Posted by McCullough (Post 831858)

I want at least 2k-2.5k gralats as a minimum, as most of the bounties take at least 20 to 30 minutes for me. Snakes take me a long time, and I still don't bother with tedious bounties like spiders, rats, or ambush soldiers.

The hornet honestly spawns too frequently. I actually like manually farming to earn gralats and waste time, but the game can't differentiate between that and bots obviously. There isn't a way to flank or out-manuever the hornet, so trading damage is typically inevitable unless connection is off, which just isn't cool. You can't chase it, because it flies back for a few seconds until it can attack again. It has 1.5HP, so it will take 3 hits until it dies. It can take up to 30s to actually kill since it retreats after stinging you, and sometimes you won't even hit it due to connection, so that can delay you even more.

When it dies, it can drop a gold gralat. Sometimes it doesn't drop anything.

You used to be able to just go inside your house and immediately go back outside to get rid of it, but that no longer works. Logging off and logging back on gets rid of the hornet. The hornet will stick around even when it kills you, so you either have to kill it or log off.

The good news is people can no longer use bots to farm anymore. The frequent spawns and natural tenacity of this baddy will disrupt any automatic farming bind.

The bad news is this can be a huge hindrance to anyone trying to farm normally without bots. I actually would spend at least an hour or so just cutting grass and bushes... I know people who'd do it all day! Not only is the hornet an issue for rule-abiding players, but gralat spawns in houses and guild houses was also decreased a while ago. Even if I wanted to spend an hour of my day farming, I make less than 500g... Maybe less than 350g.

Your best bet is doing a bounty for a decent 1000g. You need to get lucky with a good bounty, though otherwise it just isn't fun.

The thing is, none of the actual money-making activities are equal, and it isn't something we really discussed before. Bounties always give 1000g minimum, and it arguably takes the least amount of time compared to all the activities. Looting enough items for a value of more than 1000g takes time. Other items are more valueable than others.
Farming is hindered by decreased spawn rate of gralats and a tenacious hornet that attacks the player.

Possible fixes?

Certain bounties need to be worth more, as each different baddy needs to be fought a certain way. Simple 1k to 1.5k bounty rewards could be normal baddies like Rebels, Pyrats and Bandits, as they are arguably the easiest to fight. The tougher baddies like Snakes, Spiders, or Lizardons could be 2.5k to 3k due to the patience and pattern required to actually kill them properly.
With these values, people have chances to earn more or less gralats depending on which bounty they get for the day.

For looting, it should be encouraged to actually move around the map more to sell certain items to NPCs. Many people like to sell only to Elster, and many don't realise other NPCs take certain items for slightly more gralats. The problem is the gralat difference isn't that significant when selling to Elster or another NPC.
Fixes?
Increase the value of certain items to encourage players to traverse the map more in order to make more gralats.
Since the loot spawns are random, the least you can have players do is actively work to make more gralats by having them go to certain NPCs throughout the map, and giving specific loot items to them.

Farming fix?
Increase spawn rate of gralats and decrease the rate at which the hornet spawns. It's just not worth trying to grind for gralats in your house getting almost nothing while frequently fighting a pesky baddy that almost guarentees damage against you. This way abiding players can make a little more and worry less about the hornet a little bit, and bots still won't work regardless.

It all works hand in hand; once your bounty for the day is complete, you can do some looting and give certain loots to NPCs around the world for more gralats, and the trash to Elster.
Once that's complete, you can farm for a little bit and save up some gralats to continue building up for the future. Fighting the occasional hornet here and there for an extra couple hundred gralats.

This way, abiding players can make decent gralats, and the bots in houses still won't work.

People who spend real money for gralat packs will continue to do so. Lazy people just do that, but the people that don't spend real money will work harder and spend more time playing.

Bugs just need to be worth more. Players still have to actively compete for bugs, and they are a seasonal money-maker, anyway. The fact that bugs are still worth less than 80g is astounding. Bug hunting is the only competitive gralat activity in the game. We all see how people lose their minds when frogs come out for the year, because they want those mounts, hats, and accessories. If bugs held that much worth the competition would be similar to that of the frogs and people would have to earn their catches and gralats individually. Every time I see a bug, I'm usually the only one around amidst dozens of people who try to catch them, because I still care. The fact that others don't even bother should signify that there's a problem, and that must be fixed.