The Constant Struggle for Resources

Clintius_Maximus · November 2014

Hi all. New to the game, just thought I'd give my 2 cents. As much as I love this game, one of the major gripes I have with ESO is the constant struggle of having to compete with your supposed allies for resources, such as harvesting nodes (ores, herbs, etc), as well as entering a cave or ruin only to find it swarming with other players who have wiped out all other forms of life, meaning that often you can just run right to the end of the dungeon without any form of resistance. While I've heard that some people actually enjoy this kind of competition, personally I think it's just a waste of time, and irritating to say the least.

I could give you a long soppy story about the number of times that I've had other players swooping in to swipe a herb or piece of ore that I was just about to grab (confession: I've done this several times myself), but I'm sure you've heard it all before. To be clear, I don't blame the players - I blame the system. Due to the way the game works, players don't have much of a choice but to scramble around like this.

I would like to propose a solution to Zenimax (assuming they are even reading this), a solution that could hopefully satisfy people on both sides of the fence. What I propose is an OPTIONAL setting for phased/instanced harvesting nodes and ALL ruins, caves, dungeons etc. This system would be similar to what Guild Wars 2 did, enabling each and every player to roam around the countryside without having to worry about having harvesting nodes or mobs 'stolen'. In doing this, each cave, Ayleid city, and Dwemer ruin will feel like an untouched piece of history, rather than a tourist hotspot - for those that CHOOSE it. If these people need some help with a particular dungeon, all they have to do is group up, or simply disable the setting. Meanwhile, for those masochists out there who just love trying to harvest some columbine flowers only to find nothing but worms, they can simply leave the setting disabled indefinitely. This should also help to alleviate issues with bots to some extent.

Now given that I haven't slept much in the last two days, I'm expecting this plan of mine to have some serious flaws (not to mention my grammar and sentence structure). That's where you guys come in. I want you to work with me here to see if we can come up with something viable, so discuss away.

On a final note I would just like to say that people play and enjoy ESO for a multitude of different reasons. Some like the unique combat system. Some people love the quests. Others play for PvP. Some people are crafting fanatics. Some weirdo's even do it because they enjoy playing with friends, or *gasp* want to meet new people. Or if your a lore *** like me, you just love the world of ES and want to explore every nook, cranny, hill, mountain and crevasse, and read every book you come across.
I highly doubt anyone plays ESO so that they can wait around.

Gyudan · November 2014

Clintius_Maximus wrote: »

I highly doubt anyone plays ESO so that they can wait around.

It's called fishing, and yes some people do it.

The current system is fine IMHO.

Nestor · November 2014

1. Farming Nodes respawn every 10 to 15 minutes, so come back if the nodes you can reach are gone.
2. Building farming for provisioning ingredients/crafting materials/motifs is instanced, you can be in there with 100 other players and you can still pull loot from almost every container (RNG will always give you some empty containers)
3. There are no Kill Steals as far as loot goes, so get a hit in on the enemy if there are others around and you will still get loot. Your exp will vary somewhat depending how many players there are in the fight with the mob, with 2 being the way to get the most experience. But the loot is there with one hit or 20 hits on the mob.
4. Most dungeons and delves are not saturated with players once you get off of the starter islands and first zone map. Even if they are wait about 10 minutes and all the mobs will respawn and the ones before you will have moved on.
5. It is much better to farm for resources in the world as you are going from one place to another than to just do farming runs. It makes it much less tedious and much more efficent.
6. Players tend to move in waves, as they are Pug'd or Ad Hoc Tag Alongs, so if there are a bunch of other players, again, wait 10 minutes and you more than likely have the place to yourself. At which point you will probably wish others were around when you get to the Boss

Bottom line, for the first 5 to 10 levels you should be focusing on getting your combat feet under you, not farming or crafting. Main reason you don't have the bag space to store the crafting material yet. Your goal is loot you can vendor to get gold to make your character viable, and buy bag space.

Once you reach L10, then you can start to afford to put points into crafting skills, but really L20 is probably a better place to start that. Most people also have Crafting Alts, so you can spend some time learning the game and combat on your first character, get them to L20 or so, then respec them into a crafter with some minimal combat skills for farming purposes and park them somewhere. Then make another character and have your crafting alt make them armor and weapons. That second character will have a much easier time in the game than your first one.

kijima · November 2014

I can assure you that in later levels, the game will be a ghost town for you and you'll be able to grab all the resource nodes you want.

Played last night in Alik'r Desert for 2 hours, didn't see one other player.

s7732425ub17_ESO · November 2014

Competition for resources only exists in very low level zones. Once you hit Veteran Zones, there is almost 0 competition for resources. Go to Craglorn and you can wander all day long finding tons and tons of resources that you don't have to fight anyone over.

You are a low level player. Things get much, much better once you get past the first 1-2 zones.

Clintius_Maximus · November 2014

Thanks for the tips Nestor! As far as the nodes as concerned my main issue lies with the ores, herbs, and rune nodes, which from what I can tell are not instanced but are part of the persistent universe. I don't really specifically farm for stuff; rather I do it on the run as you say, and I'm still running into probs with that, which admittedly might just be because its a starting area.

I'm also not really that concerned about loot or xp 'steals', its more just the issue of not having any kind of challenge, and hence fun when I'm trying to get through a dungeon. I'm particularly sensitive towards having other players with me in a dungeon since I'm so hooked on the exploration aspects of the game. Other players tend to break immersion for me quite a bit; not sure if anyone else has that issue hehe.
Also I noticed that several of your points mention waiting for 10 minutes. Waiting around is kind of the issue I'm trying to address. I guess I'm not a very patient sort.

