Why do Mining Nodes not randomize their spawn types?

[Roxanne Flowers 15]

This is something that's been bugging me for a while now.  I remember playing on Blizzard servers a decade ago and seeing Mining Nodes "randomizing" the type of Node that would spawn.

Tin would sometimes spawn as Silver.
Iron would sometimes spawn as Gold.
Mithril would sometimes spawn as Truesilver.
Small Thorium would sometimes spawn as Large Thorium.
... and so on and so forth.

The point being that the "type" of Mining Node that would spawn in a specific location wasn't "locked in" to spawning as only a single type on Blizzard's servers.  That way, you'd have to "search" for the rarer Silver/Gold/Truesilver Nodes, rather than just "knowing" that a specific Node would ALWAYS spawn as being only a single specific type.

Here on the Elysium Project servers, that is not the case.  I've been playing on Darrowshire for most of this year, and I have never once seen ANY variation in the "type" of Mining Nodes that will spawn in specific locations.

Tin Nodes will ALWAYS spawn as Tin.
Silver Nodes will ALWAYS spawn as Silver.
Iron Nodes will ALWAYS spawn as Iron.
Gold Nodes will ALWAYS spawn as Gold.
Mithril Nodes will ALWAYS spawn as Mithril.
I haven't ever found or seen a Truesilver Node yet, but I'm pretty sure that once I do, those Nodes will only ever spawn in as Truesilver Nodes.
... and so on and so forth.

This has some rather bizarre implications and results.

As an Alliance Player, because all of the Mining Node "types" are essentially "locked" to only spawn as a single type, I now "know" where to go in order to find Silver (Ashenvale is disproportionately littered with Silver Nodes here, there and everywhere, to the point where there are more Silver Nodes than Tin Nodes in the zone) ... while if I need Gold I know where multiple Gold Nodes will spawn in Duskwood and in The Charred Vale in Stonetalon that are just always in the same places.

Basically, there's no Scavenger Hunt mentality (or effect) for the rarer Mining Nodes simply because their appearance isn't randomized on Darrowshire (and I presume the rest of the Project's servers).  Having Mining Nodes spawn as exactly the same thing 100% of the time removes a significant amount of surprise/pleasure in finding that a particular Mining Node spawned as an "upgraded" rarer version THIS time that you've come across it.

So ... question.  Is this performance as I've described a Deliberate Thing™ on Elysium Project servers?

If it isn't a Working As Intended situation, any chances someone could be sent (with a flashlight) into the bowels of the game code to figure out what isn't connecting properly to make Mining Nodes randomly spawn as different (upgraded) "types" on a less than 100% chance basis?

[Justme 9]

Do you have ny proof?

[Roxanne Flowers 15]

Which direction of proof are you asking for?  Proof that Mining Nodes were partially randomized over a decade ago, or proof that Mining Nodes AREN'T partially randomized now?

[Myllz 8]

There's likely a bug report for this somewhere, but it's a low priority issue, so it probably won't ever get around to being fixed.

[Justme 9]

On 9/25/2017 at 2:36 AM, Roxanne Flowers said:

Which direction of proof are you asking for?  Proof that Mining Nodes were partially randomized over a decade ago, or proof that Mining Nodes AREN'T partially randomized now?

Both. We need expected behaviour (what happened in 2004?) and current behaviour (proof that its not as expected behaviour). This is how you test most things.

[Roxanne Flowers 15]

So ... your burden of proof is that there needs to be a youtube video posted prior to 2007 that shows a character with Mining skill making a circuit through a zone mining nodes that vary from time to time on repeated visits over time to specific nodes, documenting that what spawns at a particular node point is variable.

I'm wondering if I can count on one hand stump the number of youtube videos posted within the appropriate time frame that show the level of proof that you're demanding ... primarily because that sort of regression testing of gameplay would be BORING to watch and only of use to QA testers needing to prove to future generations of private servers that this was a thing.  In fact, I've just done a search of youtube for videos right now, and the oldest date I can find is 8 years ago, which easily falls outside the "posted prior to 2007" date range required.  So there aren't any videos in existence covering this subject matter, near as I can tell.  So we're going to need to look at other sources than gameplay footage.

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Mining

Quote

There are rare spawns of various ore veins in place of more common metals. Specifically:

Tin can spawn Silver.

Iron can spawn Gold.

Mithril can spawn Truesilver.

Fel Iron and Adamantite can spawn Khorium.

Saronite can spawn Titanium.

Elementium can spawn Pyrite.

Ghost Iron can spawn Trillium.

These vein types are visually distinct from normal veins. They typically have a glossier, shinier model than normal ore veins.

Additionally, certain ore nodes have Rich nodes that can spawn in higher-level locations. The following ore can be found in Normal and Rich veins:

 [Thorium Ore]

Okay, that's suggestive, but not conclusive.

