This really doesn’t need a nerf. You have to click 30x per machine, x100 machines that’s 3,000 clicks. If you do it 10x per month that’s 30,000 clicks. Ouch.
For anybody who honestly has a problem with rock exp, just don’t use it if if ya don’t like it. There are no actual fun ways to level up quickly in the game, although you can generally gain a level or two per day of casual play (hunting, building and such). Leveling alts would be less fun than licking batteries without rock crafting.
Right? When can we craft armor and ■■■■?
xp for turning into stone and then refining - get rid of it after 
…? Or? there are other uses for rock other then as an exp machine, which in my opinion is not really a problem in the 1st place. There are ways to power level in every game. I really see no reason to suppress that here, furthermore this is more harmful to newer players then it is harmful to the people i think you are trying to target.
Also we don’t need even more ████ added to existing stuff. the last nerf in that regards is enough.
This is a side effect of mining, not the AoE boon, the AoE boon simply accelerates the rate of mining. the AoE boon doesn’t magically generate more rock per square kilometer mined.
Not all of us, I drop all the rock now days as I rather have the space to carry more ore and gems, so I do not keep having to make trips back just to unload rock.
If you really do do this, I’ll give you 1000 coins to follow you half afk until I have a backpack full of thrown away rocks.
I do because it is more time effective for me to fill my inv with ore and gems, before heading back, then it is for me to head back each time I am 80% full of rock and only 20% full of the stuff i plan on using.
I don’t want your money, I have very little use for coin, if you want to follow me, I don’t care, as long as you are not picking up my ores and gems, and do not mind the slight risk of death.
Furthermore because of where I mine, the rock I dig up is an ugly color. So I prefer not to build with it anyway. If I was mining in an area where I liked the color. then maybe I would be keeping more of it.
I have 3 max skill pages and got there by mining. I didn’t like the tedious process of making stones etc. I did it 1 time and said screw that.
In terms of xp from doing stone crafting with tables. I find that if I go and mine and get some gems I get about a level every 30 minutes… And don’t end up with carpel tunnel from clicking mass craft. And don’t use any xp food. If I get to building I gain a level about every hour by placing blocks and chiseling blocks. So I get more enjoyable levels from just playing. I don’t feel the crafting needs any kind of xp nerf. But more options crafting wise is always good. And I say options Not requirements.
Adding anything to an existing recipe is a bad idea. Making new recipes that use underutilized existing things is a good idea. Like making fertilizer out of earthyams. Or grinding up rocks to make dyes. Or turning growth into sticky blocks so you can walk in walls and ceilings! (wishful thinking I know)
I was joking.
I build a lot and I do the stones and then refined and decorative for that purpose.
This.
Why do you always have suggestions that nerf the game? Why not come with a suggestion that enhances the game, makes the game more fun?
Besides, I can forge a silver AoE hammer rather easily and go crazy on a T1 world, so I can always get even more rocks in even a shorter time if I want to level…
So no, this would not solve anything at all. Also, it didn’t need solving in the first place 
I generally don’t like the idea of nerfs, but welcome all suggestions, even those I dislike. Good conversation is nice while I’m supposed to be working lol 
The devs have total freedom to add new things to the game to fix problems. But they have to be careful when suggesting nerfs cuz players often respond emotionally before they consider the wider picture. So I’ll suggest the nerfs and they can hide in the shadows and read the discussion. I’m the bad cop no one asked for! 
Ultimately I’m just trying to help the game survive. I believe it needs a nerf but will lead the discussion wherever I think it’s productive. I used to balance game economies with 10 million daily players (Facebook games) so it’s my professional opinion that this game economy has a leak or two that undermines the game’s chances for success. But I don’t know the devs’ overall plan so I could also be wrong. If they are expecting plots to drive revenue, they should make some changes. If they only expect cosmetics to drive revenue things are shaping up well (both GC and outfits).
The reason for this thread (and many of my other threads) is there is an exploit that produces infinite cubits. And while maybe none of the honest players are abusing it, the ppl who do prestige takeovers are using it to make the rest of the player base suffer. Also I don’t believe that most high lvl players aren’t using it because I go into their houses and I see their suspicious room of 100 crafting tables and 4 refineries. It only takes one instance of leveling off rock+pie instead of purchasing cubits for the devs to have lost money to the issue.
The fact that players can use it to power level alts, who go on to impact areas of the in-game economy make it doubly worth looking at in my mind.
I’m fine with push back on changing existing recipes. I’m not here to ruin anyone’s fun. But let’s find something else to do with all that rock.
While true, I don’t think these are apples to apples comparisons. The level every 30-60 minutes mining (I seem to notice a level about every hour but I don’t use speed brews) is an effect of 3x3s existing, which is kind of what this whole discussion is about at it’s core. Similarly, I’m not too concerned about a builder getting that kind of exp as they are putting in a ton of effort/creativity to build something, and this is limited by blocks available (again going back to the core issue being the existence of 3x3 as a buff).
