Suspicion regarding plants

Woolenthreads

Background; I'm currently running 7 of 8 Alts, through the different faction areas on the NA server from GMT+8. I've read a lot of players complaining about bots on the servers. I report them if I see them but I generally don't see many at all in my TZ. The areas my Alts have gone to in each faction are up to Bangkorai in DC, Deshaan in EP but only Auridon in AD

What I have noticed is that Auridon tends not to have Alchemy or Clothing Plants anywhere as opposed to the other regions I've been. I'm not convinced it's a matter of bots since the other areas should have a reasonably similar number of them and finding plants nodes is ok in them for the number of players I see. This makes me wonder if there isn't a problem with one of the previous patches affecting Auridon because when I started the AD Alts there were a similar number of nodes to the other regions despite bots and Khenarthi's Roost was reasonable.

So share with me, folks, how much node access you think you have. Is anyone else only seeing a lack of nodes in Auridon within their game? (Alik'r doesn't count it's a desert )

AlexDougherty

I've found plenty of alchemy and clothing plants in Auridon in the past, the nodes are there, so if you aren't finding them, it has to be bots.

Woolenthreads

AlexDougherty wrote: »

I've found plenty of alchemy and clothing plants in Auridon in the past, the nodes are there, so if you aren't finding them, it has to be bots.

When you say "past" what precisely do you mean? Do you mean "since the last patch" or do you mean "since the last time you had an Alt there"?

What I'm getting at is that I don't see any more bots in Auridon than I do in other regions but the other regions still have easily found nodes for alchemical and clothing ingredients, Auridon doesn't.

There was a period of time prior to the last patch where I was seeing plant nodes now there are none to be seen.

snowmanflvb14_ESO

I have mostly AD toons. I have no issues at all finding mats in any of the zones. I have one EBon toon who is lower lvl and she does not have an issue either. Yes she has seen bots but it is no where near the mass zerg of them people claim.

SFBryan18

If container items and NPC's appear differently for each person, why are these items shared? And I can't even buy them from a shop keeper just to make a simple low level outfit. It irritates me that I have to deconstruct every piece of clothing I get just to find the right materials to make a couple pieces of light armor.

crowfl56

are u crazy? or playing some kind of different game, I have found plenty of nodes in every zone, stop complaining

redwoodtreesprite

Auridon has always been a bit starved for resources. Meaning the main island. I don't even bother looking for resources there. Other than water hyacinth LOL.

Woolenthreads

snowmanflvb14_ESO wrote: »

I have mostly AD toons. I have no issues at all finding mats in any of the zones. I have one EBon toon who is lower lvl and she does not have an issue either. Yes she has seen bots but it is no where near the mass zerg of them people claim.

I agree that I don't see masses of bots. I think I've seen 3 sets in Auridon so far. I actually took 3 of my Alts back through the areas before making the OP because I felt it needed checking. There were plant nodes easily found through the parts of DC and EP I travelled and I was gauging the level with a simple node spot exercise.

SFBryan18 wrote: »

If container items and NPC's appear differently for each person, why are these items shared? And I can't even buy them from a shop keeper just to make a simple low level outfit. It irritates me that I have to deconstruct every piece of clothing I get just to find the right materials to make a couple pieces of light armor.

Actually I've noticed that the containers are also open or closed for each player differently , at least in the banks. That being said, I can understand them removing node access for materials temporarily, it's a preventative measure to slow farming.

crowfl56 wrote: »

are u crazy? or playing some kind of different game, I have found plenty of nodes in every zone, stop complaining

I wasn't complaining. I was making an observation about a particular region within the game. I restate "the other areas should have a reasonably similar number of <bots> and finding plant nodes is ok in them for the number of players I see".

redwoodtreesprite wrote: »

Auridon has always been a bit starved for resources. Meaning the main island. I don't even bother looking for resources there. Other than water hyacinth LOL.

Thanks, so, Auridon has always been short of plant nodes then. Guess that's more than enough reason to just do the quests and leave.

wrlifeboil

Woolenthreads wrote: »

snowmanflvb14_ESO wrote: »

I have mostly AD toons. I have no issues at all finding mats in any of the zones. I have one EBon toon who is lower lvl and she does not have an issue either. Yes she has seen bots but it is no where near the mass zerg of them people claim.

I agree that I don't see masses of bots. I think I've seen 3 sets in Auridon so far. I actually took 3 of my Alts back through the areas before making the OP because I felt it needed checking. There were plant nodes easily found through the parts of DC and EP I travelled and I was gauging the level with a simple node spot exercise.

