Iron Ore is the hardest one to see from a distance, most of the other Ores are easy to see. So, this is one I tend not to use. Alchemy is one I almost always use, sometimes Clothing. But other nodes are easy to see so I don't spend the points.

I would get all 3. There are over 300 skill points that you can collect, and that's way more than you'll ever need.

I just started doing equipment writs on a second character. I have no keen eye on this character. When I went farming in an area I know well, know where the nodes are, I was surprised how much harder it is to see nodes without keen eye, even knowing where the nodes are. You only need 1 skill point to be effective, and I think it is well spent.

The other night I was on a gathering materials run with another player. I was on my recently spasticly respecced sorc, and I have no points in keen eye. My friend has maxed keen eye in everything. It was kind of aggravating and amusing how much he was spotting stuff and mostly I wasn't (there were a few things that I knew so well I could see them from much farther than even his "max range" keen eye, but only a few)

After a while we divide up what we are carrying/collecting and I'm doing all the alchemy stuff. He starts reminding me "there is such and so over here" and there was at least three separate times when even standing right on the damn thing, I could barely see the mountain flower or columbine.

I'd say just for those two - which are apperently designed to blend in - keen eye is worth it.

You really only need one point in Keen Eye for all of the crafting skills. And really only Alchemy or Clothing are particularly helpful, at least for me, since Mountain Flower and Columbine are so hard to spot on their own. I also had a hard time with Flax and Cotton.

Ore, Wood, and Enchanting nodes are much easier to spot, so you don't really need them (although Wood is harder to spot depending on the terrain). However, at least one point is useful for all of the crafting lines, since spotting these nodes while you're questing and not purposely farming is helpful. This makes it easier to build up mats, even when you're strictly questing.

As I've earned more spare skill points, I've put them into Keen Eye, since 3/3 in any of them is extremely useful in easily obtaining mats. Yes, you can find them without Keen Eye, but with this skill, especially maxed out, you'll spot so many more nodes so much quicker and easier - makes farming a breeze. Even when just questing, I end up with so many more mats than I used to. However, you have to have spare skill points - don't take away from any skills you need for combat.

There are a host of node location which are hidden from casual observation, most of which I would have known about without Keen Eye 3/3 for all crafting skills for my dedicated crafter (all 6 skills). Definitely worth the SPs for this character.

SirAndy wrote: »

IMHO, one point in keen eye is useful for all of the crafting lines. You'd be surprised how many Columbine you have been missing all this time.

That was the exact thing I was gonna say.

I only have it on clothing, and alchemy.

personally... when playing with my husband's character that has 3 points in keen eye on all the crafts I found that at least during the day I was still spotting most things Before they began to glow, so that pretty much confirmed to me that I don't really need to spend those points on my characters, and as mentioned whenever I play on my laptop with low settings so there's no grass all the harvestables really stand out. And actually sometimes the glow sort of hides what the item is so I can't tell from as far away if it's one I want to bother picking up or not. It can be useful for getting an idea of where the nodes are, but once you've gotten used to where the nodes are (if you've played through areas with several characters or done a lot of farming) it's not quite as useful in my opinion. My other reason for not using this passive is that I love taking screenshots and they don't disappear with the rest of the HUD and such when I take a screenshot so they kind of mess up the landscape....
(oh and the other reason is that I start obsessively following the lights.... forgetting about where I was going and ending up getting lost, heheh)

Columbine, Mountainflower, and Flax are the only things I don't spot as easily from far away, but I tend to wander around off the path anyways and trip over them often enough without needing to see them from a distance. Out of the ores I think ebony ore is the one I've had the most trouble spotting if it's in a shadowy recess or nighttime. I felt like the lower level ore was really easy to spot up until maybe dwarven, so if you're low on points it probably wouldn't hurt to wait a while before unlocking keen eye.

It's really up to you, whether you feel like you're having a hard time spotting ore or not. You do have to be more actively alert/watching for things without keen eye, whereas with that on you can kind of space out more as you run around and still spot stuff.