To everyone talking about the horrible clicking of the rock method, how unfun it is, how rocks take up inventory space that could be used for real materials, I agree! So why is a method that is unfun, physically uncomfortable, and creates perverse incentives while out mining able to generate 10+ levels for an alt in ~15-30 minutes (clicking time), or able to generate another 2-3 levels (again, in about 15-30 minutes) for the max tier miner that was already getting a level every half hour?
Some type of sink for rock would help, but I understand the resistance to adding it to existing recipes. This is maybe the easiest but worst feeling way to go about it. I also understand that rock is needed to eventually make refined and decorative blocks which are foundational in a lot of builds, so the people that are making those things for legitimate use shouldn’t be punished/should be considered when figuring out the impact of a potential change here. Also, as I was typing this out, @a13o made his reply and his comments on cubit generation are spot on.
Nosey neighbors. This is why i keep my back crafting room locked 
Hahaha I’m the nosiest of them all. I will hang from the roof and peer in second story windows. I’ve actually met some of my neighbors this way, embarrassing as it is.
But I’m endlessly curious about how ppl build things so I will sometimes spend five minutes following a wall to figure out the chisel pattern. Looks weird, but it’s innocent.
I don’t see any reason to add rocks to gem recipes it just slows players who don’t play game as much.
Collecting 4 smart stacks is just small barrier for well geared players and makes game more grindy for some players. It shouldn’t be big time investment to collect those rocks so it I don’t see any point to change recipe like that.
Current XP gains with stones right now aren’t bad, and I find it ok balanced by how much it takes inventory space from character. To me it is idle clicker game inside Boundless 
and gives also players indirect possibility sell xp to others.
When I do mining trips to other planets I collect usually all ores and other veins because those give that xp at once and I drop rocks off when my inventory gets full, except if I have storage on that planet or I am after certain colour.
Rock to stone crafing It is just one easy method to gain xp which I would maybe compare it to some mmorpg system where being in party allows xp leeching while being afk.
As a comment to the crafting tables in builds. I indeed have a large room full of crafting tables. Because a crafting table can hold 8 full smart stacks of items. (not as good as the sale plinth but infinitely cheaper) so it’s the most cost effective bulk storage method I know of in the game. I prefer the storage blocks for visibility, but keep my back log of items in these tables. Better storage options would alleviate this issue and you would see less crafting tables in my builds. So before you assume someone is using the tables for the “rock exploit” you may want to consider the alternative reasons
(edit) another note, I have 4+ of all machines. Because crafting times drive me up a wall. I hate them, I want to make things and use them. Already put the time and effort into gathering the resources and getting the skills. Now I need to wait for each step to complete. And often several hours per mass craft, even with high power. So I stagger the crafting across many machines. Many refineries may mean the person refines 4 of the same thing at the same time rather than que it up.
There’s really nothing wrong with the rock “exploit”. You need a near max level character to gather the rocks with a high efficiency. Adding on a teaching pie is just playing the game the way the devs developed it. Alts level fast in most games once you have a max character anyway.
Two that i’ve played- WOW had the heirloom system where pieces of gear increase xp gain by a %. Pair those with grouping with a tank/healer and u have instant dungeon ques that already give a large amount of xp, now multiplied by heirloom buff. FFXIV increases xp gained on your other classes just by having one max level class. Pair that xp buff with running either dungeons or potd (10 floor dungeon that gives large xp boost at the end) and you can level fairly quick there as well.
I do think we need something else to do with our extra rock/stone/refined though. For now i shall dig down to extend my yellow stone storage because that room will soon fill up lol
You really don’t. If you want to gather stone on a T6 world, you need 8 Strength, 5/5 Bonus, 5/5 Hammer, Hammer Epic, Damage Epic, and the 4 points in the relevant atmospheric protection. You can have all of that plus a few extra points to spend by level 20. If you just want to gather stone though, and don’t care about the other stuff, you can do that much sooner. At those lower levels, assuming a brand new player, getting the hammer is the limiter, not their level, and with hammer prices coming down that isn’t too hard to do.
While it is worth pointing out other games that do certain elements well, we must also think about why those games are different. WoW, for example, sells character boosts to level your character up to the previous expansion’s level cap. How would that work if that character also got ~$2 of real money currency for each of those levels? The same goes for the stacking XP bonuses in those games. Also, of note, both of those games work on the model that “the real game” starts at max level.
I wouldnt consider that high efficiency though. At level 20 you lack max zeal, energy epic, energy regen among other stats and also u wont be getting gem and a surplus of other resources as well. I’d say thats high efficiency. If you’re solely after rock for xp then you could definitely do that on T1 as early as 20