Anyone have any idea how much they regenerate at each level of being drained? I notice that Taurus, Libra are NOT recovering at all.

People keep draining them. Even when libra is practically dead I see people linking there.

I believe that they regenerate more quickly depending on how full they are, too, so once they get really low it can take a while for them to bounce back. Not really sure what the point of draining them past rainbow is, anyway.

As far as I'm told, getting them down to Mote level is usually ideal, since they'll recover within the month.

taurus won't ever recover cause people flood bulls during wildnodes

It's best not to link past seeing motes. Rainbow is ideal.

Neither will Cancer and Capricorn ever recover. People just rant about Taurus because Serenwilde only recently started draining the sphere while Celest and Magnagora did so ages ago already.

I'm just waiting for Glomdoring to drain scorpions actually. They are the best bashing there is but Scorpio is 'their' sphere so to speak in wildnodes and for astroglide.

Unless you want to drain.

And it's usually exactly 300 power from crackling to motes. So 150 normal links, or 30 starlink/darklink/cone. Don't know the rest of the figures, but perhaps I'll start draining spheres to find out.

EDIT: Although, for a node to recharge from devoid to crackling or even just rainbow takes about one rl week or more. Provided the node is not ever linked to during that time. From motes back to rainbow (if they stopped linking as soon as the node hit motes) it takes a few hours. 3+ maybe?

EDIT2: Oh yes and at devoid one 'surge' to the node is worth one link. It definietely gets more at higher power levels, like rainbow or crackling.

I've seen a few Glomdoring members draining Scorpio.. had the misfortune of being on the sphere when linked Scorpions popped up

Nodes have also been used as methods of griefing.. Ask a certain Moondancer herbalist who has linked before to keep a certain other herbalist from harvesting sparkleberry through Grace.

As for drained nodes.. I prefer them that way. I don't have to worry about random super strong creatures popping up when harvesting, and I notice fewer creatures in general when they're drained (I guess this is just luck on my part).

I think each time an astral node glimmers, it recovers around 10% of its remaining energy.

I wouldn't call that griefing. I think people overuse grace anyway. Part of the reason sparklberry costs so much is that it's very dangerous to get. You could be attacked by strong mobs, you could be jumped by other people, etc.. I thnk people hide behind grace too much anyway - if you use grace to make sure he can't attack you directly, then most likely he'll find an indirect way to do it. That sounds reasonable enough. You're not technically abusing grace, and he's not technically abusing the nodes.

Still, nodes have been used to cause a lot of problems. I always got annoyed when, for example, Serens would try to astroglide up to astral for wildnodes, and find our sphere already flooded with bulls. Of course, people will say, you have to get to Astral and get set up early. That wasn't always possible for Seren/Glom, though. Since they didn't have a direct route up there, they had to wait for the wildnodes to start so they could astroglide. That's really why they have to stay drained.

I keep capricorn pretty close to empty. The other nodes are usually really low when I get to them, I've almost given up bothering until (and unless) I can come up with a cubix.

It's more along the lines of saving myself from senseless harassment. Slay me once, good for you. Slay me twice (simply because you can), shame on you. Grace is needed to prevent certain people from killing others over and over and over.. especially unprovoked. And it does sort of.. suck.. that one of the highest skills in a tradeskill (not combat) can't be used without risking lots and lots of death. But that's alright.. became a faeling for a reason

Back on topic, I don't care much for transversing into a swarm of lobstrosities.. it's rather painful. But I have learned how to dodge creatures as they pop up, lead them somewhere else, and then relink until I get a bit of power.. wash, rinse, repeat. The problem is when someone else shows up and I have to deal with multiple creatures

What if nodes refreshed at a faster rate during certain times of the IG year.. peak months. Afterall, they do reflect the zodiac... IE pisces would refresh (or become fully powered) during the IG equivalent to the month of March.

Astral can be the bestest bashing area ever if treated the right way. You could literally bash non stop (which I did). So no, I think it's fine.

If Astral persists or is totally drained is up to the players. That's the way it works. I'd rather see a few alternative bashing areas than yet another change to astral just because nodes recharge slowly if people link -too much-.

EDIT: I think the change Zacc is proposing would rather lead to people knowling draining nodes -all- the time because 'they get refreshed once per ig year anyway, so who cares'