Ok here we go, this subject hasnt been raised for awhile but since it doesnt even seem to be prioritised by the powers-that-be I think we need to have a discussion about this.

Resource gathering is a cornerstone of any MMORPG, especially for the crafting type that Xsyon is of. So it goes without saying that when it is what a lot of players will be spending 70% of their time in game doing (guesstimate, dont hang me for this) it needs to be well balanced for rewards, time and effort. Xsyons resource gathering mechanics are not even remotely balanced in this manner. It is mostly a progress bar, which would be all well and good if it didnt also take all your attention to do, such a system would only work well if it was automated allowing the player to do other things in the meantime. A progress bar based system that requires your undivided attention is bad for the simple reason that watching a progress bar all the time is not entertaining. It makes the game needlessly tedious. The same could be said for crafting, but those mechanics have actually recieved much needed improvements, gathering is still the same.

Fishing - Stand and click - watch progress bar, bad mechanic.
Foraging - Run and click - watch progress bar, bad mechanic.
Hunting - Prowling for animals and combat, good mechanic! skinning and gutting, stand and click - watch progress bar, bad mechanic.
Logging - tied into forestry, planting and logging with passive growth, good mechanic!
Scavenging - Run and click - watch progress bar, bad mechanic
Forestry - Gathering for seeds is stand and click - watch progress bar, bad mechanic.
Resources - Stand and click - watch progress bar, bad mechanic.

Now we have been given a lot of changes to resource distribution and thats all well and good, but why havent the mechanics themselves been changed? Players have been saying this on the forums since beta and yet this is not even on the priority list. The only arguments that have been raised against changing the mechanics are people saying that changing gathering and crafting towards a more automated system would make it too easy, which is a rather terrible arguement, clicking a button or not clicking a button has nothing to do with difficulty but it is tedium.

So what i propose is this:
- All gathering progress bar time is increased to 2 minutes. During those 2 mins you get a number of tries specific to each gathering profession to bring the gathering rate on par with the current rates. Scavenging and foraging would have 12 tries for example.
- All the run-and-click business is removed and instead accounted for in the gathering rates.
- All grass, waterline, junkpile and rock area has a resource rarity modifier which would be visible to the player, this could be an area of lets say a square of 20m. The value determines what rarity of items you can get from that area. There would be a radius around all totem in which the resource rarity modifier is decreased. When you gather from a square the value decreases, eventually leaving you with the most common items. The value would then replenish over time.

I feel these changes would eliminate a lot of tedius work in this game while also encouraging you to move around the map and seek out better ground.

Discuss.

//Banden