 

Quote

Patches and hotfixes

• Hotfix (2016-07-26): "In Draenor, mining and herbalism nodes are no longer able to be looted by multiple people at once. (This hotfix requires server restarts.)"
• Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): No longer grants [Toughness].
• Patch 5.1.0 (2012-11-27): All mineral nodes will now despawn one minute after they are mined, even if items remain in them.
• Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): Mining pick no longer required to mine nodes.
• Patch 4.2.0 (2011-06-28): The levels at which vanilla nodes may be mined has been decreased, substantially in some cases.
• Patch 4.0.3a (2010-11-23): The XP from Mining has been increased. Also, with the removal of Zul'Gurub, Hakkari Thorium Nodes are no longer available to players.
• Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Mining gives XP. The higher level the character is, the less XP it will get.
• Patch 3.3.3 (2010-03-23): [Titansteel Bar]: Creating this item no longer results in a 24 hour cooldown.
• Patch 3.2.0 (2009-08-04): In addition to the normal requirements, mining deposits in Northrend now require a minimum character level of 65 to mine.
• Patch 3.1.0 (2009-04-14): You can no longer fail when Mining, Herbing, and Skinning.
• Patch 3.0.8 (2009-01-20): Mining veins and deposits no longer require multiple hits to receive all the ore. Players will receive around the same amount of ore, stone, and gems they would have received from multiple hits.
• Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Grants [Toughness].
• Patch 0.6 (2004-04-13):
  • Underground mines show up as gray on the minimap so you can tell them apart from above ground mines.
  • When underground, above ground mining nodes will not be visible.
  • You no longer need to face the mining node to gather the minerals.

So the patch notes for Mining skill also don't speak (positively or negatively) about rare nodes ever being randomized.

 

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Silver_Vein

Quote

Silver veins will sometimes but rarely spawn instead of a tin vein, so silver is found in the same areas as tin.

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Iron_Ore

Quote

Gold Veins appear, uncommonly, wherever Iron Deposits are found.

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Mithril_Ore

Quote

Gold Veins and Truesilver Veins appear, uncommonly, wherever Mithril Deposits are found.

https://wow.gamepedia.com/Truesilver_Deposit

Quote

Truesilver Veins do not have their own spawn points but spawn randomly on Mithril Veins, Thorium Veins or Rich Thorium Veins.

 

Depending on how ... needlessly pedantic ... you want to be, due to the differing verbiage used for each of these entries, it can be argued (I think it's a Bad Faith argument, but still) that Silver, Gold and Truesilver nodes ought to be their own specific spawn point nodes that will ALWAYS spawn as exactly the same thing every single time with no variability whatsoever.

My contention is that the correct/proper/intended behavior is for a selected subset of mining nodes to randomly spawn different types of nodes.  Basically something like this (numbers are made up to illustrate the point since I don't know what they should be):

• 100% chance Tin (some nodes, not all)
• 90% chance Tin / 10% chance Silver (remaining nodes)
• 100% chance Iron (some nodes, not all)
• 90% chance Iron / 10% chance Gold (remaining nodes)
• 100% chance Mithril (some nodes, not all)
• 80% chance Mithril / 10% chance Gold / 10% chance Truesilver (remaining nodes)
• 65% chance Thorium / 35% chance Rich Thorium (some nodes, not all)
• 60% chance Thorium / 30% chance Rich Thorium / 10% chance Truesilver (remaining nodes)

That's NOT what we have right now on Elysium servers as of this past week on Darrowshire.  Instead, we've got this kind of a distribution for mining nodes:

• 100% chance Tin
• 100% chance Silver
• 100% chance Iron
• 100% chance Gold
• 100% chance Mithril
• 100% chance Truesilver

Since I'm not high enough Level to venture into areas with Thorium nodes, I don't know if the Rich Thorium nodes are randomized or not (so they don't always appear in exactly the same spots), but as of reaching Desolace/Stranglethorn Vale/Arathi Highlands the NO Variance In Mining Node Spawns gives every indication of being in effect in every single zone that I have visited.  Silver nodes are ALWAYS Silver.  Gold nodes are ALWAYS Gold.  There is no "randomness" to their spawning.  There is no "rarity" to their chance to spawn in, since these nodes NEVER spawn as Tin or Iron (respectively).

The mining nodes that spawn along the northern mountains in Arathi Highlands from Northfold Manor to Hammerfall, and there are about 2 dozen of them, will ALL ... every single one of them ... spawn as Iron every single time without fail.  You will never find a single node of Gold Ore along the feet of those mountains (or at least I haven't on multiple trips for Ore).  There is simply no randomized variable checking involved in the spawning of those mining nodes, in this zone or in any other zone.

[levran 146]

Im a proof - mining nodes don`t work like in 2004. Correct spawn points and randomizing have been on Valkyrie server.

Anyway blizzlike system for mining and herb nodes would ruin economy for 8-12k pop servers when Nost-Ely devs implemented their own. There some faults but it work.

[Helltraum 0]

You you want to compare it to real world conditions, the same types respawning in the same places would be consistent with how metals are found in nature; veins of one type run along different types of rock strata. Cheers.