Illumous · November 2014

Resource competition is really on prevalent in the first two or three zones. As you enter new zones, the number of people you fight with for resources goes down (exception being the Hollow City in Coldharbor where all the Alchemists like myself are farming 24/7).

Same deal when entering delves.

Also not grabbing insects/worms while harvesting alchemy reagents is really rude and people need to stop doing that... but we all know that will never happen.

s7732425ub17_ESO · November 2014

Clintius_Maximus wrote: »

Thanks for the tips Nestor! As far as the nodes as concerned my main issue lies with the ores, herbs, and rune nodes, which from what I can tell are not instanced but are part of the persistent universe. I don't really specifically farm for stuff; rather I do it on the run as you say, and I'm still running into probs with that, which admittedly might just be because its a starting area.

I'm also not really that concerned about loot or xp 'steals', its more just the issue of not having any kind of challenge, and hence fun when I'm trying to get through a dungeon. I'm particularly sensitive towards having other players with me in a dungeon since I'm so hooked on the exploration aspects of the game. Other players tend to break immersion for me quite a bit; not sure if anyone else has that issue hehe.
Also I noticed that several of your points mention waiting for 10 minutes. Waiting around is kind of the issue I'm trying to address. I guess I'm not a very patient sort.

You should put 2 points into the "Keen Eye" skill under each crafting line as soon as you can. You will find so many more nodes this way. Many, many people miss sooooo many alchemy plants because they don't have the Keen Eye skill.

Also, you will discover that the low level stuff (ore, wood, clothing mats) is worthless as soon as you outlevel it. So do you really need that iron ore sitting over there that some other player just grabbed? No, you don't. You won't actually use it, and in 3 hours you will outlevel it.

Nestor · November 2014

I can't watch paint dry either.

So, go outside and farm some nodes near the dungeon. They are there, you just don't know what to look for yet. A hint is to go into the graphics options and turn off the Grass. You will be amazed at the nodes you will see then. Once you learn to recognize them, then the grass will not be an impediment so you can turn it back on.

Also, Jute is hands down the hardest node to see and that is what you have to look for at your level. I could never see Jute in my game even when I know where it is. It might be worth throwing a point into Keen Eye for Alchemy and Clothing.

Ores, woods, and enchanting runes are easiest to find. If you are out at game night time, you can see Enchanting rune nodes from quite a ways off. Wood is always near a tree, ores are always near a cliff or rock wall. Alchemy ingredients grow in the same kinds of places like mushrooms are always near trees, something that is blue is almost some kind of enchanting ingredient, Nirnroot and Hyacinth always grow near water etc etc. Take the worms and crawlers, they can be used for fishing, or you can toss them at a vendor when needed.

Also, there is an addon called Harvest Map that will keep track of the nodes you discover so you can quickly find them again or plan an efficient path as you go along a familiar road. There really are a ton of resource nodes in the game in the overland, most of them are just hard to see until you learn what to look for, or have Keen Eye passive.

Clintius_Maximus · November 2014

Illumous wrote: »

Resource competition is really on prevalent in the first two or three zones. As you enter new zones, the number of people you fight with for resources goes down (exception being the Hollow City in Coldharbor where all the Alchemists like myself are farming 24/7).

Same deal when entering delves.

Yeah, I've heard stories about that place. People running laps on their mounts around the city waiting for nodes to spawn, players using speed buffs to sprint past competitors - absolute madness. It's a pity it's in Coldharbor and not the Shivering Isles, at least then that kind of behavior would be perfectly acceptable.

Clintius_Maximus · November 2014

Nestor wrote: »

Also, Jute is hands down the hardest node to see and that is what you have to look for at your level. I could never see Jute in my game even when I know where it is. It might be worth throwing a point into Keen Eye for Alchemy and Clothing.

Personally I find Jute the easiest to spot, simply due to how massive the plant is, even with the grass setting on. Ore and woods, and of course runes aren't hard to spot either. I'm even fine with most of the alchemical ingredients like Blue Entoloma, Lady's Smock, Bugloss, Water Hyacinth, and especially Wormwood, which seems to be everywhere I turn. The only alchemical ingredient I have trouble spotting is Columbine Flower. Have only found 2 nodes so far. Apparently it only grows in green areas with gentle hills.

Nestor · November 2014

Clintius_Maximus wrote: »

Yeah, I've heard stories about that place. People running laps on their mounts around the city waiting for nodes to spawn, players using speed buffs to sprint past competitors - absolute madness.

I have never seen that in Coldharbor myself. Have not hung out in that town in a month or so, I will have to go see if it has changed. I think there are some ingredients that have more numerous nodes up there, but if they are the ones I remember (for making the Tri Potions that are in demand), I find them quite readily in other zones. This being Mountain Flower, Columbine, and Bugloss, I trip over those myself in all the zones.

Clintius_Maximus · November 2014

Nestor wrote: »

I find them quite readily in other zones. This being Mountain Flower, Columbine, and Bugloss, I trip over those myself in all the zones.

People keep telling me that Columbine is plentiful in the starting zones, like Stros M'kai and Daggerfall, but for the life of me I can't find diddly squat as far as that particular plant is concerned. I've literally only found 1 node near DF, and 1 in Stros M'kai. Searched the 'rolling green hills' and everything. Really need to get myself that Keen Eye for alchemy.

Kartalin · November 2014

I agree that Columbine is the hardest to see without the keen eye perk. My harvest rate for it increased dramatically once I invested two skill points there.

Oh yeah, a lot of us vet players tend to return to starting zones to gather flowers, making the crowding worse as a result.