Riddle Me This . . .

[Dukuji]

Ooh, okay . . . . . . I'll make this simple as possible . . .

I have "hero" fame in all locations. I was getting pickaxes for 180 each (for about four months straight, same price every time). One day (about a month ago) I went to the shop and they chagred me 184. So, I checked my fame in that city and it was still the hightest "hero" fame. I thought maybe it had to with the rank of the countries, nope Sandy was in first. Then I thought, maybe the price goes up when more people buy them, nope the person after and before me (also with hero fame) could get them for 180. This is not just with pickaxes, everything is now higher priced to buy and lower price to sell. I thought that doing some more quests would help, nope I did over 60 more quests in Selbina and the price is the same, 184. Now, why did this change and how can I get the price down again?

[Prrsha]

It's like chocobo prrrices and guild shop prices. If people buy alot of them the previous day, the prices go up.

[Josiejo]

...I was getting pickaxes for 180 each (for about four months straight, same price every time). One day (about a month ago) I went to the shop and they chagred me 184... Now, why did this change and how can I get the price down again?

/em bonks Dukuji on the noggin.

Please don't tell me you're getting your tail twisted over 4 gil. Yeah, there's a little supply/demand going on in the NPC market. Ever try selling Orcish Axes to a vendor? Sometimes the sell price can be as high as 152, but I think lately it's been around 146 (Alexander pricing). So I assume that the system keeps track of items bought or sold through vendors and adjusts prices every so often to reflect it. I guess if you want to lower the price, stop buying them for a while.

[Dukuji]

/em scratches her head, wondering if she is going crazy.

/em wonders if she's smoked some bad catnip lately.

/em wonders if she needs to get more sleep and/or drink less wine before going to bed.

/em is going to go test out these new ideas and with some luck, bring peace to her troubled mind.


~~15 Minutes Later~~

Okay . . . I'm not crazy and I can prove it!

If the price is dependent on how many were sold on the day(s) before then just that one item would higher. But this is not the case. All of the prices on every item in that shop have gone up. Not only that but all the of the prices FROM EVERY VENDOR IN BASTOK AND SANDY WENT UP AS IF I HAD ONE OR TWO LEVELS OF LESS FAME. (At 2 in the morning I just checked my fame, he said "hero", I went to check on pickaxes, 184, I waited for the next day, nobody bought anything from him, still 184, see a pattern here? I went to several vendors, all of them had prices higher then what I was paying a month ago. And in nice equal proprotions too.) If it were just on how many were sold then the price would differ constantly. I HAD THE SAME PRICE ON ALL OF ITEMS IN TWO CITIES FOR OVER FOUR MONTHS and during that time I never saw one price difference. And now everything is up on EVERYTHING. Are you telling me that people are buying everything from every shop form bastok to sandy in equal amounts? I don't think so.

There are certain shops that do have a price change per day, BUT, these shops do something that they other shops don't. THEY CLOSE! and then in the morning the price is adjusted to meet demand. Guilds are an example of this. Nevertheless, these shops have to close before the price changes.

As you can see this is not about 4 gil. This is about losing money every time I buy something form any vendor or sell something to an NPC.

Am I making any sense?

[Prrsha]

Items have a cool off period of more then 1 day I've found.

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

Dukuji you are not going crazy.

You are driving yourself bonkers over a game mechanic that we cannot fathom in the least. Sequnix is messing with your head, and you are a willing accomplice.

Yes, the prices should be linear, more fame = lower prices. But....

My sugestion, roll in some catnip, sleep it off in front of a nice fire, feel better in the morning.

[Sivara]

It's hilarious that Dukuji's current title is "Mad Cat."

[Dukuji]

Dukuji you are not going crazy.

You are driving yourself bonkers over a game mechanic that we cannot fathom in the least. Sequnix is messing with your head, and you are a willing accomplice.

Yes, the prices should be linear, more fame = lower prices. But....

My sugestion, roll in some catnip, sleep it off in front of a nice fire, feel better in the morning.

Okay, this is helpful. You have to understand that educationally speaking, I'm trained as a scientist. I am driven with the quest for "why". Many nights I have been up thinking, "Why this, why that, why are my results lilke this, why does this happen, why, why, why . . ." So, I guess I'm guilty of applying these same principles to the gaming world. (I think that is also why I hate gardening. If I cannot reproduce my (or somebody else's) work with a low percent error, then the application (or theory) must have errors in it somewhere. Saying that things happen by "random" order bug the hell out of me and drive me insane. (Or as Sivara put it, "Mad Cat" ) Only in a video game are things truely random.

I just need to let it go . . .

[Dukuji]

Okay, I've let it go and it doesn't bother me anymore (I think the price is lower because I did alot of Windy quests and some of them may have hurt my buying/selling prices in other cities) but, I'm now conducting tests to further my understanding.

