Nodes

[Eshaac]

A question about harvesting nodes/rares for tradeskill'n.

Is it possible to have a vendor that can carry tradeskill nodes/rares on them on the test server.  It is extremely time consuming to try and harvest rares every time we wish to make anything that requires them.

Now I know there are certain times when you are testing rare drop rates, quantity of nodes dropped at any one time etc..., but can you not just turn off/disable that vendor when/while you are testing such things?  I know test server is supposed to allow you/us to test things under a live server environment, but this is test after all and nodes for tradeskilling would probably be a better way for us to help with that testing.  I know there are rare/none rare nodes now being sold on market place of eq2x so why can we not have a vendor on test that carries them free of cost to us testers?

We have a book worm, why not a node worm?

Anyway, is just a thoughtEshaac

[Cloudrat]

Good idea

[RandomWalk]

I think this is a great idea  for both Test and Testcopy.

I have in the past suggested this for the testcopy server.  If there are changes to tradeskills and I don't have a suitable ts'er on Test I will copy over my high level crafters to test out the changes.  The changes to totems is a recent example.  My woodworker does not carry with her raws of all tiers - I have a stack of everything in the shared bank (ok well not complete stacks of rares lol) and the rest is kept in the harvest depot.  Neither of these are copied over and so I found it quite challenging impossible to test each and every totem with the time I had available.

Aeriel

(7 level 90 tradeskillers on live; 2 on test - slacker!)

[Soresha]

Testcopy - yes. Test - no.

Whilst it seems like a cool idea that we can all be lazy, when you go beyond a little bit of help into the realms of outright laziness then it's not realistic gameplay any more. It is supposed to be time-consuming, otherwise where's the value in having made something from a rare which is better than you'd get from common resources?

Good Idea: To test a specific recipe, sure pop over to Testcopy and grab some rares to make a few. I'd fully support being able to do this. Absolutely.

Bad Idea: Destroying a whole area of the game on what is a real gameplay server, and removing the friendly swapping of rares that goes on within our community. I've swapped rares with quite a few different people on Test and never had a problem doing so - even met a few people that way!

They may be sold on eq2x, but unless you're a millionaire you won't be flooding the server with them. They are not free.

And be honest, how many times have you used a rare on Test to actually test something, vs. gearing up your toon (or decorating)? What are you really going to be using free rares for on a weekly basis? Ding level X0, I'll have a free set of mastercrafted gear at tier X+1 please...

If you wanted to compensate for the lack of market on Test, at most you could maybe bump the drop rate of rares from the nodes by 50%, so more rares would end up in circulation. I really doubt drop rates from harvestable nodes ever require testing, I'd imagine they're fixed by now? I still don't think this would make people start selling them, money is pretty worthless on Test, but they'd be more of them sitting in banks to swap or give away to someone in need.

Some people have toons on Live servers or Freeport (or both!) as well as on Test. I can see why they'd be a temptation to want things cushy on Test when you're there. Others of us only play on Test, that is our home server, our real server. It is exactly as you say, Eshaac: Test is a live server environment. So please don't try to turn Test into Testcopy, that's not what it's for.

A final thought... I suppose if there was an eq2x test server, these kind of requests wouldn't come up? But for now there is only one persistent test server, and it mirrors eq2 live, not eq2x. I don't think there's enough testers around to create a meaningful population on two test servers though! But by all means push for putting eq2x mechanics onto Testcopy for us to test them. E.g. if they can find a non-exploitable way of accessing marketplace items for free on Testcopy - hey you wouldn't even need a separate rares vendor then.

[Cloudrat]

What you call lazy and wanting things to be cushy, I callefficient and not wasting time covering a time sink contentthat doesn't need testing.

I am often confused as to the real intent of the test server,but I do know why I am there and it's because I thought I couldcontribute to a better game. There is so much content to coverthat wasting time harvesting for hours and hours takes awayfrom seeing things that often make it to live broken wherewe are blamed for not finding it.

I feel building your toons and oufitting them in what the gamehas to offer quickly so that you have time to actually dothe content and find the bugs and anomalies is more importantthan harvesting.

There are harvesting quests and  reasons to  build yourskills to keep that part of the game in use.

Bumping drop rates is just a watered down version of a vendor.

Test should not be a place to test out ability to make due underharsh conditions and shortages, but a place where we can in get toall the content before we are burned out.

and that is..... my two cents

[Whilhelmina]

I agree with Cloudrat on that.

Of course if the choice is between "no raw vendor at all" and "vendor on Test_Copy only", I'll go for the second.

The fact is Test is a very small community and there are nearly no raws at all on the broker (be it common or rare) by opposition to live servers which may see a shortage on some raws but not from all of them. I know I kinda dropped some T5 crafters due to laziness at harvesting once more to go through this Tier. I also know I have some very badly undergeared chars due to the same reason and yes, I'm lazy

I would love the ability to gear up alts and level tradeskillers without spending hours upon hours upon hours harvesting, the same way I loved being able to get the elusive 27-29 advanced books through the bookworm instead of farming endlessly through Splitpaw. It's not game breaking but it sure would be nice.

