Kranodor's Log

Okay, so I have restocked both vendors again. 20 new items for sale, across the whole board: Melee Weapons of all kinds, Metatherics Weapons of most, and even some armor. So I think I’ll answer some questions this time, instead of presenting a long list:

1. How do I know that I bought from you?
When you buy an item, you see the name of the vendor with it. Was that “Trader Asmarin” or “Trader Voranek”, it was likely one of my traders – that is, if noone has renamed their vendors to match the names of mine. If you bought from me: Congratulations, you just made a rather good deal!

2. What do you sell?
As a veteran player, I have access to all locations in the game that are not restricted to missions. Of course, I usually hunt where fewer players are and where better items drop. In my case, hunting is mostly done in the Plateney Woods and the Martuso Mines, although I sometimes also hunt the Tiasa Flatlands or Port Fortfare, depending on what types of weapons I wish to obtain. The Plateney Woods are good for some general weaponry, but mostly the best single-weapon-category elemental weapons of the game (Platen Airris/Firos/Wintros Wands). Martuso Mines are the source of all Kratian weapons – Krati Oak Hearts, Krati Life Pipes, Krati Stone Staves, Krati Grav-Shivs, Krati Mindrods, Krati Jagged Shortblades. This includes the best (non-mission-reward) flesh-primary weapon in the game (Krati Lifepipe) as well as some of the best other weapons – usually they’re on par with what’s best and have little differences (for example, the Krati Jagged Shortblade is about equal in rating with the Serrated Shortblade – the Krati variant has superior speed, though, while the Serrated type has superior damage in this comparison.)
Tiasa is good for most melee weapons and a few other things, and Port Forfare is the best source for some of the best Airwind and Gravity primary stuff (Busted Booster Columns and Busted Stabilizer Rods) and usually yields some other stuff as well.
To shorten this: Usually, I sell stuff that is either the best, or one of the best of its type in the game. Expect ratings 100 and up, usually rather 120 to 250 for weapons, 250 to 310 for armor.

3. How do you price?
Well, I try to do fair prices. I want to sell the stuff, but I want people to actually use it. So I try to make a somewhat fair price with the minimum price acting as a guideline. I don’t go for minimum prices, because it destroys the possibilities for market competition, and it is illogical to sell lower than one should. Plus, there might be some entrepreneurs who rarely play the game but have enough money, that’d buy minimum-priced items out to sell them at tenfold, if the market is weak on that type at the moment.
So, I check in three steps:
Step 1: Is there any identical weapon on the market? (so, if I want to sell a Platen Airris Wand, I look for Platen Airris Wands only)
Step 2: Is there any type-identical weapon on the market? (I want to sell a Krati Jagged Shortblade and found none, so is there a Serrated Shortblade, or a Fine Steel Dagger on the market?)
Step 3: Is there any type-similar weapon on the market? (so, if I want to sell a Light Air Staff (Staves/Air) I’ll look for anything that’s Staves/any, and probably Staves only, too)
Then I compare ratings, and look for prices. Usually, I’ll see either nothing even close to the rating I want to sell, or some of the NPC traders got one item, but sells it at a ridiculous price. Yes, I check all markets, not only the local one – all markets, including all player and NPC markets.
From there on out, different things may happen:
I see the market is saturated on that type or a comparable type of item with similar ratings, and the prices on comparable-rating items are somewhere about where I would put them or above: I check the minimum price and add about 50% on top of it, round it to a ten (up or down, depending on mood, the general market situation as I perceived it, rarity and popularity of the item…) and put it in. (So, a 50 gold minimum priced item will go out for 70 or 80 gold)
I see that while the market does, indeed, have a number of items of this type, none even closely matches the rating of what I want to sell: I’ll put it for sale for about 2x (lots of items) to 3x (few items) the minimum price. (So, a 28 gold minimum price item will go out for about 50 to 90 gold)
I see that the market has few to no items of this type or any related type: I’ll put the price at about 4x minimum price.
You see? Even if no other market (Player and NPC) in the whole game sells an item with the same primary weapon/type, I’ll put up a weapon with some of the best stats for this type in the game for no more than maybe 200 to 250 gold. That’s rather fair for something equalling a monopoly, isn’t it? Still, as this rarely happens (this time, Plant was nowhere available, and Flesh only with a handful of items with about one fifth of the quality of what I’m selling) most items I sell go out for about 40 to 80 gold. Some of the best stuff in the game. (Of course, armor is usually a bit more expensive, as the ratings are higher, and higher ratings mean higher minimum prices. Still, as there is always plenty of armor – and most times even with similar ratings – available, I usually only add the nominal 50% or even less.)

