The market sucks

[bullet]

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

The bad (good?) thing about P99 is that they've drawn Sony's eye. Sony reads about the reported 10,000 accounts, the 850 peak players, the thriving community and thinks "Gee, maybe if we actually did REAL CLASSIC TIMELOCKED PROGRESSION we could get a bunch of new/returning accounts."

And the godforsaken truth is, they absolutely would.

I remember some other classic EQ emulator... thing getting shut down. Maybe because it didn't operate under the EQ Emu umbrella or something? Anyway, Sony gazed at them and they quickly shut up and shut down.

Why hasn't this happened here? My conspiracy theory is, we're just being watched to gauge whether Sony should pull the trigger on an official server in this vein or not. Open up a new one, get 80% of the active population to transfer, then wait two months to flex their muscle here and shut this down, getting the other 20% to avoid looking like an outright shakedown that would make players quit both in disgust.

I really wish I could give you guys $15 a month for the promise of my character not getting deleted in the night by a legal ambush, accelerated coding/debugging/whatevering, better/more Guides/GMs, more hardware, advertising, etc... but I can't.

I've been playing here a week now and loving it, but damn if it doesn't feel like I'm playing on tissue-thin ice. I found out about this place at Ten Ton Hammer after all, which shocked me -- this place was really advertised? Smed was interviewed? And you're still standing? Wow. I jumped aboard immediately... but like I said -- thin ice.

No matter what you won't be playing this for years like the 'good old times'

Project 1999 biggest flaw is it's 10 years old and it shows in the long run IMO.

Just enjoy the ride while it lasts.

[Combo]

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

No matter what you won't be playing this for years like the 'good old times'

Project 1999 biggest flaw is it's 10 years old and it shows in the long run IMO.

Just enjoy the ride while it lasts.

lol troll

[Combo]

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

However, a new player who starts today is going to have the same bankroll as they did a week or two after the server released. The majority of their income is coming from within the game ie. coin and vendor loot dropped from mobs. This obviously doesn't increase as more players enter the game. So while a PGT may be worth 4x more now than it did then, your average level 15 melee who would probably want one won't come close to being able to afford one. No sane level 50 on the server is going to twink a new character with a PGT or an Advisor Robe or any of these items that have been made an example of. And this is where the problem lies, the buying power of a percentage of the playerbase is increasing the price for the entire playerbase, essentially making the poor even less incapable of equipping themselves than months ago. Essentially the large influx of new players is straight up hindering those new players to progress themselves, interestingly enough. It's a double-edged sword that is harming the newer playerbase instead of nurturing it.

The detrimental effects don't end here. The majority of new players need groups to level. 95% of groups in EQ follow the lines of the traditional D&D trinity: tank, healer, dps. If anyone has been leveling here recently, here is what you'll see.

The majority of the time you will be looking for a tank. You'll have bards and rangers tanking more often than warriors or knights. If you do find a tank, it's only because a level 50 is bored and decided to twink one out. You'll easily group with more twinked tanks than "normally geared" tanks, probably at about 4:1. If the tank leaves, your group dies. This is the largest issue with the lower end leveling scene at this moment.

Your healers are druids. Druids are the least gear dependant healer right now, so by virtue of the above, there's a large influx of druids.

Your DPS are casters. You may very rarely find a monk, as they do well without gear, but you'll almost never find an untwinked rogue. Most full groups will consist of 3-4 robed casters, as those four classes are the best in the game without good gear.

Being a new player on P99 this is definitely a great post and worth commenting on.

My "main," if you could call it that, is an untwinked Barbarian Rogue. He is currently level 11, equipped with a Puguis, some large cloth, and about 40 plat. The only "twinked" item I have is the Pugius. Some guy gave it to me for helping him transfer crushbone belts to his alt. Otherwise I'd be using a Tarnished Rapier.

The only thing I can apparently buy with this 40p is Banded, which is largely irrelevant to a class who shouldn't be getting hit all that much, and can't even pull aggro with his pathetic weapon.

I've tried to buy basic +2 STR rings, but the guy selling them wanted 25p for a pair. I remember these being 2-4pp each all the way into Velious.

