How important is harvesting/foraging?

[wizaerd]

I'm still on the starter island, working my way through the training missions, and am now currently working through some of the harvesting missions. Of everything I've done so far, this is by far my least favorite activity. I don't remember which mission it is, but I think it's the 3rd one, where you have to start prospecting for fine materials.

It's all quite tedious, walk to a spot, prospect, nothing there, move a few steps, prospect again, nothing there, move a few steps, propspect, etc... And then when I do find a source, extracting it kills me. Ugh... Give me enemies to whack, creatures to blow up with my mighty magic spells, patterns to craft, but I'd like to forget prospecting even exists. By doing so, am I hampering my ability to play the game effectively?

[raven41]

It won't help crafting any... But I didn't start digging at all until just last month(or crafting) (Started game Aug 05) And I never had a problem, I just did combat stuff... (Course there has been months of inactivity in the last year but I still have a couple 250s in combat).

[wizaerd]

So in order to really make use of crafting, then I have to harvest/forage/prospect? I was afraid of that... As William Shakespeare would have said "it truly doth sucketh..."

[greymage]

Originally Posted by wizaerd

So in order to really make use of crafting, then I have to harvest/forage/prospect? I was afraid of that... As William Shakespeare would have said "it truly doth sucketh..."

- You don't have to, in the worst case you can trade mob mats for forage mats

- Harvesting gets easier and more fun the higher your level. I hated it in the beginning too, but now it's fun. If you like adrenaline try harvesting stuff near some mobs, a lot of nice mats are in aggro areas - keeps the heart rate up...

[riveit]

Originally Posted by wizaerd

It's all quite tedious, walk to a spot, prospect, nothing there, move a few steps, prospect again, nothing there, ...

I also found foraging tedious when I started and I hardly foraged at all for many months. However, I later found it can be enjoyable. At first, searching for mats and digging is very difficult. You can get around this by having higher level foragers show you spots and you mark them on your map. You can also careplan for higher level foragers. As you progress, you get much more powerful foraging skills: large area prospects, faster digging, popping many sources, knowledge, careplanning, specializations, tracking etc. Much later, it is incredibly fun to race around the lower level prime root areas chasing after different supreme mats as the weather changes every few minutes.

[mugendo]

Originally Posted by wizaerd

As William Shakespeare would have said "it truly doth sucketh..."

....as written in the original draft of his play "the actress and the bishop".


When you are hunting you are increasing your knowledge of Atys, and this translates into useful information of locations and mob activity when you return as a digger. So stay with the 'skull crushing' tour of Atys, and digging will be there when/if you are ready to 'do an honest days digging'

[philu]

While it's not essential to forage in order to be able to craft, it is easier to do so.

You can hunt mobs and use the mats to craft with but I always found it hard to get one specific element using that method. For example, when armour crafting I could never get enough lining mats from mobs. For a while I tried to craft without digging, mainly relying on guild mates when I couldn't find the mob mats. In the end I gave in and started to forage and never looked back.

So unless you can sort out an ready supply of mats, I'd recommend persevering with it until it gets easier at higher levels and with experience.

Besides, digging can be quite relaxing after a hard day at work.

[raven41]

As I am sick and tired (Literally) -- I forgot to mention, That Foraging does become far less annoying at higher lvls.. The higher I get the less annoying. Esp once ya find the spots you like to dig and can dig in relitive peace, Also Digging with friends is good/Can be fun

[wizaerd]

If I continue with this whole foraging thing (shudder), and it gets allegedly easier as I gain skills and levels, may I ask some of the things I can look forward to? Or better yet, ask specific questions about it?

Such as:

1) Is it allways going to be guesswork? Meaning I need a specific mat for a specific reason. Will I have tools/abilities/skills to determine where that mat is found and go specifically for it? Or is it always going to be like a grab bag, never knowing what's in there?

2) I assume because I'm so low level, and haven't done a single custom action yet (I understand them, just don't know quite how to make the best of them, or have the appropriate stanzas yet), that I'm dying way too frequently, merely by digging. (How bothersome... I can take on several mobs, but digging in the ground kills me... hmpfff) Is this normal, or am I perhaps doing something wrong? I see the meters, but I can't really "do" much while I'm digging to affect those meters. So when the source meter runs out, poof, that's it... Or the Explosive meter runs out, poof that's it as well, there's not much I can to afect them, right?

[mugendo]

Originally Posted by wizaerd

1) Is it allways going to be guesswork? Meaning I need a specific mat for a specific reason. Will I have tools/abilities/skills to determine where that mat is found and go specifically for it? Or is it always going to be like a grab bag, never knowing what's in there?

Later levels allows you to specialise...and search over a greater range for specific mats. This is where you add the knowledge of Atys you already have to narrow the region where particular mats are found....oh, and the season/weather also effects digging . You will be so busy applying the knowledge needed to be an effective digger you will not have time to get bored.
And it's great digging with someone careplanning (stopping it exploding in your face) with you.

edit - when you dig in a team you BOTH get xp......and create digging/care stanza to complement each other. It's a lot to learn, but soon the pieces of information start to make sense.