4. How do you collect stuff and decide what to sell?
When I am hunting, and I have defeated a group with viable drops, I check them closely. I rarely loot armor, as it doesn’t sell very well, usually I’ll pick up maybe the best item, if it is an armor type I know and use myself (Fine Scalemail or Fine Chainmail) or if it stands out against all others of its own type, rating-wise (for example, a Krati Heavy Cloak with rating 240 against two with 221 and 216).
Of weapons, I usually loot the best of each kind, and all of them if I know it’s either the best stuff in the game or a rare/sought after type (Flesh, Plant and Airwind primaries, mostly). After looting, I check the stuff and compare it with a) what my group is using and b) what my group has in reserve if I want to change tactics and re-equip. If a found weapon is better than something currently used, I exchange it, if it is similar but may open up new options, I try it. Otherwise, it remains in the pool.
If I have three or more weapons of one type, I’ll usually trash the worst ones, if it isn’t a particularly rare or sought-after type. I will normally keep at least two of each type, one for the party to switch to, if required or wanted, and one to sell. Of course, that means “each type of which I know it is the best with this particular combination of skill types, rating-wise”.
When I come to a market, I’ll usually sell the “worse” items, sorry. They’re still the cream of the crop, though, as likely, I’ll have trashed ca. 1 out of 3 items of the same type I looted, and didn’t loot 3 out of 5 items of the same type that I would have been able to. It does occur, even, that if I find a new, better weapon, I may sell the one that one of my characters has been using for weeks or even months. I continually try to upgrade items by searching for ever-better stuff (see, for example, Cyrette Frostblazes Platen Firos Wand – rating 182, that’s very rare, maybe 1 in 50 drops, maybe even less. For reference, check Boran Pyrebound. He carries the second-best Fire weapon I own, a rating 165 Platen Firos Wand.) and thus, I sometimes end up replacing “good” items by “supreme” ones, and selling the “good” ones afterwards.

5. Why should I/we trust you?
Simple: Check my characters and their equipment. You know that I keep the best stuff to myself, as everyone would do, and sell the second best stuff (as I trash or do not even loot a majority of what I could)… and you’ll see that I sell stuff very similar to what I use myself, and you will also see that the prices match very strictly what I stated above.

6. Why do you trash stuff and not sell it to NPC traders?
Because NPC traders are only available in Martis, Chaduk and Hopitan. Most time I am somewhere around Plateney, near Tiasas Star, which doesn’t have a NPC shop. So I would have to travel a distance with about 6 or 7 fights to get somewhere where I could sell my junk for some 100 gold total. I’ll rather stay in Plateney, trash the bad items, hunt some more and get some good. Martuso Mines (which are directly behind Martis itself) is different: I usually go there on my way back to Hopitan, with little space left. And most of the drops there are of rare kinds that I chose to sell on Player markets anyways.

7. Wow that’s a long text. You do need the money, don’t you?
No. That’s exactly the point. I want people to buy from me, because that way, the weapons I don’t have any use for may be put to good use for at least some time, the people can get some good weapons, but as those weapons are really good (as in: it may be possible that you will find better, but it’s either unlikely, or a rare occasion and will take time and lots and lots of fights) people are supposed to save a bit of money to get them. I, myself, don’t need any more money than I have – I have almost 20.000 gold, that’s more than enough. And during hunting, and the way back, I usually earn about 1000 gold as the gold I loot after the fights.

[reply to this]

Okay, my two SPC Traders Asmarin and Voranek have set up their base at Hopitan market for the first time, each of them selling a full 10 items. Asmarin has the 10 best pieces of armor from my last hunt, Voranek a selection of weapons that were leftover from before the SPC-Update and some new stuff from the last hunt.
That last hunt was only to the Martuso Mines, mind you, but it is a good place to find Krati stuff.

Without further ado, Voraneks selection:
NOTE: Struck out items are already sold. Sorry if a listed, non-struck out item isn’t available anymore, I have to update the list manually.
For 75 gold was sold:
krati lifepipe, D/S/R: 20/56/9/39/147, Flesh / Clubs
I know Flesh is wanted, because it is cool and has some pretty unique abilities. And there was nothing at the market, so I made this rather “highish” price. It is, with 20/56 better than most flesh only weapons, if not all, with a hypothetical flesh-only rating of 112.
There you have it: Most expensive weapon (armor is something different, you usually get it rather quickly when advancing in areas) sold as second item. Can’t argue with that flesh-only rating (theoretical) of 112.

