The Manastone Calculation

[Tilien]

Originally Posted by DMN [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Care to show me the post where any of the staff here have said that is going to happen? The only possibility they have floated so far is that green will be dumped into blue. That is still the most likely scenario at the time being. I assumed you simply misspoke, but instead you just decided to make shit up instead.

If green merges with blue, then the plat per stone will skyrocket so they will be dropped into a plat inflated economy. Once they merge is anounced the prices on green will match the ones on blue. If green 2.0 merges with 1.0 it's going to be the same story, though with somewhat a less inflated plat economy.

The best time to buy a manastone is long past. Next best time to buy one theoretically will be when green 2.0 is released and as early into the server's life cycle as possible.

Please re-read my original post saying it's better and easier to farm plat until the next server cycles in than to kill yourself getting a manastone now.

Hope this helps.

[boukk]

Post classic, manastone is really only truely useful to wiz with port + epic combo for soloing, and maybe druid, that s about it, and for alts.

[Smellybuttface]

Originally Posted by Castle2.0 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

CONCLUSION:
I'm not trying to tell you what the Manastone is worth to you. I just want to point out simple plat-per-hour comparisons are an asinine approach to find a more objective, more concrete approach to value the Manastone.

In the end we each make our own subjective valuations, but these subjective valuations are best informed by the objective facts listed above.

It’s a very valuable item, of this there is no doubt. Requires a large amount of time, but I still don’t see how valuations based on time/plat ratio is “asinine,” especially when your intent is to sell it. You’ve shown other examples of items/camps with arguably a much higher rate of return (Hadden for example, 1 minute Real life time for potentially 7k return on investment). If you’re intending to try and make a windfall from your Manastone, the only reasonable way to look at it is assessing what you put in (time) to the amount you get in return (in-game currency). The exclusivity of the camp (location, time frame, limit on # in-game) isn’t pertinent to factoring what your return is.
I’m going to include my post from the other thread where we discussed this, to see if others have thoughts on it, since in the context of your thread it seems appropriate:

“ 1 thing I wonder with Manastone. So there isn’t anything fun about waiting on a list for 80-100hrs. Now EQ ordinarily just takes a ton of time to do anything, but usually leveling you’re “presumably” having fun, or hopefully, since that’s one of the main time expenditures in the game. Now since hitting an afk every 5-15 mins doesn’t actually have any fun associated with it, you have to hope that either what item you acquire or what you you sell that item for makes up for the time investment.

So let’s say you spent 80hrs at the list. If you sell a Manastone for 150k, each hour is worth roughly 1900 platinum. More time you spend, the less your time is worth (unless you sell for more). Then you have to ask yourself, is an hour of your real life worth 1900 platinum. That’s a very tough putt. Let’s say you make minimum wage - $15/hr. Would you spend $15 on 1900 platinum? Probably not. Now since most folks here are likely in their 30’s+, presumably you’re making more than minimum wage. So I’m just spitballing, but I’ll try a mean income of $50,000 a year after taxes (maybe a low estimate, but for arguments sake). Around $25/hr. So now, would you spend $25 on 1900 plat. On the green trade forum, I’ve seen someone selling a Manastone for 100k. Now that’s 1250 plat. And if you spent 100hrs camping it, that’s 1000 plat.

What’s the point of all this math? Well, I’m curious at what number you think you’re getting a viable return on your time investment. If camping a manastone was fun, then it’s an entirely different story since it’s hard to accurately gauge the price of your enjoyment. But most everyone I know that’s listed has said it’s a fairly miserable experience. With that said, do you think it’s a wise investment of time to camp a Manastone? Just out of sheer curiosity.

TLDR: is camping a manastone a wise time investment/money ratio?”

[Albanwr]

Originally Posted by Smellybuttface [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

TLDR: is camping a manastone a wise time investment/money ratio?”

He said himself that it takes 40-80 hours. Sure, a friend can help, but most of that time he is sat there clicking AFK checks.

So, no its not a wise time investment. Unless you simply have NOTHING else at all that you could be doing in life.

