Mining/Siphoning

[fingolfin]

I think that right now there are some issues with both Mining and Siphoning that are causing some frustration amongst some players so I thought I would lay those issues out and see if we can come up with some solutions.

Mining and its skill point requirements-
Personally I would like to see mining revert to being capped at 500. 500 points invested is a very significant amount and would allow players the chance to get to a set point then revert back to putting points in some sort of combat skill. This is a good option if you are trying to make it so that players can both be fighters and mine without sacrificing too much. A cap at 500 would eliminate this next issue...

Along with that point is the level requirements on mining. As it is currently, it is difficult to mine useful jewels. Ill use my character as an example. I am level 533 right now and I currently fight level 700 mobs. A level 700 mob drops items that are right around my level, say 530. While I haven't invested in mining on this character I will assume that mining the same distance as a level 700 mob would result in a jewel of the same level of the item the mob would drop, for this example 530 (feel free to correct me if I am incorrect on this). As I've read mining, it sound like I would only be able to mine about 40 levels above my own level. At level 533 I would be able to mine around mob level 575, which would mean jewels significantly lower then that, id guess around level 430. So even with maximum points invested in mining at level 530 the best jewels I would be able to mine would be close to 100 levels lower then me.

A third point that comes up when talking about mining is the large mining gaps at some points of the game. A good example of this would be Noslin. There is some limited mining in noslin, with the furthest square that can be mined is mob level 450. The next closest mining square in the game is in Thorold at mob level 600. That is a 150 level gap in which there are no mining opportunities and the only way to get a jewel that level range is by siphoning. This is a frustrating point for those who did invest in mining yet are still forced to siphon if they want a jewel around their level.

It seems like mining is costing more and more in terms of skill points invested to get less out of it then before. More skill points invested used to mean a chance of finding higher quality jewels which was a major benefit to increasing your skill.

Siphoning-

First I would like to suggest changing the cost of siphoning. It was lowered from 500K per attempt because that was an antiquated cost that did not take into account the scarcity of gold in these versions. Siphoning costs are now 1k * the item level. This seems to work, though I would suggest a cap at 500K or some other lower point. Now that I am able to find level 500 items gold has not suddenly become more plentiful and 500K or more per siphon attempt is quite expensive.

The next issue would be the jewels themselves. As mentioned in a previous post mana jewels(as of 5.17) and practically worthless. It seems like an expensive joke to siphon and then get a jewel that serves little to no purpose. Perhaps we could revert back to the system of the mods on an item determining what type of jewel you will get. An item with all def would siphon into a def jewel, an item with 2 equal mods you would get one of those 2 mods, perhaps an item with just power would siphon into a random jewel. This would just give players some sort of control over what jewels they would get to avoid wasting so much gold on jewels they don't want.


These are the issues that I have with mining/siphoning and I know that some others agree with me on at least some of the points. I know I have mingled some suggestions in along with these issues and would like to hear other peoples thoughts on these topics.

[Mighty_Mite]

Fing you seemed to have covered a lot of it but the things that trouble me is that
mining level does not seem to improve quality of gems mined as in the past. Now
you collect common jewel after common jewel, and the speed did not seem to reduce,
I could be wrong there as I have only cleared 1 threshold (gone past 100) but it
seems the speed stayed the same and there was no change in quality. I am at 147
mining right now. Thanks

[Alexis]

You've definitely covered everything Fing. I like to say something about siphoning/jeweling. The idea of a price cap would definitely be nice. Having to spend a total of almost 1 million combined for siphoning an item and then using the jewel on an item is definitely very expensive. I myself would like to see the combined cost of both capped. I am honestly getting a little frustrated spending that much gold and having it fail almost constantly. I'm not complaining cause when it does work the rewards are good. Its just the thought of how much gold that has been lost due to breakage.

[Mighty_Mite]

Cost is really getting terrible, the items I am getting now are 560 - 590 and
siphoning and jeweling are costing more with much poorer results than last version
and of course we are in a economy that is shrunk by what appears to me to
be at least a factor of 10. To jewel 2 objects, over the last 2 days, I spent
12 mil with siphoning and discarding jewels ( Mana and HP and uncommons)_ and
then adding a total of 5 jewels, 2 on one item 3 on the other. Jeweling is not
an option in this version but a necessity. You cannot fight mobs a little higher
than your level and as you go up even at your level without jeweled gear. I guess
you could if you fled every 3rd or 4th battle.

[Rush]

In any manufacturing shop I have ever worked in it is easier to take something off than to add it back on. A good compromise would be to half siphoning costs (or more) so that it wouldn't cost so much for people to get the jewels they want any ways. Just my two cents.

[Simmias]

What about changing mining back to skill exp to level up, instead of skillpoints?  Make it slow exp rate so that you have to work hard to be able to mine the best gems, instead of spending 500 points and being done with it?  Would make players more inclined to mine instead of sacrificing 500 valuable skill points that would instead make you stronger.

[Alexis]

What about changing mining back to skill exp to level up, instead of skillpoints?  Make it slow exp rate so that you have to work hard to be able to mine the best gems, instead of spending 500 points and being done with it?  Would make players more inclined to mine instead of sacrificing 500 valuable skill points that would instead make you stronger.

The way mining is right now you cannot have a straight mining character. Perin and I have had a miner almost every version that we've played of quest except for the last few because it is basically impossible to do without leveling the character. That character was always our gold digger This cannot be done anymore since skill points must be added. It forces you to have to lvl to be able to raise mining. I like simmias's idea of gaining exp for mining slowly. You can still keep the caps there for mining in certain area's (which others have suggest be changed) but if its done the way I am suggesting it will force people to mine to keep it near their lvl so they can mine where they fight. It would add another aspect to the characters I think and would be the only skill that you don't need to add skill point to if you dont want to. Hopefully that makes sense.