For 50 gold each:
Platen Airris Wand, D/S/R: 23/69/158 Air
Platen Airris Wand, D/S/R: 24/66/158 Air
These are the aforementioned leftovers from before the update, and thus, come directly from Plateney woods. This type is the finest Air-only weapon in the game, and with 158 rating, these are still pretty good versions of it. (Don’t believe me? Check my own character equipments. Boran Pyrebound and Ayvira Nebelgespinst use Platen Airris Wands for Air, and Boran, Ayvira, and Cyrette Frostblaze use Wintros and Firos Wands for Frost and Fire, too! Go on, check their ratings.)

For 40 gold each:
Gravity Pick, D/S/R: 17/64/10/43/151 Long Blades / Gravity
krati grav-shiv, D/S/R: 19/60/7/53/151 Gravity / Short Blades
krati oak heart, D/S/R: 20/56/9/38/146 Plant / Brawling
krati stone staff, D/S/R: 20/54/11/35/146 Stone / Staves
krati oak heart, D/S/R: 19/58/9/38/144 Plant / Brawling
These are the typical items from this “last” hunt in Martis. They’re somewhat hard to use correctly, finding good combos, so this is more or less a trial price of 40. Hint: Grab the oak hearts, plant is pretty multi-functional.
Edit: Seems like either Long Blades/Gravity is a well-liked combo out there, or the guy/gal who bought the “trial” martusan longblade came back to buy something better of the same type… (Gravity Pick: SOLD!)

For 30 gold was sold:
martusan longblade, rating 112
martusan longblade, D/S/R: 15/46/10/41/110 Long Blades / Gravity
These have lower ratings, thus their trial price is still lower. For the lovers of melee action with some added benefits, these are almost ideal, depending on your taste.
(Didn’t think they’d go so well. Ah, I’ll have Serrated Longblades on my next sale, ratings (long blade only) 130-150. No secondary Gravity, but secondary is less useful than primary anyways. By comparison, these were weak. Only 69 rating, if taken long blades only.)

Asmarin holds 10 pieces of armor:
1 Chainmail, Rating 296, for only 120 gold

1 Damaged Chainmail, Rating 244, for 90 gold

4 Krati Heavy Cloaks and
1 Damaged Chainmail, Ratings 224 to 235, for 75 gold each and

2 3 Damaged Chainmails, Rating 220 both, 70 gold each.
The Chainmails are simply some not-too-shabby armor for beginners, with the 244 rating one good even for intermediate players, and the 296 even for beginning experts (my own characters wear such armor, just slightly better…)
The Krati Heavy Cloaks are good for melee characters on practically every level, because they have one of the highest speed ratings. Their armor level is somewhat limited, so they might not be viable for the endgame.

Why not better stuff? Well, as I said: Hunting trip was to Martuso Mines, which is good intermediate stuff. Next trip will be Plateney/Tiasa again, although you don’t get some stuff there (flesh weaponry, for example)

[reply to this]

Okay, listen up. My people are on Hopitan market again and selling a couple of good things to all of you who think they might need them.
On sale are:

For 100 gold:
-A Chainmail Armor, Rating 265-

For 50 gold each:
-Two- One Krati Mindrod (Mindwind), Rating 156 each,
-a Serrated Shortblade (Short Blades), Rating 151,-
-a martusan Stone Brick (Stone/Brawling), Rating 140,-
-a Platen Wintros (Frost) and a Platen Firos Wand (Fire), Ratings 153 and 156 respectively-

For 30 gold each:
-Spiked Knuckles (Brawling/Grappling), Rating 118-
-Large MedKit (80 Health), Rating 160-

And for 20 gold:
-Medium MedKit (60 Health), Rating 120-

Always remember: When Browsing the Market, click the V-Shaped icon (Arrow Down) on the Ratings field. This will list highest ratings (=all-in-all best items, usually) up. As there are usually hundreds of junk items, and a few good ones of varying strengths and prices, you’ll usually find one page of interesting offers up that way.

[reply to this]

All items have been sold, this is now a price table.
This item list started on April 23., about 22:00 (10 PM) CEST (GMT + 2)
It ended on April 30., about 14:40 (2:40 PM) CEST (GMT+2)

Listing update history:
|Update #|Time of Update|Time passed since Post|Total sales (new sales)|
|Update 0|Starting Time (see above)|none|none (0)|
|Update 1|04:00 AM CEST, April 24.|6 hours|3 (3)|
|Update 2|09:45 AM CEST, April 24.|ca. 12 hours|6 (3)|
|Update 3|12:15 AM CEST, April 25.|ca. 26 hours|8 (2)|
|Update 4|03:00 AM CEST, April 29.|ca. 5 days|9 (1)|
|Update 5|Ending Time (see above)|ca. 6 1/2 days|all|

