Abysmal odds

[Laura_Gold]

I spent about 400 shovel / pickaxe charges in The Volcano to get the five invisible lava rocks. On the other hand, I got about two of each rare gemstone and fungus and parasitic plant, and I got a jade war axe.
More reasonable would be spending 150 charges, because what with the volcano going unstable and fighting the volcano elementals, I spent just about my whole adventure day in there to do that quest *once*.

 

[Basara]

My experience:

The more present, the more often the volcano goes unstable. It seems that perma-pets (as opposed to ethys and summons) count toward this. The only summons that seem to do well are RCs.

The periods where a Volcano ele appears on the volcano going unstable come and go. If the VEs become too much an issue, leave for a while and come back. I typically summon an RC to guard me in case one pops. When the instability hits, I hoof it down to one of the safe areas. Sometimes, I have to recast the RC to defend the safe space because the combination of elemental and eruption kills it. And, strangely, some of the mage summons make you lose karma when the lava kills them, when the RC does not.

I typically can do 2-3 quests an hour, so long as I'm alone on my Mystic. If I use my tamer and bring a pet, or if there's anyone else there, it's almost undoable from the rapid eruptions.