Shadow harvest bug on Test

Discussion in 'Test Server Forum' started by Whilhelmina, Dec 29, 2019.

  1. Whilhelmina Well-Known Member

    I harvested something like 700 shadow nodes on Thurgadin, and several times, we were at least 3 players gathering at the same time in the same area.
    I never, ever, had a run with no shadow nodes at all. Sometimes 2-3 nodes and that's all, but never zero.

    On Test, we were 4 players in the Blinding when I tried, 13 on the server and I got no node at all. Several times, Niami and Suzeta complained about having no shadow nodes showing for them either.

    I gathered 700 nodes, I know what they look like, I know how to do it, there's no competition on the server, my particles are set the same way as on live when I gather.
    Everything points to a bug specific to Test server: zone going down, respawn breaking, no regular harvests harvested in the zone which breaks the respawn for shadow or something weird like that, but there's something specific to Test that needs to be looked at.
    Mermut likes this.
  2. Niami DenMother Well-Known Member

    I would say that about 1/4 to 1/3 of the time I find either zero shadowed nodes or 1 or 2, and that is it for the entire 5 minutes of flying around the zone looking for them. The rest of the time, I can find easily over a dozen per run, even in the Wracklands where I have to fight mobs for many of the nodes. I've checked before, and even when I am the only high-level on the server at the time, and nobody else was near those zones, I could get a run with no nodes. It isn't "competition", it is something awry. :(
    Breanna and Mermut like this.
  3. Whilhelmina Well-Known Member

    My second run right now, we were 2 on the server, I was alone in the Blinding, same place as before. I didn't harvest at all before. For whatever reason, that time, I got 22 shadow nodes.
    Breanna likes this.
  4. Arcos Active Member



    Of those how many, if any, were rares? Since getting 3 rares fairly early on I've yet to see another.
  5. Avithax Well-Known Member

    Has shadow harvest been unlocked to level up yet on test? Everyone is still sitting @ 25/600 on live.
    Descord likes this.
  6. Niami DenMother Well-Known Member


    No. We are in the same shape as everyone else regarding not leveling up. We just have some zones behaving oddly at times with regards to shadowy nodes.
    Breanna likes this.
  7. Adept Active Member

    I have had times where there has been no nodes
    Other times when there has been a plethora of nodes

    I even question if we are competing for the same nodes? I have ran 2 of my harvesters one after the other ... and if the first one had a lot of nodes the second does too. If the first saw no nodes .. neither did the second.

    My first thought was it was a function of time of day but no - after testing that did not seem to effect number of nodes.

    I would have guessed it is a function of zone population - so where, above, there was only 4 in the zone, it did not generate many/any nodes - but then i see post by Whilhelmina saying got 22 nodes while alone in the zone.

    Pounds data into a mechanical calculator and pulls the handle.
    Conclusion: It just doesn't add up!

    Of course after harvesting about 500 commons and not a single rare pretty much giving up on all this nonsense.
    (Note to Daybreak .. no I will NOT be paying more money to level up spells)
  8. Mercychalice Well-Known Member

    IMO this buff needs to be at least half an hour long. There are too many active mobs and too many other players doing it to have 5 minutes of time be remotely useful.
    Sigrdrifa likes this.
  9. Mermut Well-Known Member

    It's especially rough since swapping the staff out cancels the buff...
    The reflex of swapping out of harvesting gear into adventure gear to kill the mobs interupting my node-hovering is a killer with the buff as is.
  10. Arcos Active Member



    Do you mean cancels the ability to see and harvest shadow nodes or the possibility of getting shadow rares. I always swap out to adventure gear including the staff but can still see and harvest - just not getting any rares.
  11. Mermut Well-Known Member

    Last time I swapped out the staff my buff dropped. I haven't tried it since.
    It's hard to 'justify' testing when we only get 5 minutes every 2 hrs.. especially when we need SO many rares just to get 'ordinary' experts and the rares are so insanely rare.
    Breanna and Sigrdrifa like this.
  12. Niami DenMother Well-Known Member

    Swapping the staff out hasn't canceled the buff for me ... zoning does, but staff-swapping shouldn't.
    Descord, Breanna and Arcos like this.
  13. Mercychalice Well-Known Member



    if the staff is not maintained, you (or at least I) don't see any nodes. if you die, the buff drops. if you change gear the buff drops.
  14. Whilhelmina Well-Known Member

    I swapped several times and died several times while harvesting and could always find more nodes afterwards (especially on my SK in Wracklands, the Tegi are a pain).
    You lose the purple appearance, but the buff stays in the icon list and I could harvest afterwards (and I think I even got one of my few true rares after a death but couldn't swear it).
    I lost the buff once but I couldn't reproduce it.

    Doesn't really change the fact that on Test, with the ultra-low population, we should have nodes everywhere in safe areas (and should probably be able to come back after zone reset anyway). The fact that we often see no nodes is really weird. It points to some kind of underlying bug or problem.
    Arcos and Mermut like this.
  15. Suzeta Member

    I concur- its either 10-20 harvest or ZERO- no matter how many in zone-
    and I only harvest in "safe" areas so i can wear harvest gear without having to fight-
    ..and ZERO "rare" rares still
  16. Whilhelmina Well-Known Member

    Yeah, and compared to that, I just got 17 on Thurgadin in the Blinding (10 around spires and 7 in the Mesa area) just after the patch (and saw 2 other players with the buff flying around - patch didn't fix anything on those nodes as expected)
    Breanna likes this.
  17. Niami DenMother Well-Known Member

    Harvest the area normally before you shadow harvest on Test, if you're not positive that you just opened a fresh zone that had been closed for more than 30 minutes. If there's someone afk in the zone, most definitely harvest as much as you can normally first.

    The below is paraphrasing, but what I learned today. (Oooh, do I get to use the "TIL" abbreviation that the younger folk use? :D)


    Shadowed nodes only have a chance to be created when a node spawns somewhere in the zone. Then they stay up for an hour before depopping (so they don't get stuck in hard-to-reach spots forever). So, if a zone on Test has been up for an hour or more, and nobody has been clearing normal harvests, there are no new nodes spawning and thus no chances for new shadowed nodes to spawn (and the older ones will have depopped).

    That's why The Blinding gets a decent amount of shadowed nodes on the Live servers during primetime ... lots of people also doing normal harvesting. On Test, though ... if someone goes afk in a BoL overland zone (or is adventuring in one) enough to keep the zone open for more than an hour, it is impacting the number of shadow rare nodes you will be able to find.
    Melkior and Breanna like this.