Topic

An Experiment in Currantsy

The Background: 
During Beta I was a miner. I spent the vast majority of my time in Ajaya and I loved it... until I didn't. I wound up getting bored and disappearing for the last month of Beta. Relaunch came around and I was all "been there done that" until so many of my friends were tweeting about this great new game Glitch and asking about how to make currants quickly. I replied, as so many do, with Mine! and promptly rejoined the game. Despite maxing out the mining skill set right off, I've spent very little in the mines and feel like I have more disposable income than I did during Beta. Yet I keep hearing the ol' myth about mining being the best (or, even, only) way to currantsy. Is it true?

I want to find out. Of course, this will vary depending on various skill sets (mine are below for those interested). But doing it instead of crunching numbers and playing with spreadsheets seems like a much more real approach to this. After all, none of us are that efficient. Not when there is fun to be had. So, in otherwords, this is about as scientific as, um, something non-sciency. But it may provide some useful practical info beyond my general curiosity. 

Here's my plan (feedback welcome!) 
I will spend 4 full game days mining. 2 days wandering around, and 2 days doing whatever it is that I do (probably a mix of parties, exploring and obsessing over auctions & achievements) to see how I really compare. I will start each day with my bags empty aside from some tools, food & drinks and record all the various things I earn and whatever I consume. All resulting info will be posted here.

44th of Bruise: It begins where I began... in the mines of ilmenski before I discovered the bliss of Ajaya. (general mining)

46th of Bruise: A secret room, you say? Filled with sparkles? This day will be spent in Ajaya. (mining special sparkly rooms)

50th of Bruise: Milking, Nibbling, and Harvesting my way through Ur... (general wandering with a focus on the Groddles)

52nd of Bruise: Scraping, Scooping, and Whistling my way through Ur... (general wandering with a focus on the Swamps)

3rd of Candy: Hi Ho Hi Ho it's back to the mines I go! This time to Callopee & Pollokoo (general mining)

5th of Candy: Neva Neva land... neva gonna give you up, neva gonna let you down (mining special sparkly rooms)

9th of Candy: Whatever. Wherever.

11th of Candy: Whatever. Wherever.

Note: This schedule is tentative. I do like to pretend I have a life and my clients like me to not pretend to work. The week looks quiet, but who knows. I am also a greeter which is one of my most favorite things to do and I'm not gonna give it up for a couple days for a silly experiment, so I'll be doing that in between days and may throw off the experiment for a day or two in order to greet (or, more likely, turn it into one of my "whatever" days if the urge to welcome new players becomes overwhelming). 

My (relevant) Skills:
AK7 (will be complete by the time I'm wandering)
Bog Specialization
Soil Appreciation 4
Gardening 5
LGT 3
Mining 4

Posted 14 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  •  I've found nibbling piggies, if you have a high level of animal kinship, is a great way to get currants. If you have a lower level of animal kinship and don't plan on using it for cooking, it's a waste of time.
    Posted 14 months ago by glumpot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I agree with glumpot. AK7 is my favourite skill, even though I too went down to M4 first. I have a basically unlimited source of milk, grain and meat, most all of which i donate to speed up skill learning, but would also be very profitable to sell.

    I do enjoy mining though, and since I have M4, a day or two spent now and again in Ajaya or Neva Neva can make me a lot of dough also!

    But I'm looking forward to seeing how your experiment works out :)
    Posted 14 months ago by Sharmy Knope Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Auctions were a pretty solid way to earn currants early on for me. I invested in soil appreciation / gardening and harvested gas, eggs, and spice primarily, grabbing the odd bubble or cherry when the market demanded it. Never beans, though. Oh no.
    Posted 14 months ago by Xev Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I love it. Thank you for doing this. 

    FOR SCIENCE!
    Posted 14 months ago by Melody Pond Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Adventure Log: 44th of Bruise
    Mining the Deeps

    Had a rough start to the day. In my excitement of hitting the mines, I partied a bit too hard the night before and accidentally no-no'd with no-no time to recover. Fortunately, I had over-prepared myself the night before and had an extra stack or two of stews & drinks. To make up for clocking in at 1:00, I'll have to stay a bit later. Hope the big boss man appreciates it.

