a harvester's guide

A Harvester's Guide:

How to Harvest, Where to Go, What You'll Find

For a straight list of all harvestables and craftable resources, see: Harvested Resource Lookup and Guide.

Harvesting is the means by which Artisans acquire the raw materials for crafting everything except Adornments. Artisans who do not buy all their materials on the broker must venture out into the world and risk life and limb to acquire the necessary materials for their craft. Adventurers can pick up some extra coin harvesting and marketing the resources to Artisans.

The Basics

An animal den resource node

As you're running around the world you'll notice various logs, roots, rocks, fishes, and clumps of dirt and sticks. These are commonly called "nodes".

Passing your cursor over these nodes makes them glow and your cursor will turn into a little hand, which is your clue that you can do something with the node. Right clicking the node and examining it will tell you the trivial harvesting skill and tell you if your skill is high enough to harvest the node. You can harvest by a) double-clicking the node; b) right clicking and selecting Harvest form the menu, or c) pressing F while your cursor is on the node. (The skills are found in your Knowledge Book but there's no need to make special hot keys or use those buttons, as the game will automatically apply the right skill.)

Each node has enough resources for three successful harvesting attempts (commonly called "pulls"). It's possible to fail a pull until your harvesting skill is at the trivial point for that node; don't worry about it, just try again. There are several possible results per successful pull, which changed in December, 2014 :

two of the same common resource
seven of the same common resource
thirteen of the same common resource
one imbuing material
one rare resource
20 common resources plus one rare resource
occasional 2 of rare resource
one primordial fragment

To harvest common resources you do not have to level up these skills (which is new with GU68), but you do have to have a minimum skill in order to be eligible for rare harvests. each Tier of harvesting (which relates roughly to the adventure level of the zone and the level of recipes using the resources) has a trivial level. Skilling up your harvesting skills is done by harvesting your way up the tiers. Your harvesting skill cap is determined by the higher of your Adventure or Crafting levels.

Once a node has been harvested a total of three times it despawns and after a certain amount of time it respawns in a different location in the area; In the original game zones all the non-fishing nodes share a spawn, so they'll respawn as a different type.

What that means is this: say that a given area has five of each type of resource node, animal den, ore, roots, shrub, stone and wood. If you were to harvest all five of the stone nodes, each node may respawn as something different, perhaps as two wood, a shrub, an ore and an animal den. Leaving that area with no stone nodes for harvesting.

Excessive harvesting of one or two types of node only will result in an area eventually being filled with one or two node types; usually these are shrub and root nodes.

Untouched nodes will eventually despawn and respawn once again, as a random type, but this time is much longer than it is for respawning from being harvested three times.

Harvesting Tools

In Game Update 60 harvesting tools were changed. The base harvest time of players was reduced from 5 seconds to 3 seconds, and to counter-balance that the reduction amounts of tools, racial abilities and so forth were also lowered. The fastest harvesting time you can have is 1.5 seconds (so a total of 1.5 seconds reduction).

The biggest change was for Woodworker harvesting tools. Instead of tiers 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 having five separate tools each, they have been condensed into one tool. These tools had a bountiful harvest type effect added to them. Additionally, their effect now stacks with the Tinkered harvesting tools.

Woodworker-Crafted Harvesting Tools

Once you level to 20 you can start using the woodworker-made harvesting tools.

Ash Tools - require adventure or crafting level of 20 or higher.

Ash Harvesting Kit -- Reduces harvest time for all harvesting skills by 0.1 seconds. Has a 2% chance of a second harvest.

Briarwood Tools - require adventure or crafting level of 30 or higher.

Briarwood Harvesting Kit -- Reduces harvest time for all harvesting skills by 0.2 seconds. Has a 4% chance of a second harvest.

Teak Tools - require adventure or crafting level of 40 or higher.

Teak Harvesting Kit -- Reduces harvest time for all harvesting skills by 0.3 seconds. Has a 6% chance of a second harvest.

Sandalwood Tools - require adventure or crafting level of 50 or higher.

Sandalwood Harvesting Kit -- Reduces harvest time for all harvesting skills by 0.4 seconds. Has a 8% chance of a second harvest.

Redwood Tools - require adventure or crafting level of 70 or higher.

Redwood Harvesting Kit -- Reduces harvest time for all harvesting skills by 0.5 seconds. Has a 10% chance of a second harvest.

Sumac Tools - require adventure or crafting level of 80 or higher.

Compact Sumac Harvesting Kit -- Reduced harvest time for all harvesting skills by 0.5 seconds. Has a 12% chance of a second harvest.

