Can you really call a one block wide path in the air a hub? Some of the hubs are extremely bare bones and frustrating.
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Just some rough stats. With 3 in luck, maxxed out hammer damage and copper hammer I was strip mining Sedimentary Stone under Ultima Aqua Hub (capital) on Finiata. I started in cave, but dug mostly in solid stone, not interested in spelunking. I got about 1000 stones, 916 sedimentary and rest was igneous and metamorphic. I wasn’t very selective, because I can’t control those fast hammers 
If I encountered vein I dug it too, wholly… but I might left behind some copper veins (i got already tonnes of copper)
So per circa 1000 stones i got 50 copper ore, 27 small flint, 25 ancient tech remnant, 25 soft coal, 10 iron ore, and 8 small fossils.
And as I said, I may have missed some copper, but not the others. Maybe someone will find it interesting.
I agree and then when you do luck up and get some you get like 1-2 pieces of ore from one. It is so grindy at the moment that it is not even fun.
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Yeah it can be. Depends on the method you use for mining. If you’re strip mining, you’re wasting resources and time compared to how much you net from the mining run. Cave diving, IMO, nets more resources than it costs you.
Until you can Centraforge some hammers to have 3x3 AOE, lots of action speed, and possibly durability and some other benefiting stat, you aren’t going to be really making the most of your time when you go on mining runs.
With tools like that on higher tier worlds, you’re going to be collecting a massive amount of stuff in a short period of time. Add in durability skill plus durability food buff and if the tool was forged to have extra durability and you’re looking at hundreds of resources per hour rather quickly. With that in mind, the price of stuff in shops people open up will have lower prices cause raw materials, crafted items, and even rare stuff is going to be larger in abundance.
What I see happening is those forged tools paying for themselves many times over per mass craft kind of like how Diamond Bombs did before the Centraforge update and the nerfs bombs got in general. Just something to keep in mind when talking about whether or not a resource is difficult to find.
I think Iron is in a perfect spot in resource distribution. Same for Silver and Gold.
I agree generally. In this case I was there for right colour rocks, and interested almost only in the tocks.
But i really have no valid strategy for doing gems other than strip mining 
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I’ve got an effective method that limits the need for stripmining but still exposes all of the blocks in an area. It’s from an old post, so the reach may be different but the method is still effective
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Actually my strip mining technique is to go to lvl 10 and dig rows like this
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
XOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
EOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Where D is the entry point (digging down, or some stairs etc). X are not mined (unless vein, etc) blocks, and 0 are mined ones. I sometimes dig 2 high corridors, sometimes, as high as I can reach.
I know it’s not strictly “strip” mining, but it’s still very slow 
I got only about 30-40 diamonds in few hours 
And was unable to find any gem on Besvrona in few hours
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So if I am understanding your statement.
We now need to have the skills for the centraforge, find all the additional ingredients for a forge, craft them and then have enough gems to make a tool good enough to actually effectively mine even the basic resources like iron? This compared to finding the gems in the old universe and making an AOE hammer without all the additional time and effort. Sounds like a lot of added grind on an ongoing basis to play the game in the mid stages (acquiring resources from t4-5 planets). This will really make a new player want to play knowing to get the resources they need, they have to spend additional hours gathering and crafting. I know I find this very disheartening.
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It’s a MMO. Sort of should expect there to be some time sinks in it. This game isn’t really that grindy compared to other MMOs.
The parts that make this game grindy is when you’re progressing from one one thing to another, such as crafting tables to machines, to just machines to normal power coils on all of them, to power coils to advanced power coils.
Even having really nice non-forged tools and weapons to crazy good forged tools and weapons. If you so choose to work up that progression ladder, that’s going to innately feel like a grind. There’s very little difference to that and gearing out a character in Path of Exile.
I think once we have more avenues to collect stuff besides using bombs, hammers, shovels, and axes, it will feel less grindy. It isn’t like everyone is going to go out and be a crafter or a hunter or a miner or a lumberjack or a digger. Although personally the Centraforge changes that for me.
I understand the point that every MMO has time sinks. . It seems to me at every release the developers add more and more grind (time sinks). The recipes have evolved to call for more items than before and some of those items are rare. They have removed functionality from tools and now we have a new machine (centraforge) that requires additional ingredients (more gathering) and additional processing (time) to get the same results. They have added a lot of time sinks into the game already in my opinion. Do they have to make it more difficult to get the resources also? When does the balance tip into too much grind (or time sink) for too little reward. The game is also a sandbox and not just an MMO. The sandbox games I have played have not made it this difficult to gather the resources needed to build or craft.
Iron is easy to get. I don’t even have forged hammers and I am swimming in iron. I even sold a full smart stack of it to someone’s request basket cause the price was good and I still have around half a smart stack left. I don’t even use durability food or have durability skills.
And what I mean by time sink, I mean by how much it takes to progress from one thing to another. Such as Power Coils to Advanced Power Coils. Diamond Hammers to Forged Diamond Hammers. But that’s sort of a moot point.
As more crafting recipes in the game are introduced, it’s going to make it feel like there’s more grinding involved. Might see more people utilizing request baskets to acquire the stuff they need.
Beans could be an example of something that just is too hard to get, along with fibrous leaf if everyone is picking each world clean of them. So this could introduce the need for farming crops as a feature which would require someone to possibly gather tons of silt soil for or something else just so they could build a small patch of farm land to grow crafting materials they need in order to do other things. It’s still an optional thing to do if it’s ever implemented.
