You Want The Dirt? I Got The Dirt, On Cultivation!

Well, day 2 of WAR’s long and healthy crusade-filled life and I’ve got 100 Cultivation and 91 Apothecary.  It wasn’t the easiest thing…nor was it as fast as in Beta.  At least to me it took a lot longer to get to 100 Cultivation now than it did just a week ago.  But, at least I got the goods for all of you guys!  I’m gonna post something later (today or tomorrow, depending on how long it takes to re-remember how to do html tables) that’ll…well…show my attention to detail, I guess I could say.

Anyway, I give to you, for casuals and hardcore Herbologists alike:

 

The Cultivation Guide!

     A.   Beginning To Cultivate
     B.   Growing By Numbers
     C.   Sow What Now?
     D.   Easy Killer!
     E.   Dealing with Stalling Points
     F.   Who Drops What (Again)
     G.   Where Does Who Drop What?  (Because!)
     H.   Conclusion

 

A.   Beginning To Cultivate

Cultivation training is in Chapter 2, so kill and quest just as you normally would up to your Chapter 2 town.  I did not do any RvR at this point as I was too low (I wait till lvl 8 for morale abilities) and the queues were too long.  Nor did I do PQs more than the first stage as there just wasn’t enough people. 

Upon reaching the Chapter 2 town I had:

• 10 different species or ‘packets’ of seeds that were Cultivation level (Lv from now on) 1 required.  Total of 19 Lv1 seeds.
• 1 Lv15 (Darn you Goldweeds, ruining my lawn!) packet, total of 2 seeds
• 5 Lv25 packets, total of 7 seeds

A grand total of 28 seeds, just from doing natural progression to Chapter 2.  At this point I think I was level 5,  I think.   Run over to your Cultivation trainer and get trained already, we got work to do! (I mean that in the funnest sense of the word)

 

B.   Growing By Numbers

In case you are brand new to this thing called Cultivation, here’s a detailed picture:

 

1. Put your seed or spore here
2. Insert Dirt
3. Insert Watering Can
4. Insert Nutrients

    5.   I am Bender, please insert girder.

Note:  Part 1 is the only thing that *needs* to happen in order to get a plant.  Parts 2-4, especially Part 5, are completely optional.  Adding these ‘bonus’ items always decrease the time it takes to grow your current plant by about 50% if you add all three.  They also increase the odds of something good happening, like “Critical Success”es or the ever-rare “Special Moment”s.  (Ooo!  Ahhh!)  Don’t worry about using these until Lv25, earliest.

Note:  You can buy those ‘bonus’ items from a merchant in any town.  They’ll sell you the worst possible quality of each item for 15 copper a pop.  Don’t worry, these are the only items I use as I’m cheap like that hee hee

Arid Soil
Rusted Tin Watering Can
Clotted Gore

 

C.   Sow What Now?

Grab any Lv1 seed or spore and place it in the correct slot on your Cultivation window.  (That’d be the one I labeled “1″ above Bender).  Continue killing, questing, and gathering any level seeds until it is done.  You will know it is when you see “Cultivation Level Increased To Level 2″ or something similar on your screen.  If you haven’t noticed already, there are text updates in your chat that let you know when the plant has moved on to stage 2, stage 3, and when it is complete.  (They don’t label the stages, they just say it has moved on to the next one, like a loving parent trying to soothingly suggest to their child why Grandpa won’t be giving them a Christmas gift this year)  These are usually seen and forgotten quite fast, only good for reminders when growing several plants at once while also killing in a PQ.  But that’s ahead, how do we plant things to do stuff like that?  Tell me!  DO IT!  DO IT NOW!

 

D.   Easy Killer!

The leveling process is easy but slow.  The best and ‘fastest’ way to level, in my opinion would be to simply grow the highest level seed you can until you level up to the next ‘tier’ of seeds.  ‘Tiers’ being every 25 levels.

aaCultivation Lvaa	aaaSeed Lvaaa
1-20	1
20-25	1-15
25-50	25
50-75	50
75-100	75

Grow Lv1 seeds until Lv20 Cultivation, as they continue to level you up quickly until then, and you should have a lot to grow.  Save the Lv15 seeds, if you dare call those Goldweeds a plant, for level 25+.  Why?

Every seed levels you up easily to a certain point.  They level you up without any trouble at all but then *BAM* hit the wall and you noticeably stall out.  This is where the grind kicks in, as it comes down to luck.   In the beginning these are slight but easily spotted hurdles you can pass without much problem.  But, at least from what information I gathered as recent as last night, when you get into the higher levels the stalling point comes a lot sooner, and the odds of getting a level off the highest seed you can grow drastically drops.

aaaSeed Lvaaa	aStalling Pointa
1	25-29
25	41-43
50	60-64
75	86~

Lv1 seeds can get you to the ‘tier’ of 25 easily, and almost to Lv30.  At 29 I sold all my Lv1 seeds, and personally deleted every Lv15 Goldweed seed I had one at a time, as there is no option of setting them ablaze and using their ash as a Nutrient.  Maybe if I was a Bright Wizard…anyway from 29 to 50 you have to grow Lv25 seeds, and you’ll hit the Stalling Point at about Lv40.  That’s only 10 levels away from your next tier of seeds, but it’ll take you awhile.  Once you get to 50 grow Lv50 seeds to 75 and past the Stalling point at 60.  Notice it’s now 15 levels away from the next tier?  Also, I noticed that it will take you a lot more seeds to get a successful Cultivation level up.  If it took you (say) 30 seeds to get from 40 to 50 it will easily take twice that amount now, and the time it takes will start to grow a lot faster than your plants. 