Tinker-Crafted Harvesting Tools

If you level your crafting, there are also tinker-made harvesting tools. Note that these tools increase your harvesting skills, and therefore give you a slightly better chance of getting a rare when harvesting zones whose max skill is below your skill level.

Miscalibrated tools - require crafting level of 30 or higher.

Miscalibrated Automated Pickaxe - Reduces the harvest time for mining by 0.2 seconds. Increases Mining skill of caster by 10.0
Miscalibrated Automated Shears - Reduces the harvest time for gathering and foresting by 0.2 seconds. Increases Gathering skill and Foresting skill of caster by 5.0
Miscalibrated Automated Watersafe Net - Reduces the harvest time for fishing and trapping by 0.2 seconds. Increases Fishing skill and Trapping skill of caster by 5.0

Calibrated tools - require crafting level of 46 or higher.

Calibrated Automated Pickaxe - Reduces the harvest time for mining by 0.3 seconds. Increases Mining skill of caster by 15.0
Calibrated Automated Shears - Reduces the harvest time for gathering and foresting by 0.3 seconds. Increases Gathering skill and Foresting skill of caster by 7.0
Calibrated Automated Watersafe Net - Reduces the harvest time for fishing and trapping by 0.3 seconds. Increases Fishing skill and Trapping skill of caster by 7.0

Overclocked tools - require crafting level of 66 or higher.

Overclocked Automated Pickaxe - Reduces the harvest time for mining by 0.5 seconds. Increases Mining skill of caster by 20.0
Overclocked Automated Shears - Reduces the harvest time for gathering and foresting by 0.5 seconds. Increases Gathering skill and Foresting skill of caster by 10.0
Overclocked Automated Watersafe Net - Reduces the harvest time for fishing and trapping by 0.5 seconds. Increases Fishing skill and Trapping skill of caster by 10.0

Harvesting Quests

The first time you harvest a node you'll get a mail message which will send you on A Gathering Obsession, the beginning of a series of harvesting Signature Quests.

If you're planning on harvesting Thundering Steppes, Nektulos Forest, The Enchanted Lands, Zek, Everfrost, The Feerrott, or The Sinking Sands, and do not need foodstuffs, it's highly recommended that you speak to Duggin Brandywine in The Thundering Steppes for a nice little harvesting quest. The rewards for these quests are all house items for your table, such as plates, cutlery, glasses & steins, etc.

A Note On Rares

Rares are the Treasured harvestables used to make Mastercrafted items. Rares are highly desirable for the creation of Mastercrafted gear, Expert spells and combat arts, and high status reduction furniture. Imbuing materials are used for crafted Imbued equipment and Hex Dolls.

Rares are, as you might imagine, rare. In new character starting areas you'll find them very common, but as you level up they become scarcer. Having a skill well over the trivial level for the node will give you a slight advantage in acquiring rares. Remember, rares and all harvesting results are at the whim of the RNG, which can be streaky. It can be very frustrating to really need a particular rare resource and not get it, but they are not supposed to be common or easy to acquire. Persistence pays off. For a long time imbuing materials were considered "rares" by the game; this was changed.

Grandmaster spells are now player crafted. Being a scholar is not required, as anyone can make them. You can obtain the recipes either through a Coldain_Tradeskill_Apprentice or having them dropped by mobs. They are separated by class archetype: priest, scout, fighter, mage.

The Technical Bit

Domino posted this on the official forums:

For each node in each zone, when you harvest it, there are different result tables set up that tell the game what to give you when you harvest. Your skill level determines which table you use.
For example, using entirely invented numbers, let's imagine that there is a root node in a level 30-40 zone and you go and harvest it with a gathering skill of 190.
The game sees that the root node points to two result tables. Let's call them:
T4_roots_base_result - required skill 140
T4_roots_bonus_result - required skill 189
The "base" table might tell you that you have a 70% chance of getting 1 root, a 20% chance of getting 3 roots, an 8% chance of getting 5 roots, a 1% chance of getting an imbue, a 0.7% chance of getting a rare root, and a 0.3% chance of getting a rare root + 10 common ones.
The "bonus" table might tell you that you have a 60% chance of getting 1 root, a 25% chance of getting 3 roots, an 10% chance of getting 5 roots, a 0.5% chance of getting an imbue, a 0.8% chance of getting a rare root, and a 0.7% chance of getting a rare root + 10 common ones. (Yes, the numbers probably don't add up to 100%, I just invented them on the spot.)
Now we know that if your skill is under 140, you can't harvest the node at all. And we know your skill is 190. So the RNG rolls a number between 140 and 190. If it gets 140-188, you use the "base" result table. If it gets 189+, you use the "bonus" result table. Clearly, as your gathering skill increases, your chance of using the "bonus" result table gets better. (This is where +harvesting skill items affect your results, they increase your chance of using the bonus table.)
As of GU37, you get to start using the "bonus" table at level _8 (so, 8, 18, 28, 38, etc.) You're still not guaranteed to use it, but you have a CHANCE to use it. Previous to GU37, the level at which you could start getting the bonus was much higher, so that you didn't even have a chance to get the bonus table until you had entirely outlevelled the tier. In T6 and T7 prior to GU37 we still couldn't even start using the bonus level at level 70 with 350 skill, so we've been harvesting off the "base" table all this time. Now we will begin to have a chance to use the "bonus" level, so yes, we'll get slightly better harvesting results in T6 and T7 than we were before, but it's actually about the same results as we would eventually have got as the level cap raised and we continued to level up.

The Resource Guide

Tier 1

Artisan Level Range: 1-9
Recommended Minimum Adventurer Level of Zones: 3
Minimum Harvesting Skill Required for Rares: 1
Zones: The Forest Ruins, The Caves, The Peat Bog, The Ruins, Sunken City, The Sprawl, The Graveyard, Greater Faydark (The Nursery and close to Kelethin), Darklight Wood (west), Timorous Deep, Frostfang Sea (Chrykori Isle)

Tier 1 Resources
Resource Node	Common	Rare	Imbuing Material Primordial Fragment
Animal Dens	deer meat, turtle meat, rawhide leather pelt	dreadberry, waxed leather pelt	none shimmering primordial fragment
Fish†	frog leg, sunfish	none
Ores	tin cluster, leaded loam	bronze cluster, solidified loam
Roots	root	yarrow
Shrubs	black coffee bean, raw white tea leaf, jumjum, Baubbleshire cabbage	dreadberry
Stones	lead cluster, rough malachite	copper cluster, rough lapis lazuli
Woods	severed elm	severed alder
Notes	†The Graveyard and The Sprawl have no fishing nodes.

'Note:' Grandmaster rares are: Nebulous Spellshard and Nebulous Foundation

Tier 2

Artisan Level Range: 10-19
Recommended Minimum Adventurer Level of Zones: 8
Minimum Harvesting Skill Required for Rares: 20
Zones: Antonica, The Commonlands, Shattered Vale, Greater Faydark, Timorous Deep, Darklight Wood (east), Frostfang Sea

Tier 2 Resources
Resource Node	Common	Rare	Imbuing Material Primordial Fragment
Animal Dens	vulrich meat, elephant meat, tanned leather pelt	cured leather pelt	glowing material glowing primordial fragment
Fish	freewater grouper, crab meat	none
Ores	iron cluster, salty loam	blackened iron cluster, alkaline loam
Roots	tuber strand	sisal root
Shrubs	Antonican coffee bean, black tea leaf, murdunk orange, raw carrot	fire melon
Stones	electrum cluster, rough turquoise	silver cluster, rough coral
Woods	severed maple	severed bone

Tier 3

Artisan Level Range: 20-29
Recommended Minimum Adventurer Level of Zones: 18
Minimum Harvesting Skill Required for Rares: 90
Zones: The Thundering Steppes, Nektulos Forest, The Eternal Gorge, Butcherblock Mountains

Tier 3 Resources
Resource Node	Common	Rare	Imbuing Material Primordial Fragment
Animal Dens	lion meat, pig meat, boiled leather pelt	cuirboilli leather pelt	sparkling material sparkling primordial fragment
Fish	seafury mackerel, thicket crayfish	none
Ores	carbonite cluster, pliant loam	steel cluster, malleable loam
Roots	belladonna root	dandelion fiber
Shrubs	steppes mountain bean, oolong tea leaf, fayberry, sweet onion, acorn†	halcyon plum
Stones	gold cluster, rough agate	palladium cluster, rough jasper
Woods	severed ash	severed fir
Notes	†acorn is used for a quested Provisioner recipe and is an uncommon harvest.

