Topic

Editorial: Please Don't Leave That 'Last Bit' Un-Mined

I know this has been posted here in the discussions before, but there are a lot of new people now and the problem is still happening.  It will always happen when there are still uninformed players (which there always will be.)

Please, when you are out mining, if at all possible complete the entire 'rock' and leave an empty space behind.  I fairly regularly find places where people have left one-last-bit worth of rock remaining.

They might be doing this because they think they are doing other miners a favor by not 'taking all the rock.'  The fact of the matter is, what they are doing is leaving just that one bit for the next miner who comes along, and blocking the regeneration of a full block.  If they'd taken it all, there would be a full new chunk re-generated for the next miner.

The only reason for any fully informed miner, who knows how rocks regenerate, to leave 'just one piece' remaining unmined at a location is as an act of aggression against the other miners.

Posted 14 months ago by Parrow Gnolle Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Word. I've come across stubs of metal/ore and it's worse than finding a place picked clean, because the regen cycle isn't going to start until that stub is gone.
    Posted 14 months ago by TK-855 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Amen to a hundred.
    Posted 14 months ago by emdot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Look, there are many more reasons people didn't finished their rock other than being uninformed or as an "act of aggression". The most likely one is that people just didn't have enough energy to finish their rock and this has been put forward over and over again.
    Posted 14 months ago by gamecharacter Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "people just didn't have enough energy to finish their rock"

    Yes.  Sorry, OP, some of us aren't high enough level that we can finish every rock.
    Posted 14 months ago by Mako6 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "I don't have enough energy" might explain one almost empty rock, but when 3 or 4 consecutive rocks in the same room are almost empty, I think that excuse goes out the window.
    Posted 14 months ago by Traffold Johnston Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There is no fixed 'energy limit' for any level of player.  Any miner can bring along enough food to responsibly finish up the rocks they start. 

    Not being able to finish every rock is quite different from not finishing any rock and leaving a wasteland behind for the next player.

    Certainly there are plenty of reasons why a player might leave with the rock they are currently working on unfinished.  Even several good reasons.

    This editorial was aimed toward educating the people who think 'leaving some behind' is an act of community goodwill, because they don't understand the process of how rocks continually respawn.
    Posted 14 months ago by Parrow Gnolle Subscriber! | Permalink
  • My question: How do you even know for certain a person never finish any rock?

    And seriously, if you find unfinished rocks then just clean them up and move on to other place with fresh rocks. It's not like you have to stay there.

    Edit: The title is a bit misleading for your educational purpose as it appears to address both intentional and unintentional players who didn't finish their rock.
    Posted 14 months ago by gamecharacter Subscriber! | Permalink
  • And the reason this has been discussed so many times before is because there are many different ways to mine.

    The only reason for any fully informed miner, who knows how rocks regenerate, to leave 'just one piece' remaining unmined at a location is as an act of aggression against the other miners.

    Rubbish. Not mining the rock down when I don't need/want/have energy to is not an act of aggression. It's simply playing the game. I'm not taking anything away from anyone, I'm not impeding anyone's progress. In fact, who says the next person to come along wants a full rock? Maybe they just want a little bit, like me, and don't want/need/can mine the whole rock(which they would be obligated to do, according to you)? And if someone is in a hurry to get a certain type of rock, and finds an empty spot with the rock waiting to regenarate, are they happier than if there was a little bit left? How do you know they would rather wait for the full regeneration, and then mine everything, than mine whatever little bit is left and move on?

    You don't know. You CAN'T know.

    You can't presume everyone has the same needs as you do. 

    Incidentally: "not finishing any rock and leaving a wasteland behind for the next player." Why do people keep calling unfinished rocks a mess or a wasteland? They're perfectly usable chunks of rock, not trash.
    Posted 14 months ago by Cefeida Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I didn't know about that.

    But what's the problem of mining the 'last bit' rocks?
    Posted 14 months ago by Princess Sarah Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I will sometimes just take a single wack at a rock and move on, and I don't feel that causes any harm. When I come across a rock that looks like there is just one or two wacks to go I try to finish it off so that it can regenerate, but I do realize that all of us play differently. I sometimes feel annoyed, and wonder why the previous miner didn't just finish the rock off but in the scheme of things it's not that big of a deal.
    Posted 14 months ago by Gizmospooky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • So, who else finishes off the rock stubs as the see them?  I know there's lots of us out there. :)

    If you don't finish the rock, a full one wont grow, thus preventing the next player to come along from having the same opportunity at a full rock as you did.  I understand there are many reasons for not being able to finish a rock and lots of new people who haven't figured it all out yet.  So...my question...