Getting resources in this game isn’t really the challenging part. I would say running a shop is the hardest thing to do in the game and that’s whether or not you decide to gather up the majority of the stuff you want to use to craft items you want to sell.
Well and I do not mean this as an insult, you are one of the few. Otherwise this topic would not have been raised. I have mined for hours across the various planets. I am not swimming in iron at this time. It would take me about 12 hours straight mining on a metal world to have a smart stack of iron given my most current experience.
I will also state that I could be swimming in copper. It is everywhere and I am ignoring it except for alts I am trying to level. I do not want to waste tool durability on copper when I need iron and coal so much more. Do you remember the out cry over the color of copper? It is almost like it is everywhere as a pay back for everyone complaining about the color. Now we see it everywhere!!
I would say the developers have made being self-sufficient the hardest thing to do in the game (and I mean this as no insult to the time and effort others are putting into running shops). If you want to be able mine/gather your own resources and make all your own stuff, they have made it a real chore requiring alts or skill sets, and a lot of time and effort to level to a point where you can efficiently and completely take care of your own needs. And by that I mean have the tools and machines that are expected/reasonable as a level 50 + character.
I am not saying it isn’t an issue but there are solutions in the game that exist and methods in which you can use to get the stuff you want or need.
Forging stuff does take a long time. You’re basically modding items so the reward is having a really stupid strong item to use. The process of which it takes to forge an item should be shortened but I don’t really think it’s going to be possible. Even if they reduce recipe requirements for stuff, it isn’t going to change how you’re going to need to go out and hunt down the resources in the first place.
Being self-sufficient is just a matter of a time investment to have all the characters and skill sets you need. You get it by just playing the game long enough. Running a shop is a lot more involved than farming levels through gathering and crafting stuff. You have to watch your competition, market your shop, work with other players, practice customer service, manage inventory and stock levels, source raw materials, manage coin and coin reserves.
If we both agree there is an issue then the solution may be the only area where we differ. If you are suggesting the methods you outlined as a temporary solution until it is addressed by the developers, I would agree you can still get enough iron to get by, but you are not gong to be making large builds using machined iron. And why make it possible if you cannot make enough to actually use.
Anything is possible, the developers have control over the time it takes for the crafting to take place so it can be shortened.
I will agree it does not eliminate the need to find the resource, but finding 10 of something is always less time consuming than finding 20.
Well that’s why it’s called progression. You progress to a higher state in which you can do things on your own better than you previously could. That’s what the Centraforge is for. I think once you have a smart stack of forged hammers, axes, and shovels you’ll be able to gather the stuff you need in a much shorter amount of time. That’s kind of the reward from forging better tools, wouldn’t you agree?
I don’t mind recipes being easier. Means I can sell more stuff a lot easier and that drives prices down across all shops. On top of that, I wouldn’t mind the recipes being easier so I can spend any of those resources on building stuff.
Iron is a pretty high demand resource though for building and crafting. /shrugs
I will agree progression should make it easier to gather the materials. I will also have to acknowledge I have a personal bias against the forge. I do not like the gambling mechanic and I was not thrilled with the removal of features from other tools. Go ahead and have the centraforge to buff tools, but I would have preferred it add to the existing tools than functions being removed. That was not the case and if I want to be at all successful I am going to have to cave in and spec a character that has the skill set use the forge. If I want to be independent that is my option.
And this is the issue, iron is used like copper to make alloys and also to make decorative blocks. Why does it need to be so much harder to find? Somewhat less common, yes it makes a better tool or weapon than copper.
I will also voice one additional concern. I may think there is an issue. I may voice my concerns (you no doubt already can see that). But I am not going to leave a bad review or drop the game. I think the developers will have a real issue if the resources people need to progress are perceived to be too rare or require to much effort once the game launches and we are flooded with new players (I hope we are flooded for the longevity of the game).
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Do you think there might have been an error when the starter worlds were created around the resource distribution? Cause worlds like Lamblis have tons of iron all over the place.
World Regeneration might actually be an issue since it’s most likely affecting surface resources (Desert Sword use to be everywhere and that’s always going to be in high demand like iron and copper). So there could be some things that need to be tweaked a little to make it a lot better for every player. It was something that was brought up in today’s Community Hunt and it does make sense if that’s what’s happening.
Lamblis is a metal world.
Lush worlds have enough iron though (rugged tier that is). So, I don’t have problem with iron. Jump to silver/gold is too slow (meaning first worlds that have them, spawn too little and first trips to those worlds are just endless grind, no joy at all).
EDIT: for me basic error is unequal distribution of types of worlds. Some regions got metal and coal worlds of rugged level, while other have them on inhospitable level.
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To be honest, I do not like the fact that iron is so rare on the starter worlds, but with a minimal boost and maybe some consistency on altitude or biome (and I mean maybe 25% boost) I would say it accomplishes the goal of forcing players to advance to other planets. I understand that is what the developers want to accomplish.
I personally have not have not found Iron all over the place on Lambis or some of the other upper tier worlds planets. I have looked and hopefully asked enough questions about the prime altitude to not be looking in the wrong place. However, maybe I am looking in the wrong place. If that is the fact then I just have not done adequate research. If I have then I think it is too rare on t3 and up.
Iron is supposed to be average altitude metal, but i find it most between 30 and 50, although it’s not that bad on higher altitudes like 60-80 etc.
A lot depends on biomes. You can’t just dig in anywhere you like and expect it to be cool. It’s always good to try a few different areas.
As much as devs want resources distribution be different by worlds, they also want it differ by biomes on any given world. It’s not just exploration of worlds that is encouraged, but also exploration of regions on any given planet.