I've tried to buy a new weapon. I dug through the EC forum and found someone had sold a Serrated Bone Dirk for 50p about a month ago. Running to the tunnel I find a guy wanting to sell one for 250p (he wouldn't list the price, I had to send him a tell). When I said, in so many words, "rofl, no fucking way," he went crazy and begged me to offer a lower price. It's the strangest thing I've ever seen. I just stopped responding as I didn't want to get into the whole back and forth where his feelings get hurt because he's not going to get the wild price he wants.

Gloomwater Harpoons go for about 200, and I don't know if that's reasonable or not, but 200p is a pretty distant goal at this juncture. My farming options are Bone Chips (~5plat a stack, in the EC region as a Rogue this is a horrible time:return ratio), High Quality Bear/Cat skins (what I'd been doing, mostly, before I headed off to gfay), and Silks (20p-ish a stack, but rarely any buyers). Over in gfay, I try to sell Crushbone Belts for 1p/each (which is normal). They sell, but the buyers are wildly erratic and further, I have to go back to EC to (try to) buy anything.

On the subject of group composition, you're pretty much dead on the money.

Over in Crushbone, here's the group composition analysis:

Druids, untwinked (100% inevitable, often 2/group or worse).
Paladins, twinked (close to inevitable, and often more than 1).
Warriors, twinked (about half to a third of the time).
Rogues, twinked (about 1/4th the time).
Wizards, untwinked (about 1/4th the time).
Bards, twinked (uncommon).
Clerics, twinked (rare).

Special Mention:
Mages/Enchanters, untwinked or twinked (not seen in groups past 8, typically pulling/leveling faster than full groups are).

Any other combinations I've only seen once or twice (twinked Human Monk one time) or not at all.

If a class is even the least bit gear dependent, 90% of the time they're mad twinked. While I'm backstabbing for 15, the Wood Elf Warrior with a Mithril Two-Handed Sword and god knows what else is hitting for over 30.

Is it frustrating? Not really. I'd like to backstab for, you know, 20, but no one keeps me out of groups because my gear sucks (yet). There's more flexibility in groups when your tanks are twinked -- it lets Druids heal, for instance. If we were all as poor as me, we'd need the trinity starting at level 4.

[Kraftwerk]

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

Special Mention:
Mages/Enchanters, untwinked or twinked (not seen in groups past 8, typically pulling/leveling faster than full groups are).

Haha, my favorite part of your post...because it is so painfully dead on the money. I grouped once going 1-50, and it was slower than if I was soloing (in both experience coming in and # of mobs killed per hour). Oh is the life of a Magician.

[Combo]

I play an Enchanter with my brother, a Mage. We group in CB just so we can zone out/semi-afk, but once we hit 8 we're done with 6-man groups unless it's for something uber-leet.

Which is really sad since Magicians bring so much to the table for a group. As in, letting us leech off you.

[BuzWeaver]

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

On P99 there are two types of items auctioned: rubbish and over priced shit. Don't bother trying to play the market with dudes constantly spending hours of their life try to sell an Advisor Robe for 1.5k

I swear there's one transaction for every 50-100 /auctions. EC on live was way more fun because people were way less retarded about selling their crap.

With such a limited amount of players its somewhat to be expected.

[Crover_CT99]

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

Being a new player on P99 this is definitely a great post and worth commenting on.

My "main," if you could call it that, is an untwinked Barbarian Rogue. He is currently level 11, equipped with a Puguis, some large cloth, and about 40 plat. The only "twinked" item I have is the Pugius. Some guy gave it to me for helping him transfer crushbone belts to his alt. Otherwise I'd be using a Tarnished Rapier.

The only thing I can apparently buy with this 40p is Banded, which is largely irrelevant to a class who shouldn't be getting hit all that much, and can't even pull aggro with his pathetic weapon.

I've tried to buy basic +2 STR rings, but the guy selling them wanted 25p for a pair. I remember these being 2-4pp each all the way into Velious.