Tier 4

Artisan Level Range: 30-39
Recommended Minimum Adventurer Level of Zones: 28
Minimum Harvesting Skill Required for Rares: 140
Zones: The Enchanted Lands, Zek, the Orcish Wastes, Cove of Decay, Bloodskull Valley, Steamfont Mountains

Tier 4 Resources
Resource Node	Common	Rare	Imbuing Material Primordial Fragment
Animal Dens	bear meat, griffon meat, etched leather pelt	engraved leather pelt	glimmering material glimmering primordial fragment
Fish	murkwater carp, shark fin	none
Ores	feyiron cluster, supple loam	feysteel cluster, ductile loam
Roots	tussah root	oak root
Shrubs	Everfrost ice bean, green tea leaf, wild apple, cucumber	rockbud fruit
Stones	velium cluster, rough opaline	ruthenium cluster, rough opal
Woods	severed briarwood	severed oak

Tier 5

Artisan Level Range: 40-49
Recommended Minimum Adventurer Level of Zones: 38
Minimum Harvesting Skill Required for Rares: 190
Zones: Rivervale, The Feerrott, Everfrost, Lavastorm, Steamfont Mountains

Tier 5 Resources
Resource Node	Common	Rare	Imbuing Material Primordial Fragment
Animal Dens	owlbear meat, manticore meat, wyrm meat, strengthened leather pelt	augmented leather pelt	luminous material luminous primordial fragment
Fish	cauldron blowfish, nerius trout	none
Ores	fulginate cluster, bonded loam	ebon cluster, fused loam
Roots	ashen root	figwart root
Shrubs	Lavastorm robusta bean, pu-erh tea leaf, white peach, browncap mushroom	elixia pepper
Stones	diamondine cluster, rough bloodstone	rhodium cluster, rough ruby
Woods	severed teak	severed cedar

Tier 6

Artisan Level Range: 50-59
Recommended Minimum Adventurer Level of Zones: 48
Minimum Harvesting Skill Required for Rares: 240
Zones: The Sinking Sands, The Pillars of Flame, Lesser Faydark

Tier 6 Resources
Resource Node	Common	Rare	Imbuing Material Primordial Fragment
Animal Dens	sabertooth meat, caiman meat, stonehide leather pelt	scaled leather pelt	lambent material lambent primordial fragment
Fish	conger eel, tiger shrimp	none
Ores	indium cluster, soluble loam	cobalt cluster, alkali loam
Roots	succulent root	saguaro root
Shrubs	Maj'Dul coffee bean, darjeeling tea leaf, prickly pear	ireheart radish
Stones	beryllium cluster, rough nacre	vanadium cluster, rough pearl
Woods	severed sandalwood	severed ironwood

Tier 7

Artisan Level Range: 60-69
Recommended Minimum Adventurer Level of Zones: 55
Minimum Harvesting Skill Required for Rares: 250 (290 for Loping Planes)
Zones: Loping Plains, Tenebrous Tangle, The Barren Sky, The Bonemire. For Kingdom of Sky nodes by isle, see our Kingdom of Sky Harvesting Guide.

Tier 7 Resources
Resource Node	Common	Rare	Imbuing Material Primordial Fragment
Animal Dens	ravasect meat, aviak meat, horned leather pelt	dragonhide leather pelt	scintillating material scintillating primordial fragment
Fish	flying fish	none
Ores	adamantine cluster, porous loam	xegonite cluster, spongy loam
Roots	hanging root	nimbus root
Shrubs	soaring coffee bean, sweet chai tea leaf, xegonberry, squash	brittleskin gourd
Stones	azurite cluster, rough topaz	acrylia cluster, rough moonstone
Woods	rough lumbered rosewood	rough lumbered ebony

Note: The best zone to harvest for Tier 7 is, without a doubt, Tenebrous Tangle. See the zone page for a list of what resources can be found where in large quantities.
Note: The required skill for harvesting in Tenebrous Tangle, Barren Sky, and Bonemire is 250. Any other Tier 7 zone (such as Loping Planes) requires 290.

Tier 8

Artisan Level Range: 70-79
Recommended Minimum Adventurer Level of Zones: 65
Minimum Harvesting Skill Required for Rares: 340
Zones: Kylong Plains, Fens of Nathsar, Kunzar Jungle, Jarsath Wastes, Moors of Ykesha

Tier 8 Resources
Resource Node	Common	Rare	Imbuing Material Primordial Fragment
Animal Dens	bristled pelt (There are no harvested meats in tier 8)	hidebound pelt	smoldering material smoldering primordial fragment
Fish	barracuda, king prawn, magma rock fish†	none
Ores	ferrite cluster, mineral salt loam	incarnadine cluster, silicate loam
Roots	lichenclover root	mantrap root
Shrubs	cabilis cocoa bean, torsis tea leaf, raw cranberry, raw succulent petal	blood orange
Stones	deklium cluster, rough kunzite	tynnonium cluster, rough fire emerald
Woods	redwood lumber	mahogany lumber
Notes	† magma rock fish are only available in the Skyfire Mountains region of Jarsath Wastes and require a tinkered Collapsible Fishing Pole to catch. They can be used, by a Provisioner, to make Fiery Magma Infusion and Magma Fish Reduction.

