Is it just me or is there a bell curve to 'rare' prices...

[Kaldrin]

I just noticed the other day that the prices on my server were odd for the different tiers or rares. They seemed to not increase in a roughly linear fashion like I would have expected... maybe it just happened to be that way, but the T3-5 stuff were selling for pretty much more than I figured compared to the upper tier rares. Is it because higher tiers were glutted because there were more harvesting toons at the upper levels creating high tier glut?

[Calthine]

<cite>KaldrinXanthin wrote:</cite><blockquote>I just noticed the other day that the prices on my server were odd for the different tiers or rares. They seemed to not increase in a roughly linear fashion like I would have expected... maybe it just happened to be that way, but the T3-5 stuff were selling for pretty much more than I figured compared to the upper tier rares. Is it because higher tiers were glutted because there were more harvesting toons at the upper levels creating high tier glut? </blockquote> More likely people not doing their market research before they price.  That, and the trend to charge all the market will bear.

[Jai1]

I know tinkering was pricey until T6.  Well that, and the raw requirements change.  I really think more people harvest T6-7 but I'm not sure.  Metal rares like steel, feysteel and ebon usually go for a lot where you can get Xegonite and Cobalt for about 40g.  The market does rocket and dive depending on supply and demand so I've gotten things like steel and feysteel for 25gish.  It just takes some shopping and people usually love to twink.

[FoxRiverRanger]

<p>In addition to the supply side influence on pricing, the demand for mastercrafted items seems to follow the pricing curve the OP observed.  At the lower levels many players, even twinks, feel the levels pass to quickly to justify the expense of mastercrafted gear.  At the higher tiers many players begin to find legendary and treasured drops that rival or surpass mastercrafted, and so again stop purchasing the rare goods.  On the broker these loot items are often less expensive than the mastercrafted alternatives.</p>

[DataOutlaw]

Probably also affected by people still leelling their Arasai's and increasing demand on the lower tiers.

[trovan2]

There tends to be more people in T3-5, due to level locking, slow levelers, ect ... therefore the demand is much greater.

[Jrral]

Well, not all tiers have equal demand for rares. T1, for example, I doubt there's much demand for rares. People level through it on the Isle in an hour or two, Mastercrafted gear's completely wasted there. T2 demand's probably minimal too, again it goes fast and there's not a lot where you need more than Handcrafted and a good group. The big demand for rares there would be for Ad3s in the upper half of the tier. Also, T1-T2 rares are the easiest to harvest. T3-T5 is where there's probably the most demand for MC gear and Ad3s, so the highest demand for rares, and they're harder to harvest rares in. T6, people are starting to go after Legendary gear and M1s and beginning to raid for Fabled stuff. That lowers the demand for rares. T7 is currently endgame, not only are people starting to raid but your T7 gear and spells/CAs won't be replaced (until RoK comes out, anyway). Even the people who aren't raiding are holding out a bit for Legendary and Fabled gear and M1s. Also, as you get higher it takes longer to level through the tiers. The longer it takes, the less often you need to replace things that'd need rares and the lower the demand for rares is. So all in all it shouldn't be any great suprise to see the prices following a similar curve to likely demand for rares.

[Karlen]

At any given time, prices will fluctuate based on recent sales.  When I go to buy rare wood for woodworking, I will often buy up 20-30 at once, if they are available below the cutoff price I have set for myself.  I spend 15 minutes heading from house to house visiting sales crates. This will often clear the market for the lower priced woods of that tier, without having an effect on other tiers. Someone coming along a few minutes later would only find expensive rare woods from that tier. Now I am in my 60s, so I generally only do this for ironwood and ebony.  I only buy lower tier woods on a one-off basis as I need them.   But others are certainly working through lower tiers and may do this. Also, I found that I made the most profit on T3 and less so and 4 and 5.  I think this is because crafted items (at least woodworking ones) are a very good value in T3 as there are fewer competing dropped items available on the broker.  At higher levels, dropped items tend to compete very well with crafted ones.   Legendary items in particular are much more common and usually quite a bit cheaper than crafted ones. Finally, people tend to buy full sets of crafted T3 items (armor and weapons) to replace their newbie items and then upgrade them as things come along.  This means that when they reach the next tier, only some things need replacing with mastercrafted.