Wife? Girl Friend? Kids? Work? Eating? Taking a god damn shower once in awhile.

This /list system has turned the neck beard into a complete waste of skin.

[fadetree]

Originally Posted by Smellybuttface [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

It’s a very valuable item, of this there is no doubt. *snip lots of words*

It seems like it is, but it shouldn't be. It's fairly useless. There's a couple kind of emergency scenarios in which it could be helpful, but as far as increasing your average kill rate over a long term it's almost a negative...if you count the amount of times you either outright killed yourself by overclicking or by going so low you suddenly pull aggro or just too low to survive the dot on your ass.
It's not free mana, you have to pay for it with HP, and it's an expensive ratio. Try healing yourself while using the stone, you will run out of mana AND hp quickly. This thing is for nerdquest only.

[Madbad]

I think we should boycott manastone sales as a server.

Let this shitbird sit and stare at his useless pixels.

[Swish]

Originally Posted by Castle2.0 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

How many hours does it take? What is it worth? How much should I sell one for? How much should I buy one for?

Manastone takes approximately 40-80 hours to camp. When people hear this, they immediately start doing "plat-per-hour" calculations. This is a poor approach.

First, these 40-80 hours and the Manastone itself need to be understood in light of this important context:

1. No substitute -- Manna Robe doesn't even come close with 3 sec cast and int caster only limitation
2. Consecutive hours -- you can't put in 2 hours here, 3 hours there -- dropping at 30 hours = 30 hours wasted -- Seen it happen at much higher hours
3. Focused hours -- due to AFK checks you don't get any real breaks to make or even join in a serious meal with friends/family, can't take a long shower, can't take a nap worth taking
4. Exclusive location -- Can only be camped from one, single spawn point
5. Exclusive time frame -- Can only be camped until Sol Ro releases
6. Hard limit on quantity -- There will only ever be so many manastones - from Sol Ro onward the number will only decrease (quitters, banned cheaters)
7. No other benefits -- 28-minute spawn with no other monsters and no other loot (besides the bag that constantly rots) -- you will get negligible exp, if any

Let's look at plat in a 1-to-1 comparison with the above list:

1. Camping Items -- You don't even have to camp plat, you can camp rare items or any item that sells for plat -- your choice
2. Flexible hours -- Camp as much as you want, as long or as short as you want. You keep all your platinum from any time put in - no risk of loss for taking a long break, or stopping your session altogether
3. AFK Camps FTW -- Hadden earring goes for 7k and you just have to be at your keyboard once every 6 hours for 1 minute. Single spawn giants in Karanas or Rathe only require 1-2 minutes of your attention every 6 or 7 minutes. Take as many breaks as you like
4. Plentiful locations -- Can get plat in a LOT of spots and the number of spots grows over time. You can camp rare items, gems, plat, or vendor trash items. HGs in multiple zones, seafuries, Dino, guards (paineel is coming too), you can corner [specialize in] certain items (ex: golden haired mermaid for 6-8k raincaller bow), etc.
5. No time frame limit -- From Day 1, level 1, you start accumulating plat, and will continue to do so for the life of your characters
6. Ever-increasing commodity -- Very few plat sinks in EQ. Total amount of plat is always increasing, and thus prices
7. Added benefits -- Can get exp as you get plat or camp rare items. Up to you which camp suits you best

CONCLUSION:
I'm not trying to tell you what the Manastone is worth to you. I just want to point out simple plat-per-hour comparisons are an asinine approach to find a more objective, more concrete approach to value the Manastone.

In the end we each make our own subjective valuations, but these subjective valuations are best informed by the objective facts listed above.

TL;DR - fat cat justifies high prices via academic essay

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[damus1]

if you dont end a manastone camp with bags full of whitegold necklaces youre doing it wrong (or you're a lv 35 afk leech like most /listers)

[Wooted]

Good thing one just sold for 115k. The OP is such an annoying shitbag with his precious manastone propaganda.

[DMN]

Originally Posted by Wooted [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Good thing one just sold for 115k. The OP is such an annoying shitbag with his precious manastone propaganda.

Says the kettle trying to tank mith 2 hander price for months.