turn will drive down the prices. I think its a cheap way for VG to take some control of the prices, since this latest invasion of the "gold sellers" has hit in the last month. So unless they find a fix to stop gold sellers, I don't see any other way to control the economy than to increase the supply over the demand, to keep the prices from getting outa hand.Milthuran
I don't have a problem with it, really. I'm more curious that people like Sepi are seeing significant increases in rare drops, whereas I'm seeing little difference, other than the addition of ultra rares at about half the spawn rate of rares. My numbers were on a given route that I was farming repeatedly, so it seems to me that it's a fairly reasonable, controlled sample of spawn rates. I don't know how many commons I hit in that time but I'd guess it was upwards of 200. It's not like every other node was a rare, that's for sure. Also it seems like there's a greater difference in lumberjacking and reaping than in mining and quarrying.Like I said in the patch notes thread, even as a pretty casual player I was quite happy with the pre-patch rare spawn rates (there was room for a slight increase, which is what I'm now seeing), and I'd like ultra-rares to be genuinely ultra-rare. More from a game experience perspective than an financial one, since not finding a rare at all is just depressing. So right now the rares are ok for me, and I'd like ultras to be less common than they are.
As for the economic effects, I haven't tried to sell the ultras as I have no idea what price to pitch them at. I've sold some rares and so far I haven't noticed much difference in prices, but it's too early to tell.
Quaymar
I'm sure they will tweak the drop rate in the near future. As someone else pointed out, this initial glut will help drop prices back down now that the dupes have been fixed....I think.Kiel
Harvested Grass and Rocks and Trees last night with the guild on Shindreth. It seems the rare rates dropped dramatically. Still higher than before.How has it been on the other servers, since Monday 05/15/07?
A9Carlos
Put me in the boat of people that are currently amazed at these wild claims of drop rates.I've rolled a new character recently so have not done much on my journeyman reaper, but the 5 hours i've spent harvesting non stop between two linked textile patches has resulted in? 5 rares.
EXACTLY the same as before the patch, no ultra rares, not even a rare increase. I cant help but wonder if some of these claims are being falsified by pissed off crafters?