Why Are Respec Recipes Going Up?

Ok, so I get this idea.

I19 increased respec demand by giving everybody inherent stamina, but it also gave them a ton of freespecs.

The event lets you buy a respec with candy canes at about 50m.

A 2x weekend is coming at the end of the event.

This sounds like it should be a huge marketeering opportunity.

However respec prices have been climbing during the winter event, even as lots of recipes have been getting less expensive.

What's the deal?

There are lots of variables, and while I haven't kept track of how the Respec Recipes have been trending over time, my guess on the price spike is one of the following:

1) Natural variance in price over time
2) People snagging them to store and sell during/after 2XP.

I19 created above normal demand, and considering a lot of folks make new characters for 2XP then level them like mad, taking whatever seems like a good power at the time with respecs coming later, it seems only natural that the price would go up. The prices on most things do, come to think of it.

That's just my guess.

Damned greedy marketeers raising the prices so that casual-purple warshades can't afford stuff.

Someone keeps bidding against me and raising the price.
Tell them to stop. Or to send me a tel and we can collude and agree on a price.
I keep trying to copy their price, but once they figure out that I am doing that, they raise their price again.



;shrug

I dropped out of respec recipes about july or so when I was flipping them at 165 to 200-250 with seemingly no competition. Currently they look like 150-190 with someone(s) in the niche, which is just too small a margin to bother with for the cost of trying to wiggle your way in when the top price is 175-190. You'd end up trying to up the price but then the other guy would list lower than your attempt to raise it and undercut you.

Well canespecs are of the use it now variety and can't be stored like respec recipies can. Prices are going up in expectation of demand on/before the 2XP weekend, the ending of the Winter Event and I20 expectations. In addition, many people have likely used their I19 freespecs up on alts they felt needed rebuilding. So upcoming increasing scarcity(back to normal lvls) and anticipation of increased demand are what I think are the motivators here. Also 2XP inflation.

I would think the third build introduced with Issue 19 might play a part in it.

I'm blaming "everyone playing their 50's and generating inf". But, y'know, I'm wrong a lot.

Another possible theory would be people redoing their I19 respecs. A lot of builds I saw on the forums people seemed to be adding Leadership and/or Fighting in place of Fitness. Those are all high endurance cost toggles so it could be people did a respec to include them and are now changing their build because they are having endurance problems.

I have been working this niche for a bit. Demand has remained relatively steady. The number of recipes available has only changed in chunks over the course of a day. It has not been a steady decrease in the number of recipes available.
To me, that indicates a marketeer at work rather than 'market forces.'

Other than the few to several times I saw this happen, despite the regular turnover, the number for sale has remained fairly steady.

Not too long ago the number of bids dropped suddenly as well. As of this morning though, the number of bids has spiked back to where it was a few weeks ago. This spike also happened overnight.

I think that more than one person is trying to work this street corner.

Some people may not realize there even is a canespec. In that regard if we assume everyone used their freespecs for inherent stamina then around now people might be creating their builds to take advantage of their alphas and/or the alpha boosts they are planning to use. Could also be someone in CB who knows something. Wouldn't be the first time after all.