Tier 9

Artisan Level Range: 80-90
Recommended Minimum Adventurer Level of Zones: 78
Minimum Harvesting Skill Required for Rares: 375
Zones: The Sundered Frontier, The Stonebrunt Highlands

Tier 9 Resources
Resource Node	Common	Rare	Imbuing Material Primordial Fragment
Animal Dens	mottled pelt (There are no harvested meats in tier 9)	spotted pelt	ethereal material ethereal primodial fragment
Fish	seahorse roe, giant octopus meat	none
Ores	titanium ore (There are no loams in tier 9)	brellium ore
Roots	bamboo shoot	toxnettle root
Shrubs	lapsang tea leaf, Marr cherry, caynar nut, kejekan palmfruit	greenroot tuber
Stones	quicksilver cluster, amber	kaborite cluster, ulteran diamond
Woods	sumac lumber	eucalyptus lumber

Note: Grandmaster rares are: Voidstone Spellshard and Voidstone Foundation

Velious

Artisan Level Range: 85+
Recommended Minimum Adventurer Level of Zones: 85
Minimum Harvesting Skill Required for Rares: 400
Zones: Great Divide
Velious has no traditional resources, it's just too cold there. Instead there are four specialty nodes for DoV recipes.

Tier 9 Velious Resources
Resource Node	Common	Rare	Imbuing Material Primordial Fragment
Animal Dens	Brontotherium Meat	Molkor Hides	none
Fish	Iceclad Cutlassfish, Iceclad swordfish	none
Root	Chillblossom	none
Ores	Pristine Flame Opal, Pristine Nephrite, Pristine Onyx	none

Tier 10

Artisan Level Range: 90-95
Recommended Minimum Adventurer Level of Zones: 90
Minimum Harvesting Skill Required for Rares: 425
Zones: The Withered Lands, The Eidolon Jungle, Obol Plains, Cobalt Scar, Vesspyr Isles

Tier 10 Resources
Resource Node	Common	Rare	Imbuing Material Primordial Fragment
Animal Dens	thick bear pelt, panther meat, raptor meat	metallic reptile hide	effulgent material effulgent primordial fragment
Fish†	plump haddock, cutthroat trout	none
Root	matoppie roots	banyan root
Ores	rhenium ore	tungsten ore
Shrubs	white peony tea leaf, plump lychee, aduki bean, ripe mangosteen	ashenbone clover
Stones	iridium cluster, amethyst	black star sapphire, osmium cluster
Woods	swamp ash lumber	bubinga lumber etherwood lumber†
Notes	†The Withered Lands has no fishing nodes. † etherwood lumber is an ultra-rare chance when you harvest a rare bubinga

Tier 11

Artisan Level Range: 96 - 105
Recommended Minimum Adventurer Level of Zones: 95
Minimum Harvesting Skill Required for Rares: 500
Zones:

Tier 11 Resources
Resource Node	Common	Rare	Imbuing Material Primordial Fragment
Animal Dens	ragged leathery hide, stringy meat	pristine leathery hide	incandescent material
Fish	fresh thresher fin	none
Root	leonid root	hiven root
Ores	cadmium ore	carbide ore
Shrubs	handama leaf, sulfur fruit, kith peppers, hylocereus fruit	stirmthorn
Stones	iodocus cluster, uncut tourmaline	sapphire bixbite, lumium cluster
Woods	larix lumber	araucaria lumber
Notes	†This information is from Beta and may change.

Frostfell

Frostfell is an annual event which takes place around the mid-winter holidays. The last few years Frostfell has featured special craftable items. These items are only craftable using resources harvested in the Frostfell Wonderland Village and special crafting stations which are also only available in the Frostfell Wonderland Village.

See: Seasonal Resource Nodes

Other Holidays

Other holiday world events also have special recipes, but the unique items for these recipes are dropped during that world event instead of harvested.

	Allakhazam credits this post by DominoDev at the SOE Official Forums for some of the info in this article.

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This page last modified 2016-08-07 18:27:40.