Collecting raresFollow

Rumor I suspect. I have one character with 120+ in everything but fishing and she has never found a rare.

One of my other alt's picked up a Blackend Iron when they were about 33, and havent seen anything since and now sits at 95 for all their skills.

My harvesting skills are well over 100 (don't remember exactly what they are right now, and um, can't get on!) and I have yet to find a rare. On the other hand a friend whose skills are around 20 found a silver the other day. Go figure!

The wife's toon has skills around 50 or so when she found a bronze (tier 1) and a blackened iron (teir 2). Think the bronze was picked up in peat bog. :)

I can say successful rate of harvesting rare items is totally unrelated to your harvesting skill level. its totally random. all my harvesting skills are 120+ but still haven't got my 2nd goal/silver/copper since I got my first coal when I was 50 on mining.

aye random mc randomstyne is his name... so elusive so so so elusive... my brain needs Oxygen from farming over 3 hours of just wind swept rocks to only turn up 1 silver near the end of it all... Definitely elusive.... Did I mention it was random too?

I suspect it's rumor, though a plausible one. Kind of makes sense that, if you are more accomplished at a given task, you'd improve your chances of doing something extra-normal (like harvesting a rare) performing said task.

In fact, it's probably because it makes sense that SoE decided not to implement it.

I do wonder if buying the upgraded harvesting tools might have any effect down the road. No, it doesn't have any effect now but I doubt that they'd put them in the game if they didn't intend them to do something eventually. Maybe they'll reduce the chance that you'll fail to harvest anything at all from an attempt. Maybe they'll add 5% to the chance of harvesting a rare (I read that rares pop up roughly 1 in 2000 harvesting attempts so 5% better would make it, what, 1 in 1900 attempts? A virtual sure thing then!).

I collected one coral around50 or so skill. Then worked my skills up to 95 so I can do all harvesting in Steppes. First mining point pulled a Rough Jasper, yay..

Don't think tools have anything to do with anything.. I had them all and got nothing extraordinary or anything. Then again I didn't parse numbers before and after so maybe I wouldn't notcice a 1%(arbitrary number) increase in harvesting gain.

Anyhow, yay me on the Jasper and does anyone know a fair price for it??

I havrvested a piece of coral when my first character was below level 10. Didn't know what I had and sold it to a vendor. Knocking my self on the head ever since.

T1 Rares are a total waste of time. They make low level items that players quickly grow out of, in addition quest items are often better.

The T2 rares only seem to be good for Spells & Skills. When used to make equipment the gear tends to be sub-par. I have made a number of blackened iron items and couldnt unload them for a fraction of the cost.

The T3 Rares and up are very valuabe and the equipment they make tends to be decent.

Note T2 and T3 woodworking items are broken as far as I know, and only T1 rare furniture can be made.

"I do wonder if buying the upgraded harvesting tools might have any effect down the road."

What are advanced harvesting tools and where do you get them?

miaa-

I think the same merchants that sell the Marketboard also sell things like A Mining Pick, A Foresting Axe, A Fishing Rod and the like. They sell for 2sp+ or so. Right now, they don't do anything (tested and verified here and elsewhere on eq2traders.com) but the question does beg to be asked, Why are they in the game if they don't do and aren't going to do anything?

I'd have to disagree with you there... I have done a booming business with both tailoring and woodworking of T2 rares. Over time, I have sold more than a dozen imbued bone long & short bows and also more than a dozen each of the imbued rare T3 leather chest pieces and leggings. I have also made various other T2 bone items in the woodworking and carpentry disciplines and they never sit on the broker for long. And let me add that I never sell for cut prices... I always get top dollar for the things I make.

Yes, now they drop like crazy hehe. I have been gone for quite a while (left before around last Christmas, and just came back a couple days ago), and rare drops while harvesting must have increased by 5 fold. I raised 3 crafters through the tier I areas, harvesting up to 40 (which was the requirement to harvest in tier II areas for the first 3, and then 20 for the last character). I never got a single Tier I rare through all the harvesting on any of those characters. Now, I can actually bet on getting at least one tier I rare or more each time I go out harvesting. Quite the increase!