Gathering after Hotfix 6

[ShortCat]

Breach Hotfix 6 made another change to the gathering system:

@kuro

Loot:

• Addressing players feedback for perfect gathering by moving the distribution towards player skill instead of RNG
  • Perfect gather now guarantees bonus loot
  • Reduced how often trees, ores, and dig spots give large hauls to incentivize perfect gathers

…and it somehow turned out to be the worst iteration so far. The core problems with the newly intrduced gathering minigame were not adressed, so that it seems reasonable to make another feedback attempt in order to improve the system.

Core Problems

1. Gathering takes too long! . It takes 3 good or great hits to collect a T3 node with a T3 tool; 4 early or late hits; 2 hits if the first and/or the second hit are perfect.
   If you miss the first 2 hits then the perfect hit does nothing. Players who decide not to engage with the minigame for whatever reason will get tired of the gathering animation really fast…or go make a cup of tea in the meantime.
2. Perfect hits yield miniscule bonus loot. It may be a bug, but I can swear I had 2 perfect hits and walked away with just one ore/wood/plant.
3. The grading system is highly intransparent/inconsistent. There seems to be no difference between good and great hits, as in both cases you will either get 2 or 1 resource units. It is also questionable why 3 good hits can yeald only one resource in the first place. If grading is supposed to only cut gathering time, then I would refer to Point 1.
4. Bonus loot is created in a separate drop. This creates a number of issues not in favor of players. First, the drop can fall down a pit or lake etc and may become unobtainable. Second, it is easy to overlook a drop between all the tall grass or pebble. Third, players spend addition time collecting an addition drop.

Proposed Solutions

1. There is always only one item drop after garhering.
2. It always takes only one hit to gather a node with a tool of the same tier. A silver minig tool should take one hit for a silver node. If the player is using an iron tool it takes 2; etc.
3. Simplify the grading and the yield. Early or late hits yield 1 resource; good hits yield 2 resources; perfect hits 3 resources.

This suggestion would accomplish the following:

• Reduce the time spent on gathering by shortening the gathering animation as well as reduce the drop pick up time.
• Reduce the risk of lost loot.
• It would make the grading system transparent and consistent.
• It would still incentivise perfect hits.

Sorry for the long post; here is a potato

[Lombix_4]

I Fully Agree with everything you say in this post

@ShortCat

It may be a bug, but I can swear I had 2 perfect hits and walked away with just one ore/wood/plant.

from my experience it is due to loot is created in a separate drop sometimes the second drop appears perfectly intertwined with the first, and then ends up in tall grass or something smilie and you collect only one drop before you can’t see where the other one is

@ShortCat

Bonus loot is created in a separate drop. This creates a number of issues not in favor of players. First, the drop can fall down a pit or lake etc and may become unobtainable.

Yes all the resources that are near a precipice often fall into the precipice, and even when this does not happen you often cannot see where the second drop has ended up and whether it has appeared or not

@ShortCat

There is always only one item drop after garhering.

I totally agree, it used to be like this and it was better, for me it would be even better if the item entered directly into your inventory like when fishing, the animation to collect the items is very slow.

@ShortCat

It always takes only one hit to gather a node with a tool of the same tier. A silver minig tool should take one hit for a silver node. If the player is using an iron tool it takes 2; etc.

literally just double the damage! so a perfect hit destroys resources in one shot, and holding the button requires 3 hits to destroy resources like it was before the change

@ShortCat

Simplify the grading and the yield. Early or late hits yield 1 resource; good hits yield 2 resources; perfect hits 3 resources.

Right, Having more resources won’t break the game. Performing a perfect shot isn’t that easy. And it still takes rare resources to upgrade weapons.

@ShortCat

This suggestion would accomplish the following:

• Reduce the time spent on gathering by shortening the gathering animation as well as reduce the drop pick up time.
• Reduce the risk of lost loot.
• It would make the grading system transparent and consistent.
• It would still incentivise perfect hits.

Exactly, the current system is so annoying that interacting is just a pain, these changes would make it tolerable.

The only thing you didn’t mention about the new system is the XP and the Focus gained from gathering resources.

XP makes sense, time you waste gathering resources is rewarded.

But getting focus this way doesn’t make sense in the context of the game. Practically, if you collect all the resources, you can get a free rune for each group of enemies. This makes a huge difference in combat, especially for mages. In my opinion, it’s too strong a buff, especially considering that they removed the ability to get focus even outside of combat because it was a mechanic that doesn’t encourage iteration, but they practically reintroduced it for everyone. I wish it was removed as a feature, at least in hard mode.

[ShortCat]

@Lombix_4

The only thing you didn’t mention about the new system is the XP and the Focus gained from gathering resources.

I am indifferent on those changes. XP is nice, I guess. Focus is kinda irrelevant.

@Lombix_4

it would be even better if the item entered directly into your inventory like when fishing, the animation to collect the items is very slow.

Yes, that would be ideal.

[Jenim_Dacket]

Yeah I’m still just annoyed that the community said “gathering takes too long” and their response was “oh you just aren’t having enough fun doing it — let’s build a mini game”

[askan94]

Haha I heard the community wanted multiple/extra resources from a single gather and after that was added I heard the community say the opposite they want only 1 resource from a single gather now instead and less time spent.

In the future we want to be able to cut the whole forest in 1 swing and break the whole mountain in 2..

Community in a nutshell😂

[ShortCat]

This is more than a vague interpretation of this thread and kinda misses the point…by a mile and a half.