Tome Pricing

Can someone explain why regular tomes are steady at 500g? If it takes 1k and a skill point to buy the skill, it seems odd that the tomes are not around 1k. Skill prices are cheaper until you buy so many, but I assume the majority of market goers have reached that 1k mark at the trainer - maybe I am wrong on this assumption.

people sell them at 500-700 because they catch peoples attention quicker even if it did cost a skill point I'd much rather buy a skill when I felt like it then buy a tome for the same price when I don't even need the skill.

Because people sell them at 500g it means you can buy some for later use and get the skills much cheaper which encourages more players to purchase them.

Makes sense I guess, I would rather just buy it than sit in town for who knows how long spamming WTB for 900g. But, as far as selling goes, 10 characters buying skills all the time = losing big money to sell for 500.

Haven't sold any tomes myself. I have all 12 ele tomes I've found safely tucked away in storage. But I can understand the pricing strategy.

Since we are talking tomes though... Anyone know any decent farming spots for mesmer, necro, or ranger tomes? I get all my ele tomes in the desert killing hydras.. so far no elite ones though.

When new things come out they go out of balance with pricing and then eventualy settle into a comfortable price for the average gw player unless there are times of demand.

I often sell them in bulk 20 = 10k

Ranger tomes drop like crazy in Nebo Terrace HM.

I was trying to buy reg dervish tomes earlier and people kept trying to charge around 2k...which is just stupid and baffling...

it's pretty hard to find regular monk tomes :T

Why would you buy a tome for 1k to get a skill on your character if you can just go to the skill trainer and spend 1k to get it?

Now tell me, would you pay 500g for skills as opposed to 1k?

First off, for a veteran player skill points are nearly worthless. If it wasn't for consumables, there really wouldn't be a single reason to have them. And oddly enough, some people are indeed willing to buy regular tomes for 1,000g each. And then there's some that will sell them for 100g each, so while there is a generally accepted price that has evolved along with the game economy and player trends, in the end any given person can lower or raise the price to their own standards.

Think about it - a skill tome is actually LESS valuable than a Skill Trainer unlock, as you can only acquire skills you've already unlocked.

Thus, they are useful to:
1) PvP-types that have a lot of unlocks via Balth faction
2) Veteran players that need secondary skills for existing characters
3) Veteran players that need primary skills for a new character where the class is unlocked via prior play on a rerolled toon or via Balth

At this point, supply is such that the market is flooded - they are generated by the community faster than they are spent. Since most players have a surplus of skill points, you get an equilibrium price that's lower than that of the alternative, always-available option.

The reason skill tomes are less than 1k is because 1k per skill is too much to ask. It's as simple as that.

I wish they had a tome for signet of capture :-(

...Elite Tomes?

He means a tome that lets you get a Signet of Capture, which you would then use to cap an elite. It won't happen, but it would be a nice idea.

The botters hold on to them to make a new bot when the old bot gets deleted after farming for a week or two.

Tomes are easy to farm. You must have the skill already unlocked on your account to get it on a PvE character [useless for PvP]. I don't know anyone who will pay 900~g for a tome unless it's dervish or monk. Sin and rangers I've seen for 200-300, but the average for any is still 500. If they were all 800-999, it would be cheaper to pay 1k the second you need the skill than wait and spam trying to buy a tome.

You can use tomes if you are pro.... if you rerolled a character and want to use skills that it can't reach, for example Ember light camp only skills, you can just use a tome. I did this for a 55 monk that just hit mainland Cantha... and that is when I realized why some tomes like monks/dervs are more than 1k.. because it is a necessity that can not be reached early game.

most people would just pay 1k for a SOC and cap the skill, saving 7-10k..

But if you are already at mainland Cantha you can just as easily travel to Lions Arch and buy the skills...