Good laughs at the +1 Vorpal B-Sword for Auction

[Hexum]

Noticed it's been up two different occasions this past week, both times listed for 1,260,000 platinum pieces. Good luck with that one! :D

[Gruntus]

Yeah theres also been a +1 Vorpal Dwarven Axe with a buyout of 1.8mil plat and a starting bid of 1.3mil. lol. **** farmers.

[Wire_Paladin]

Wow... Talk about inflated prices. ...

[ccheath776]

The vorpal Dwarven axe was about 20mill gold a buyout of 30 mill gold. I dont know anyone who has that much gold.

I think the highest gold amount i've had is about 3mill gold but never much more than that.

[Litz]

You guys saying I should lower my prices? Common them fire giant caves are still there.. lol J/K

[Shaamis]

Wow, according to the plat farmer prices, my account is worth about

<calculating......>

100+million platinum.

yeah, that sounds about right.

I wish I could actually get that much plat for this stuff, but thats another story.

The plat farming/selling loot is a circular trade, they are trying to dictate the price levels by influencing the AH "market", and in turn will spur more requests for online plat. Fortunately, they are so overpriced, they are immediately invalidated, and our (well at least my) life goes on unaffected.

I post bids on items close to their relative worth in the game, who cares if my strength is 1 point lower, at least i didnt spend a month getting the plat to give to that farmer.....AND, I can spend that hard saved plat buying items from real players who are picing items at their relative value.

Thanks to everyone who uses the AH for the reason it was implemented, and that is to sell items at almost actual list price (less for some, more for others)

Good travels,

[Hexum]

Yeah, I'm the same way with the auction. Sometimes if I get something I think will sell for a bit, I'll tack on some extra pricing for it, but usually I'll toss items up for sale for relatively low prices just to get them out of my inventory as quickly as possible.

I'm sorry, but if you have to sell video game items for real cash to make a living, you probably need to re-evaluate your life at some point in the near future.

[unholy1]

so i was noticing all the vorpal posts along all the forums... my home is ghallanda and i recently put my vorpal basty on the AH after the new years and only recieved the high bid of 250k plat so ... i pulled it and just this last week recieved 1.3 mil plat so yeah i was suprised and some lil kiddie will be happy for another week ^^

[Hexum]

so i was noticing all the vorpal posts along all the forums... my home is ghallanda and i recently put my vorpal basty on the AH after the new years and only recieved the high bid of 250k plat so ... i pulled it and just this last week recieved 1.3 mil plat so yeah i was suprised and some lil kiddie will be happy for another week ^^

Or some plat farmer that will turn around and re-sell it for even more! :p


FYI... it's up for sale AGAIN on the auction, third time in about a week. The price is now lowered to what I believe was 1,030,000 plat. Hahaha :D

[Alfred]

I'm sorry, but if you have to sell video game items for real cash to make a living, you probably need to re-evaluate your life at some point in the near future.

Not trying to justify gold farming or anything... but where these "farmers" live, the average income is $1-2 per day. I think that they already reevaluated their lives, and decided that gold farming was an upgrade.

[Riot]

Funny thing is, Just be glad they haven't figured out that "Vorpal" is not the end all be all of weapon enhancements....

In fact I'd say it's the single most Overrated weapon enhancement in DnD.
PnP or otherwise.

[Sarge]

i put +5 int goggles up for 150,000pp but it only sold for 20,000 pp. I was happy just wanted more money for it but it was not to be.

[Hexum]

Not trying to justify gold farming or anything... but where these "farmers" live, the average income is $1-2 per day. I think that they already reevaluated their lives, and decided that gold farming was an upgrade.

If this is the case, why would they be spending a half a months pay on a video game where they aren't going to be making much more to improve their living?

[Mithran]

I'll give you 10% off the AH price, if you buy it from me, instead. :D

Seriously, one of the problems with this is that the farmers are taking the low minimum bids, and reposting the items at higher prices.

Please try to deal with members of your guild, first, and then friends, before going to the AH.

[Laith]

If this is the case, why would they be spending a half a months pay on a video game where they aren't going to be making much more to improve their living?you really don't understand how plat farming works.

think more "sweat shop" less "home business".

[Hexum]

you really don't understand how plat farming works.

think more "sweat shop" less "home business".


I completely understand how it works. If you're telling me that the only people that plat farm are foreign, I'd like to see where you get your stats from. :p

[KiwiPhil889]

.. to work is something along the lines of....

...farmer is employed by acct holder, farmer doesn't pay for the acct so there is no "break even" for the farmer.