    It was strange and a bit unsettling to travel so lightly. I left my usual bags of toys and trinkets at home along with, well, just about everything else. I did bring along enough food & drinks for the day as well as some mining tools, my alchemy kit & element pouch. Oh, and 13 big empty bags... all of which were full at the end of the night.  

    The mines are a quiet place considering all the work being done there. I suppose everyone is too busy chipping away at the rocks to talk much. The boredom was overwhelming... chip chip chip move to the next rock chip chip chip. A full day of it was rough on the mind & soul and I really wish I'd brought some fun along to lighten everyone's mental load (especially mine). 

    The big excitement early on was running into a zombie. I tried to warn him that he was about to lose an eye. He responding by crying out for my brains. I pointed him to a guy a few steps down and ran. A bit later, I stumbled upon a naked guy... he tried to tell me it was fur, but I'm not so sure. Other than that, conversation was rare but folks gladly helped me chip away at the rocks which was nice... a couple of us spent an hour or two going from rock to rock and cavern to cavern. I was said to see them go, but one by one they faded away. I suppose it was for the best.... it was getting late and my bags were getting full.

    I took advantage of the coming new day and used up all my energy (and 3 humbabas) crushing some dullite and sparkly and spent the early morning hour replacing them as best I could. Not a bad haul, overall. But I hear tell of a super special place - a cavern filled with sparkly bliss and mining insanity as folks bounce from rock to rock. I'm heading there tomorrow... hopefully it won't be as exhausting as this day was!

    Inventory at the start of the day:
    Element Pouch: 4883 Red, 188 Green, 337 Sparkly
    Alchemy Kit: 51 cosmox, 41 groddlene, 4 humbabol, 46 zilene
    Food & Tools:
    36 Awesome Stew (auction cost: 167 each)
    24 Earthshakers(auction cost: 133.8 each)
    24 Flaming Humbabas (auction cost: 150 each)
    24 Cosmas (auction cost: 110 each)
    24 Lemon Juice (24) (auction cost: 34 each)
    Grand ol' Grinder
    Test Tube
    Beaker
    Fancy Pick
    Tinkertool
    Plank
    Bear
    Focusing Orb
    Random Kindness (20/20)

    Inventory at the end of the day:
    Rocks: 5150 Dullite, 2006 Beryl, 524 Sparkly
    Gems: 23 Amber, 14 Sapphire, 6 Ruby, 4 Moonstone, 4 Diamond
    Other: 5 Guano, 4 Beans (someone sneezed)
    Element Pouch: (4857 Red, 350 Green, 53 Blue, 472 Sparkly)
    Alchemy Kit: (101 cosmox, 237 Groddlene, 161  Humbabol, 176 Zilene)
    Food & Tools 
    3 Awesome Stew (auction cost: 167 each)
    14 Earthshakers (auction cost: 133.8 each)
    21 Flaming Humbabas  (auction cost: 150 each)
    14 Cosmas (auction cost: 110 each)
    24 Lemon Juice (auction cost: 34 each)
    Grand ol' Grinder
    Test Tube
    Beaker
    Fancy Pick
    Tinkertool
    Plank
    Bear
    Focusing Orb
    Random Kindness (16/20)

    The Market Take: 63,193.1
    Additions: 72,592
    dullite = 5150 (6.4) = 32,960
    beryl = 2006 (4.5) = 9027
    sparkly = 524 (6.3) = 3,301
    Guano = 5 (58.3) = 291.5
    Beans = 4 (5.4) = 21.6
    Amber = 23 (160) = 3680
    Sapphire = 14 (354) = 4956
    Ruby = 6 (610) = 3660
    Moonstone = 4 (975) = 3900 
    Diamond = 4 (2199) = 8796
    EHSP* = 1 (1999)
    * enough compounds to make one

