Vana'diel Bestiary: Goblin Digger  

After spending several hours in East Sarutabaruta following one of these guys around, I've got a bit of data which may answer some questions. Basically, I was curious about how these creatures worked, what their purpose was, and which suggestions and information regarding them in other posts were accurate.

Note that I did have to warp back and get a new chocobo every once in awhile, so it is possible that I might not have been following the same digger each time. I've followed diggers around in other areas too (but not as extensively as I did in East Sarutabaruta), and they do seem to act the same.

I don’t consider this complete by any means, and it is my hope that this info can be used as a starting point for any other players who feel like doing a bit of research.

1. The digging does not always happen in the same place. I found at least six very different spots in East Sarutabaruta where the goblin dug a hole. I saw more digging occur than this, with some of the holes close to where others were, but I wasn't sure whether they were in "exactly" the same place, so I only counted the six distinct places.

2. There does not seem to be a set amount of time between digs. I have seen the goblin dig a new hole after 10 minutes, and I've had to wait as much as 24 minutes. The time generally seems to be within that range, although admittedly I have not researched this nearly enough to know if new holes might occasionally take less (or more!) time to be dug. I only counted the time waited when I was there to watch the digger every moment, in case it buried another item while I wasn't around, and to be sure another player didn't kill it, possibly changing the timer. And yes, it was very boring staring at the same mob for 24 minutes straight >.>

3. The distance from the goblin digger does not seem to affect the digging. I've seen the digging happen when the digger was just out of radar range (I had Ranger subbed), with me standing right in front of the digger, and a whole range in between.

4. The same digger can bury more than one item (although not at the same time, or in the same spot). So you do not need to kill the digger to get it to “reset”.

5. There seems to only ever be one digger in an area at a time, and it stays within a set wandering zone. Once it hits the boundaries of that zone, it will start heading back in. However, that zone can sometimes be very large.

6. The digger will occasionally bury an item in a place where you cannot dig. If you move slightly away from the where the hole was dug, you may then be able to dig, but you will only get the "You sense something nearby" message.

7. The area for where you can dig something up is very tight. Some people have suggested auto-following, and I have seen that to work very well. My favorite method, though, is to run right up to the digger just as it is digging, and let the game stop me from running through it. Every time I've done this, I have been able to dig up an item. Again, if you are close to, but not on, the spot where the item was buried, you will get the "You sense something is nearby" message. This just means that you misjudged where the goblin dug the hole, but may still be able to get lucky and find the spot again.

8. I have only been able to get an item through digging on a chocobo. I tried to "scavenge" (with a Ranger sub-job) a few times, but only found the normal items you find when scavenging. I took several picks with me too, but could not find a mining point to target, so was not able to use the picks. I also tried stealing from, and killing, several goblin diggers, but have never found the items they bury this way. It would surprise me if the items can be found through methods other than chocobo digging.

9. On exactly one occasion (so take it for what it's worth), I lost my chocobo a few minutes before the goblin dug a hole, but the hole was in a very easy place to find again (between a bridge, a rock, and a tree, with a few landmarks lining up in the distance). I warped back to Windurst, jumped on a fresh chocobo, and ran back to that spot within just a few minutes. When I tried to dig, I did not even get the "You sense something nearby" message. Again this only happened once, but there are a few possibilities I can think of: a.) I did not find the correct spot, b.) I took too long to get back, and the item vanished, c.) another player was lucky and found the item, d.) you can only find the item if you have not zoned after you see the digger bury it, e.) the digger buried another item, and there can only be one buried item at a time, or f.) someone killed the digger, which caused items it buried to vanish. I am leaning towards "b" myself, but this will need better research to know for sure.

10. The items I have found in East Sarutabaruta so far are: Fingernail Sacks, Goblin Cups, and Goblin Dice. I've gotten a few of each so far, and no other item types, all from this one zone. This could have just been luck, or perhaps each zone has only a few types, or perhaps a percentage chance for each item type. It might be nice to have a chart of which item types can be found in each zone, or to have evidence that all item types can be found in all zones.

11. The items themselves seem to be pretty much worthless, except for in the Orlando’s Antiques quest. I haven’t tried to desynth them, but merchants would not buy them, even though they are not Rare or Ex. Also, the items I found in East Sarutabaruta are NOT stackable.

12. Finally, I was not able to dig up more than one item at a time from a single spot. Trying to dig after finding an item will be just like digging anywhere else in the zone.


By the way, “rfolkker” suggests in the Orlando’s Antiques thread to sub Ranger (to track to the digger), and to take extra greens to practice Chocobo digging while following the diggers around (there is considerable evidence that there is a “hidden” Chocobo digging skill). Both excellent ideas in my opinion.

I followed one around to see if I could dig up something interesting on my chocobo. Eventually he did bury something, and I dug all around the area at least 15 times but I always go the message "You feel something is near" (or something like that anyways). Why couldn't I actually dig anything up, and what type of things do diggers bury?

also if u provoke them right before they toss them bomb, they will drop it on themselves. Its hillarious!!

once i stood next to one (it was too weak to be worth the while) and it never dug anything. i was there for like 20 mins then gave up.

Don't kill goblin diggers, they put items in the ground that can be picked up by chocobos, if your riding a chocobo and have greens you ca dig up items that the digger buries^^

Stealing yields 'pickaxe', about 50% of the time, 'beastcoin' most other times.

Trix