The money is made when the acct owner then on-sells the plat the farmer has collected and THAT is where the prob is. I have no prob with plat farmers,i have probs with the ppl who buy the plat. Not only are they encouraging the spamming that happens in-game and inflated auction house prices, they are also helping to encourage/support what is essentially a sweatshop/slave trade type business.Ppl being exploited in places where the work options are extremely limited/poor. It is prolly most prevalent in countries where 1-2$/hour/day is enough to live on (even if it is subsistance living).

Want to stop the plat farmers!!???STOP BUYING THEIR PLAT...pretty simple really.

[ccheath776]

I have no prob with plat farmers,i have probs with the ppl who buy the plat. .

Exactly my opinion.

[ShadowHand2]

It is rather silly to assume the farmers are ALL displaced, poor-poverty stricken 100%. More so to assume they are all foreign and non-English speaking. They come from alot of places and areas of the world were you would not even think of. Say.....eastern European to name one area. I have seen several new reports and documentaries, etc, and they are not working in dark stinky sweat-shops for as much as some people like to past off they are. Try dorm-like places with sex-separate sleep areas, cafeterias, lounge rooms to rest in. I think everyone needs to get past this illusion they are or have a hard life and are reduced to evil ways because society forces them to do what they do. We all are humans and through life we make choices, they choose the wrong path to go down, no one forces you to.

They have no right to spam on a make believe game world where we go to get away from life. They do not log onto an account and go in game to play either. They go in to exploit, dupe, spam and everything BUT play the game. Now when I got the game it was my understanding that others who are on in the world are able and willing to play with you, join in and work as a team...hence a community. When others( farmers) are in our community they want no part of it, no give and take...nothing but to be a ghost and hide in plain sight. To buy out all the high end items in AH, resell higher, to inflate AH, to dupe items and PP when they get caught exploiting quests by real players.

That said, what real reason should they be allow to be on at all? I personal report every single one of them each and every chance I get, regardless what I am doing at the moment. They lost all rights for them being who and what they do the moment they log on.

[twoton]

Ok what I dont get is why when people see 300k pp or higher prices on the AH they think its crazy pricing... I run around with about 250k to 300k pp on my main and I dont consider myself rich in this game and know of people that run around with a couple of mil pp and I did not buy pp I earned it all... I have sold some good pieces of equipment but thats not the point... Point is if you havent ran enough to find your own good loot and/or havent sold enough **** to get alot of pp you wont be able to buy the good loot off the AH... I do laugh at people selling epics on the AH when they could trade it for a epic they can use... Its also not like I dont buy pots for myself and I also help clerics with heal scrolls if they need help but most clerics I run with are well stocked and fine on pp.... Im not sure where people come up with that they are always broke or cant believe the crazy pricing...

[Harncw]

I completely understand how it works. If you're telling me that the only people that plat farm are foreign, I'd like to see where you get your stats from. :p

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/09/technology/09gaming.html?ex=1291784400&en=d048a75c592dffde&ei=5089

[Cliffopold]

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/09/technology/09gaming.html?ex=1291784400&en=d048a75c592dffde&ei=5089


Finally, the proof that everyone is screaming for and no one (on either side of the argument) is willing to provide. It's irrelevant whether the plat farmers come from Eastern Europe, China, or your neighborhood.

It's brutally simple economics - there is a demand for a product, so an entrepreneurial type is willing to step in and supply it. What better place to do it than in China, where labor is massively plentiful and shamefully cheap?

Want this "service" to disappear? Stop buying and paying for it. Yeah, YOU. Stop buying plat, stop buying leveling services, stop buying vorpals and paralyzers and all that other stuff you can earn for yourself rather easily. I don't blame these Chinese and other guys who are merely filling a niche and making a profit; isn't that what capitalism is fundamentally all about?

I blame the idiots who keep shelling out their cash to feed their slovenly gaming habits.

[Kire]

lol you do realize that not everyone selling an item on AH is a plat farmer? so a person loots their first Vorpal and has no plat and doesnt like it all that much so throws it on AH. bunch of his friends who dont knwo that much about vorpals cuz they never used one tell him it UbeR and he shoudl sell it for millions of plat. is he a plat farmer? you may be talking aabout soemone who is just confused about the price of a weapon he has never had. kinda harsh.

yesterday i was trying to sell some tomes in general chat cuz i didnt want to lose 1/3 of my money to AH. someone proceeded to repeatedly call me a plat farmer even though i was in a pug group and had been all night. You should learn that your talking about a plat farmer before calling someone one.


/troll =D


~kire

[Dark_Helmet]

lol you do realize that not everyone selling an item on AH is a plat farmer?

yesterday i was trying to sell some tomes in general chat cuz i didnt want to lose 1/3 of my money to AH. someone proceeded to repeatedly call me a plat farmer even though i was in a pug group and had been all night. You should learn that your talking about a plat farmer before calling someone one.