I've tried to buy a new weapon. I dug through the EC forum and found someone had sold a Serrated Bone Dirk for 50p about a month ago. Running to the tunnel I find a guy wanting to sell one for 250p (he wouldn't list the price, I had to send him a tell). When I said, in so many words, "rofl, no fucking way," he went crazy and begged me to offer a lower price. It's the strangest thing I've ever seen. I just stopped responding as I didn't want to get into the whole back and forth where his feelings get hurt because he's not going to get the wild price he wants.

Gloomwater Harpoons go for about 200, and I don't know if that's reasonable or not, but 200p is a pretty distant goal at this juncture. My farming options are Bone Chips (~5plat a stack, in the EC region as a Rogue this is a horrible time:return ratio), High Quality Bear/Cat skins (what I'd been doing, mostly, before I headed off to gfay), and Silks (20p-ish a stack, but rarely any buyers). Over in gfay, I try to sell Crushbone Belts for 1p/each (which is normal). They sell, but the buyers are wildly erratic and further, I have to go back to EC to (try to) buy anything.

If you look at the game by design, your Barb isn't really doing all that bad.

Both the SBD and the Gloom Poon drop off mobs in their 30s, so "realistically" you wouldn't have yet had the chance to earn these items yourself, and thus the prices should probably be out of your current reach.

Back at release melees would experience a progression more like this:
1-10: patchwork/rawhide/leather, rusty/bronze (bronze if lucky) weapons
10-20: chain/banded/black iron/bronze armor, bronze/fs/combine (used to be leet!) weapons
-maybe a unique magic drop
20-30: +steel plate/rubicite if lucky
-handful of unique magic drops
30+: generally start to fill out slots with unique gear one by one

By my casual observations, more PP drops on P99 than at release as well. I know I had multiple PP before level 5 on P99, which seems inflated to me.

I had enough money for all my spells each level, which is not reminiscent of my experience on live at release. I remember my brother definitely budgeting and carefully choosing which spells he wanted when he reached a new spell level.

Anyways, I'm sure there is inflation, but there are plenty of us selling items for what we perceive to be fair prices. I started in April and didn't wear anything I didn't earn or make until my 20s-30s, and didn't really have expendable income until my cleric reached level 44 and I could farm solo. At that point, I just camped my little heart out and was on a mountain of cash within a couple of weeks.

I made it and so will everyone else. It might surprise some to know that EQ is in fact more fun on the way up than it is at the top. That bloodclaw stiletto will feel all the more sweet when you eek out a victory in Najena with camrades and it replace your tired old pugius.

... but, that's just like my opinion, man.

[Combo]

Originally Posted by Crover_CT99 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you look at the game by design, your Barb isn't really doing all that bad...

Oh, I agree entirely. I hinted at that in the last line of that big post above -- if no one was twinked, we'd all practically have to be running WAR/CLR/ENC starting at level 4 just to get anywhere (Mages not included). The WAR would be rocking tattered/patchwork and maybe some rawhide with a Tarnished weapon. It'd be awesome.

[pickled_heretic]

Originally Posted by Crover_CT99 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If you look at the game by design, your Barb isn't really doing all that bad.

Both the SBD and the Gloom Poon drop off mobs in their 30s, so "realistically" you wouldn't have yet had the chance to earn these items yourself, and thus the prices should probably be out of your current reach.

Back at release melees would experience a progression more like this:
1-10: patchwork/rawhide/leather, rusty/bronze (bronze if lucky) weapons
10-20: chain/banded/black iron/bronze armor, bronze/fs/combine (used to be leet!) weapons
-maybe a unique magic drop
20-30: +steel plate/rubicite if lucky
-handful of unique magic drops
30+: generally start to fill out slots with unique gear one by one

This is exactly the way my SK progression was, with one exception. Someone gave me a stiletto of the bloodclaw at level 15 or so, which isn't that impressive of a weapon but it was a huge upgrade from my cracked staff at the time. Other than that, every piece of gear I acquired was farmed by me except for a dark reaver which was well within my power of farming within a group by the time I got it. In fact if I look at it, it looks like I was behind the curve in most categories.

As far as the retarded prices, well, I blame that primarily on poor game design with a lack of money sinks, but there's also the twinks that ruin the market for newer players.

[Agaron]

WTS water flask 8kpp, smithy hammer 10kpp, large sewing kit 15kpp, p99 auctions... priceless.