And these are used as unpredictable (not random) chaotic alterants in varying how the RNG algorithm chooses its component instructions, correct? If so then yes, we're on the same page and I omitted this in favor of not complicating the explanation more than it was. Thanks for upping the precision factor though I just meant that not the seed number, nor anything like it, was stored on a client machine in such a way that an individual person received different results from the RNG than another.
Hello Elostirion, thank you for taking the time to answer my question. I now have a very good idea of how the RNG works (light bulb!). So if you're in a bad streak, take a break, let others have the RNG for a few hours and come back. I will try this on my main NiteGazer, she always has a very hard time extracting those rares, even though she is fully geared for the occasion (my young toons put her to shame). The release of the potion did improve this somewhat though (so it seems). Second, psychology does creep in here too. If you believe you are unlucky, you are more likely to remember examples that fit your perception and forget the ones that don't, and reinforce your perception. No worries here, I am not superstitious Kind Regards ~Feara
To more clearly illustrate something he didn't elaborate on. If you seed an RNG with a static value (prob what he was referring to with data from a client machine) and call that RNG 10, 100 or 1000's of times the values that it returns will be identical in sequence, even on different computers. i.e. 14,65,....21,90 This is what he meant by being hacked/abused/exploited etc. The release of the potion I guess you mean bountiful harvests didn't increase the chance for you to get a rare, what it did increase was the chance for you to harvest times on one pull, which gave you 2 chances at getting a rare. I'm not sure if there has ever been a dev that confirmed the statement that the higher your harvesting skill is the better chance at getting a rare, and it is not hard capped, so every piece of gear you can get on might help, certainly shouldn't hurt.
Basically there are two tables for harvesting (quoted from domino on old forums): For each node in each zone, when you harvest it, there are different result tables set up that tell the game what to give you when you harvest. Your skill level determines which table you use. For example, using entirely invented numbers, let's imagine that there is a root node in a level 30-40 zone and you go and harvest it with a gathering skill of 190. The game sees that the root node points to two result tables. Let's call them: T4_roots_base_result - required skill 140 T4_roots_bonus_result - required skill 189 The "base" table might tell you that you have a 70% chance of getting 1 root, a 20% chance of getting 3 roots, an 8% chance of getting 5 roots, a 1% chance of getting an imbue, a 0.7% chance of getting a rare root, and a 0.3% chance of getting a rare root + 10 common ones. The "bonus" table might tell you that you have a 60% chance of getting 1 root, a 25% chance of getting 3 roots, an 10% chance of getting 5 roots, a 0.5% chance of getting an imbue, a 0.8% chance of getting a rare root, and a 0.7% chance of getting a rare root + 10 common ones. (Yes, the numbers probably don't add up to 100%, I just invented them on the spot.) Now we know that if your skill is under 140, you can't harvest the node at all. And we know your skill is 190. So the RNG rolls a number between 140 and 190. If it gets 140-188, you use the "base" result table. If it gets 189+, you use the "bonus" result table. Clearly, as your gathering skill increases, your chance of using the "bonus" result table gets better. (This is where +harvesting skill items affect your results, they increase your chance of using the bonus table.)
The "bountiful harvests" potion IS rare chance (2%), it just shares its name with the "bountiful harvests" AA which is multiharvest chance. (2nd half of this post ninjaed)
Domino explained how harvesting works years ago when she was the TS dev.... Basically there are two tables used .. your harvesting skill is used to determine which table you pull from. The "bonus table" grants a higher chance of rares and higher harvest amounts. What happens is the game do a random number between the minimum skill needed to harvest and your current skill. If the result is greater than the minimum needed to hit the bonus table, then your harvest attempt will use the bonus table. The exact skill values were never disclosed nor was the actual differences between the two tables.
Oh and .. Refining is fine the way it is. I thought refining stacks would be a good idea .. but then I thought about it some more and I am against it because I think it would drive up common materials prices . This would in turn hurt the "poor" people out there attempting to level tradeskills.
Ah so Potion of Bountiful Harvests gives an extra 2% chance for a rare plus additional chance of a bountiful harvest that gives 2 rolls on the table.
Not the way the tooltip reads. It says the following: Applies Potion of Bountiful Harvests when Activated. Lasts for 6 hours. Increases rare harvest chance by 2% The tradeskill AA that increases the number of harvests is called Ample Harvest. It increases the ground mount speed by 2%/point and the chance to harvest a second time by 3%/point. The tradeskill AA that increases the rare harvest chance is called Trim Reaver. It increases the rare harvest chance by 0.2%/point.
Ok. Yeah I finally got to look at one of my Pottions of Bountiful Harvests. I am almost 100% that when you proc the extra pull from a node that it says Bountiful Harvest something, so maybe that is what is confusing me. I am not a heavy TS'er just keep my alchemist up cos it is on my main. I think that the removal of WORT took a lot of depth out of TSing to me now it is just mind numbingly boring. BTW Lucus thanks for that post on the breakdown of the chances.
I'm perty sure it says bountiful harvest when you get an extra regular pull from the blue stat "bountiful harvest" that comes from AA, harvesting tools and the shawl. When you get a rare harvest from "rare harvest chance" it just adds an extra line with the rare you get and no additional message. Occasionally you do get 4 lines of text, one bountiful harvest message, 1 rare and 2 other harvests (which could include rares). Also the normal pull and bountiful harvest proc can be on the bonus table while the rare harvest chance doesn't use a table other than a 50/50 if the node has multiple rares.