[Domino]

It's a tough call - remember when the harvesting nodes broke in Nektulos forest and similar zones?  It was folks on Test server who noticed that, and gave us time to fix it before it went live.  That probably would not have been noticed if there was a handy vendor giving harvests to everyone.  So it's not quite as straight forward a decision as it seems.

There is a tradeskill buffer on Test Copy server already, or should be, I believe in the Isle of Mara.  He should give out the top level harvests (both rare and common).  He doesn't give out lower level components however, if this is something that would be extremely useful I could take a look at it if someone reminds me after the expansion is done with.

[Eshaac]

Very well said Cloud and I agree, which is what my post was about. 

As for harvesting nodes being broken, there will no doubt be those that are going to go out and harvest nodes them selves, just to say they do it.  Nothing says that if they put a vendor in for nodes that you "HAVE" to use it or be band from the test server... 

I know for me, no matter where I am or what quest I'm doing, if there is a node about, I'm on it and if it is broke or not giving the correct node as loot I'm bugg'n it.

My post was simply something that would give those of us that test quests, instances and the like, time to do it properly without wasting hours trying to find that rare so they/we can upgrade gear.

Eshaac

[Eshaac]

DominoDev wrote:

There is a tradeskill buffer on Test Copy server already, or should be, I believe in the Isle of Mara.  He should give out the top level harvests (both rare and common).  He doesn't give out lower level components however, if this is something that would be extremely useful I could take a look at it if someone reminds me after the expansion is done with.

Uumm no buffer on isle of mara I was just there.

Eshaac

[RandomWalk]

Cloud put it very well in her post and I agree with her comments.  I don't know (and am not asking) what the developers' expectation for equipment/spells is when designing content but I have struggled a lot with my test toons in their handcrafted kit/journeyman spells   (although the researcher is greatly helping my lowbies).  There may be times when the devs want to know if a poorly equipped toon can do the content (eg the Frostfell instances) and I would be happy to don handcrafted stuff in such circumstances.

On the live servers it is relatively easy to purchase rares from the broker.  I don't think putting a load of raws and rares on the Test broker would work which is why a node vendor is such a great idea.

Even with a node vendor players would still do some harvesting - getting their skills up; doing the harvesting obsession quest; feeding the hungry halfling to get goodies for the home; harvesting as they quest; or simply harvesting because they enjoy it.  If someone reports in test chat that they have found something odd I for one will go and have a look for myself - and I am sure that there are others like me.

Aeriel

[RandomStream]

Perhaps the solution would be to significantly increase the drop rate or rares in all tiers on test, say to the level of Tier 1 rares on live.

[Soresha]

RandomStream wrote:

Perhaps the solution would be to significantly increase the drop rate or rares in all tiers on test, say to the level of Tier 1 rares on live.

Yeah I suggested that. And no it's not just a watered down version of a vendor. It would still require you to go out, run around and hit the nodes to collect some rares. But it would speed up the harvesting process, reducing the time you'd need to spend without totally removing the need for regular harvesting. Think of it as akin to the xp bonus we get which allows characters to be levelled up faster.

For example the kind of bug Domino is referring to being important to catch on Test - that would still be detected.

[Bekkr]

Soresha wrote:

Testcopy - yes. Test - no.

Whilst it seems like a cool idea that we can all be lazy, when you go beyond a little bit of help into the realms of outright laziness then it's not realistic gameplay any more. It is supposed to be time-consuming, otherwise where's the value in having made something from a rare which is better than you'd get from common resources?

Good Idea: To test a specific recipe, sure pop over to Testcopy and grab some rares to make a few. I'd fully support being able to do this. Absolutely.

Bad Idea: Destroying a whole area of the game on what is a real gameplay server, and removing the friendly swapping of rares that goes on within our community. I've swapped rares with quite a few different people on Test and never had a problem doing so - even met a few people that way!

They may be sold on eq2x, but unless you're a millionaire you won't be flooding the server with them. They are not free.

And be honest, how many times have you used a rare on Test to actually test something, vs. gearing up your toon (or decorating)? What are you really going to be using free rares for on a weekly basis? Ding level X0, I'll have a free set of mastercrafted gear at tier X+1 please...

If you wanted to compensate for the lack of market on Test, at most you could maybe bump the drop rate of rares from the nodes by 50%, so more rares would end up in circulation. I really doubt drop rates from harvestable nodes ever require testing, I'd imagine they're fixed by now? I still don't think this would make people start selling them, money is pretty worthless on Test, but they'd be more of them sitting in banks to swap or give away to someone in need.

