More ways to obtain Fae Silk
tl;dr: I would like to see an alternative method for obtaining fae silk - possibly add sources to low level maps, a bartering option that uses something like royal jelly, or make the recipes have a % chance to consume fae silk.
The road to max enchanted yellow:
Disclaimers:
1) I know that part of this process being so lengthy is the desire to have a max rarity item. Having the best item and having a great item are not the same and players will not be locked out of content because they don't have max ench yellow spring fairy gear. Everything below is not intended to say this is the only path, nor is it intended to be every player's experience, just to outline what players like myself are looking at for cloth and spring fairy gear. The number of crafts required and the rate of transmutation would be much easier if you settle for purple and I currently have purple gear I like and my build does just fine, but I like to push the limits with this stuff and I know I'm not alone on that front.
2) I'm not trying to comment on transmutation - which is included in this path. I believe gear is usable way before it is complete so the time-gate on finishing a piece out to get those last gains from getting all the mods in your build plan doesn't bother me too much. I actually like that I feel like I'm progressing still and not just whipping together a build and being done with it - I do have wishes that transmutation was a little more expedited, but that's not the point of this post. I bring up the time from transmutation as when it is combined with the time-gate for material gathering for crafting, this build starts to dictate how I play P:G and limits my time spent doing other things.
Currently there are 4 fae molluscs that can be milked once per hour, 2 milks = one fae silk with a 20% chance of a bonus silk. Recipes that require it require either 1 or 2. For recipes that require 2 this means 1 crafting attempt per hour and a bonus attempt approximately every 5 hours. For the others this is 2 attempts per hour with a bonus every 2.5. I don't know what the odds are set to for crafting a legendary, but if it's 1% we're looking at 50-100 hours per item and at 5% 10-20. For a player who averages 2 hours per day, every day, they could still be looking at a month per item at 1% and one to two weeks at 5%. I would guess it's somewhere in this range.
I was able to get a yellow max enchanted spring fairy leg piece which felt great, but it didn't have a single mod I needed which actually works out for a good worst case scenario/longest path. Because I'm still trying to craft yellow boots and a chest piece, I feel I have to keep that piece and re-roll it. Typical transmutation path based on presented odds:
[week one]
I applied an augment for a mod I don't want to the legs to start re-rolling with increased odds. Since none of the mods were in my build plan I started with just under 50% chance of getting a mod I wanted so just under 2 re-rolls. Now we're at ~33% so avg 3 re-rolls, since it's newly created I can repair it and I have a ~16% chance of getting my last mod. That's an average of 6 re-rolls. I get 3 more this week, then wait seven days.
[week two]
Three of the four rolls go to finishing skill one. Remove the applied augment, apply one I don't want for the other skill. Use final roll at 50% odds for skill 2.
[week three]
First roll goes to skill 2, mod 1. Following three rolls go to skill 2, mod 2. At this point the item is definitely already great - it functions like a finished purple max enchant, but it isn't finished.
[week four]
Four of six rolls used on last mod.
[week five]
Item is finished.
This could come up to two months of dedicated focus per item assuming all other materials (prisms, red roses, quality phlog) are not limiting at any point.
Issues I find with the current state:
Only harvest-able on one map
So the rarity isn't awful as you can collect at times when you're not crafting - it's certainly do-able as a humanoid, but it makes for a non-enjoyable experience. I feel I have to play almost exclusively in the fae realm or be willing to go there once every hour until I finish this build. There isn't really enough that I need to do in the fae realm for me to want to explore exclusively there. I'll do the uriana quest and a loop of molluscs then take a break and return later for another 1-2 (potentially 4, but not something I expect) attempts at a max enchanted yellow item.
Animals cannot collect the mollusc milk.
Restricting animal access to a crafting mat by itself isn't terrible, I have always appreciated that as an animal you have to be creative in how you progress and that P:G has systems in place that require you to depend on other players. The problem here is that a lot of craft heavy players I know (including myself) will continue to craft until they hit a yellow rarity item. It is likely players are either hoarding their mollusc milk, using it faster than they can collect it, or simply not gathering it because they don't have immediate use for it so the market with have hard time providing a reliable amount at a reasonable price.
Only level 70-80 players have access.
An item like this is just begging to be gathered by new players and players looking to uncap to a higher skill xp tier. If lower level players had a means to gather it (maybe in animal nexus, winter nexus, sun vale) then they could help keep a stream of supply into the market. Players with less than 80 tailoring and tool crafting have no use for it so they could gather and sell to ease their financial woes which helps address the animal issue.
It discourages trying new builds.
I'm going to put in all this time for this build and I will be proud with it when it's done. But I am much less likely to explore a new build that requires the same gear and this gear has too much time invested for me to re-roll skills to try a new build using the existing yellows.
It is unique to cloth.
For spring fairy on an electricity build the gains make sense, but I could not see myself making a full cloth set as the differences in stats do not out weigh the time difference between leather crafting and cloth
Suggestions:
Bartering: Perhaps for royal jelly. Royal jelly already has a market and players are more inclined to collect and sell this. It would open up fae silk to animals and lower the time gate on craft
Percent Chance to Consume: If the recipes had a % chance to consume similar to prisms in transmutation the item becomes a lot less useful, but the rarity becomes a lot less problematic.
Turn fae silk into a drop: think fae felt v2
Add to low level areas: give low lvl players a new income stream and helps create a market
Obviously none of this is that serious as once the gear set is complete you stop needing the item, but I think that only makes it more arduous as not only is there not a consistent supply there isn't a consistent demand. I also hope this doesn't sound angry or overly sensational - P:G specializes in the grind, which is often what I love about it - this is just one instance that I think could be tweaked down a bit so I have more time to hunt turkeys ;)