    Subtractions: 9,399
    Awesome Stews = 33 = 5,511
    Earthshakers = 10 = 2338
    Flaming Humbabas = 3 = 450
    Cosmas = 10 = 1100

    Start of the Day Facts:
    lvl 28: 2821 of 33,016
    Currants: 19,465

    End of the Day Facts:
    lvl 28: 13,960 of 33,016
    Currants: 20,909

    Previous Auctions sold: ~1100 after the cut
    Achievements: 1130 xp
    Posted 14 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This is really neat. Kudos!
    Posted 14 months ago by Cerulean Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I love the narrative log.  <3
    Posted 14 months ago by Ren_tara, BatQueen Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Just curious, you got 4 diamonds and moonstones but not a single Ruby? :o I thought the rarity was based on price so Amber, Sapphire, Ruby, Moonstone, Diamond.
    Posted 14 months ago by TomC Subscriber! | Permalink
  • In the future, I'd add a cooking trial.  I've found combining good harvesting with good cooking skills to generate quite a lot of currants.   Its also pretty fun, because its easy to type while cooking, which I've found difficult to do while mining. 
    Posted 14 months ago by Larva Lover Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I find this really helpful, since im really new here. ill be mining all day tommorrow.
    Posted 14 months ago by Emilia Rosalinda Subscriber! | Permalink
  • good catch on the rubies, Tom! I know I got some -- good thing everything is still in a pile on my floor. Will do a recount. Also I, apparently, cannot subtract 21 from 24. I got 5. Oops. More after bliss! (quick lunch break ;))

    Emily - Keep in mind that I have Mining 4, so I'm able to get more & more quickly than you will with a lower level mining skill. But yay! and welcome! 
    Posted 14 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Thanks for informing me about that, guess I'll have to learn up my mining skills!
    Posted 14 months ago by Emilia Rosalinda Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh my bad, I was reading this line that didn't have it "Gems: 23 Amber, 14 Sapphire, 4 Moonstone, 4 Diamond" but you had listed 6 Rubies in the total market take section. I look forward to the rest of your recounts!
    Posted 14 months ago by TomC Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Yup, the best AK and Gardening can make you quite a nice profit, with the bonus of being able to do some of the area completion achievements while you're at it :D

    I found beans and allspice sell best at auction, while grain (not bundled), milk, and I think meat are all best sold at a Tool Vendor. And I toss most of the music blocks I get at the tool vendor too. Haven't compared cherry, bubble an gas auction prices to tool vendor prices yet (I want to get myself a list of what full stacks of each would be at the tool vendor so I can figure out what things are best to auction or vendor).
    Posted 14 months ago by Sunburst Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Adventure Log 46th of Bruise
    Ajaya Chaos

    Got an early rise to the day... I was so excited to visit this locked cavern filled with sparkly bliss, I could hardly stand it. My elements pouch was nearly stuffed full of red and, knowing that sparklies have no green with which to combine, I stopped at a hardware store on my way to the Deeps to get another so that I could grind my hopefully overflowing bags while there without losing any of my precious red elements to the air. Then, as the new day rose, I teleported myself to Subarna Spells, the closest street and where the door to Ajaya Bliss is not so hidden.

    I heard tell that kind folks would let you follow them in, so I decided to wait a few minutes. I have a key, but I'll be visiting Neva Neva, which uses the same key, later in the week so if I hoped to be able to hang on to it. Sure enough, by 12:30 someone named Doom had arrived and let me follow them in.

    Wow! What a difference! The day I spent in the deeps was quiet and, almost, serene. When you ran across folks, they were just quietly chipping away at their rock with barely a hello. Here, over forty people were running and jumping around like lunatics in an asylum. It was a party! A party with some mining. 

    I was a bit focused on following along, so didn't chat much. But boy were they chatting up a storm. It was obvious that some folks practically live there. Or maybe not so practically. They were friends but still friendly to us crashing in on their space. In fact, a bunch of them gave me food - just threw it in my bags when I wasn't even looking! I gobbled it up of course, a bunch of mighty fine cooks! 