Some people have toons on Live servers or Freeport (or both!) as well as on Test. I can see why they'd be a temptation to want things cushy on Test when you're there. Others of us only play on Test, that is our home server, our real server. It is exactly as you say, Eshaac: Test is a live server environment. So please don't try to turn Test into Testcopy, that's not what it's for.

A final thought... I suppose if there was an eq2x test server, these kind of requests wouldn't come up? But for now there is only one persistent test server, and it mirrors eq2 live, not eq2x. I don't think there's enough testers around to create a meaningful population on two test servers though! But by all means push for putting eq2x mechanics onto Testcopy for us to test them. E.g. if they can find a non-exploitable way of accessing marketplace items for free on Testcopy - hey you wouldn't even need a separate rares vendor then.

I approve this message.

[Glymmyr]

I have often dreamed of having a gnome NPC in steamfront with his very own elemental transmogrifier. A device that would take a rare plus some coin from a tier and convert it into another rare from the same tier. At least this way I could convert all of those rares I dont need or want into ones I do want. This would still require harvesting, but it would allow folks to have the specific rares they want as well.

[Eshaac]

Glymmyr wrote:

I have often dreamed of having a gnome NPC in steamfront with his very own elemental transmogrifier. A device that would take a rare plus some coin from a tier and convert it into another rare from the same tier. At least this way I could convert all of those rares I dont need or want into ones I do want. This would still require harvesting, but it would allow folks to have the specific rares they want as well.

Nice idea, though I'm not sure about the coin part.  Coin is hard to come by at lower lvl's as no one or almost no one buys from broker for folks to make any coin, and well, we all know how much coin is rewarded if any at lower lvl quests.  But I like the jest of this idea.

Eshaac

[Looker1010]

The more we are given the further we get from what it's like on the live servers.

I'm also in favor of giving players stuff on testcopy but ot on test.

[Eshaac]

Looker1010 wrote:

The more we are given the further we get from what it's like on the live servers.

I'm also in favor of giving players stuff on testcopy but ot on test.

Yeah, well we are here to test quests/instance and the like, not to test ones patients on how long it takes to harvest a rare..... lol

Eshaac

[Eshaac]

DominoDev wrote:

There is a tradeskill buffer on Test Copy server already, or should be, I believe in the Isle of Mara.  He should give out the top level harvests (both rare and common).  He doesn't give out lower level components however, if this is something that would be extremely useful I could take a look at it if someone reminds me after the expansion is done with.

Still no TS buffer on test copy as of 1/4/11

Eshaac

[Kwoung]

Call me a freak, but I like to harvest for rares. I get a sense of satisfaction knowing all my spells are expert or better because I took the time to harvest the 20+ rares so I could craft the spells. Harvesting on test may be time consuming, but it is a lot less so than on live. I generally have a full area to myself and by the time I get to the last node in my rounds, the first one has already repopped, so it is non-stop harvesting without any fighting over nodes.

Anyhow, it would take a lot away from the game for me if I was just given something that is supposed to be somewhat rare.

[Cloudrat]

Kwoung wrote:

Call me a freak, but I like to harvest for rares. I get a sense of satisfaction knowing all my spells are expert or better because I took the time to harvest the 20+ rares so I could craft the spells. Harvesting on test may be time consuming, but it is a lot less so than on live. I generally have a full area to myself and by the time I get to the last node in my rounds, the first one has already repopped, so it is non-stop harvesting without any fighting over nodes.

Anyhow, it would take a lot away from the game for me if I was just given something that is supposed to be somewhat rare.

Ok you are a freak)  Having a vendor for rares available does not keep you from continuing to do things the way you want.

[Skeez1e]

Kwoung wrote:

Call me a freak, but I like to harvest for rares. I get a sense of satisfaction knowing all my spells are expert or better because I took the time to harvest the 20+ rares so I could craft the spells. Harvesting on test may be time consuming, but it is a lot less so than on live. I generally have a full area to myself and by the time I get to the last node in my rounds, the first one has already repopped, so it is non-stop harvesting without any fighting over nodes.

Anyhow, it would take a lot away from the game for me if I was just given something that is supposed to be somewhat rare.

wb Kwoung

[Kwoung]

Skeez1e wrote:

Kwoung wrote:

Call me a freak, but I like to harvest for rares. I get a sense of satisfaction knowing all my spells are expert or better because I took the time to harvest the 20+ rares so I could craft the spells. Harvesting on test may be time consuming, but it is a lot less so than on live. I generally have a full area to myself and by the time I get to the last node in my rounds, the first one has already repopped, so it is non-stop harvesting without any fighting over nodes.

Anyhow, it would take a lot away from the game for me if I was just given something that is supposed to be somewhat rare.

wb Kwoung

Thanks, good to be back! BTW, I just harvested all the rares needed to upgrade all my level 81-90 spells, it took a couple few hour sessions was all.

@Cloud... but I am also lazy, so if the easy route was available, I would propably take it... heh.