Miner Class Discussion Thread

[Jamison]

First post updated overhauled to be a bit more FAQ-like. I'll keep working on it as time permits.

[miokomioko]

Only posting here because I haven't bothered to re-start a Fishing thread and there's no general gathering thread, but Way of Plenty (increases a gathering point's remaining attempts) is learned at Fisher-25. If you have the patience to grind that up for your mining as it's definitely more useful for Mining/Botany than Fishing...

[Crizto]

What a random ass ability to give to fishers lol

[goodr]

Good work on this thread Jamison and others. I find it useful to follow despite primarily being a Fisherman

[Zettofaia]

Did anyone try any of the DotL foods? there was a DAT mining thread on ZAM a while back containing some data on current available options and I noticed that some foods had Perception, Gathering or Output on them (nobody makes those on my server yet; ).

I tried both Aldgoat and Buffalo Milk but sadly neither gave me +5 Perception as was suggested so I'm wondering if anybody had a different experience?

[Jamison]

So yesterday I added a list of all the abilities, and today I added this to the first post about stats. Feedback please!

All of these have room for further investigation, improvement and more details.

GATHERING - Gathering seems to act like a raw attack value vs the difficulty of the item. With more gathering, it can take less hits in the success zone to extract the item. Some items appear to be impossible without a specific amount of gathering (i.e Mythril Ore is a one-hit fail until 70/71 gathering). The exact nature of, or even if, this interacts with the remainder bar needs further investigation.

Data point: Gathering 69, Mythril Ore is a one-hit fail. Gathering 71, if the first hit is a success, there's remainder left for a second hit. Is the second attempt possible *because* gathering adds remainder (and remainder is required for success), or is it because you don't fail the first check (70/71 gathering) remainder is shown. I tend to believe that remainder doesn't have any impact on success (i.e. a success should happen with a nearly full bar the same as with sliver left), except of course where you need a second hit.

OUTPUT - Output has so far been the easiest to nail down. While your rank seems to be the primary factor in determining how many times you can mine a single node, increasing output can give you additional attempts. If you normally get 4 attempts on a node, it may be possible to get 5 attempts at that rank instead. Note that at some ranks you cannot have enough +output to get to the next attempt. I prefer to think of it as getting access to an additional attempt 1-2 levels earlier than would otherwise be the case. Does output have anything to do with the quantity of items you get from a success? No clue! Do some research and let me know!

PERCEPTION/SCANNING - Best guess at the moment (observation supports this, but no data/proof) is that perception increases the size of the success zone, thereby making it easier to get an item. While this zone seems to get bigger, the "something promising" does not, and if true means the range between "nothing promising" and the success zone can get quite small.

VIT & MND - Since there are purchasable abilities that "temporarily increase vitality and mind", it is presumed they have some effect on mining. There is not yet any evidence or data to suggest what that might be. I feel like I had more remainder bar after I pumped a lot of points into VIT, but that could also have been coincidence. Testing needs done. Possible areas of impact(?): remainder bar, frequency of ability trigger, strength of abilities when triggered?

REMAINDER - Each specific item seems to always start with the exact same remainder bar. It becomes possible to predict what item (or set of items) you will get as soon as you see the bar. If an item tends to be in one part of the circle, you can adjust your initial strike for maximum effectiveness. I've used this to great advantage in Coerthas and Nophica's Wells, and with almost zero success in Bloodshore. When I've ranked up, a particular item will have a small amount more on the remainder bar. I'm unsure if this is due to rank itself, or from the added stat gained towards the optimum level of my pickaxe. Data point: at grade 4, both the r19 raw gem and r39 raw gem will have the exact same remainder bar. The r19 raw gem will take one hit to extract, the r39 raw gem will take two.

GEAR DAMAGE - There is antidotal evidence that gear damage causes a reduction in stats. I've read one forum post, for example, that said he experienced a drop in output with gear damage and regained the node attempt with repairs; with no other changes to stats. IMO, the range of level/stat/gear where you are near this line is probably pretty small, but it does suggest that the numbers go down. The game doesn't ever show you these reduced numbers. Personally, with damaged gear, I feel like I have to work a little harder and be more precise with my strikes for success -- but this is far from scientific evidence. It's also possible gear damage explained an unusual streak of fails on Mythril Ore I experienced when I was near that 70/71 break point.


WHAT WE DON'T KNOW:
- Are all hits in the success zone equal, or is closer to the true mark more effective?
- Is there random number generation involved at all, or is all the math fixed?
(I tend to believe one of the above is true, as I've observed fluctuation in how many hits an item may take with no other changes in stat).
- Does output change the quantity of items?
- What do VIT & MND do?
- Do any of the abilities actually work?!?

[Jamison]

(Sorry for double-posting, but this seemed different enough to separate out.)

Here's a list of the grade 4 raw gems and which zones to get them in.