    The mining, itself, wasn't all that profitable. Sure, with so many of us attacking a rock (I've head it likened to flies on shit... a rock appears and suddenly a bunch of glitches swarm over taking every last crumb!) some of the helpful hauls were pretty good. I got a bunch of hits that were worth 20 or even 30 chunks of ore. But with so many attacking the rocks and the chaos surrounding it, it was easy to miss new ones. I barely managed to fill up a few bags... I certainly didn't need to waste any energy grinding down the ore. At the end of the day, as the room cleared out a bit, I did better. But still, it was nothing compared to the deeps. Less than half. Maybe even a third.

    That said, if you're looking for fun and not profit, it's a much better place to be than wandering the Deeps on your own. I don't know if I'll be back, but maybe. If the mood for a party strikes.

    Inventory at the start of the day:
    12 Empty Bags
    2 Element Pouch: (4857 Red, 350 Green, 53 Blue, 472 Sparkly)
    Alchemy Kit: (101 cosmox, 237 Groddlene, 161  Humbabol, 176 Zilene)
    Food & Tools:
    36 Awesome Stew (auction cost: 167 each)
    24 Earthshakers(auction cost: 133.8 each)
    24 Flaming Humbabas (auction cost: 150 each)
    18 Cosmas (auction cost: 110 each)
    Grand ol' Grinder
    Test Tube
    Beaker
    Fancy Pick
    Tinkertool
    Ajaya Key
    Firefly Cubimal
    Bear
    Focusing Orb
    Random Kindness (16/20)

    Inventory at the end of the day:
    Rocks: 3543 Sparkly
    Gems:  2 Amber,  1S apphire,  1 Ruby, 1 Diamond
    Other: 1 Moon, 1 Allspice, 1 Cherry, 2 Meats, 1 Plain Bubble, 1 Zucchini, 1 General Vapour
    Element Pouches: (4857 Red, 350 Green, 53 Blue, 472 Sparkly)
    Alchemy Kit: (101 cosmox, 234 Groddlene, 161  Humbabol, 176 Zilene)
    Food & Tools 
    34 Awesome Stew (auction cost: 167 each)
    24 Earthshakers (auction cost: 133.8 each)
    24 Flaming Humbabas  (auction cost: 150 each)
    18 Cosmas (auction cost: 110 each)
    Grand ol' Grinder
    Test Tube
    Beaker
    Fancy Pick
    Tinkertool
    Ajaya Key
    Firefly Cubimal
    Bear
    Focusing Orb
    Random Kindness (12/20)

    The Market Take: 25,595.2
    Additions: 25,929.2
    sparkly = 3543 (6.3) = 22,320.9
    Amber = 2 (160) = 320
    Sapphire = 1 (354) = 354
    Ruby = 1 (610) =  610
    Diamond = 1 (2199) = 2199
    Moon = 1 (89) = 89
    Allspice = 1 (4.4) = 4.4
    Cherry = 1 (4.3) = 4.3
    Meat = 2 (7.5) = 15
    Plain Bubble = 1 (3.9) = 3.9
    Zucchini = 1 (3.8) = 3.8
    General Vapour = 1 (4.9) = 4.9

    Subtractions: 334
    Awesome Stews = 2 (167) = 334

    Start of the Day Facts:
    lvl 28: 14,323 of 33,016
    Currants: 20,865

    End of the Day Facts:
    lvl 28: 16,420 of 33,016
    Currants: 21,279

    Another difference between Ajaya & the Deeps - the coin count. I grabbed 100 coins early on in the day I spent in the Deeps. I only managed to grab about 40 in Ajaya - fortunatley, they were all (or almost all) Currant coins, which is where that bump in Currants comes from. 
    Posted 14 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Just a note: I edited the counts for the Deeps. I had a math error on the Humbabas and forgot to add the Rubies to the inventory. There may be other math errors (if you notice any, please point them out!) but they'll be resolved after I visit the other mining areas and put it all in a spreadsheet for easy comparison. Of course, it's a sample size of one, but it should give a bit of an idea of what to expect if you have Mining 4. 

