Essencetapping is your ability to harvest raw materials. It is the main form of gathering, which enables players to collect the various ingredients needed for crafting or completing certain quests.
After the 6.0 update Essencetapping remains, but as a minor system that is only used in quests related to the Pandora Agency. As of such raising it has become completely optional.
Essencetapping Basics[]
Nodes[]
As you explore some regions you will come across certain plants, minerals or animals that you can interact with by double or right-clicking on them: these are Collection Nodes. Each node can be harvested a set amount of times (usually 3). Your ability to collect items from them, the chance to succeed and the rate at which you harvest a node varies based on your essencetapping level. Moving the cursor over a node will display an info box, with the material's name being in one of three colors:
- A gray name indicates that you have enough proficiency to collect the item, but you will not gain any essencetapping experience from doing so.
- A yellow name indicates that you will have enough skill and will also gain skill upon successfully collecting the material (ie: xp)
- A red name will indicate that you are unable to collect that item.
The cursor will also change to indicate if you can or can not collect from a particular node. Some higher level nodes may require the player to be in the possession of extraction tools before they can harvest it. These items are sold by General Goods Merchants in the region.
Gathering Meter[]
When harvesting a node there is a chance that the collection will fail. Once you start the gathering process a meter will appear on your screen, which will show you the item that you are attempting to gather, your current gathering/extracting level, and 2 bars: Success and Failure. During the harvesting process the 2 bars begin to fill up. If the "Success" bar fills up first you have successfully collected the material, while if you fail then you have not collected anything and must try again. Moving during harvesting, or taking damage, will cause the collection to instantly fail, and the node to disappear.
Essencetapping Proficiency[]
Your essencetapping level or proficiency will increase as you harvest nodes appropriate for your skill level (yellow names). Every time you successfully collect materials from a Node, you will gain small amounts of Collecting Skill (xp). As you gain more and more you will gain a point towards the skill. The Skills Window (K) can be consulted to keep track of your essencetapping level, but will not show the amount of xp needed for the next level.
Upon reaching certain levels of essencetapping proficiency (99, 199, 299, etc) the skill must be upgraded before further and higher level nodes can be harvested. This is done by seeking out an essencetapping master and paying a small kinah fee. These NPCs also sell hats that can be equipped to easily locate nodes suitable for your essencetapping level.
Essencetapping in later Updates[]
- The 3.0 update added Essencetapping nodes to the housing areas of Oriel (E) and Pernon (A). The Nodes found in the housing areas are special in that, on top of their usual loot, they also yield general items that can be sold to NPCs, providing a potential source of kinah for lower-level players (although it is way more efficient and profitable to just level up to endgame). It is still possible to get a greater output from nodes, which usually comes in the form of items related to housing, such as
Guestpetals. - After the 6.0 update Essencetapping has become an optional system. The nodes related to the Pandora Agency can be found in Heiron/Beluslan and Inggison/Gelkmaros, while the regular nodes have been consolidated in the housing areas of Oriel (E) and Pernon (A). The Pandora Agency nodes will improve the essencetapping level between 1-42 and 100-142, meaning that outside of those levels players will need to grind the skill up in the housing areas. In post 6.0 clients, essencetapping is a leftover system from the previous Aion, and serves no purpose to those who are not interested in acquiring the Pandora Agency gear sets.
Trivia[]
- This skill is originally known as "Gathering" until the player's ascension at level 10. At this point players (now Daevas) can no longer harvest the nodes that are found in Poeta and Ishalgen, which are exclusive to Humans.
- The starting nodes for human players ( <Aria>and <Iron Ore>) are not encountered by Daevas until later on in Verteron and Altgard.
See Also[]
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