For me, the trick of digging is to dig all over the place during all kinds of weather. Those "skill up items" are pure myth. The reason they came about is that they are commonly dug items at their respective levels i think. At lvl 1 digging i dig up bone chips and pebbles a LOT. I have a suspicion that there are items you can dig up higher than your digging skill, and those are what raise your skill faster. ie, if you dig up a bunch of Mahogony your going to level faster than if you dig up 20 pebbles. Bone chips seem to be something that can raise your skill and you catch often, however, i dont see it really as a skill test. I see it more of skilling items. I've easily been through 20 stacks of greens before i hit skill 2 and i hit the final skill in either tahrongi or Lathiene

Only 20 stacks?


/sulk


^^

^^^ Hm..not encouraging.


Could it be that there simply isn't a proper strategy to level choco dig skill?


I can't stand game activities where you essentially roll dice about a billion times until some probability-based event happens to occur.


I'm just sick and tired of effectiveness in (this or any) game being directly proportional to time investment.


I understand that this is the correct strategy to implement in your game from a business standpoint, but it sure isn't fun.


I realized latently that the only truly enjoyable thing for me when it comes to crafting is constructing your fiscal strategy as you level. It's somehow enjoyable to try to beat the system, abuse the AH instead get abused by it, and gain skill in the most efficient way possible.


But if choco digging is simply probabalistc...well, I hope a virulent strain of choco e. coli kills every last one of them. >.<


Kinch

well it was probably more than 20 stacks


By the way i edited my above post with more info.

"well, I hope a virulent strain of choco e. coli kills every last one of them. >.<"


haha, poor birds.


"Everytime you get lvl up in chocobo digging, there will be a +2 gil to the based price. <snip>. i have already forgotten what was the starting price, I think it should be 86gil at the beginning(not sure though)."


Too bad I can't remember the last time the chocobo price at ANY stable was at the minimum. I remember back in the day when it was ~75 gil in San d'Oria. That means that by now you must be around lv11, eh? I don't mean to criticize your will to help, but this information isn't really useful at all to us. Anything more substantial would be appreciated.


And thanks for the results on your experiment, PirateGirl. I'll try to whip one up this weekend and post the results. I'll do the path suggested on that digging website in yhoatar/yuhtunga jungle.

Is it possible that I'm digging in areas that are too high for my digging skill? I dig almost exclusively in Altepa because it is easy for me to get to. That said, I very often go 5 or 6 digs between finding items. Maybe I should start in Ronfaure at level 0, move to La Theine Plateau at 1, etc.? Perhaps digging as a level 0 in Altepa is akin to crafting too high above one's level in that skillup from the rare successful dig pales in comparison to the skillups I could get from multiple smaller successful digs in easier areas?


Please pardon my stream-of-consciousness style post~


(btw, these are mostly rhetorical questions; just looking for input)

Thats pretty much what my theroy is.

I'm so excited! JUST TONIGHT I got to the stage where there are 6 seconds between digging. *runs around in frenzied circles* Woo! About time!


That's a hilarious cartoon, btw, Morgrist. Ahhh, I love FFXI humor. That makes me a geek, doesn't it?

Let us know if you start digging up better items more often. i noticed from your last set of stats that it was pretty much the same stuff i get now with the exception of the Mith Coin.

Someone mentioned earlier that they had a list of what it was possible to dig up in each zone. I was hoping that the list could be posted. I've just recently started Chocobo Digging based on the advice of a friend of mine. So far I've just gotten bone chips, insect wings, pebbles, and a laun log but I'll keep you guys updated.