So I was harvesting in some T5 zones today to level up my Woodworker alt, and using the tinkered overclocked harvesting tools with the 'standard' harvesting macro (i.e. swap tool 1, try appropriate harvest skills, swap tool 2, etc.). Of course at the end of this macro it puts my hex doll back in place. As I was doing this, I got to thinking about one of Domino's recent posts about how rare items are found and her nifty little formulas and such. Anywho, the point is, apparently you have a higher chance at finding a rare the higher your skill is above the maximum harvesting level for that tier. The overclocked tools give you a small bonus to your harvesting skill. Using the macro mentioned though, they're only equipped to initiate the harvest chance (thus resulting in the reduced harvest time). So does the game determine what you harvest (or will harvest) immediately, and then make you wait - or, which I presume is what really happens, does it check what you harvest at the end of the 'timer' thus negating the +skill from the overclocked tools using the macro?
As far as anyone knows the harvest results are determined as you harvest - there's no way to know what's in a node before hand. If I had to take a wild guess I'd bet it was at the beginning. Edit: and as far as I know your harvesting skill needs to be well over the zone's range, so I'm not sure 5-10 points would help that much if you were harvesting close to the your skill.
Whoops, guess I should have mentioned I was harvesting on my main with maxed harvesting skills. 10-20 points isn't a huge difference, you're right, but just wanted to know if anyone happened to be able to confirm my suspicions. Thanks Calthine.