    Who else is finishing up rock stubs?  I figure I can get mad and post in the forums or I can just walk around cleaning up stubs. 
    Posted 14 months ago by Feylin Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I must say that the harm done from not finishing a rock is exaggerated, imo. In normal everyday case, the harm is negligible. I mean, come on, the worst you will probably encounter is all stubs in a single street. Move to the next street and most likely you will find fresh rocks.  
    Posted 14 months ago by gamecharacter Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'm one of those rock cleaner-uppers too, @Feylin. I also make an announcement typically to let newer players know about the issue. I have found that more than a few aren't aware about the need to finish. This editorial is just fine - there are indeed a large number of newer players who aren't aware of the respawn requirements for rock. Is this in the game FAQ? Should be there.
    Posted 14 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The only mining I do is finishing up rock stubs and I have earned a fair number of gems that way!  YAY rock stubs!
    Posted 14 months ago by Kookaburra Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh? You discovered that too? I wondered if it was just me :) Gems only show up in the last little part of the rock normally.
    Posted 14 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This topic has been done to death. Can we, as a community, please just accept that some people don't finish their rocks and move on?
    Posted 14 months ago by Ninetailed Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I apologize for starting what looks like it is a touchy flamey thread.  I won't say more, though I am shocked at how touchy the topic is.
    Posted 14 months ago by Parrow Gnolle Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There seems to be a lot of stuff like this which exist as problems simply because most people do not know how the game operates.  This is because there is nowhere that explains this type of stuff.  I didn't know you had to completely clear rocks for them to regenerate until reading this thread.  There should be some kind of place where people can find this information, or perhaps pop-up tips in the game/loading screens.
    Posted 14 months ago by djbeema Subscriber! | Permalink
  • How often did I pass a not-finished rock and took my pickaxe to finish, what others weren't able to do.  I'm sure Zille is very happy about people who honor those last piece of rock.
    Posted 14 months ago by Worath Subscriber! | Permalink
  • As long as we have new players coming into the game, this topic will appear.  What would be nice is a Quest that teaches new players how to mine to completion, just like digging peat to completion, etc.  Teach them, then they will know.  I, as a newbie, had no clue. Once someone told me, I felt it was my responsibility to the game to share that knowledge.

    For those that are hostile to this subject, no one is ordering you to do something a different way. It might best for you evaluate in yourselves why this topic makes you so angry. Its quite an irrational response, honestly.

    As to the gems, yep I have noticed. I gladly walked away with 3 sapphires, 4 rubies and a diamond yesterday because of the mess others left behind. *shrug*  However, I needed the ore....
    Posted 14 months ago by Innie✿, Obviously Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hmm. I just finished a quest that required me to mine 5 rocks to completion in one day. It's obviously not level-related, as I'm Level 17 and mining runs are old hat ...
    Posted 14 months ago by TK-855 Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The reason there is no such Quest or lesson for newbies is probably because there is no NEED to finish off rocks. Having a full rock to mine every time is not necessary to play the game, it's just a preference. 

    Rock stubs aren't a mess, they're rocks you can mine. They don't die, or lose value- they're perfectly usable. There is no real reason to argue that rocks SHOULD be mined down to zero, except the desire to have a full rock every time. And I'm afraid that desire is exactly equal to other people's desire not to have to mine a complete rock.

    So, to the newbies reading this and thinking you are doing something wrong by not mining rocks all the way down- you're not.
    Posted 14 months ago by Cefeida Subscriber! | Permalink
  • No, mining the rock all the way down is not required. It just blocks a respawn of that rock, reducing the amount of available resources in the area for a considerable time. If a new player refrains from mining a rock completely because they think that doing so would be harmful, then it's wrong. They are depriving themselves of the benefits of doing so. And a quest is needed for the only reason to teach new players that is OK to mine a rock completely. That is the point of such - to teach what can be done and is acceptable.
    Posted 14 months ago by Fokian Fool Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Cefeida: "I'm not taking anything away from anyone."

    Disagree. You know the rock won't respawn until it's removed. So you not finishing it is keeping the rock from respawning. You are taking away a full rock from someone else. You are making someone else have to wait -- so you are taking away their time and opportunity.

    It's like littering: you are just letting other people complete your unfinished business.

    @Feylin: I try to finish up the nubs, too.
    Posted 14 months ago by emdot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Feylin: I finish them up as I find them!  I find it bothersome in that, "Ack, it's messy!" way, because I'm weird like that.  I do finish off rocks I start though, unless I break my pick, have no energy left to fix it, and someone was helping me mine the rock.  Then, I figure the other player will finish it off.
    Posted 14 months ago by Eliza Thornybur Subscriber! | Permalink