I have taken a good amount of time looking over all the skills
and am steadily working towards a goal for each--in the
process, i have seen many things that i don't even WISH to
make. The Materials:Experience:Payoff ratios are so uneven
there are only 1 or 2 things i would even THINK about making,
the worst of all evils.
First, a general analysis of skills to the economy.
These skills are listed from easiest to level up, to hardest
to level up:
1)Alchemy
2)Potions
3)Manufacturing
4)Crafting
Alchemy is the easiest to work on, crafting--the hardest.
Now, looking at the current economy/market, making money is
quite a pain. People turn to Alchemy to make money most of the
time--and it is the easiest skill.
Potions are slightly harder due to the non-storage
ingredients, the large amount of resources need to make some
potions, and the VIALS OH THOSE VILE VIALS. Need a vial? go to
the potions shop and buy mana pots and drink them for a vial.
Then come Manufacturing, and Crafting--the skills most
difficult to level, and extremely respectable in which to have
a decent level.
So, why isn't the real money in Manufacturing and Crafting?
Well quite simple--the Work:Experience:Profit ratio is
practically non-existent.
**Note, I am talking about work for all skills to include
harvesting/getting materials yourself versus buying them from
other players.**
Now, lets see what it takes to make the hardest Essence.
Magic Essence
Alch Level: 20
Exp: 80
Materials:
1 Impatient
1 Lilac
1 Emerald
Now lets take something at the Level-wise equal in
Manufacturing.
Fur Pants
Manu Level: 20
Exp: 110
Materials:
6 Leather
2 Wolf Fur
7 Threads
2 Deer fur
1 Beaver fur
Now, true base exp on the pants is 30 exp more than the ME.
But lets look at that work:exp:profit ratio. Magic Essence is,
according to TrinityBot, 8-10 Gc. Fur Pants are sold to Trik
for 75 Gc each. Let us take into account that Leather is a -28
Gc profit (thats WITH the DISCOUNT) driving the Profit of Fur
pants down to a 47 Gc profit. We'll say its worth more to make
6 ME.
So would I rather make 6 ME for 6 impatients, 6 Lilacs, and 6
Emeralds, or shall I go about gathering 2 wolf furs, 2 deer
furs, 1 beaver fur, 6 leather, and 7 thread from spiders? (If
you bought from store, thats -7 more profit).
Are you going to work this hard for an extra 30 exp? Sorry,
but not me.
This is an example of the unbalanced ratio's within
Manufacturing--Crafting is, in fact, harder than
manufacturing.
**Note: This is not to meant to compare skills to skills, this
is meant to compare Work:exp:profit ratios amongst the
manufacturing (using the manufac window) various items in EL**
Now lets take the creation of an Iron shield, a Steel Long
sword, and an Iron Helm.
Iron Shield
Exp: 80
Sell to Trik: 400
Materials:
72 Iron Ores (For Iron bars)
30 Coal (Iron bars)
30 FE (Iron bars + manufacturing shield)
Steel Long Sword
Exp: 120
Sell to Trik: 425
Materials:
110 Iron Ores (For Iron bars)
66 Coal (Iron bars)
44 FE (Iron bars + manufacturing sword)
Iron Helm
Exp: 140
Sell to Trik: 75
Materials:
35 Iron Ores
15 Coal
3 Leather (14 Gc via bulk price)
14 FE
Now the Iron shield is an excellent way to make money--cost
efficient in its supplies (294 Gc if you buy everything for
minimum TrinityBot price) and the payoff is a good profit.
Take a step up--Steel longs. They are no good in the
work:profit ratio, since you can sell the items that u need to
make the steel long for more money than you can get from Trik
(484 if you sell everything minimum TrinityBot price). Some
say the money burn is worth it because you are in fact paying
for the exp you get. However, don't you think that just
getting to the required level to successfully MAKE the item is
your fair sacrifice to gain the appropriate exp for that
level? Must you pay more just to get a little extra exp? Then
there is that Iron helm. The Work:Exp ratio is great, but the
profit is NEGATIVE by FAR. The Trik price is 75 Gc, but 14 Gc
right off the bat is taken off. Multiply 35 iron ores and 15
coal by 2 and you already can sell your harvest for more than
your product.
Now, lets take a quick glance at crafting.
Silver ring
Exp: 15
Materials:
16 Silver ores
6 Coal ores
11 FE
Now i'm sure nobody would even consider thinking about this
Work:Exp:Profit ratio as being balanced. The silver would give
more than double the exp in Alchemy. There isn't even a market
for crafted items (NPC wise, that is). You could sell it for a
fair TrinityBot price, though. However, market based money-
making is only advisable in an Essence sense. (It would
probably be wiser to keep your silver rings and use them later
on in the creation of teleport rings.)
This is just to give a general outlook. If you could mold
around a reasonable Work:Experience:Profit ratio, everybody
would be happy.
I do not believe in an hourly limit for any experience gain
except for harvesting, since it is merely sitting there
gaining exp for watching green font fly away from your head.
Everything else is work put into it, so you should get exp for
your work.
If you wish to remove surplus supply from the game, perhaps
random events (like invasions, or Special Days) like a
merchant is passing through Seridia and is buying so-and-so
items for a higher price than you usually get from selling to
NPCs (i.e., special merchant that buys from you for store
price or for half the store price and is looking for certain
items) this will empty surplus from the market and put some
change in people's pockets. This is merely a suggestion to
help you brainstorm--just an idea to spark more ideas.
An example of "evening out the ratios" would be something
like--for the silver ring
1 silver bar and 2 FE, and lower the requirements to make a
silver bar, or
make 2 or 3 silver rings from 1 silver bar and 3 FE.
For items like the iron helm and steel long mentioned above,
either lessen the required items to create these items, or
increase the price offered by Store/Trik.
Thank you, anybody please criticize if you feel ^_^
