The Great Seed Farming Debate

[Cosmos]

Evil Magma Peas or Couch Potatoes, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer,
Farming endlessly for EMPs or farming almost endlessly for CFs


So I've finally made my way to Mirage. It is the sacred land of Evil Magma Pea honey and Couch Potato milk -- or so I had guessed. And after completing the first few quests and earning an EMP seed so early I was beginning to believe it.

"What the heck," I thought, "If I can get them this easy, I'll just sit here and farm up another garden after a few hours!"

Three hours later I had not one more EMP seed to my name; though, I had gained three Couch Potato seeds in consolation.

I don't think many would argue that Couch Potatoes are better than Evil Magma Peas for the purpose of snacks, so it comes down to whether the time sink is worth it.

Speaking for myself, I have a garden of about 35 Couch Potatoes that I farmed from Grizzleheim. Farming there is a one-round, easy process and I tend to be able to get +2 per hour. Moreover, having to devote so much time to getting EMPs is making me question whether the time investment to attain them makes it an unfavorable trade as a whole.

---

The Q:

Given that EMPs will likely take someone significantly more time and effort to get, are Couch Potatoes the better option to go for despite EMP's superior yields? Why?

~Where do/did you personally farm for EMPs/CPs?

~Do you disagree with some of the above assumptions?

~Are you a Deadly Helephant or Ultra rebel who likes to farm other plants?

[JaredSpellFrost]

I have found that the best place to farm for seeds is in Secret Tunnel (*Sad Sokka noises*). Almost every run I get at least one Couch Potato, Sunion, or Deadly Helephant Ears seed! But I am yet to get any EMP seeds, from grinding Secret Tunnel and from just questing through Mirage and Empyrea.
I cannot begin to fathom how many hours of farming would be necessary to obtain a full garden of 69, so that is why I say it is a waste of time. Yes, EMP seeds are superior- but I say you should garden reagents through DHE and wilt reviving Ultra Plants. If you have enough EMP seeds to make it worth your time to have both (Cough Potato and EMP) gardens, then go for it- and don't forget about gardening UKP for amber either way!


Alternatively, you follow what I do and just garden Couch Potatoes and scour the Bazaar for reagents after your UKP garden naturally runs out of harvests...

[sparkfiredust]

At this time I've farmed 50+ couch potato seeds from ghultures, and I got 1 evil magma pea :/

The best places I've farmed are mirage and secret tunnel. Though sometimes I'm luckier, by a lot. I think there's definitely some weird game mechanic that makes it so sometimes I can get 6 couch potatoes an hour, and sometimes 1.

Once I've gotten a full 69 plot of couch potatoes, I'm planning to have also naturally acquired 69 fish on a vine from ghultures, and also 2 plots of deadly helephant ears since I'm wilt and reviving huckleberries I've also gotten from ghultures. I need the deadly helephant ears for sunstone, since I'm crafting tc enchants on my grandmaster pvp wizard. This way I get enough mega snacks, without needing to farm double the time to get a second couch potato plot.


Edit: to respond to the questions. Couch potatoes reach elder faster, so it might be better in terms of getting mega snacks. They also have less needs. Emp gives reagents that are aquirable through deadly helephant ears, or trading couch potato empowers for reagents on gamma's trading post.

[Torpzun26]

Given that EMPs will likely take someone significantly more time and effort to get, are Couch Potatoes the better option to go for despite EMP's superior yields? Why?

I farm both CPs and EMPs at the same time like a goober, but if I were in a position where I had to farm for seeds, I probably wouldn't bother too much with getting EMPs. This is probably because I like to run around areas and grab reagents while I am there, so I don't really rely too much on gardening for reagents.

~Where do/did you personally farm for EMPs/CPs?

Mobs in Mirage or Empyrea that I can also extract animus from. I got a lot of my seeds by farming Shadowbones (before he was nerfed twice), and at the same time I got a decent meatshield for future battles.

~Do you disagree with some of the above assumptions?

Well, I don't really consider EMPs to be that much better than CPs, because of what I said earlier about going around to collect reagents. Plus, I'm into the Deckathalon, so that (and the thousands of new pets I need to make because of Deckathalon) have been a toll on my gold. CPs giving more gold has helped me a lot with this.

~Are you a Deadly Helephant or Ultra rebel who likes to farm other plants?

For mega snacks? Not really. For other reasons? Definitely. Sword Ferns and Missile Toes for Deckathalons (tbh Missile Toes aren't that great but I can't be bothered to farm for rank 9 hits). Boiled Peanuts for Ice Deckathalon specifically, Fish on a Vine for Fire and Ice Sharks. Right now I'm even farming Queen Crape Myrtle for Forest Lords (and Storm Lords for later). Ultra Ninja Figs for Oni no Jade and minion TC for my wizards who can't farm Brandon.

In fact, Fire has so many plants for TC that become interesting in the Ice Deckathalon. Red/Purple Bell Peppers and Fiery Boom Shrooms are also plants I want to look at the next time the Ice Deckathalon rolls around.

[Spellbinder]

I initially get CPs as they are the easier ones, however, once I have those, I do go for emps, but at a much slower pace.

Take what I can get now, and upgrade later on,

[Dylan Windwalker]

I have a 64 (8x8) garden of Couch Potatoes, 16 (4x4) garden of EMPs, and a 16 (4x4) garden of Deadly Helephant Ears. I was gonna start a King Parsley garden too, probably a 64 (8x8) garden because King Parsley reseed while in mature and I might just do it today.

I farmed Secret Tunnel for Couch Potato seeds and they're pretty reasonable drop probability. I don't get as many Deadly Helephant Ears or Sunions though (If I ever get a seed, its either useless or a Couch Potato). Ironically, i got 17 more Couch Potatoes while questing from Azteca-Empyrea on my life without ever farming Couch Potatoes directly on him. But I hardly ever get Evil Magma Peas as there's no direct enemy that drops them frequently and honestly I don't think there ever will be.

I would definitely say that Couch Potatoes are superior towards Evil Magma Peas simply because it drops more often and are easier to get. I would definitely do a 64 Deadly Helephant Ear garden if I had the seeds but I don't have enough to bother making a bigger plot.

[davidbattleblade]

I agree with everyone above... secret tunnels is one of the best places for couch potatoes. I believe they can drop in any of the 3 battles and you have the added bonus of all the jewels you will pick up along the way. Both the spell proof and defy jewel drop there along with the +17 critical jewels. I was farming for the jewels for a long time and it forced me to start up a couch potato garden simply because I had about a 100 of them in my bank! (I just had a small garden of about 30 evil magma peas up to that point)

[Jonathan Greenflame]

I don't actively farm for either of the seeds, but I have been farming the secret tunnel for flying squid ink. I'm in need of 40 of those to craft the Grendels Amend spell for my Myth. In all the runs, I have gathered up quite a few Couch Potatoes but only a couple of the Evil Magma Peas. If you are farming for seeds, I'd say that Couch Potatoes are probably your best option as they drop in so many areas, Grizzleheim, Mirage as well as Empyrea. The EMP's, though superior to CP's as they give snacks to cover all the pet talents, seem to be a much rarer drop in my opinion.