    Also I must give a shout out to Zog! I have also begun Zoggish's Inventory to help count everything in the bags. Thanks for the resources - they're amazingly helpful! 

    Now... off to wander through the Groddles!
    Posted 14 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Bookmarked! Can't wait to see how this turns out, although it looks like you are only gaining about 1k currants per day. Is that right?
    Posted 14 months ago by Aliki Faucette Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh, no! I gained much more than that...

    In the Deeps my market take was: 63,193.1  
    In Ajaya my market take was: 25,595.2

    I just never sold anything. Also, at some point, I'll put all of this into a spreadsheet showing the market gain vs the vendor gain. The market is variable and the prices I list are for when I bought or could have sold stuff. Vendors won't be. 

    The change in currants was from coins. Also there was a bit of a boost when I was in the Deeps from an auction that sold (but that was placed before the day began).
    Posted 14 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Imbri, for the wandering section, do you have a list of locations containing the most pigs, trees, etc? A serious gatherer would have a list of high-points (for example, streets with 6+ pigs, or 6+ trees) so that the run is more profitable. Particularly, there are at least 6 neighborhood streets that have between 8 and 18 pigs each.
    Posted 14 months ago by Ayrock Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Imbri,

    In the Deeps report you calculate Dullite at 6.4 currants each.
    Shouldn't that be 3.2 currants or am I missing something?
    Posted 14 months ago by Dr Evanzan Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Can you start rounding these posts off with a profit and loss statement?
    As in:
    Total Earned -  $##,###
    Total Expenses - $##,###
    ----
    Net Profit/Loss - $##,###

    Your deeps story made it look as if you had ended up making about a grand, and it sounds like I was not the only one misled.

    I say this not to criticize, but because I'm sincerely interested in the various "profit paths" you're pursuing.

    Cheers! Loving the experiment.
    Posted 14 months ago by CrashTestPilot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ayrock: I hit almost all the streets in both the Forrest & Meadow (but no residential - well, one, but there was nothing there but my first house *awww*) as well as a quick run through Ix. I agree that someone serious would have such a list. Though, a serious miner would probably also have some favorite caverns and I just wandered through the Deeps. So it probably works out about the same?

    Dr. Evanzan: That was the auction price for Dullite yesterday. It's now at 3.6. With the commodity exchange showing me a 24 hour average of 4.72 and the last transaction at 3.94.  So, clearly the price is falling. Sometime (hopefully not long) after my adventures, I'll put everything in a spreadsheet which will include the market take the day I did the run, the market take the day of the spreadsheet, and the vendor take. That should provide a slightly better average - or at least something that's more comparable. 

    CrashtestPilot: It's already there. How can I make it clearer? Here's how it is now...
    The Market Take: XXXX
    Additions: XXXX
    (itemized report)
    Subtractions: XXXX
    (itemized report)

    Should I retitle it? Create another section at the end? A more informative subsection under the market take before the itemization? Suggestions? (I'm not being snarky... I honestly welcome the advice in making it clearer)
    Posted 14 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @imbri

    I'd actually say, at least in terms of gathering meat, that it's far more important to know where you're harvesting than it is with mining. With mining, the ore is static (apart from the briefly depleted nodes, which still respawn). With piggie nibbling, the  pig locations are highly variable, and can make a huuuuge difference. Since you can only harvest from each pig once (two nibbles with high enough skills) per game day, you have a finite number to draw from. Ore, however, is perpetually renewed.

    A further reason to know where you're going when piggie nibbling: the most densely-packed piggie areas are housing blocks. Take a look at this: http://glitch.alwaysdata.net/resource.php?resource=Pig  You can see that around 300 of the 402 piggies in Groddle Meadow are actually in the streets inside housing quarters, the bulk of those in big chunks of 10+. Furthermore, you'll notice that the vast majority of those are located in the Marypole Mount and Estevan Meadows neighborhoods, which means very little traveling is required. Those factors make a tremendous difference in your daily yield.
    Posted 14 months ago by Eleni Ivanova Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Eleni - Good points! Perhaps another day, this time with a focus on piggly nibbling instead of general gathering, is in order. I can do that for one of my whatever/whereever days. 
    Posted 14 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • UPDATE! Going through today's yield with it's dozens of items has proven to me the value of using a google spreadsheet for this (which I knew from the start but did not do because I'm a stubborn idiot who just wanted to get started). Once I've got the spreadsheet up, I'll pull out the itemizations from the already posted adventure logs which should help with making everything a bit more clear. However, this is going to put a bit of a delay in the rest of the schedule as I take a day to get organized. 

