Prospecting...?

[Thorain]

Can a dev please post what the future of the prospecting skill is? At the moment, one of this classes most significant skills (we get 10 points per level after all - the same as most other crafts get in their primary skill) is absolutely useless...

I know that it's probably not going to be used as when intended when originally designed, but some thoughts on where it's going - or not would be useful.

Thanks.

[sethvir]

I have played this game for more than a year and prospecting has never done anything. I would like to know what its purpose was, and why this skill isn't used even now?

[Thorain]

I have played this game for more than a year and prospecting has never done anything. I would like to know what its purpose was, and why this skill isn't used even now?

It was in game because, from what I understand, nodes where going to be hidden. Prospecting would allow miners to find the ore, and thus be able to sell it to the other classes.

However, this was changed during beta, so all characters could mine and smelt ore... and with it this signed the death knell of the 'pure'-miner.

My current view on the subject is that miners have a skill that receive 10 points in (that's as many as most get in there primary skill) that does absolutely nothing, as well as making other classes far too good at the mining and smelting means the miner serves little purpose as a purestrain character, and is only useful for levelling up other classes...

However, I know that if any other trade / craft class got 10 points in a useless skill, there'd be hell to pay...

[Ikfel]

When the game first went live the higher tiered resources were just scattered across the landscape in a very random fashion. The didn't have fields, or else the fields were the size of half a continent. Prospecting might have been useful then if it was to tell you the the nearest platinum node was 200 meters to the northeast. You would have spent a lot of time wandering about looking for nodes otherwise. But they changed that shortly after release and put everything in well defined fairly compact fields.

I think they could make use of the prospecting skill be turning it in to a sort of stealth feature. Have it let you collect resources right under the noses of the guarding mobs without getting agro. Then the miners and gatherers would have a real advantage over the other crafters in collecting resources.

[Knall]

Enchanters get 10 points/lvl in enchanting (cleaning blighted processed resources at better efficiency then the cleaning forms) and transmutation.

Both of these skills are fairly useless by now. Only transmutation got a short boom phase when t5 forms were available without the resource processing forms.

[Matecuss]

Enchanting is used in the making of enchanted essence orbs, something that alchemists require in order to produce some of their products, so at a high lvl would be a very valuable skill to have.

Transmutation is also useful but in a more limited circumstance, esp if you need resources that you just can't quite make yet. Not terribly useful for xp'ing off, but if you need 10 ironsilk spools and don't have the skill, then it saves you many days of trying to level that skill in order to do it the normal way.

[Drunkenmonkey]

prospecting should do something like allow us to get more ore from the nodes due to us being able to find better quality ore than the other classes

[Dobro]

That would be nice.