Currently, I'm doing nonstop farming for embers and secret gems (40 AP nodes for both) so I can hopefully beef up my servants and complete Shinjuku without much struggle before grinding events take up my entire time. So far, I've been farming for secret gems for the berserker, caster, and archer class days and farming embers on the other four days.
But when I farm for secret gems, I feel like my efficiency is rock bottom. I'm lucky if I end up with even one secret gem out of the entire day of farming (surprisingly, the caster node is pretty efficient? I don't know why). Am I better off dedicating all days to ember gathering or continuing to do my original plan? Thanks in advance for your advice.
Farming for ascension mats and Secret Gems, and sometimes even Monuments, can be really trying if RNG is against you.
I also do the same thing as you, farming (or trying anyway XD) Secret Gems that I need (Archer is my case) and then embers or QP on other days. But I also do the 40AP quest everyday, even if it's not the class I need, just for the mana prisms. Any gems I get for other classes is a bonus.
Once during a half off training grounds week I really tried grinding for secret gems for cu. I think I only needed 3 or 4. Yeah, didn't get half of what I needed. Piled up over 100 magic gems but couldn't get the handful of secret gems I needed.
Ember gathering is a lot less frustrating, but nerofest and the gem filled lottery is a long way off. I think events have better secret gem drop rates if there happens to be a node with the class you need. But I have a pretty diverse set of servants and need the gems and other materials more than the embers these days, so I can't get away with just easy ember gathering anymore.
Hard to really give a concrete answer without knowing your lineup or who you're working on, but my answer should be pretty generalized.
For farming Secret gems, the drop rate is abysmal enough that many people find it inefficient to waste AP trying to farm them. For me, I'm lucky to even get 1 Secret gem from 1 30AP and 2 40AP runs. That's 110 AP, which is about 9 hours worth. You get 288 AP a day, so that's 7 possible 40AP node runs. Out of those 7, you'll be lucky to even get 5-6 Gold chest drops, and only maybe 1 or 2 of them will be a Secret Gem, and that's if you're lucky.
In my opinion, I'd rather farm QP or Mana Prisms, or even just farm materials, since I'm getting a better return for my AP.
You'll learn eventually that the only good way to really GET Secret Gems is from lottery or whenever they pop up in the Shop for some event. Otherwise, its pretty much a fool's gamble to try to farm even 3 Secret Gems in a day, as it will undoubtedly take hundreds of AP better spent elsewhere.
