Fish crates,damn fish crates.
When you have a look at all the available fish crates you may think that Fish Crate V is the best of them because it's the one that sells the most...but it is true?
In this thread I'm gonna explain why the best fish crate is...actually the Fish Crate IV,ready for some numbers?
This is a very simple table I made to compare the crates,some of the data is less relevant than the other(for example the number of plain stones needed for the crates which is the same for every crate or other static data like the NPC cost for fish fillets),but I like to put on tables to have a more wide picture of the thing.
Some clarifications first:
"Special Price",refers to the price Association Fishmonger NPC buys the crates for,you known,that thing that let you sell to him only 3 crates per day but for a boosted price.The standard price in the other hand is how much a regular NPC buys a fish crate for,no daily limitations there.
I have no idea why I called it"Special Price",but that's the name I picked for it when I first started to collect the data,so,whatever.
"PP Value",in case isn't clear already what it is,is just as much gold each PP you spend in crafting the crate generates back,with difference between the standard price and the special price.For example,if you spend 10 PP for a crate but you sell it for 250 gold to a NPC,each PP will have earned you 25 gold(250/10).
"$ per fish non-fillet(Gold)",refers on how much a regular NPC buys the raw,non-dismantled fish.
The NPC prices is based on many fish fillets you can get from a fish multiply by an order of magnitude(which is a smartass fancy way to say multiply by 10),so for example,an Eldritch Carp can be dismantled for 14 fish fillets,but it also sells at a regular NPC for 14 gold(or 170 in a 30 days limited quantity),so the value of the raw fish is 1 gold per fillet while the dismantled fillets are only worth 0,10 gold each.
As for the PP cost to craft mats I calculated it by using an auto-gathering pet which have reduced PP cost.
It cost 8 PP each for gather a node and it takes an average of 3 gathers to reach 10 ores + 5 plain stones,therefore the cost is 24 extra PP for every fish crate(PP cost to craft ingot is reported separately).
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Now,since you can generate WAY more fillets / fishes daily than the limited quantity allows you to sell for the"Special Price",I'll be put more relevance to the"Standard",price rather than the"Special",one,since you gonna get way more gold from the standard price than just fishing the limited quantity you can otherwise sell for a the special price(same goes for the "special prices" of fishes, which is 30 / day).
Another thing I'll give for grant is that you actually go gather the materials to craft fish crates yourself,and you kinda have to since you can't buy plain stones from other players,so,it's a given.
With that out of the way....
First thing I noticed when I compiled this table,is that the first Fish Crate,is the one that actually returns the highest value of gold per Fish Fillet.
Fish crate I(1),returns you a value of 2,50 gold per fish fillet(I'm talking of standard price here,but special price isn't any better),which is way more than the 1,32 gold per fish fillet the Fish Crate V(5),returns(and that's not counting the extra cost of crafting kits and PP points spent that could have been invested in other crafting professions like,alchemy).
So,what now,let's all just create Fish Crate 1?,nope.
While it may look the best at first glance,it has a downside from it.
To make it clearer,I'll make an exaggerated example to get my point accross.
Let's say there's a special fish crate that only requires 1 fish fillet but it sells for 5 gold,that's 2 times better than the fish crate 1 and it cost the same in terms of materials and PP,the problem?,you would probably gain more money if you spent the time farming those materials for those mere 5 golds per fish fillet doing some other thing,like guardian missions or whatever.
So let's say Fish crate 1 is good but it converts way too little fish fillets to be worth the time to gather ALL materials to convert all the fish fillets you farm daily,so,is the Fish Crate V(5),actually the best?
Still nope.
Fish Crate 5 has an huge problem:It requires Galborne Ore to be crafted(let's not even considering the 10.000 angler tokens cost and the fact that you need a master crafter since in the long run it's really not that much),and has someone who spent quite a few nights gathering galborne ores with a gathering pet,let me tell you:it's the worst ore to farm.
Now a little off topic before I continue:If you're not a totally casual player and you want to get into crafting / gathering materials,GET a gathering pet,it's quite expensive for the average player but it's totally worth,not because of the reduced PP cost,not because of the slightly faster gathering,but because it let's you gather a node while flying to the next node,as well as gathering nodes without having some low level monster getting in your way,if you're gonna farm for hours every week for months,a gathering pet is totally worth it.
Back to topic
Now,galborne ore can be found in 3 regions:Khanovar Front,Val Kaeli and Val Tirkai.
The problem with these 3 regions is that:2 of them have only 1 channel,there's often other players gathering,and the other one(Val Tirkai),has only 3 channels plus is pretty small plus the galborne ore is not that common there either.
The TL;DR of the last paragraph is:galborne ore takes way too much time to gather compared to other ores.
Sooo,why the Fish Crate IV is better?,because it uses normetal ore,and what's one of the locations you can find it?,Island of Dawn.
And Island of Dawn is simply the best area in Tera to gather,why?
Because there are 3 resources there and all 3 are pretty valuable,there's fire and earth essence that are used to craft Health / Rejuvenation Potions,and there's also the normetal ore,which you can use to craft fish crates IV(4).
Plus Island of Dawn has one of the lowest density of monsters of all Tera's areas,excluding main cities external areas which are pretty much deserts,so gathering is easier and faster when you don't have things trying to poke you behind every corner.
The number of gathering nodes is Island of Dawn is pretty abundant,the area is large and there's 8 channels to surf around,it's simply the best place to gather.
So while the fish crate 4 overall doesn't convert as many fish fillets as the fish crate 5 it returns better value for fish fillet(1,38 gold vs 1,32),it's way faster to farm the materials and you can also farm other valuable materials in the area too.
Orrrr if you're super lazy like me and don't mind lower returns for way less effort you can just sell the raw,non dismantled fish to a regular NPC for a value of 1 gold per fish fillet,saves you the time to farm anything and you can play other games while your Tera slave character farms for you \o\
