Curse

MMSDome · Apr 12, 2006, 09:56 PM // 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady Erighan

Well, I don't think anyone can "confirm" which materials will be used in Factions. The only thing you can do is look at the FPE as a reference and "hope" the same materials will be used.

Steel, silk, tanned hides, vials or ink, monstrous fangs, etc, where all used during the preview. Jadeites and Amber were also used, but those are not "exactly" attainable in large quantities right now.

Just about everything is increasing in price except for weapons. Upgrades, runes, black and silver dyes are all increasing in price at a large rate. It's safe to say people are getting ready to mod and equip the new Factions items as quickly as they can.

Ecto, shards, rubies, sapphires, spirit wood, monstrous eyes, claws, and fangs are all staying at a steady pace. These are the items people are most unsure of. There shouldn't be any huge movement, but as soon as their usages are determined in Factions, they will either skyrocket in price or turn into worthless junk.

where were fangs used? And Eyes arent staying at the same they jump around alot, i know this because they are my favorite material and i keep a close eye on them

Lord Iowerth · Apr 12, 2006, 10:12 PM // 22:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by MMSDome

where were fangs used? And Eyes arent staying at the same they jump around alot, i know this because they are my favorite material and i keep a close eye on them

Ba-dum-ching.

But a full 1 mil in cash, and 100k on each character is a bad idea, imho. When it comes time to merchant some junk, or sell an item to another player ... where are you going to put the cash? You're out of cash space on each toon.

You'd have to manually destroy all the drops you didn't want (or just not pick them up) in which case you're missing out on materials.

I agree with others in this thread about black dye, it seems to be the most stable (reasonably expensive) item on the market. And you know people are always looking for them

LifeInfusion · Apr 13, 2006, 11:39 PM // 23:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by AxeMe

If, say, there is another million or so I'd split it equally between black dye ectos and shards. (Shards have done a decent job of staying around the 4k mark).

I'd say shards not black dye. Black dye has dropped from 20k to 9 to 6k in the past couple months.

Shards dropped from 6.5k to about 4.5k. So shards are a more stable investment than black dye. There is less fluctuation in price because people cannot obtain them as easily as ecto, which solo farmers get hundreds of a month. Shards cannot be solo farmed (well, not easily) because FoW is so diversified with mobs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dav85

the most reliable and safe mean keep more then 1.4mil golds are obsidian keys. i have nearly 500 of those payed 950-1000g each. i call sell to the merchant when i want for 750g each if i need money really soon. or i can sell them to chest run ppl for 1k each with ease...
black dyes are good too. but there's a potential risk of different drop rates in factions.

Not a good idea since you'd be losing half what you paid. (unless you sell to people for merchant price)

zankoku · Apr 14, 2006, 03:32 AM // 03:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeInfusion

I'd say shards not black dye. Black dye has dropped from 20k to 9 to 6k in the past couple months.

That's like saying ecto dropped from 38k to 8k. These prices were at highs when the Merchant economy was crazy and before Anet stabilized the market. Black dye was never at 20k for very long. Rather, since the game came out, black dye has risen from 2k to the present 7-8k.

I'd say it's a fairly safe investment going into Factions. Think about it. Players are most looking forward to two things that'll cost money in the Factions economy. (1) New weapons (thus explaining the rise in perfect upgrades, i.e., a +30HP sword pommel is regularly going for 100k+10ectos in trade). (2) New armors (whether they be new Factions 1.5k, 15k, or new professions FoW/High End). And players will want to dye their new armors. Black is certainly popular by itself, and is certain to be used in dye mixes. Unless Anet decides to introduce white dye, I think black will remain the priciest and most desired dye.

Someone already noted that weapon upgrades don't stack. Dyes do stack, so go with black dye.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LifeInfusion

Shards dropped from 6.5k to about 4.5k. So shards are a more stable investment than black dye. There is less fluctuation in price because people cannot obtain them as easily as ecto, which solo farmers get hundreds of a month. Shards cannot be solo farmed (well, not easily) because FoW is so diversified with mobs.

I'd say this is why shards are a more stable investment than ecto. In the last two months, ecto has fluctuated between 5.5-13k or so. I'm guessing that's due to a number of factors, but you're right in saying that shards are harder to solo or dual farm than ectos.

That said, one might wonder why ectos cost much more than shards, especially now since ALL FOW armor requires the same amount of ectos and shards. By that accounting, they should be the same price, right? Or ectos should cost less, right? (Because the UW is so farmable by 1 or 2 players--yielding 2-3 ectos drops per run, versus FOW that require teams or 5-8--yielding about 3-4 shards per run.)

The price of ecto is largely maintained by two factors: (1) to craft FOW armor, and (2) in 100k+ trades. So while some people buy and use ectos to craft, many other people hold on to ectos to trade and a large number of ectos never get circulated back "into" the game, keeping the prices high. But this trader's premium for ecto is based in part on the idea that ecto is useable to craft premium armor if you want to use it.

If Factions release armor more desirable than FOW armor, however, you can be sure ecto will drop some. Maybe not totally (because there will still be people who will want FOW armor and there's likely to be FOW armor for the new classes), but ecto's price may get hit on two counts (first, price of material for a less desireable armor will go down with demand, and, second, because of that some traders may shy away from trading with ecto, thus driving the price further down). And if it drops by several thousand, it may no longer make a nice +xk commodity to trade with (if it's value is, say, just 4k, why not trade with black dye or jadeite, or something else stackable and worth more?).

Sorry if this is a bit long and thick. That's just my views on black dye and ecto, and the game economy in general.

Ken Dei · Apr 14, 2006, 08:03 AM // 08:03

Investment? Stick with the basics if you're a small fish...

-wood
-iron
-tanned hide
-cloth

-Steel
-Linen
-Silk
-Leather
-Parchment

Even if Factions armor don't pivot around these items, there will be a market of new players who buy both Factions and Prophecies so their would be new buyers for armor in both.

But a better idea is kick into farming mood and stockpile raw materials...

Currently I have:
-1515 iron
-1208 wood
-645 tanned hide
-475 Bone
-29 Leather
-21 Fur
-57 Ink
-84 Steel
-12 Deld. Steel
-327 Chitin Fragments (Formerly Shells)
-380 Scales
-72 Silk
-500 Cloth
-8 Linen
-28 Monsterous Fangs (The price of which has doubled in two weeks at the merchant much to my dismay)
-4 Monsterous Claws

While I am showing off a little bit, the point of the numbers was to give you an idea of at least some minimal stockpiling. I'm not a big time farmer, so I'm sure some people have 3x-5x as much as I do in their storages. Also don't put all your money into items, keep some as cash.