Surviving on Mainland with harvesting skills only

[browserice]

I had initially created an Alt Char named Solodigger where I wanted to see how far I can go on Mainland with only one skill : harvesting. It seamed like an interesting challenge.

On Fyros Mainland, I currently have :
- Fight level 1
- Magic level 1
- Crafting level 45 (see below as to why)
- Harvesting level 104

HP = 763, Stamina = 200, Sap = 200, Focus = 1550


So far, after reaching harvesting level 104, I have come to a conclusion. Doing this goal with harvesting skills only is not enough.

Sure I can wear jewels/armors with Focus boosts. Half of the jewels I have have each 50 Focus Boosts. But that kind of item is not actively present in the NPC stores at all times. So either you wait until you can buy one or ask others to do it for you or you build them yourself.

That is the conclusion I have reached. No matter how many people out there are crafting Focus boost items, you are bound to find your self with stores that do not have them. So until you wait for them to show up, you can always ask in the Chats but again, sooner or later, none will be available when you need them. That is why, I have modified my goal to include crafting jewels with Focus Boosts that I will make myself. My playing time is not regular, nor constant. So I often meet those situations and do not want to wait around for help (unless its available right now at that moment).

As for health, you can upgrade your health through harvesting XP and/or wear items with HP Boosts. I have both.

I even created a guild of my own with this Alt Char : Solo Guild.

I admit I have used Catalysts boosts because some players offered them to me without me asking for it. Maybe that was the cause of this problem. I grew up my harvesting stanza too quickly for the normal amount of focus I should have at my current level ?

In any case, I will now build up my jewel crafting to create all my focus boosted jewels myself. I just hope I don't wind up in another situation where this is not enough to keep moving forward this goal.

So if any new players thinks they cannot survive on Mainland with Harvesting only, you can. One new player was thinking the opposite in a chat today.

[katriell]

Cool experiment. Yet another piece of proof that the game can be played in many ways, not just in the way the average gamer expects.

[jwenting]

cats are not the problem, all they do is speed up character development.
You will find that no matter what you do you will never have enough focus.

I was lucky enough to find people to make focus jewels for me for free so far, and even with 55 extra focus on each plus 10 on each (q110 jewels) on the armour I craft (I have mainly hp boosts on that, q100 light armour) I run out.
Having a second toon specialising as a careplanner helps, but only goes so far as well.

And oh, you will always find yourself lagging behind in crafting next to harvesting unless you use cats only when crafting, not when harvesting.

I may try to boost my alt's crafting skills to where she can create focus jewels of a next level when I need them, but that will take a lot of work as she's currently some 90 levels behind my digging

[suib0m]

You will find that no matter what you do you will never have enough focus.

Not true at all.. It's a careful balance of many different factors including (but not limited to) level, danger, xp... For instance, if you're running out of focus so quick that you'd get more mats and xp using lesser stanzas in your actions then it's a waste. Going all out with the best stanzas is not always teh best option. There's quite a bit to play with and think about when digging, and much of it is not obvious.

If you can find your way to Dyron as a low level (not too hard, in comparison with trying to get to some other area's high level dig spots) then I don't think you'll have too much issue at all getting most of the way to 250.

Good luck with your experiment

Peace,
- Sui

[kalindra]

As much as I love Dyron (it's my home, after all) I would still recommend exploring and trying to dig Oflovak's Oasis and Frahar Towers, rather than going easy mode for 150+ levels. You seem to like a challenge. Digging Dyron is probably the least challenging forage you can do out of the 5 continents. Digging the same mats at the same spots for about 200 levels does get old.
Especially if you dig the same 2 mats in the same spots over and over. (Yay, jewel craft. )

I already mastered desert, so it's too late, but if I had to do it again, I'd try to find good grind spots in the lower level regions for each of my mats. Just for variety's sake. Easyness is probably the single most boring way to go... and the fastest one to get burnt out.

If you want to get bored even faster, start in Flaming Forest. Once you've mastered dodging the aggro at the entrance ramp, you're good for 250 levels of the same spots over and over.

You can tell that what I enjoy most about digging is to find new, alternate spots where to dig that no one knows or cares about. Like the q50 zun amps mat spots that I found in Pyr strictly by using deposit tracking. I knew that BM site wouldn't tell me about basic or fine q50 mats. Why waste q250 stuff to make q50 maga amps ?

That was a silly, yet interesting challenge.

[iceaxe68]

This is a heck of a challenge. I salute you.

(And if you ever want to buy focus jewels, just ask me. I'll be happy to charge you a reasonable fee to keep it fair to your challenge, or perhaps I'll ask you to supply the materials.)

Also, jewel crafting without cats is madness. I know, I've done most of mine without, and I'm still well short of mastery. *cradles destroyed mouse-click-finger*

P.S. I'll second Sherk's suggestions on Desert digging - there are nice, scenic, and even safe spots to dig in OO and FT if you just take the time to look.