Guild Wars 2

Do we gather everything using the highest tier gathering tools or do we carry multiple tiers of tools around?

It seems too expensive to use a tool that costs 4 copper to gather an ingredient worth 1 copper, but conversely it would take 18 bag slots to carry every tier of tool.

If you’re going to be running around in a lower level zone just find a merchant and buy the appropriate tier. There are so many merchants scattered around that it is easy enough to do.

There are a lot of merchants but I’ve found that the tools they sell scale to what level you are. For instance merchants in Queensdale will sell you copper/iron tools if you’re levels 1-10 and steel/darksteel tools if you’re 30-40. It seems the only way you can get the full range is by talking to a crafting master or go to one of those mega merchants, usually only found in capitals.

In response to the OP: it just comes down to how much you think it’s worth. You’ll be paying in terms of time and waypoint costs to get appropriate tools most of the time, so determining whether that cost is greater than the money saved by getting a lower tier tool is what’s important

Finding the tools is not a problem at all.

A zone like Bloodtide Coast (level 55) might have iron (tier 2) not far from platinum (tier 4) or gold (tier 3). You can use the tier 4 mining pick for all of them, but from what I’ve seen it wastes money to use a higher pick on lower ore.

I’ve been carrying around different tiers of tools, but it takes up 15 bag slots + 3 equipped. Seems like there must be a better way, this seems inefficient to me.

LeCreaux, as far as price comparisons go, remember that it’s not one tool per one piece of gathered resource. If that resources sells for 1c each, then you’ll get about 100c/1s back when your item us used up.

I see no reason to gather whenever feasible, even if you don’y craft. It’s bonus experience, and an item to either use or sell.

Metaphorical.3207:

…as far as price comparisons go, remember that it’s not one tool per one piece of gathered resource. If that resources sells for 1c each, then you’ll get about 100c/1s back when your item us used up…

I tested this using copper nodes and both a Copper Pick and a Mithril Pick. I got the same amount of copper regardless of which pick I used. The Mithril Pick did not collect more ore.

That means mining copper with a Copper Pick yields 4 times the cost of the picks (profit). Meanwhile using a Mithril Pick for copper yields only 62.5% of the cost of the pick (loss). Hence why I’ve been using the lowest tool for the node.

In reality you can use the Trading Post to make way more than vendor price, but when the TP is down it looks to me like you have to carry around 18 different tools to make profit.

I didn’t touch the topic of what pick to use because I thought it was rather self explanatory. Use the tools for the zone you’re in, and negate your whole dilemma altogether.

Don’t you get more stones with a higher tier pick?

I’m not talking about the amount of ores, but the amount of stones.

Yes items stack down, so If you buy a Steel Pickaxe for example, you can mine gold, iron, silver and copper. I always just buy the highest so it’s easier to carry them around and allows you to not miss out any precious materials

In my experience if i use a higher level tool in a low level area i tend to crit more on my harvesting. Where with copper picks for example i get 3 ore i’ve had multiple times using my steel picks where i get 5 ore per node and i’ve had up to 17 from a rich node.

SiNoS.2147:

In my experience if i use a higher level tool in a low level area i tend to crit more on my harvesting. Where with copper picks for example i get 3 ore i’ve had multiple times using my steel picks where i get 5 ore per node and i’ve had up to 17 from a rich node.

Very interesting, thanks for posting. I think I’ll experiment with this later tomorrow when I get back into game.

SiNoS.2147:

In my experience if i use a higher level tool in a low level area i tend to crit more on my harvesting. Where with copper picks for example i get 3 ore i’ve had multiple times using my steel picks where i get 5 ore per node and i’ve had up to 17 from a rich node.

I’ve not experienced this yet. I’m trying to not carry around 18 gathering tools, so if higher tools do indeed yield more than I’d do that. Will test it again.

I know a good solution to that.

Level requirements on gathering tools.
Same price and # of stacks on gathering tools.
Gathering from a node below the maximum of the gathering tool will not deplete the tool, i.e. mining Iron with a Darksteel Mining Pick will not remove a stack.

LeCreaux.3087:

In reality you can use the Trading Post to make way more than vendor price, but when the TP is down it looks to me like you have to carry around 18 different tools to make profit.

Or just a bit of patience, and sell it when the TP is back up.

It’s not like it’s hot property