Amethyst - Coerthas (Camp Glory) - Also possibly the only location for r19 Fluorite?
Aquamarine - LL (Cederwood)
Garnet - Black Shroud (Humblehearth)
Goshenite - Coerthas (Camp Glory) - Also possibly the only location for r19 Danburite?
Heliodor - Thanalan (Nophica's Wells)
Peridot - Black Shroud (Humblehearth)

Edit: Darksteel Ore also comes from Cederwood (Mythril Ore is possible there, haven't seen Gold Sand yet). Darksteel has the same difficultly/etc of Mythril Ore and Gold Sand. Darksteel excepting, Cederwood SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS. The points themselves aren't bad to get to, but the Yarzon aggro (skip that point if you can!) and the overall drop table is terrible.

[Zisa]

I know this is the Mining thread, but I figured this was the best place to ask: Did they break the higher tiers of Triangulate/Prospect/Dowse? I was recently in the Camp Horizon area (grade 3 trees.. I'm a botanist), and my Triangulate IV was giving me the movement speed bonus regardless of how far away I was from a tree. I was literally standing right next to a logging point, and I was still getting the movement speed bonus. It did not happen when I went to an area with grade 2 and lower, however, and I did not buy Triangulate III, so I cannot test to see if that is broken also. Can anyone else confirm this?

Edit: I just tried it near camp Bloodshore (also grade 3 trees), and it does not seem to be broken there.. only around Horizon. Strange.

[Sephiroth]

I'm starting to wish I waited for Prospect IV instead of spending marks on Prospect III. But I figure by the time I'm mining grade 4 I'll have enough marks. Especially with the 30 quest.

I can't answer your question however. I don't mine in Horizon area because it's awful.

[qpoiuwer]

I know this is the Mining thread, but I figured this was the best place to ask: Did they break the higher tiers of Triangulate/Prospect/Dowse? I was recently in the Camp Horizon area (grade 3 trees.. I'm a botanist), and my Triangulate IV was giving me the movement speed bonus regardless of how far away I was from a tree. I was literally standing right next to a logging point, and I was still getting the movement speed bonus. It did not happen when I went to an area with grade 2 and lower, however, and I did not buy Triangulate III, so I cannot test to see if that is broken also. Can anyone else confirm this?

Edit: I just tried it near camp Bloodshore (also grade 3 trees), and it does not seem to be broken there.. only around Horizon. Strange.

Triangulate does not take into account nodes that you cannot gather (ie the last 2 nodes you gathered at). I'm guessing the tree you were standing right next to is one that you just logged. If it wasn't that, then the node could have been bugged somehow, but I've never heard of that happening before.

[Zisa]

Used Arbor Call to make sure, and it said I was 3 yalms away, so it was not something I had already logged. Possible it was just bugged, though, seeing as how it was only happening in one area.

[Jamison]

I know this is the Mining thread, but I figured this was the best place to ask: Did they break the higher tiers of Triangulate/Prospect/Dowse? I was recently in the Camp Horizon area (grade 3 trees.. I'm a botanist), and my Triangulate IV was giving me the movement speed bonus regardless of how far away I was from a tree. I was literally standing right next to a logging point, and I was still getting the movement speed bonus. It did not happen when I went to an area with grade 2 and lower, however, and I did not buy Triangulate III, so I cannot test to see if that is broken also. Can anyone else confirm this?

Edit: I just tried it near camp Bloodshore (also grade 3 trees), and it does not seem to be broken there.. only around Horizon. Strange.

Horizon has both grade 3 and grade 4 nodes in the same zone (Cederwood, near as I can tell, is its own zone). Your Triangulate was registering the grade 4 harvesting points around Nophica's Wells. This is actually a quite useful thing to take advantage of.

[Liabo]

Also like to Confirm for Grid Grade 4 by Humble earth:

Raw Malachite
Raw Peridot
Raw Sunstone
Raw Garnet

I know some of these also come from the lower nodes like the Malachite but haven't mined here alot.

[Jamison]

Also like to Confirm for Grid Grade 4 by Humble earth:

Raw Malachite
Raw Peridot
Raw Sunstone
Raw Garnet

I know some of these also come from the lower nodes like the Malachite but haven't mined here alot.

Couldn't take Cederwood anymore, eh?

Thanks for the info, edited the earlier post to be more specific.

Raw gems are a little weird. I may have been expected too much depth from the system... I was anticipating that the gems found in a zone would correspond to a zones natural element, etc etc. Instead it looks like they just plopped different ones in different places. What's really perplexing to me, near as I can tell, only 4 of the 6 r19 gems are available in grade three, despite them all being the same rank. One zone has 2, 2 zones have 1, and 2 are unaccounted for until grade 4 Coerthas.