My first test was to see if Prrsha's original statement is true:

It's like chocobo prrrices and guild shop prices. If people buy alot of them the previous day, the prices go up.

So, the way guild prices work is that demand of that item is what determines it price.

I got a friend of mine who also has Bastok "hero" fame to check prices with me. I checked the price of pickaxes first, 184 (but I did not tell her what it was at first). Then I had her check it and report the price. Now according to this theory, the price should be the same since the prices go up if people buy alot of them the previous day. She reported 182. I checked the price again and it was 184 still. During this time, the day did not change nor did anybody buy anything from the shop.

I repeated this experiment again using the same setup. The "hero" fame Bastok friend reported the price at 180 when the price was 184 for me before and after. Again, the day was the same and nobody bought anything while we were there.

I'm sorry to say this, Prrsha, but I have observations that suggest your theory is invalid.

[Prrsha]

Like I said I heard it takes more then 1 day for prices to undergo a cooling off period. (I know for a fact it does with guild NPC items). As for the galka, maybe NPCs sell cheaper to their own race?

Try waiting several days and then check. Or maybe your quest assumption was correct?

[Dukuji]

Like I said I heard it takes more then 1 day for prices to undergo a cooling off period. (I know for a fact it does with guild NPC items). As for the galka, maybe NPCs sell cheaper to their own race?

Try waiting several days and then check. Or maybe your quest assumption was correct?

Hmmm . . . interesting.

(1) The people I had help me were a Hume and a Mithra and he offered the cheaper price to the mithra. So, I'm lending away from the race idea.
(2) "Cooling off peroid" Now this does apply to the shops that close, like the guilds. I tested that as a new blacksmith. If it were true in this case then the price would have been the same to every person who checked the price with me. (BTW, I did check the price a few days later and it was the same as it has been for several days.)

I would like to fully believe my quest idea but I can't find proof . . . I'm think Tsybil may have gotten it right by saying that this is some twisted game mechanic that SE has created to mess with our minds (well, mine at least).

[Prrsha]

I've only tested the cooling off period with guilds.

[Crispleaf]

Maybe it has something to do with Conquest? The price might be affected by how well your nation is doing?

I know, for example, that you can't get certain scrolls from your local magic shop if your nation isn't in first place.

Maybe price is affected by this a little too? Windurst just went from first to last on Sunday, if you're from there.



You sig says you're from Sandy though

[Josiejo]

What about allegience? I know you're San d'Orian, which might affect your buying power in Bastok, espeically if, say, Windurst and Bastok were allied. I'm not sure what the state of the Conquest is on the server right now, but that might be something to add to your "research".

[Dukuji]

What about allegience? I know you're San d'Orian, which might affect your buying power in Bastok, espeically if, say, Windurst and Bastok were allied. I'm not sure what the state of the Conquest is on the server right now, but that might be something to add to your "research".

I thought about this too. Right now sandy is in first, I'm from Sandy, I have hero fame there, checked the prices of pickaxes in Sandy . . . 184.

Edit: Need to learn to spell.

[Maezen]

maybe it's BECAUSE you're from Sandy....just a thought...

[Alya Mizar (Tsybil)]

Idea

Fame accualy does go well beyond 10. This is not reflected in titles, nor with the fame checker, but it is reflected in prices.

I think the price is lower because I did alot of Windy quests and some of them may have hurt my buying/selling prices in other cities

This could be your clue. Been doing any work for the Tenshido before this happened?

On a side note, gardening tickles my scientific training. I find the results quite reproducable, but with way too many varaibles. Narrowing down the effects of the varaibles is fun, entertaining, and often profitable. Of course sometimes I do have crop failures, but then I can console myself with the value of my data. Unfortunitly, data will not buy my spells.

[Maezen]

the fame levels do go beyond 10, though i don't know if this is Kuji's problem...she did turn in TONS of corn recently to try to get it lowered and said that this didn't help any...and gardening IS fun, it's just disappointing when you don't grow something useful...fortunately i cook so most "mistake" crops i pull off end up working FOR my benefit

[Fayin]

I have experianced this too.

My theory is that the price bonus of your fame caps down to 8 if you run Tenshodo quests in that city.

After getting max Bastok fame I decided to turn in some zinc. Did a few loads, got to lv3 Norg fame or something and after that noticed that the Cabbage that was 21g each, was now 22. I was like WTF? Similar case in Windy. Distilled water was 10g, then 11g after farming Giddeous for necklaces and turning them in.

I'm not saying doing Tenshodo quests is what did it, but I can't think of anything that has anything to do with fame other than those two things that coulda borked my prices up. There could be something, but I don't know what it is.

I will check my mules. They have max fame in home cities and have not done any Tenshodo quests save the one to join. And my Sandy and Windy mule haven't done that yet. I will look.