    I'll hit the other mines tomorrow and then do the swamps on Thursday along with some more focused pig nibbling. Friday's up for grabs - if there's a strategy you're curious about, let me know. Keep in mind, I have nothing in the way of the various crafting skills (food, drinks, tools). I am maxed out with Animal Kinship, Gardening, & Mining (also Teleportation). 
    Posted 14 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • +1 Ayrock and Eleni... I'm a piggie nibbler and agree with their point.
    +1 Linnaea for adding the private street info, woot! (saves me a lot of trouble)
    +100 Imbri for your experiment! I love this study.  8)

    Quick question, are you spending a game day at each of these activities? So about 4 hours of game play? Just wanted to verify.

    Also, when going on the Nibble-rama day, will you be collecting from meat harvesters at home? And don't forget the Gurly drinks for those high-pig streets... 8)

    Thanks for this topic Imbri!
    Posted 14 months ago by Rayana Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Rayana, yes, I'm spending one full game day in each, so 4 real time hours.

    I'm not fully decided on the all day pig fest - in part because that sounds almost as boring but ten gazillion times more tedious than the mines to me. Today's was fun - I milked, nibbled, and harvested my way through Ur. Going full out for 4 straight hours of solid pig hunting? I dunno... we'll see. But hey, you pig hunters are more than welcome to do it and share your data! I so will not be offended!
    Posted 14 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I guess  you could always try a day of concentrated animal harvesting? Like going to the top however many pig areas, then top butterfly areas, and chickens if you want to try those too. It would give you a bit of variety (you could go pig street, butterfly street, chicken street, pig street etc) though I think most things would end up being repetitive after a while.
    Posted 14 months ago by Sunburst Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Well, I probably spend about 30mins to 60mins a day nibbling to make my cash. The remainder I focus on other projects or hang out chatting. I usually make about 15k-20k selling just meat to the vendor, which is more than I need most days.
    Posted 14 months ago by Rayana Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Work has me today (and probably tomorrow, too), so I won't be able to do any "full day" adventures. But! That means I'll probably have a bit of time to work on that spreadsheet I started yesterday showing the various facts & figures. So yay?

    Also, I know there's no write-up for yesterday yet, but here are the facts and figures... along with the facts & figures from the previous days more clearly spelled out:

    Day 1: Mining the Deeps.
    Potential Profit: 63,193  (Profit: 72,592 - Loss: 9,399)
    XP gained: 10,109
    Coins gathered: 100

    Day 2: Mining Ajaya
    Potential Profit: 25,595 (Profit: 25,929 - Loss: 334)
    XP gained: 2,097
    Coins gathered: 42

    Day 3: Gathering in the Groddles
    Potential Profit: 75,141 (Profit: 78,077 - Loss: 2,936)
    XP gained: 15,252
    Coins gathered: 100

    For those just joining the thread without wanting to wade through the OP to find my relevant skills:
    Mining 4
    Gardening 5
    Animal Kinship 7
    Soil Appreciation 4
    Posted 14 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Great posts, imbri!  Thank you.

