• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Home Page
• Game Utilities
  • Diablo II
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Guild Wars
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Guild Wars 2
    • Feline Airline Blog
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
    • Feline Airline Guild
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
    • Login Assistant
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
    • Trading Post Helper
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Plants vs. Zombies - Suncatcher
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Star Wars: The Old Republic Login Asssitant
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Super Collapse
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Super Collapse 3
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
• System Utilities
  • Classic Utilities
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Host This!
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Multi-Click Mouser
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • No Screensavers
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Run At
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Scheduled Off
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Simple Alarm
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Simple Control Panel
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Simple Internet Status
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Simple Program Launcher
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Simple Startup
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
• Miscellaneous
  • Contact Me
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Cookies and Privacy Policy
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Donate
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Malicious Software Warnings
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
  • Social Media
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

css3 menu generator by Css3Menu.com

Genetically Altered Plant Nodes

One of our members discovered some odd behavior with plant nodes. So naturally we decided to investigate and we indeed discovered some odd behavior . However, let’s start with what would be considered normal behavior.

When one gathers a plant node, you get one swipe and get one reward. If one has a 33% chance for X, the server will make a roll to see if X is rewarded. If one has the bounty glyph, then there is a 33% chance for another swipe, to a hard-coded maximum of four (4).

Something changed in a recent update. Now, it is possible for the bounty glyph to generate a 2^nd gathering success without that 2^nd swipe. You can see this in action at the plant nodes in the guild hall and at the flax farm.

So what is the new behavior? A sickle with a bounty glyph can swing once but have two (2) outputs. We’ve seen the rare two swipe plant node with the bounty glyph giving three (3) successes and it appears possible a 4^th success is possible. We would suspect the swipe is now hard-coded to two (2) swipes now.

So why would ArenaNet make such a change? We believe the answer lies in server optimization. The glyph says a 33% chance for an extra swipe, but would it detract from the game experience if the results of that 2^nd swipe were included in one swipe?

So what’s the bottom line?

Bounty glyphs are now more valuable. Having a pseudo-glyph-of-the-timekeeper built in makes gathering easier – especially flax farming. But at 280 gold (at the time of this writing), it is not worth purchasing just for the additional effect. However, if one was pondering purchasing one, this new ability makes the decision easier.

In case you were wondering, we have checked to see if the bounty glyph interaction has any different effect on trees or ore nodes. We have not noticed any optimizations there.