SFBryan18 wrote: »

If container items and NPC's appear differently for each person, why are these items shared? And I can't even buy them from a shop keeper just to make a simple low level outfit. It irritates me that I have to deconstruct every piece of clothing I get just to find the right materials to make a couple pieces of light armor.

Actually I've noticed that the containers are also open or closed for each player differently , at least in the banks. That being said, I can understand them removing node access for materials temporarily, it's a preventative measure to slow farming.

crowfl56 wrote: »

are u crazy? or playing some kind of different game, I have found plenty of nodes in every zone, stop complaining

I wasn't complaining. I was making an observation about a particular region within the game. I restate "the other areas should have a reasonably similar number of <bots> and finding plant nodes is ok in them for the number of players I see".

redwoodtreesprite wrote: »

Auridon has always been a bit starved for resources. Meaning the main island. I don't even bother looking for resources there. Other than water hyacinth LOL.

Thanks, so, Auridon has always been short of plant nodes then. Guess that's more than enough reason to just do the quests and leave.

The bot authors are probably in Wildstar trying to figure out how to maximize their gold farming there.

So only the second string botters are left in eso right now.

SK1TZ0FR3N1K

redwoodtreesprite wrote: »

Auridon has always been a bit starved for resources. Meaning the main island. I don't even bother looking for resources there. Other than water hyacinth LOL.

That's crap, just today in a 6 hour period in Auridon, the wife accumulated 6 stack of raw jute and I got enough alchemy mats to go from 1 to 32. They are there.

Woolenthreads

SK1TZ0FR3N1K wrote: »

That's crap, just today in a 6 hour period in Auridon, the wife accumulated 6 stack of raw jute and I got enough alchemy mats to go from 1 to 32. They are there.

Then maybe it's something to do with the programming of the game that some of us aren't seeing masses of plant nodes in Auridon. I did notice on one Alt about 2 weeks ago that some areas of a region (Stonefalls, in that case) were stripped bare, usually around the cities. Maybe that's what redwoodtreesprite and I are suffering from, in Auridon, just overpopulation of crafters which makes the area look bare.

#edit Actually, after some thought, are you sure you mean "Auridon" and not "Aldmeri Dominion". because it seems passingly odd that anyone would spend all their time collecting 600 jute from plant nodes and not levelling up and moving on to Grahtwood. That's not a veiled insult just honest puzzlement at someone getting enjoyment out of collecting ingredients.

twev

As someone who's run a buncha low level alts through Auridon, Khenarthis, Graht and Reapers in succession, (I don't PvP, and I spend more time gathering than questing), I've seen that there are times when the same areas will be stripped clean for days and then there's a span of several hours when those same ares are awash in mats. Several hours later you can then go for days seeing an (approximate and constant) 70% to 80% decline again.

I've been getting the impression it coincides with Zeni doing a stealth-purge which takes several hours for the bots to adapt to before they come roaring back again.

ETA: And I do see new mat nodes in many of those areas that were either constantly stripped before I got there on my many previous passes, or are part of the 'more nodes are being added' plan that Zeni mentioned... I don't know which category they fall into.

::shrugg::
Just my observations and resulting opinion.

The bot infestation is just sucking the fun out of the harvesting game for me.

The NB bugs, constant stat/skill no-balance/re-balance in general, and other beta bugs all over have already made group questing too much of a PITA to be 'fun'.

For an MMO that keeps people arguing over whether the 2nd 'M' means groups are optional or not when the game can already put group players into separate instances during group quests is too Jekyll/Hyde for me to enjoy.

I'm not feeling enough love to slogg to PvP or VR, at this point.

AlexDougherty

Woolenthreads wrote: »

AlexDougherty wrote: »

I've found plenty of alchemy and clothing plants in Auridon in the past, the nodes are there, so if you aren't finding them, it has to be bots.

When you say "past" what precisely do you mean? Do you mean "since the last patch" or do you mean "since the last time you had an Alt there"?

What I'm getting at is that I don't see any more bots in Auridon than I do in other regions but the other regions still have easily found nodes for alchemical and clothing ingredients, Auridon doesn't.

There was a period of time prior to the last patch where I was seeing plant nodes now there are none to be seen.

I was there about three days ago, and still noticed plants. But most of my gathering was about two weeks ago.

Also almost all the bots in auridon are under the surface, you occasionally see the top of a head, but the sods are not visable mostly.

Blkadr

All the pretty plants in Auridon and nothing for pickin'! I've noticed that too! I see no bots anywhere though.