Yeah, you are a spammer not a farmer... I hate people who just spam out trade requests in general chat all the time...:D

I just post up things at high prices since someone may actually need it right away and pay that amount (of course that is probably why I have all these banishing croxssows in the bank :mad: )

[Ken_Dorak]

The auction house is a waste of time and effort and it's a shame they even put the thing in the game to begin with.

Millions upon millions of plat for a bunch of junk.

I don't own and a vorpal and I've never even pulled a Muckbane, but I still wouldn't bother using the auction house.

[cdbd3rd]

I blame the idiots who keep shelling out their cash to feed their slovenly gaming habits.

/Hoping there's room for humor here before it escalates to open warfare....

But, ummm, *I* am one of those idiots shelling out cash to feed my gaming habit. $15 at a time. :D

/Hears a few pity chuckles from the back of the room.
Okay, everyone has an off day.:o

[Cliffopold]

/Hoping there's room for humor here before it escalates to open warfare....

But, ummm, *I* am one of those idiots shelling out cash to feed my gaming habit. $15 at a time. :D

/Hears a few pity chuckles from the back of the room.
Okay, everyone has an off day.:o

I should have clarified: your gaming habit, in this instance, is your $15/month. Feeding it would be anything additional, e.g. paying for plat.

Who am I to judge? I already canceled my sub. Just observing the events post-server merge for signs of reinvigoration and a reason to come back.

[Vox]

Just as a point... and stepping back slightly to acknowledge I have not done this on DDO, nor has anyone I've known, nor do I see any reason to. In other games, where sometimes you had to spend upwards of 6 hours (18+ in some cases) "camping" a particular point just to have a shot at one spawn of a particular mob, it does not surprise, bother, upset, or in any other way impact me negatively that someone who works 40-60 hours a week, and has a full family, might be able to play the 2-3 hours every other day to build his character up, but not the 6-18 hours on a weekend day to get that piece of rare loot, or to farm cash for buying that rare item he can't seem to loot on his own.

Sure, plat farming roughs up the economy, and sure the spam is obnoxious. I don't think there are any cases in DDO that make the purchase of plat reasonable, or in anyway necessary for even the most casual player. However, I do feel it necessary to point out that there are people, and situations that are exceptions to every rule, and this is one I wish people were a little less vehement about.

Kill the spam, that interferes with my enjoyment of the game. Kill the inflation, that makes life excessively difficult for the casual player that doesn't buy plat. Don't crucify someone for trying to maximize their enjoyment without impinging on other parts of their life.

Vox

*ducks the ensuing flamage*

[Arkat]

Kill the spam, that interferes with my enjoyment of the game. Kill the inflation, that makes life excessively difficult for the casual player that doesn't buy plat. Don't crucify someone for trying to maximize their enjoyment without impinging on other parts of their life.


Well stated.

[Dark_Helmet]

Sure, plat farming roughs up the economy, and sure the spam is obnoxious. I don't think there are any cases in DDO that make the purchase of plat reasonable, or in anyway necessary for even the most casual player. However, I do feel it necessary to point out that there are people, and situations that are exceptions to every rule, and this is one I wish people were a little less vehement about.

Don't crucify someone for trying to maximize their enjoyment without impinging on other parts of their life.

*ducks the ensuing flamage*

/FLAME ON

If you don't play that often, you aren't going to be high level and thus don't need uber items (unless you pay someone to level up your character - which I can never understand how you can get enjoyment from that?). I have seen "bought accounts" and those guys typically suck at playing high level quests, which directly affects me since I do PuG alot.

As someone who has played from the start, you might understand the fun of pulling your own uber items (vs. those who just buy it). How is that "earning" it? I remember how happy I was to get my Frostbrand (and I wasn't high enough level to use it!). I know there are people who buy (steal) a game and get the cheat for the game then run thru it as fast as they can. In my mind, that is not playing the game but they enjoy it. But I digress as that is just play style.

The plat farmers are also trying to "control" the market by artifically putting items up for auction at high plat, thus driving people to have to buy plat to get the items (Yes, they are that smart to know the economics). In a typical market, new people will check the existing rate that items are posted for and post for around that much (perceived fair market value). How is that fair to the casual game who earned their plat?

My finale: When a game prohibits things such as selling accounts / items, it should be stopped! This is like kids who save up their money buying candy and the lazy (too busy to earn it in your example) kids just steal it (it is against the rules). The other kids who are following the rules get "punished" indirectly as the shop owner must now raise the prices of his stock (yes this seems exaggerated, but it does happen in the real world).

