Emeralds

[lonnarin]

Also remember that just HAVING a gemstone can be far more valuable than gold!  Bjorn juggling his diamonds and rubies in front of Tath and muttering... "git lost!  ye ate the last of tha tavern onions!"  is far more valuable to me than any cash settlement.  

On another server, Fenthon and Xander managed to get a ruby and hatched an evil plan around it...  We kidnapped a character from the good side of town and demanded a ruby in exchange for her life. (of course she was in on the deal and recieving a cut)  we then sent another player around that area with the gemstone, offering to sell it for 50k.  The goodly folk pooled their gold together and obtained the gem to pay us for the "hostage", who returned with them without incident.  All dastardly parties involved made about 12.5k gp on average each, AND we had the ruby back in our greedy, diabolical little hands again!  So much more devious than the Lebowski Nihilists!

As for the lesser gems like phenelope and alexandrites that I practice chipping without much market value, I save a 10 or 20 pack of the fine ones and use them as currency for favors from quest NPCs.  Dropping fine gems in people's palms is probably the fastest way to improve their mood and get them to cooperate... 6 cha or not.  Greed got Han talking to Jabba after all.  They can always pick the boogers off the stone afterwards.

[Qui_Z]

I don't think 100K is too much, because by the time you can use them, there is nothing else to spend money on because all other top of the line gear is so easy to get (which is pretty wrong on its own).
  I figure (assuming) this was posted because I see on the server status that Tath is level 15 and now able to use emeralds, and you for once probably feel the burn of not being able to have the best you can use. Not a bad thing, everyone over level 15 has probabaly felt it, because emeralds are damn expensive. With a world based around CNR, even most of the drops being CNR, some things need to be kept rare. As I said before, eventually it will become common. Look in the trade forum, there are a few posts just this month about emeralds when there used to be none.
  Since the CNR craftables are so plentiful, people are used to getting the best..I think they will need to learn defferantly though. =P

[Talan Va'lash]

Wow! the level req for emereld jewelry is 15?!

I should have had those four levels ago!  I demand the emerelds that are rightfully mine by virture of the fact that I can wear them!

[Lalaith Va'lash]

*rolls her eyes at Talan* 
  Maybe if you were nicer  your sister would let you borrow her emeralds... 
  *smiles innocently* 

[lonnarin]

*shrugs*  Bjorn's been able to make Iron Platemail since about lvl 10 character lvl, is now 12th and has a decent chance at Platinum armor.  I take a lot of pride in being able to make items I can't even use yet, so Tath should feel no shame for being able to chip an emerald.  In fact, he should be darn proud of it.

Your total character level should not have much bearing on your CNR status, only in so much that it dictates how easy it is for you to access the materials.  In fact, it's very seldom that a lifelong craftsman NPC would be anywhere NEAR the character level of a player, as they mostly gain their goods through the tradehall and market deals.  I seriously doubt that anybody on this planet in real life who can chip and shine an emerald could also go toe toe to toe with an OGRE, let alone a demi-god variety beast.  Usually they're liverspotted old men with bald heads and magnifying glass visors in the mall.  I honestly doubt that old geezer has ever toiled in a diamond mine before... he has to pay for what he works with.

Adventurers simply have the leg up on the average lifetime crafter thanks to the fact that they can storm the beasties out of the mine themselves and avoid a huge chunk of cost from the middlemen, but they don't have contracts constantly supplying them with unworked goods to work into the finished product, like what most trading guilds would have.  Hire troops to clear the mine, send in the workers to strip it bear, buy oxen to lug it to the hall, sell it to a crafter in bulk, crafter makes items he sells to pay for expenses and make profit.  the equation is so much easier when you're a stocky dwarf or orc who can do all the steps himself with a few of his buddies.

Wizard and Rogue characters can't avoid this cycle so much, as they are ill fitted for either chopping or HEAVY lugging that other classes can do.  The high prices on such unfinished goods come from the necessity of relying on others in the market to make profit, as it is in real life.  Hence why any decent fighter can make a killing just hiring himself out as a miner or day laborer.  Sure maybe you're 10 character lvls or more lower than the wizard who needs your help, that doesn't make you, the means of production, any less valuable for your time.

Hence why whenever a wee lvl 1 begs for gold or armor, I throw a pick or chisel at him and yell, "GIT A JOB YE DURNED LAZY BUM!"

Thar's gold in them there mines.  Ye just gotta be able and willing to put yer back into it!  It can even be stated that mining is MORE immediately profitable than crafting, as there will always be crafters needing to practice their trade...  but finding customers for finished goods who pay a fair price takes a much longer time.  Want gold?  be a miner.  Want mined goods?  GIMME GOLD!

[s0ulz]

lonnarin - 5/19/2005  3:45 AM

*shrugs*  Bjorn's been able to make Iron Platemail since about lvl 10 character lvl, is now 12th and has a decent chance at Platinum armor.  I take a lot of pride in being able to make items I can't even use yet, so Tath should feel no shame for being able to chip an emerald.  In fact, he should be darn proud of it.

