A question.

[OliverrWilliams]

Do you find a hard difficulty rating on a cache with very few finds a nice challenge or is it off putting?

 

I am just wondering because i have a cache that i own which is tricky, and not a lot of people seem to be trying it? (If interested GC2QCMK )

[+Original A1]

The harder the better, imho, depending on time and availability. Neither sadly is relevant with a cache over 340 miles from me.

 

Mebbe once I exhaust all of Scotland, Wales and Northern England...

 

[+keehotee]

Do you find a hard difficulty rating on a cache with very few finds a nice challenge or is it off putting?

 

I am just wondering because i have a cache that i own which is tricky, and not a lot of people seem to be trying it? (If interested GC2QCMK )

 

The size would put me off. I haven't looked too closely, but for a four star puzzle to lead to a micro there'd have to be something pretty outstanding about the cache to encourage me to put the effort in.

 

Is it a micro for a good reason? From memory there's no shortage of hidey holes and open space to accomodate a decent sized container around Danebury?

[OliverrWilliams]

It's a micro because of the way the puzzle works, hiding a larger container just wouldn't work.

[+Icenians]

Some people like puzzles, some like long walks, and others like to just grab straight forward "it's here, come and get me" caches. The latter seems to have far more fans than the former. But I wouldn't let that put you off. If you just want lots of people to find your cache and get tftc type logs then just plonk a micro in a layby. If you want good logs then place interesting caches in interesting places that are fun to do. I know I'd far rather have fewer good logs than a constant stream of naff logs.

[+37251]

I personally find hard puzzles offputting because I'm not very good at solving them. I usually have a look to see if I can guess what the theme is. But normally I give up and forget about them.

 

The puzzle you've set is one I've actually attempted because it looked like a multi. However, once I got there, I couldn't find anything and the cache page says that I couldn't ask for hints because that would make it unfair, so sadly I have cast that particular cache into the 'I won't bother again' pile. I enjoyed finding the previous cache which was at Danebury and it's an area I've been to a few times. Some folk relish the challenge of working them out and finding them so I'm sure more logs will appear over the next year or two.

[+*mouse*]

I have to say the 35mm film pot puts me off too. Everyone on here who knows me know I hate them at the best of times and will drive right by them - solving a puzzle wouldn't make me any more inclined to find one! That's just me though, and lots of people aren't bothered by container. I don't mind micros necessarily - they have their purpose, but film pots have become my pet hate lol!!

 

Puzzles rely on reputation at lot of the time. There are some fab puzzle cache setters near me who the minute you see one of their caches published you start working on it as you know the cache is going to be something special or clever. As this is your first puzzle it will take a while for reputation to spread and for your name to be known. Keep with it - if your puzzles are good then people will find out about you word will spread, but this will take time. Maybe even years. You can't judge a good puzzle by a matter of weeks

[+NattyBooshka]

My iPhone is a jack of all trades, and it isn't really good for finding caches... not least because location services eat battery!

 

I use my old eTrex Legend, and it does the job pretty well. I used to use a Geko 201, which likewise was accurate (a cache hidden with it still gets comments for spot on co-ords) So at the moment I'm reluctant to go and spend £400 on a new top of the range device (though I do like the idea of the Garmin Chirp so I may have to) as I believe that they are only more accurate than what I've got under tree cover etc. More hills here than anything!

 

I'd be tempted to scour decent second hand sites for a GPSr... and look at the difference. If it's no better, sell GPSr and you've only cost yourself a couple of quid in postage. If there's a big difference, you may then want to invest in the top of the range state of the art stuff... in which case you can still sell the second hand one for little loss of green stuff.

[+Mallah]

Do you find a hard difficulty rating on a cache with very few finds a nice challenge or is it off putting?

 

I am just wondering because i have a cache that i own which is tricky, and not a lot of people seem to be trying it? (If interested GC2QCMK )

Twoo observations,

 

1. It was only published 4 weeks ago today, so give it a bit of a chance - Easter has only just started for most places although around here we are in the second weeks of the hols. You might get a few more out over the bank hol weekend.

 

2. By your own admission it's a tricky one, so you will be reducing the numbers who will want to attempt it. Most families out for a weekend with the kids won't want to spend ages working out a puzzle which they may well fail to do - leaving the kids less than happy. Much easier to select the caches where they just have to enter the co ords and then use the description and hint to try and find it = fun for all and onto the next one. So you probably won't be attracting that category of cacher, and maybe a few others as well. I suppose you have yourself a niche cache - not a problem, just limited to a few.

[+Amberel]

Do you find a hard difficulty rating on a cache with very few finds a nice challenge or is it off putting?

 

I am just wondering because i have a cache that i own which is tricky, and not a lot of people seem to be trying it?

It's not to do with the difficulty rating, it's to do with it being a puzzle. I'd go for a difficult traditional, but I'm far less likely to go for a difficult puzzle.

 

If you want to set puzzles you just have to accept that only a minority of cachers will be interested. I've set a few and solved a few, but I don't even look at the cache page for a puzzle unless something out of the ordinary draws my attention to it. And having looked at it, a micro at the end would make it less likely I would try to solve it.

 

The flip side is that if it's a good puzzle, the few logs you do get are likely to be decent ones, something a bit more worthwhile than just TFTC.

 

Rgds, Andy

[OliverrWilliams]

Thanks for the support.

 

When i first placed it and no one was saying anything, I wondered to myself if it was all correct, but now I know it is.

I see what you mean by it only being attractive to certain 'types' of cachers, but I did tell myself when I started to create the puzzle that it'd only appeal to select people..

 

I do however enjoy the feeling knowing you've got somewhere towards solving a puzzle cache with high difficulty. A nice warm fuzzy feeling .

[OliverrWilliams]

And on a related note, would it be more appealing if the end goal was more than just a micro? Maybe a treasure chest??

[+Icenians]

And on a related note, would it be more appealing if the end goal was more than just a micro? Maybe a treasure chest??

In my book, yes.

 

But then I don't like micros much

[+keehotee]

And on a related note, would it be more appealing if the end goal was more than just a micro? Maybe a treasure chest??

 

Yes!

 

Any "involved" cache that takes a fair amount of time to complete - either at home or in the field - is going to be more attractive if there is the possibility of a nicely stocked cache at the end. You might even find you get more families finding it, too

[OliverrWilliams]

Okay, thanks. So what's the etiquette to changing/altering caches by much?

[+keehotee]

Okay, thanks. So what's the etiquette to changing/altering caches by much?

 

If it's only the size of the final container you're changing, it's simply a matter of editing the cache page to change the size. You could also post a note as a log so that anybody with the cache on watch gets a notification, and knows the size has changed (the size attribute only applies to the size of the final container - not to any physical stages along the way)

 

Any other changes (other than location...) are entirely up to you as to how much or how little you alter. You can also move the location of the final container and amend the co-ords yourself - as long as you move it less than 1/10th of a mile, and it still complies with all other guidelines (such as proximity). Any move over 1/10th of a mile would have to be altered by your friendly local reviewer.

 

Changes to difficulty/terrain ratings are also up to you - although some people might object if they're using the find as aprt of a challenge cache and are relying on the original D/T rating. Personally, I'd rather keep the rating as accurate as possible for the cache as it is, or becomes - and apologise to anybody affected . Future finders would also thank you for accurate ratings