Korilynn

To the above poster, thanks for the detailed description, but I really understand that!!

I can read, I can research. I have nine months into the game and have somewhere close to 70 alts. Yes, I said 70. I like the creation process. I like the low level content. I like trying the various archetypes to learn what they do and why. I have friends on every server and I want to play with them. I have my own SGs and (small) bases on EVERY server. I've done a lot in those nine months.

I know what is useful and what isn't. I have two characters with multiple Artisan badges.

That still doesn't explain a difference of FIFTY TIMES to ONE HUNDRED TIMES the cost in two items.

Drop rates different? Sure! Got it. Some recipes are more sought after than others? Got it. Still doesn't explain the huge discrepancy. Fifty to one? That's Luck Charms and Boresights. Look it up. Do the math. A hundred times? That's the Alch Silver and Math Proofs.

To Mardun, Well boo hoo back at you. There, I sunk to your level. I've been in the game 9 months. I'm working for everything I get. I'm not asking to have anything handed to me. Jeeze. Get upset much? Jump to conclusions much? I'm REAL sorry the game has changed since you were a newbie back when dinosaurs roamed and dirt was new. It has, though. And so have the people playing it. For example, I'm not the "target audience". I'm 55 years old. I've been around the block. This isn't my first rodeo. I started in 1997 playing EverQuest, a game that makes this at it's worst seem like a cakewalk. But that's not the measuring stick anymore.

Times change. People change. Demographics change. Games change. This one has. Sorry if that doesn't blow your skirt up.

The market went REAL nuts sometime around our last double XP weekend. THAT was when the price for the "Holy Silver" went from 50k (sometimes 75k and rarely 100k- I know...I sold several thinking how neat it was to make a profit...oops) to the current quarter mil each. If this is normal...wow, just...wow.

Nine months isn't seven years. I don't expect to have what a long term veteran has. I'm trying to get to the point where I can get what I need mostly when I need it. The rest, well, it'll come when it comes. The original point of the thread was about market imbalance...not game basics.

I wanted to bring the perspective of a new player trying to compete in a harsh market where, as was mentioned above, TRILLIONS of Influence gets tossed around like pocket change.

It wasn't that bad in May. Started getting wierd when everyone that left came back to check out Going Rogue. Went off the charts around Christmas time more or less.

That so many vociferous people see this as NO problem...well, okies. Consider me educated. I'll just hush now and go on my merry way.

I made a mistake. Shouldn't have posted. Sorry.

Happy gaming.

Chaos Creator, I don't know the "88's" but I do know their stated intentions. You guys hired a friend of mine to expand your base. Unfortunately, said friend's computer died and he hasn't made a comeback as yet.

I'm sorry if I misrepresented you. I have a knack for long-winded posts, and sometimes I don't speak well or clearly.

The fellow that buys the stuff then deletes it...when 15,000 people are in line to get them to USE...that's a griefer.

The folks who buy cheap and sell dear are just doing what others have done for ages. The difference? This is a GAME...not LIFE. It's a recreational activity.

There has to be a way to balance the equation. I'm just not smart enough to "figger out" what that may entail.

Thanks for your response too. Sorry if I slandered you folks. Wasn't my intention.

Happy gaming!

This is my first post on these Forums, and I do it with reticence. There are more posts of condescention and "neener-neener-ing" than there are actual points and counterpoints, but that's the same for every Forum I've participated in. Seems like some people measure their wit and intelligence by verbally slapping at people who want to communicate and discuss issues.

But enough about that.

I'm a relatively new player to this game. I left World of Warcraft after 5 1/2 years because I got tired of Blizzard and wanted a change. My 14 day free trial here lasted about four hours. I have enjoyed this game and I'll be playing it for a good, long while.

To the point of "market griefing" I can only attest to how difficult it has been for me to compete with the long-time veterans who've had literally years to accumulate large piles of the "coin of the realm".

When I started as a semi-clueless newbie, the thought of having a few hundred thousand Influence was exhilarating...until I went to Wentworth's.

I had a couple of people offer to give me Influence as a gift to a new player. At first I politely refused, wanting to pay my own freight, as it were. I learned to accept those gifts.

Initially, I learned to sell the two inspirations you were given in the tutorial. That allowed my new character to purchase Training Enhancements. Poor...but better than nothing.

I learned about AE ticket farms. I unknowingly bypassed game content (thank goodness for Ouroboros) by running them for tickets to buy DOs, and eventually SOs starting at level 22.

When I looked at the cost of crafting IOs, and how much the salvage was going for, I decided to stick with AE ticket farms until I had a larger cash reserve. You know the ones...all bosses, with an ally. Run them and collect the tickets.

Well, folks, it takes over 3000 tickets to outfit a mid-20's character with SOs. And as you know, they lessen in effectivenes as you level up. So...vicious cycle. XP off...run AE farm. Replace enhancements. Resume gaming. And, by the way, SOs are better than standard IOs until you get to level 40. That's a lot of tickets.

Ok, I've played long enough and made enough Influence that now I can compete. I do the crafting thing for badges and player effectiveness. Besides, the devs kill every AE ticket farm the can find. Sure...go spend AE tickets on salvage. That works, but getting tickets isn't as easy as it once was. I have one farm I use still, from time to time. I'll admit I'm not sharp enough yet to write my own. People that have them guard them. They don't talk about them and/or take them down when they aren't in use.

I've learned some tricks. Some I figured out on my own. Others I learned from veteran friends I'd made. I have one character that has 50 million, one at about 170 millon and one at 205 million. With the candy cane craze during the winter vent, most of my lowbies have 8-15 million. I'm not rich, but I can at least hold my own.

Now, to those who say, "Have patience! Don't pay the 'I want it NAO' price!" well, how much patience are you asking?

On four separate characters, I placed bids for Alchemical Silver at 125,000 each. Then I parked them. I'd come back from time to time and check. After THREE WEEKS, not one item had been purchased. The going price was between 175k and a quarter mil.

Two of those characters are still parked. On one I just beggared her and paid for the silver. On the other, I spent my AE tickets I'd earned earlier. For a level 30-ish Blaster, that's 18 of those Alchemical Silvers. Two ACC slots for 9 powers. The odd part is, the other half of the crafting formula (Mathmatic Proof, I think it is) costs MUCH less. Why is that?

It's the same with Luck Charms. Accuracy needs them. Luck Charms are 25-50k each. The other half? Boresights can cost as little as 250 each to as much as 1000 each...not even close to the Luck Charms. Why is that?

If two items are needed for the same thing, shouldn't the demand (and therefore the price) be the same?

And don't tell me you need Luck Charms for more than just Accuracy IOs. Boresights work that way as well. Still, one is expensive. The other is not.

I do think people are fiddling with the market. I've heard of the "Crazy 88s" to whom the market IS the game. Do I have a solution? No...I'm not that smart.

I just wanted to offer the viewpoint of an actual new player. It's hard.

Sure...I can go without slots. I can get killed in missions that others smoke without effort. But why? This is a game...supposed to be fun. Frustration isn't fun...so I try to make my characters as good as may be within my resource pool.

That pool is getting larger...but I haven't forgotten what it was like getting my tookus handed to me in the Hollows when having a million Influence seemed like an unattainable fortune. I will not buy influence. That's against the EULA, and it's wrong on many levels. I'm doing it right. Trying to, anyway.

If "market griefing" is happening, and it seems it is, I have to wonder what kind of person takes pleasure in causing problems for others. The term "schadenfreude" comes to mind.

If there's a way to stop this nonsense, or at least dial it down a bit, I'm all for it.

I'll hop down off my soapbox now and await my inevitable roasting.

Happy gaming.