I've been mining a lot as of late, and it seems to be very profitable, so today I decided to ask how much other players got from mining. When I stated that you might be able to make 14k+ from mining with a Max Fortune pick, I was quickly told I was way off, and that 9k per hour is more realistic. This seemed to be generally accepted by the players online. Now, I thought this was strange, so I decided to mine for one hour with very little distractions. The results shocked me: I earned $16300.85 in one hour.

So if I can earn 16.3k from one hour of mining with only a Max Fortune Pick, why would I invest in a melon sword, or really do anything besides mine? From what I understand, the most possible you can make from a melon sword is 14k'ish/hour, and I'd have to spend an exuberant price in order to obtain one. Now in addition to this, there's really no way to get more money from a melon sword per hour. Sure, you can make a massive farm and reduce turning time, but that won't make a dramatic difference. With Mining, you can upgrade your McMMo for longer super breaker, buy Water so you can walk over lava pools, use Fly+ to modify your speed and fly around caves, etc. It seems like Mining is such a better deal right now, even without an Eff 7.

I've also included all the information on my mining run in the spoiler below. If you want to know how I did it/what I picked up, check it out. I also have screenshots to prove the mining run, if some feel that my claim of making 16k/hour is false I'll post them, but I'd rather not go through the trouble if I don't have to.

Spoiler: All information on my Mining Run here!

There's a few advantages I have over a vanilla player that makes my mining more efficient. This includes;

1. Water - Walk over lava pools, sponge annoying currents
2. Pyro+ - Never have to worry about lava, ability to swim through it
3. Roughly 700 Mining Skill - 15 sec Super Breaker
4. Multihome+ - Ability to immediately return to mining shaft when exploring caves/going home
5. ExtCommands/Creations - No need to wait for repairs, can use /echest so I don't have to go home
6. MacroMod - Sell all mining ores/blocks with only one key

Over the one hour period, I managed to collect the following:
5006 Cobblestone - $250.30
711 Granite/Diorite/Ansedite - $71.10
59 Dirt - $2.95
2386 Coal - $2386
562 Lapis - $2107.50
2499 Redstone - $3748.50
372 Iron Ingots - $2790
130 Gold Ingots - $1300
76 Diamonds - $1900
2900 EXP - $1740
Misc. - $4.95
Total: $16300.85

Please let me know what you think about this. Personally, I think it shows that farming is a bit underpowered, and while I was never a "buff melons" supporter before, I think reevaluating farming prices might be necessary. What's the point of buying a Star tool if you can get a better result out of something you can buy for 10k?

 

Very true! Depending on what you want though, you could get $150+ worth of features with the same amount of money it took you to buy a melon sword, and there would be comparable results. But I can see where you're coming from with this, thanks for the input, Exil!

Thanks for your view guys! Mining definitely requires a bit more attention than farming, I'm able to watch chat and interact with the server while I mine, but I can't be virtually afk. Farming is undoubtedly superior in this respect.

Wow! I'm surprised you managed to make 15k in an hour, that's quite a feat :p! Still though, I'm going to refer back to what I said to Exil, with the money you paid to buy a melon sword you would've been able to afford all donation features necessary to be at least comparable to a melon sword.

Thanks for the kind words! I've had quite a few Eff 7's in the past (4 or 5, I forget...), and if you are planning on mining frequently, they're without a doubt worth it. With the features I listed in the OP, I could earn 22k+ in one hour of dedicated mining. This was a long time ago, and prices may have changed a bit, but I don't think it'll be much different. If you just intend to use it as an occasional tool, I wouldn't recommend saving up nearly a 750,000 ECD's for it. Better to save up for things you'll be using constantly like ExtCommands+, TP, Water, etc. For this reason I don't think I'll be saving for a new Eff 7 for some time. I'd like to get some more features before I begin looking into a new star tool.