    I'd put forth another effective way to make money: cooking from scratch.  Back during Beta I spent some time in the mines early on to gather gems for Shrine donations, but I wandered around aimlessly afterwards, focused mainly on doing quests.  I happened to earn a pile of currants without really trying once I started learning the cooking/drink skill trees, because:
    - skill training does not take long, and you get a quest for each skill that gives you xp/currants
    - many easy-to-get badges are opened up, which also give you xp/currants
    - gathering raw materials from animals and trees gives you xp
    - making meals and drinks gives you xp
    - donating meals/drinks to shrines results in more xp (or selling on auction means currants)
    - most importantly: you earn big currant rewards from leveling from all of the xp (the bulk of my income was level rewards)

    This becomes less effective past level 30 or so once levels get further apart, but it's a great way to advance in the mid-game.  It's also more interesting than a grind doing one thing over and over - you can go around gathering from animals and trees, maybe do some gardening, then assemble meals and drinks.

    This time around I'm focused on mining, and don't perceive that I'm going much more quickly, if at all.
    Posted 14 months ago by mirth Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Nice Gathering day, better profit and the XP is about 50% higher than mining as well. But is the XP because you were hitting a lot of low-level achievements? Like pet 11 trees, water 11 trees, etc... or were those already out of the way and the XP was just better?
    Posted 14 months ago by Ayrock Subscriber! | Permalink
  • One nice thing about cooking vs mining is that cooking, if you have enough ingredients on hand, happens right away.  This allows you to log on during a game day, quickly use up your energy allotment, and log off.   Ingredient gathering can happen when you have more time to spend with the game.  

     
    Posted 14 months ago by WalruZ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ayrock -- I subtracted the XP that I earned from achievements. I actually earned significantly more xp and a decent amount of favor which was later spent towards emblems (yay!):

    nibble, milk, & squeeze - 1050xp / 105 favor w/Humbaba / 105 energy /  683currants
    super duper soaker - 105 favor w/grendaline / 630xp
    superior irrigationist - 105 favor w/grendaline / 630xp
    masterful fruit tree pettifier - 105 favor w/spriggan / 630xp
    definitely-much-better tree hugger - 630xp / 105 favor w/spriggan
    the dampinator - 630xp / 105 favor w/Grendaline
    Master BeanCounter - 735xp / 157 favor w/Mab

    So that was an additional 7875 xp, 315 favor with Grendaline, 210 favor with Spriggan, 157 favor with Mab, and 105 favor with Humbaba.
    Posted 14 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Good to see your gathering day went so well :D

    Another good thing about the gathering vs mining - no competition.

    You're not competing with other players to harvest from a tree or animal, because everyone is able to harvest a set number of times per day from said animals and trees. The downside is just that, you're limited to one per day, whereas the rocks for mining respawn when depleted. But wandering around to find new animals/trees don't take much time at all.
    Posted 14 months ago by Sunburst Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Dang, I hadn't check the forums because I've been doing overtime a lot lately. I was hoping to come back and see the new adventures of Imbri in Currantsy.  8)
    Posted 13 months ago by Rayana Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Heh, sorry!

    I got distracted with work stuffs and zilloween. Big plans on hitting Pollokoo & Callopee this this weekend, though!

    (also... name change! i am imbri. imbri is me. it's all vera vera strange and a little bit confusing)
    Posted 13 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Managed to get in both Pollokoo & Callopee AND Neva Neva yesterday. Haven't crunched all the numbers, but it looks like it's a much better place for mining.  P&C certainly make for a more balanced haul and are much better for you sparkly lovers. Though, if you're a freak like me and favor Dullite, the Deeps is the better choice. 

    Neva Neva was more successful than Ajaya in part because it's a bit quieter so I could hit rocks more often which meant more gems. The Beryl, which is often ignored (poor Beryl), helped tip me even further over the edge. But, really, with these two it's really a matter of personality -- with Ajaya being almost like a party with some mining and Neva being more about mining with a crowd. 

    Here's a restart of the spreadsheet -- most of the sheets are empty and waiting for me to import the data, but you can see my raw rock figures for each of the mining places (and watch as I add stuff to it when I get a chance over the week). 

    I'm going to try and make a go of the Swamps today (to compare swamp gathering to groddle gathering), but things are a bit crazy so it may get cut short. That's ok, though, I love the swamps and wouldn't mind giving it another go every day this week ;)
    Posted 13 months ago by Vera Strange Subscriber! | Permalink