Speculation on Ore Ratios

This could be accomplished by simply placing more of those types of nodes, but it would be cumbersome to adjust rates if the ratio of the availability of these minerals to each other needed to be changed. It seems more likely that each node type has a 'weight' associated with it. As another completely theoretical example, assume that barrow-iron nodes are weighted 27, rich barrow-iron 3, silver 9, and rich silver 1. This gives a 3:1 ratio of barrow-iron to silver, with each type having 10% of their nodes be of the 'rich' variety. The ratio could be changed to 2:1 or 4:1 (or 1:1, as they were for a while) simply by adjusting the weighting of the node type, and not having to add, move, and remove nodes across the whole landscape. Do prospectors' observations support this? If it's true, there should be approximately the same number of each type of node, with some merely appearing 3x as often as the others. --AtteSmythe 18:34, 18 July 2007 (EDT)

reply to speculation

Most probably nodes are weighted. An easy set of nodes to check are in the first hollow from Michel Delving toward Tuckborough - the one with the flowers and the large boulder. 2 nodes spawn next to the boulder, with a few more scattered at or near the rim of the hollow. At any given time, any one of these nodes can be either tin or copper, but since level one nodes are weighted for copper, they usually are copper. However, there are enough nodes in that area that you will almost always find at least one to be a tin node, and just which one is tin appears to be random, supporting the weighted node theory.

These nodes are frequently tapped by beginning players, so results can be seen in a relatively short time.