Note:  These were things I noticed personally when my Cultivation level didn’t budge after more than 4 seeds in a row.  1-50 look about right, but the Lv75 one seems a bit off.  Either this earlier and longer Stalling Point was done purposely to make sure grown goods hold some sort of value when on auction, or I just had some nasty luck after 85.

Note:  Yes two notes!  Even though it is best to use the highest seed you can, you *can* still level up on lower level seeds but the odds are incredibly low.  In short, if you have seeds, grow them.  I only deleted my low level seeds to make room for the better ones I was getting, but if all you have are Lv1 seeds you might as well grow them until you find something better! In fact I hit 88 Cultivation on a Lv1 seed, I do believe.

 

E.   Dealing with Stalling Points

What to do with all this time?  Well first off I would start using those ‘bonus’ items I mentioned before.  They cut down the time it takes to grow, and at about level 50 you’ll start to notice more Critical Successes and the like.  I would *very strongly suggest* using Dirt, Watering Cans, and Nutrients past 25, and definitely after 50.  This is just my opinion, but you automatically cut the growing time basically in half using them, which is a must for me at this point.  Also you increase the odds of a Critical Success, which not only gives you the plant you were growing, but a seed back as well.  I believe Critical Successes if not out-right guarantee a level up, are definitely a safe bet on getting a level up.  In short you have, half the time growing, increased odds of getting seeds back, and chances for bonus items.  (And for anyone reading these guides as a series, I DID finally get a pigment last night and made a Scorched Brown Dye.  WOOT!)

 

F.   Who Drops What (Again)

Before I was even high enough to get to Chapter 2, I already had level 25 seeds.  I had mostly Lv1 seeds and a few of those damn Lv15 weed-seeds (Curse you, Goldweeds!), but I did notice the Lv25 seeds I had were all ‘green’ or Uncommon quality.  My Lv1-15 seeds were all white, why?   Monsters are supposed to drop a certain range of gear; white items of Common quality.  This is the average stuff.  But now and then they drop a good item, an item of higher quality, a green Uncommon item.  This is the game’s way of telling you “Hey, you’re getting a deal looting this, bub.”

The trick is not to kill a specific monster, it’s to kill a specific LEVEL of monster.  If you need Lv25 seeds and you regularly get a white Lv50 seed, you are killing things too high for your Cultivation level.  If you need Lv25 seeds and the monsters you are killing keep dropping green Lv25 seeds, you are killing things too low for your Cultivation level.   Match the white seed drops to the level of Cultivation you currently have for fastest results.

Also, think of how Mythic designed the gameplay.  Tier 1 is designed for you to level up from 1-10.  Tier 2 is designed to get you from 10-20.  There are four Tiers to break up the game into manageable parts.  There are also four Cultivation plots.  Notice a connection?  If you are supposed to get to Rank 10 before reaching Tier 2, then you are supposed to unlock your second Cultivation plot in Tier 1 as well, or Cultivation Lv50.  For the casual player this means you have a nice long time to reach that 50 skill levels per zone goal.  For the hardcore you’ll probably want exacts.  Level 10 and up monsters drop white Lv50 seeds and green Lv75.  These guys are all over the first PQ in Tier 2, further proving that the game was designed for you to hit Lv50 Cultivation in Tier 1.

 

G.   Where Does Who Drop What?  (Because!)

“Because” being Center Field…and farmers tend to grow things on…fields–anyway, I’m again going to glamorize PQs.  Experience, influence for excellent rewards (Tier 2 and up especially. Blues are the menu tonight, baby!), and chance to group up with people and help others have fun.  If they start to get a bit crowded, or you just get bored of grinding, do not forget to quest!  In fact I think I should listen to myself on this one.  I spent all day yesterday getting 100 Cultivation at level 12 in the same two PQs, and that got stale after a few hours.   If I simply leveled up and carried on questing vs grinding I might have had more fun doing it, but I don’t know if it would have gone any faster.  If you are in the mood to grind out some influence I highly recommend shopping at PQ-mart for you seed needs, but if you aren’t as masochistic as I, I heartily recommend questing naturally and growing along the way. 

Mind you I started out with that mentality but then I quickly got swept up in Cultivation…and kinda just stayed hooked on it >.>  So read this guide with that in mind, don’t have too much fun or you’ll be crazy like me, mwhahaha!

 

H.   Conclusion

I suppose I should wrap this up here then with a title like that, eh?  How to summarize this, now?  Hmm.  Level up Cultivation as you see fit, casually through questing with minor pit stops on PQs to get any annoying seeds that didn’t level you up yet to the next Lv25 seeds, OR grindtastically through quests till you find a good PQ you like to do and grind that baby long and hard till it’s influence is capped, all the while growing and hording seeds.  Again, be sure to note what white Common seeds the monsters drop for you, and make sure it’s on par with your Cultivation level.  Using those ‘bonus’ items on your plants are again optional, grow your plants however you like.  It’s really all up to how you play and what you enjoy.  This is just what I found out on my own, and it will hopefully help someone out there wondering what growing stuff is all about in a land filled with WAR. 

And in case you ARE that person wondering how a game like Warhammer Online, where they claim “War is everywhere” as much as Peter Parker says “With great power comes great responsibility” in every single Spider-Man movie combined, where, or WHERE could there possibly be War in Cultivation? 

Glinting Goldweed Seed

There’s your proof of hate incarnate, right there.  If there was a Chaos seed, that would be it.  Vile weed, I curse your NAME!