Discussing the gathering mechanics of mining, herbalism, lumber jacking in Ashes of Creation and other MMOs to also see if we could extract equal mechanics from them!
MINING COMPARISON
Mining is a standard type of gathering in all types of MMOs. The material being gathered are usually all vein, poking from the ground, with distinct colors, depending on what time of ore it is.
World of Warcraft demonstrates this well as all their ore are very distinct and uniquely shaped allowing players to easily notice and spot them in the world. Unfortunately, based on the world while gathering stuff, you tend to be flying up in the sky so this visual cue does not play much of its part as players have their eyes glued to the mini map to find the ore veins.
In Guild Wars 2, their ore veins are not so flashy and distinct as they are going for more a realistic look. However, the highest grade ore is slightly larger than the other ores and tends to trigger in your peripheral vision rather than you relying on your mini map.
Like Black Desert Online, it takes a much more different approach compared to other MMOs as their mining is not for the ore itself, but more focused on the generic stone that you obtain whilst mining. This stone is used for a lot of life skill related content so it is very sought after. There is always a ton of ore orders in the market. Almost all of the rocks in this game is minable with different ores that you can find, though there are no distinct features.
MINING EVENTS
Time to speculate and spark some discussion on what seems to be some events that could happen with mining and other gathering skills as this mechanic is going to exist in Ashes of Creation. Think along the lines of random events or the mobs that spawn whilst gathering in World of Warcraft?
The first event we are going to talk about is when you hit a vein and it spawns an ore elemental where you have to fight. Though, this could pose as a problem for players who are in full artisan gear but they can tune the mob when it comes to dodging mechanics rather than fighting it like a normal mob. Killing these elementals would wield you a bunch of ore.
Another event that could occur: a free loot room. During mining, the ground will collapse beneath the vein putting your character into a cave full of gems and rich ore for you to plunder. Escape would be as easy as climbing the rocks to get back out and the instanced generated would be unique to the player who has spawned there.
HERBALISM COMPARISON
The gathering artisan that are used to gather plants and herbs within the world of Vera and also a common profession to have in an MMO. World of Warcraft uses herbs for alchemy. Guild Wars 2 uses herbs and plants for cooking and Black Desert Online uses it for both alchemy and cooking.
In World of Warcraft, it is probably the most standard gathering herb spots as it requires a certain amount of level in herbalism in order to interact with them. In recent expansions, they’ve expanded their herbalism to a much better progression within the herbalism tree. Making that some herbs cannot be gathered efficiently until you get to a certain point by completing a quest chain.
Guild Wars 2 uses herbalism in a fairly linear way. Meaning, using it for cooking materials, though there are a few unique plants that are gatherable that help supplement other professions. Flaxes is the one that comes to mind as it is required for a lot of armor sets around the Heart of Thorns area. Due to its demand, prices for that we’re massive compared to other plants. This was a massive opportunity for players to make huge amounts of money everyday as the gathering spots for the game became gatherable again at the daily reset time.
Black Desert Online treat their herb gathering spots similar to their ore ones, giving a more universal approach to gathering. Hitting the more wild herb spots, giving you a chance at multiple at each existing herbs in the game. It makes it by far the best experience per hour to level up your gathering life skill.
HERBALISM EVENTS
One of the events that we have discussed is when a monster appears with the plant on its head though there are many other events that can happen when gathering herbs and plants.
In World of Warcraft, it spawns a fox where it follows you around and leads you to other stuff like plants and herbs that are gatherable whilst you chase it. Or even a mana induced zombie chasing you to steal the man based plant that you have just acquired.
However, there is still one particular even that sticks to us which is the one from Black Desert Online. Those are the Lucky Arrows. These are rare and very distinct looking herbs that spawn irregularly within the Drigan and Kamasilvia regions. These plants require you to have an end-game gathering tool equipped. Depending on the level of this hoe, it gives you a chance to succeed at the game.
LUMBERJACKING
Lumberjacking is an artisan skills centered around gathering wood from trees. WoW does not seem to have this as one of their gathering professions as they do not have any wood based materials in their crafting. Black Desert and Guild Wars 2 however have it in theirs so we will be focusing on comparison with them.
In Guild Wars 1, these lumber gathering spots show up on the map like any other and are displayed as a small sapling tree. Cutting it is similar to mining ores so you would yield more wood from these spots than you would from a herb node which only makes you gather those particular herbs.
Meanwhile in Black Desert Online, like their stone and herb gathering, cutting trees yield generic logs which are highly sought after for ship building.
LUMBERJACKING EVENTS
The first event that comes to mind when it comes to lumberjacking would have to be the tree spawning into an entity and attacking you. This could work similarly to the ore elemental and would attack you slowly in a pattern for you to dodge rather than to attack you in your frail artisan gear. Killing this entity would yield you a rare type of wood like living bark which can unlock additional cosmetics for you to craft just in case Intrepid gets a bit tight on avenues to offer cosmetics in.
Another cool event would and could be disturbing a nest of wasps which could poison you. Triggering this would open up a quest for you to learn new recipes like a poison cure potion.
Food For Thought:
These kinds of events could link the artisan skills to a more meaningful way than herbalism being for alchemy, lumberjacking for carpentry… Diversity and encouragement to try other professions out to unlock something unique is always a nice motivator for players to try something they might not have tried otherwise.
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VIDEO CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
01:51 Mining Comparison
03:46 Mining Events
04:58 Herbalism Comparison
07:28 Herblism Events
08:44 Lumber Comparison
09:31 Lumber Events
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