Decisions: The chadukan mind-rod is the only leftover from last sale that is put back onto the shelves… it’s therefore a bit cheaper than before. The Martusan Gravity Cylinder is at it’s minimum price 16 gold, as there are multiple offers at minimum price (with lower ratings and thus lower prices) around.
The fine steel shortsword has no comparison. There are a couple of ca. 105-rating primary short swords on the market, but none of these has no secondary skill. The best short blade there, a rating 109 martusan short blade, would have a puny 68 rating, if only the short blade counted. If you need a good short blade because you want to do something with short blades, this is your item.
The armor, as well as the Platen Airris and Firos Wands are items of high quality, just like my own crew uses, but I still find them every now and then, and as my team is already well-equipped, I’m selling the items that I discard when I get better ones, or that I think may be good, although I already have better stuff. They’re top-notch, about the best of their classes in the game as it is now.
The krati mindrod was a second mindrod that I took with me when I got a new one for Fyrelle Schattenjäger. Thus, it is one of the strongest of its kind.

Added Comment: Wow! It’s not been a full 12 hours since I started this sale, and already more than half of the items gone.
Another one: Just a tad more than a day, and only 20% of my items are left!
And a final one: Only 1 item left, after slightly more than 5 days… and did noone notice I had written May (almost everywhere, except start date)? It’s not May yet, not even now!

[reply to this]

I’ve set up Nydia Nondescript, Old Brother Farikar and Cyrette Frostblaze as vendors on the main market of Hopitan, each of them sporting no less than 5 different items. Among those items a MedKit, some armor, and a variety of weapons. Now I’ve gone back to Martis, into the mines, to get some Krati Mindrod for fair lady Fyrelle… and found two Krati Jagged Short Blades as well – one for Fyrelle, as it is far superior to her old short blade, and one for Tharod… he’ll be missing all those nice frost attacks (okay, it was just Icy Blade, which I never used, considering Double Blade Attack as possibility, and Ice Storm, which was kinda nice, but usually took too many AP and dealt too little damage, if it was a viable choice (area attack) at all) but other than that, he should be more efficient now – the Krati Jagged Short Blade he got isn’t that much quicker than his old weapon (only by 2 points) but has a much higher damage rating (20 instead of 12)… so this could prove useful.
I also grabbed some stuff I might be able to sell – a staff, a krati heavy cloak, and I think I’m still carrying around a Gravity cylinder with one of the characters.

Anyhow, about the market: Started out yesterday, with 15 items total, today I’ve seen that more of them than expected have already been sold. Still on market are, if you’re interested:
|ember gloves|—-|SOLD|
|fine steel longsword|—-|SOLD|
|Medical Kit (small)|Health: 40 / Rating:80|25 gold|
|chadukan fire cylinder|—-|SOLD|
|windwhip|—-|SOLD|
|chadukan mind-rod|—-|SOLD|
|chadukan mind-rod|D/S/R: 20/58/116 Mindwind|30 gold|
|fine scalemail|—-|SOLD|
|fine chainmail|—-|SOLD|
|Platen Airris Wand|—-|SOLD|
|krati stone staff|—-|SOLD|

Sadly, I didn’t take notes what items I had put on sale in total (only the number) but the sales seem to be more or less across the board. I hope they are affordable… if not, you can drop me a message, and maybe I can even set the price a little lower. And yes, you can reply to this post.

EDIT: Updated, to tell which items have been sold tonight. Well… not much left…
Old Brother Farikar is out of items already, and the other two only sport one item each. Guess I’ll take them all out of the market this evening, restock one of them and put him/her back in… and go find some more material.

[reply to this]

Though I can’t sell anything, because somehow, nobody is buying anything, I found something to buy myself. A nice little chadukan mind-rod, modifying sweet little Fyrelles attack from Short Blade + Fire to Short Blade + Mindwind. And doing a defense-ignoring attack for the same AP-cost as a normal dagger stab? Very nice… ah, and all that for less than 20 gold.

First fight already pushed her active forces and mindwind rating up to 28, and she killed one of the opponents all by herself (he ended up at dead as dead (0 health), but ready and awaiting incoming attacks (100 defense))… I sure like deceitful blade.

[reply to this]

Ah, by the way: If anyone is reading this, I got a few nice items at minimum sell price on Hopitan market.
Especially nice are:
Two basic flesh callers, 9-47-42 and 8-52-41, for 2 gold each
but I also have two basic aircylinders, rating 34 and 38, for 1 gold each (I had some troubles finding good air based weaponry, so if you experienced the same, you know why I put this junk on sale)
a so-so basic fire cylinder, 9-47-42, also going for 2 gold

and a leather armor, which had the phenomenal minimum price of 10 gold, 16-62-99.
I’ll leave them there for a while, hopefully somebody will find some of the stuff useful.

[reply to this]