[Liabo]

Yea cederwood sucks lol

Also out here by Humble earth I've hit gold sand and mythril ore. They both seem very rare though. Only a few hits within 3 hours. Getting lots of zinc ore though which is expensive on this server for some reason lol. This is not a bad place to mine if you can't hit a lot of the items in Coerthas. The spots are close and if you are the proper level you wont get aggro (I'm level 30 atm). Has anyone tried to gather in Mor Dhona? I haven't even been to the zone yet but maybe I'll go make a trip if no one has tried.

[Liabo]

(Sorry for double-posting, but this seemed different enough to separate out.)

Here's a list of the grade 4 raw gems and which zones to get them in.

Amethyst - Coerthas (Camp Glory) - Also possibly the only location for r19 Fluorite?
Aquamarine - LL (Cederwood)
Garnet - Black Shroud (Humblehearth)
Goshenite - Coerthas (Camp Glory) - Also possibly the only location for r19 Danburite?
Heliodor - Thanalan (Nophica's Wells)
Peridot - Black Shroud (Humblehearth)

Edit: Darksteel Ore also comes from Cederwood (Mythril Ore is possible there, haven't seen Gold Sand yet). Darksteel has the same difficultly/etc of Mythril Ore and Gold Sand. Darksteel excepting, Cederwood SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS. The points themselves aren't bad to get to, but the Yarzon aggro (skip that point if you can!) and the overall drop table is terrible.

Coerthas after 3 hours of mining.

Raw Fluorite
Raw Danburite
Raw Amethyst
Raw Goshenite
Mythril ore
Gold Sand
Dragon Obsidian

Amethyst seems pretty rare out of all the gems this time around. Also I think I sort of figured out how to tell what item you have a chance at getting based on how much you would have left after striking(@ level 31 anyways). Seems there may be another rare item though I'm not sure. The bar would have a very very small amount of health left after 1 strike but was unable to locate where the item was every time I saw it.

[Sephiroth]

Does anyone else have problems using the abilities after the timer runs out? It will say "X cannot be used now" and I have to press it a few times before it works. It's like the timer on the server for your ability isn't in synch with the timer on your screen and the one on your screen ends a few seconds too soon.

[Jamison]

Does anyone else have problems using the abilities after the timer runs out? It will say "X cannot be used now" and I have to press it a few times before it works. It's like the timer on the server for your ability isn't in synch with the timer on your screen and the one on your screen ends a few seconds too soon.

Yeah, I have to wait about 2 seconds after it runs out to hit it again. Annoying.

[Sendordm]

Does anyone else have problems using the abilities after the timer runs out? It will say "X cannot be used now" and I have to press it a few times before it works. It's like the timer on the server for your ability isn't in synch with the timer on your screen and the one on your screen ends a few seconds too soon.

Yea, I've gotten upwards of 5-7 seconds of "cannot be used now" before, pretty annoying when you are trying to maximize Prospect's Quick times.


I am now 28 and able to mine Grade 4 nodes 4 times, so I've left my home at Camp Bloodshore (where I spent the last 10 levels) and moved to Nophica's Wells. Honestly right now I am not concerned with making money from mined items; I just want to maximize exp gain.

The nodes around Nophica's Wells are in decent proximity of each other, but I haven't really tried any of the other Grade 4 locations extensively. Where does everyone recommend for Grade 4 leveling?

[Jamison]

Yea, I've gotten upwards of 5-7 seconds of "cannot be used now" before, pretty annoying when you are trying to maximize Prospect's Quick times.


I am now 28 and able to mine Grade 4 nodes 4 times, so I've left my home at Camp Bloodshore (where I spent the last 10 levels) and moved to Nophica's Wells. Honestly right now I am not concerned with making money from mined items; I just want to maximize exp gain.

The nodes around Nophica's Wells are in decent proximity of each other, but I haven't really tried any of the other Grade 4 locations extensively. Where does everyone recommend for Grade 4 leveling?

IMO, Nophica's Wells is probably the best location for skill/hour. Keeping in mind there's one mesa you can run through, sometimes cutting down on how much you have to run around.

Humblehearth is pretty decent, but can depend heavily on where the nodes spawn. Sometimes it is really really good, and sometimes pretty bad. I do really like how close it is to Gridania. Coerthas is a personal favorite of mine. Sometimes the zone will work against you (with huge ledges) and sometimes it is tough to find the points themselves (tucked away) but the drops are great and it's a decent zone to be in. Sometimes I use a quarry spot to alternate between just two nodes instead of three.

Cederwood gets, by far, my lowest recommendation. Nodes are a moderate distance apart, but the drops are absolutely terrible, and nodes can spawn in areas where Yarzon aggro. Just an all-around frustrating experience for me.

Finally, I would say that at SOME point you should probably do some of each. Only one zone gets way too boring for 10 ranks, and sometimes it is a lot easier just to go to the one you are currently closest too.