potion market is very sick

[loramin]

The problem is the game, not the server (although I'm sure the many years of Kunark hasn't helped). Red's prices may be a little higher than Blue's because of their lower population, but even having 20-30% of Blue's population only results in a 30 plat or so difference in price.

The core issue is that in the classic era ALL tradeskills are worthless, with only a few exceptions (a couple pieces of jewelry, 10-slot backpacks, and a few potions; maybe a few other items if you're generous). Because there are so few marketable tradeskill items every tradeskiller and their brother makes those items, and basic economics tells you that too many sellers = race to the lowest price possible.

Because of that, you can't fix SoW potion prices with a player-run cartel. The only thing that will help a little is Velious (which introduces a few new decent tradeskill items, eg. tailored armor) and some imaginary future custom content. But other than that, complaining about tradeskills not making money in (classic) EQ is like complaining about not being able to create a home in the game: yes empty buildings exist, but nothing will ever let you own a home in EQ because the game was never designed to allow it.

Likewise, classic EQ was never really designed for tradeskills to be meaningful. They were seen as much more of an RP thing, which came out of EQ's MUD origins.