Gear Seems Harder To Get

[*Neethanial]

I can see a merchant running a 25% off sale, and no one buying anything after that in hopes of the sale returning.

I think another thing to keep in mind, is that a lot of players seem to have uncomfortable reservations about switching to alts when a merchant is up and selling. There's nothing wrong with switching around to do some shopping. It's the market. There's no metagaming involved in seeing a merchant and going "Oh, hey! I should switch to so and so to buy that sword!" The other character has countless reasons to know the shop is up, trust me.

[*Hydra]

Maybe we could organize a few player driven "open market events" a few times over the week so people know when they can expect merchants ?

[*Niryain]

KEMO auction house is a well-tested and used system that could make lower-tier gear easier to circulate. Just post it up and go about your business, no need to coordinate being on with someone else or getting lucky. And you can still keep your actual valuable gear on hand for in-person merchanting for all the haggling and whatnot. Maybe set a max price on KEMO auctions to encourage this too, I don't know. My point of contention is that we shouldn't need to organize merchanting events/get lucky to get +2 or 3 gear for a character in a reasonable timeframe.

And for lower tier gear there really ain't that much merchant RP to preserve. "I would like this +3 longsword, sir." "That will be 3000 gold." "Welp I can't afford that, another time." "K." I notice most PC merchants don't do the whole.. Haggling thing. So not much merchant RP yo.

[*Altair]

I tend to price a bit higher than I actually expect gear to go, and I'm usually willing to haggle within about 15-20%. I also tend to price plain jane low tier gear (+5 armor, swords, boring stuff) at about 500 gold, if I don't just give 'em away. I'm never gonna make a fortune off low level gear, so I pop it in the box and if someone wants it I'll usually trade it for guff all.

[*Niryain]

Are people merchanting less? This time last year I remember it being a hell of a lot easier to get geared up, which this server's areas kind of demand unless you're a buff-based caster or abusing some form of summoning staff/golem. These days I feel lucky if I see one merchanting person on and the prices tend to be higher than they used to be. Makes new characters annoying to play because grinding the sewers and/or Brux (If a build with +0 gear is capable of that) hoping for a few lucky drops is irritating.

Maybe lowering NPC prices for +1/2 gear or (God forbid!) enabling muling at some point would be a step to alleviate this. It's already easy to do a limited form of friend-based muling if a rich friend tosses you a stone golem rod or summoning staff.

[*vivallion]

It's mostly a case of people merchanting less.
Gear still drops on a RNG basis, so on some toons you may get ridiculous amount of things, vs others getting barely none.

[*Sinlinara]

As has been said in the past, merchanting is some of the most dreadfully dull things one can do on the server. And since a lot of the old merchants have taken a break there isn't anyone to compete the prices down for the new merchants.

Give it a while and the new merchants will start selling +5 Half-Plate for 500gp again.

[*Niryain]

I'm not necessarily sure it's healthy for the leveling experience enjoyment/basic feasibility for some classes to be determined mostly on how many people are willing to deliberately bore themselves for hours on end. All that's coming of this right now is a lot more summoner types and some golems here and there.

[*Nimiane]

My character tends to open a stall when I have some free time, but for me RP always comes first. I'll only open if I have nothing else going on (IRL/IG). That being said, opened three times this week. Prices fluctuate with the market and supply/demand though. Coming back, there's things I've noticed being sold for more and others less than what they were.

I've actually run out of 'Lemon Gear' for the low level chest I usually put out as it's all been bought up. If you're looking for something in particular, you're welcome to send me a tell and I can check my bags, but there may be a delay in getting it to you if I'm busy.

[*Strawberry Jam]

I don't think muling is the answer. Let's be honest but if you really want to just experience some OOC pure action in an rpg then you can pay $10 for an MMO sub or even play one free. People stick around for the character interactions they have, pursuing long term and mid term goals. That means instant gratification and beating the module in a few weeks stagnates activity in the end.

I do think that +1 and +2 items should be much more readily available and cheaper to come by. I main an RP build but there are very few items that aid my character. I find myself role playing, tagging along, or venturing to areas that are far below my level, which can still pose a significant risk to me. The going is much slower but it is certainly possible and it allows me to develop my character much better by always leaving some goal uncompleted.

Just my two pixie coins. =)