/FLAME OFF

[Kindoki]

/FLAME ON

If you don't play that often, you aren't going to be high level and thus don't need uber items (unless you pay someone to level up your character - which I can never understand how you can get enjoyment from that?). I have seen "bought accounts" and those guys typically suck at playing high level quests, which directly affects me since I do PuG alot.



While I actually agree with the rest of your post, D_H, I would like to call you out on the broad overstatement quoted. As a 3-4 hour a week player, I can tell you that you can be high level. Look at my sig. It may only be one character, but he's there, and always capped. I have deleted and remade about a half dozen other characters, none of whom I advanced past 7th level, most to 4th. I have actually remade Kaja 3 times, about to be a 4th. I started in prelaunch. My equipment is reasonable, but not generally uber, and I would really like some more "uber" - because uber items do help. The best items I have are a POPX that I pulled out of TS, and a Ring of Ancestors that I pulled on my very first run of Ghola Fan (and I'm neutral - what a kick in the pants!). I just got my first paralyzer the other day because a guildie was so surprised that I didn't have one, that he gave me one of his. I don't have a single +6 stat item, I have never pulled a tome, but did trade for one; and I don't have anything that starts with the word mithril. I do trade to the best of my abilities (Thanks Capstern - for always being fair). But, I don't buy plat, I didn't buy my character, and I don't suck at high level quests (no matter what everyone else says - La la la, fingers in ears ;) ). So, for all of us part-timers out there, please avoid the gross generalizations. :D

[Vox]

/FLAME ON

If you don't play that often, you aren't going to be high level and thus don't need uber items (unless you pay someone to level up your character - which I can never understand how you can get enjoyment from that?). I have seen "bought accounts" and those guys typically suck at playing high level quests, which directly affects me since I do PuG alot.


As someone already pointed out... you are in error with this particular generalization...



As someone who has played from the start, you might understand the fun of pulling your own uber items (vs. those who just buy it). How is that "earning" it? I remember how happy I was to get my Frostbrand (and I wasn't high enough level to use it!). I know there are people who buy (steal) a game and get the cheat for the game then run thru it as fast as they can. In my mind, that is not playing the game but they enjoy it. But I digress as that is just play style.


Hmmm... not sure what your point is here exactly but let me see if I can translate to MMO terms... someone who buys high end items is "stealing" the game and running through it as fast as they can? So in essence, people who are running high end quests with uber loot aren't really playing the game at that point? I'm pretty sure no matter what items I have, I'm playing the game... might just be the end game but I'm still playing it.



The plat farmers are also trying to "control" the market by artifically putting items up for auction at high plat, thus driving people to have to buy plat to get the items (Yes, they are that smart to know the economics). In a typical market, new people will check the existing rate that items are posted for and post for around that much (perceived fair market value). How is that fair to the casual game who earned their plat?


Did you read my whole post? I'm pretty sure I expressed my issues with inflation. I'm not defending plat farming as a whole, or for that matter even in part. My defense was purely of those people who are endeavoring to squeeze a little more enjoyment out of their free time. So far all you've done is point out that the fault of inflation lies with the plat farmers not the customers, thanks for making my point.



My finale: When a game prohibits things such as selling accounts / items, it should be stopped! This is like kids who save up their money buying candy and the lazy (too busy to earn it in your example) kids just steal it (it is against the rules). The other kids who are following the rules get "punished" indirectly as the shop owner must now raise the prices of his stock (yes this seems exaggerated, but it does happen in the real world).

/FLAME OFF

*yawn* man... when I buy a game I subscribe to the RolePlayers Golden Rule... "These Rules Are /JUST/ a Guideline"... I know... this isn't a roleplaying game, got it. so what. Ever play Monopoly with cash on Free Parking? Ever play any variant to any game ever? *shrug* same thing in my opinion. Look, I know why MMOs prohibit etc. etc. I'm not saying it's right, but I'll go again to your own words. They prohibit "selling" the onus here is on the farmer. My defense was of the purchaser, and is still valid.

Look, if you want to flame me on this issue do two things. One, /READ/ my posts. I really dislike having to repeat myself, or refer to my previous post as already addressing your reply to it. Two, try to understand the point of view presented in my post, and either attack that particular point of view directly, or undermine it with alternatives that are less harmful, but achieve similar results. Simply put, plat farming sucks. But there are acceptable reasons in some cases for people to be customers of such services. If you're going to attack farming, that's fine, it sucks, I agree. If you're going to attack the customer base, consider that not everyone's situation is the same as yours.

Vox

[Vox]

Stupid Double Post...;P

Vox