Your total character level should not have much bearing on your CNR status, only in so much that it dictates how easy it is for you to access the materials.  In fact, it's very seldom that a lifelong craftsman NPC would be anywhere NEAR the character level of a player, as they mostly gain their goods through the tradehall and market deals.  I seriously doubt that anybody on this planet in real life who can chip and shine an emerald could also go toe toe to toe with an OGRE, let alone a demi-god variety beast.  Usually they're liverspotted old men with bald heads and magnifying glass visors in the mall.  I honestly doubt that old geezer has ever toiled in a diamond mine before... he has to pay for what he works with.

Adventurers simply have the leg up on the average lifetime crafter thanks to the fact that they can storm the beasties out of the mine themselves and avoid a huge chunk of cost from the middlemen, but they don't have contracts constantly supplying them with unworked goods to work into the finished product, like what most trading guilds would have.  Hire troops to clear the mine, send in the workers to strip it bear, buy oxen to lug it to the hall, sell it to a crafter in bulk, crafter makes items he sells to pay for expenses and make profit.  the equation is so much easier when you're a stocky dwarf or orc who can do all the steps himself with a few of his buddies.

Wizard and Rogue characters can't avoid this cycle so much, as they are ill fitted for either chopping or HEAVY lugging that other classes can do.  The high prices on such unfinished goods come from the necessity of relying on others in the market to make profit, as it is in real life.  Hence why any decent fighter can make a killing just hiring himself out as a miner or day laborer.  Sure maybe you're 10 character lvls or more lower than the wizard who needs your help, that doesn't make you, the means of production, any less valuable for your time.

Hence why whenever a wee lvl 1 begs for gold or armor, I throw a pick or chisel at him and yell, "GIT A JOB YE DURNED LAZY BUM!"

Thar's gold in them there mines.  Ye just gotta be able and willing to put yer back into it!  It can even be stated that mining is MORE immediately profitable than crafting, as there will always be crafters needing to practice their trade...  but finding customers for finished goods who pay a fair price takes a much longer time.  Want gold?  be a miner.  Want mined goods?  GIMME GOLD!

I 99% agree with you . Except for the fact that high level wizards CAN do heavy lugging... Very heavy!

[Decius]

Talan Va'lash - 5/18/2005  2:31 PM

Wow! the level req for emereld jewelry is 15?!

I should have had those four levels ago!  I demand the emerelds that are rightfully mine by virture of the fact that I can wear them!

I believe the level requirement is 17. So make that two levels ago

[FlameStrike]

Decius - 5/19/2005  10:23 AM

Talan Va'lash - 5/18/2005  2:31 PM

Wow! the level req for emereld jewelry is 15?!

I should have had those four levels ago!  I demand the emerelds that are rightfully mine by virture of the fact that I can wear them!

I believe the level requirement is 17. So make that two levels ago

 The last time i asked, the level requirement was 16 for rings, and 15 for amulets... Could be wrong, though, since i don't actually possess any emerald jewelry.

[ZeroVega]

  Hehe, I can make any of the enchantments up to IV, but I can't use em cause the level requirement is 18 so I feel for ya Lon. And I'm not complaining that emeralds are hard to get cause they're too expensive, perhaps I did at one point, but that wasn't meant to be the point of my first posts. Also by the time you get to a level that you can use em, they're definatly NOT the best things you can buy. (I'm currently about to fork over 75k for a Guild, and who knows how much more for a guild house that we'd like to be a tower) I have my emerald, and I'm content with just having it. I don't especially fancy making it into a ring or amulet, cause for me atleast, you come to a certain level, and have certain stats and you start to think, "I don't really need anymore. It'll just be work to get it, and I've got enough as it is." I've hit that mark.

[Frendh]

150k for a green meanie is fair
considering it is the best out there.
If someone forks out 250k for one it
wouldn't surprise me.

And for the lvl 4 guy who suddenly has
more gold than he can carry, it's all
good and fair too. No matter where
you are, in a game or in the real
world there is always someone who
gets extra lucky. Be it seven head-
shots in a row or scoring the jack-
pot on the lottery.

Would have been pretty drab if all
the lvl 4 guys had went through
more or less the same poor life-
style.

[Vyris]

I found an emerald, put it up for auction and sold it to Rufus for 100k coin and three pieces of diamond jewelry, I promptly spent the 100k on a house, and I can't wear any of the jewelry yet for another two levels, which at my rate of XP gain is going to be about 6 months...

So I honestly don't see what the big deal is, it made him poorer, the money hit my bank account and lingered there long enough for me to walk to the real estate office from the bank. I didn't get rich, I have a cool house to fill up with my stuff is all. I didn't get any real, tangible benifit out of it, the jewelry will boost my strength by +2 when I finally get to wear it, thats it.

ah well... I hope emeralds stay rare, and obscenely expensive.

Vyris