Not A Bug Rare harvest chance has been silently removed for all zones

Discussion in 'Resolved' started by Observing, Apr 11, 2022.

  1. Observing Active Member

    Not just BOL forward
    Reptak, Lateana, Ayodi and 2 others like this.
  2. Taled Well-Known Member

    ...

    What?
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  3. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Looking at my character sheet, I've got a 6% Rare Harvest Chance in my Tradeskill Stats (from full Trim Reaver and Seasoned Harvesting); 5th line up from the bottom.

    Currently, I'm in the Eastern Wastes.

    Uwk
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  4. Rattophaxe Well-Known Member

    Since when was rare harvest chance removed from BoL? (Or any other zone, for that matter)
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  5. Morukta The ORIGINAL Micro-Gnome

    I have seen a few forum posts/threads that have mentioned rare harvest chances being adjusted down, even to near zero. I cannot confirm that, but I know for certain the rate of rares returned by my ponies & goblins is most definitely down a LOT.
    Used to be able to count on at least 1-3 rares per character most of the time when emptying them both after being sent out for harvests. Now, it seems like I might get three or four rares per day from my entire lineup (11 ponies/11 goblins), and that's with multiple runs collected (I typically pull mats from them 3-5 times a day).
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  6. Observing Active Member

    It may show that but it does effectively nothing now.
  7. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Point, yeah. :-/

    I'm not sure why they're doing this, other than it's a bone to throw to the dev who, rumors have it, had always detested crafting and didn't see any point to ever activating it way back when. :-/

    Uwk
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  8. Observing Active Member

    To clarify, the rare harvest chance stat has no visible effect in any zone.
    Originally it was a flat percentage of getting a bonus rare harvest per click/interaction.
    In BOL, ROS, and VOV zones it was reduced to an unnoticeable effect.
    Now that appears to be extended to all zones in the game.
    Did I miss a patch note?
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  9. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    I have to wonder that myself... :-/

    I've known folks who flat-out rage quit after one too many messes with tradeskilling (and by extension, harvesting). Now, I for one DO NOT EVER put rares on the Marketplace, which may be cruel of me to deny folks, but I need just about all I can get for my Horde o' Toons' gear, and even when they're finally all geared up, there's always MC'd house items to make (though I rarely ever "waste" rares on that much past Tier 1 [even my baby toons can get to Tier 2 via my Collectibles Depot and those quest turn-ins], unless it's for like a sign or a Tapestry of the Steam Lord, something really unusual). :-/

    It may not be Crafter Hate rearing its ugly head; it may be that the value of rares is shooting through the ceiling on the Broker, and the more inflation there, the more we'll have to buy and sell Kronos to be able to afford anything there... X-P

    Uwk
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  10. Ayodi Active Member

    "We're not going to reward players for digging in the dirt" was the very first outburst I remember
    from developers in 2005. The contempt for crafting has been ever present in EQ2 from the beginning
    in part because of the wrong view that crafting did not generate revenue. Crafters tend to be long term players, and as such over time are the cash cow that breathes life into the game. Back when Master Crafted Gear mattered, it was the go to as soon as a toon hit a level with a 2 on the end of it. No More. With the pushes of resolve to force players to use current gear, and potency requirements to promote ptp & ptw conditions, it is patently obvious current game builders do not want players straying from the allowed cattle chute for gear. IMHO Developers will continue their crusade to eliminate gear acquisition outside of mandated current content. ------>Thus, diminished rare harvests for production.
    -Ayodi
  11. Geroblue Well-Known Member

    I wonder how depot making will be affected ?
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  12. Observing Active Member

    There are lot of conveniences that exist or I have accumulated in the current game.
    I would not play this game if I had to start over like TLE or even a new server.
    Some recent tone-deaf changes are making the current game more tedious, retroactively.
    I have a lot of solidarity with those who choose to rage quit.
  13. Uwkete-of-Crushbone Well-Known Member

    Bloody hell...I've said it before and I'll say it again: allergic to making money. :mad:

    I have no idea what all the various tweaks to combat numbers are nowadays; I do remember when, for anything less than level 100 (and yes, most of The Horde isn't in triple digits yet), crafted gear would be fine from, say, level 22 Mastercrafted up to just before level 32 mobs, when you HAD to get level 32 gear in the spots that could be Imbued (Chest/Legs, Cloak, Charms, Rings, weapons, shields). Nowadays, if you're at level 30, you'd BETTER get those spots geared up and Imbued, even at the beginning of the tier, since they nerfed our crafted gear to a hideous extent but didn't seem to tweak the mobs much at all (going much beyond level 36 or 37 mobs in that example is tricky). >:-/

    And apparently, all that was because the Mythical, Fabled, Lyric, Nonsensical, whatever the heck the types are weren't "properly" leaving anything we lowly peons could make in the dust. X-P

    Yeah, I guess we can "play our way," if our way is only getting upgraded gear through dungeon crawls, raiding, and having our toons go broke trying to acquire them on the Broker...or us going broke in RL trying to sell enough Kronos to keep up with Broker inflation. >:-/

    Uwk
    who wonders: do they still have crafting in EQ1? Are they worried about it "generating revenue" over there?
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  14. Rattophaxe Well-Known Member

    I have no idea about any patch notes, but yes, a rare harvest chance of, say, 20% does not mean a 1 in 5 chance of a rare on every pull (perish the thought!), but something more along the lines of "20% better than the hideously low number it was to begin with". So if the base rare chance was 5%, your 20% extra will get you to 6%. Wheeee! And if the base chance is 1% then all your lovely harvesting gear gets you to now is 1.2%. So yeah. The gear is pretty much a waste of space. (BTW, does anyone even know what the base chance is?). What does matter is your "bountiful harvest", because this can double your number of pulls, and therefore (in effect) double your "rare chance". But twice pitiful is still pitiful, so again it depends on what the base chance actually is.

    But AFAIK this is how it works in all zones, and has done for ... well I don't know, but for some considerable time. Hasn't it? I had no idea it was ever "just BoL and later".
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  15. Observing Active Member

    It is not "some considerable time". It was definitely changed in 2022. And probably March 2022 or April 2022.
    I have logs this year of getting 20 rares in 30 clicks. Which is how it worked for a decade.
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  16. Geroblue Well-Known Member

    If my fun goes away, I'll be gone.

    Anyway, I think this game might be someone's tax write off... that would explain a number of things. to me anyway.
  17. Taled Well-Known Member

    The last change I believe they made (publicly) was intended to change the way rare harvests worked to work the same everywhere across the board, but that was a .. while.. ago, now. I couldn't even say when, but it wasn't last month, I'm pretty sure.

    It was a change made in response to complaints about the way it worked post-BoL, I believe, pretty much. You *should* still get more rares from the lower tier nodes either way due to higher skill ratios, but I couldn't say as far as the rare chance going from 'nearly every hit' to 'actually rare' - though, to be honest, I will say rares in older content weren't particularly rare.
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  18. Bhayar Well-Known Member

    I wouldn't give this much credence. Considering the quantity of players involved in crafting/harvesting, and one could validly argue that the game itself is pointing people towards crafting, if an employee is so stupid as to need a bone thrown to him because he disagrees with a fundamental part of the game, I'd suggest you throw him an employment application to McDonalds. Frankly, those are the kinds of enterprise decisions designed to destroy a game---and your own employment. Think about it, haha.
  19. Bramdar Active Member

    The most recent change was to remove rare roots from the common harvest tables, since those rares were very clearly more common than the other rares.

    I only have anecdotal evidence, like everyone else in this thread, but while I do seem to see fewer rares from the ponies and shrubs overall, I'm not having trouble finding rare harvests using harvesting gear/familiars/mounts. Again it's anecdotal, but I've noticed more success finding rare harvests while wearing the gear than without it. I've also found more success harvesting specific rares (ie ores) when I ONLY harvest those nodes as opposed to harvesting every single node I see.

    I was away for a few years. Was rare harvest chance definitely a flat percentage at any point in the past? I don't remember if it was or not.
    Uwkete-of-Crushbone likes this.
  20. Bhayar Well-Known Member

    I concur with the anecdotal evidence regarding fewer rares from plants/ponies in the game. I'm noticing an ever increasing tendency to see no rares at all between ponies and plants, which would be counterintuitive.