GU60: Tradeskill Writs for Levels 15-20, Harvesting Speed Bump

Frizznik is putting forth some changes to crafting in Game Update 60. Due to the loss of pristine bonuses when crafting new items that came with Velious, players have discovered a range of levels from 17-20 where there are no tradeskill quests to do, and XP has become a slow grind. So new tradeskill writs are being added from level 15-20 to resolve this issue.

Meanwhile, harvesting speed is getting a boost for low levels, with the base harvesting time dropping from 5 seconds to 3 seconds. If you’re concerned that harvesting will be too fast at high levels, have no fear. Deity buffs, racial traits, tinkered tools, and crafted tools are all being nerfed adjusted to make sure the maximum harvesting speed is still around 2 seconds.

Frizznik on adding tradeskill writs for levels 15-20:

There certainly was a black hole. Doing gathering obsession sort of helped, but only would get you about half of a level.

I just added in some level 15 tradeskill writs for outfitters, craftsman, and scholars. They should hit test next week if you want to check them out from your local writ giver.

This seemed like the best idea because it introduces you to writs a bit earlier, and also gives you a chance to earn status for your guild sooner.

Frizznik on harvesting speed:

I wanted to let you all know about some harvesting changes that will be hitting test this week and then going out with GU60.

Three things: harvesting speed is faster, harvesting skill up rate is faster, and a desperate plea.

Harvesting speed is going to be faster at lower levels. Five seconds felt like an an extra long time when harvesting as a new player. It gets faster as you level up and have access to harvesting tools to the point that it feels much better. I changed it so that the base time of harvesting is now 3 seconds to help ease new harvesters into it and make it more enjoyable. The tools and racial traits have been modified as well. There are tools at 20, 30, 40, 50, and 70. They started at a .5 reduction and added .5 seconds at each tier ending in 2.5 second reduction. Those tools now will start at a .1 reduction and add .1 second per tier ending in a .5 second reduction. This means that at level 80+ you would be exactly the same as you were with 3 seconds – .5 seconds ending in a 2.5 second harvesting time. Wood elf and half elf racial traits were also decreased from 1 second to .5 seconds and the human and Sarnak traits were reduced from .5 seconds to .25 seconds. This may feel like a nerf to the tools and racial traits, but if you look at it as a whole system you will see that it is more fair to lower level players trying to become interested in harvesting.

Harvesting skill up chance is a little higher. The way that you gain a skill is based on chance. This chance decreases the closer you get to the skill required to harvest from a specific node. The chance was around 30~50%. This seemed especially unfair to the player who is only doing tradeskills and have their harvesting skill cap rely on their tradeskill level. You would get into a situation where you needed to reach the cap for a tier to move into the next tier, but it would get slower and slower based on how the chance to gain skill works. Not only that but this ratio of skill gain has not changed since launch. That means, because you can level up faster than you could at launch it was super easy to leave your harvesting skill in the dust. The chance to gain a skill up has changed to 50~80% on appropriate harvesting nodes. Overall you should notice you get a skill gain 20~30% faster.

The last addition is the desperate plea. After the update, upon harvesting the first time you will get a letter in the mail from Lian Augren. She will let you know that she has heard of your interest in harvesting and that you should come talk to her son Qho on the Isle of Mara. She will include a heirloom bonus xp tradeskill potion to entice you and to apologize if the letter found you too late. The intention of this addition is to make players aware of the Gathering Obsession questline as soon as they start harvesting. It was entirely possible to not find this questline until much later in your career which would then force you to go harvest in low level zones. It is much more compelling to work on the quest, gain harvesting skill, and materials all at the same time. The unfortunate part of this addition is that it will apply to all players whether they have worked on Qho’s questline or not, so if you did “get the mail late” please enjoy the complimentary potion.

Rijacki asked if the meat-to-pelt ratios could be adjusted since they make the quest A Gathering Obsession quite painful in certain zones. Frizznik‘s reply:

I want to look at doing something for that… especially in Rivervale is it frustrating, not sure there is time for GU60 but it is something that should get looked at.

Regarding tinkering tools:

Some other questions that got asked / things I missed!

The tinker tools have had their harvesting time reduced as well:

• 30: .2 seconds
• 46: .3 seconds
• 66: .5 seconds

Human, ogre, and dwarf traits were also halved. Out of context I know that looks like a nerf, so please consider the new base time and the system as a whole.

Regarding the potion…I wanted it to be helpful if you were already max level but due to the exploit chance, I changed it to not be heirloom. Instead it also gives bonuses to combat or aa experience for an hour, so use it however you like. If you are max tradeskill, adventure, and aa experience… then I don’t know drink it in a toast to good health and fortune.

While timers are being shortened, why not the Mender Bot (Mechanized Platinum Repository of Reconstruction)? Frizznik had this:

I think this may have already been changed for 60. If not I will look into changing it tomorrow. I will throw in a casting animation too.