What drives item value in GW?

Good afternoon,

Having recently posted some items for price checks, and doing further reading on the boards, I have a serious question about item values. This is not a troll or a flame post, GW is my first MMORPG and I have only been playing for a couple of months. Other relevant background info...I have been a pen-and-paper RPG'er for over 20 years, and have been playing RPG computer games for about 15.

Having gotten that out of the way, here is the question: is the value of items in GW based solely off of what they look like instead of their stats? If so, are all MMORPGs like that?

I ask because it seems like all of the threads imply that the only items really worth selling to other players are the ones with rare skins. Is this due to collector mentality, vanity, or some other reason? Personally, I can't fathom why someone would pay 100K for a wand that has the exact same stats as one worth 1K just because it looks different. In other types of games, you don't see that happen much unless players are going out of their way to get rid of money. I have yet to see that be a common phenomena over my 20 years of gaming. What is different about an MMORPG that makes this behavior more prevalent? I have a few theories, but would like to hear from long-time GW (or other MMORPG) players on why this occurs.

FWIW, my elementalist character wears Tyrian armor from the first town in GWEN. It costs a mere fraction of the price of the various elite armors, and has the same stats. Am I a freak of the GW world?

I appreciate any opinions you may have.

Thanks,
James

The stat system for Guild Wars equipment is extremely balanced and cookie-cutter. In most other MMOs, equipment isn't nearly as rigidly defined in max stats, and stats are what drive the value for the most part. In Guild Wars, max weapons are so easy to find that the only thing that's different between acceptable weapons is their appearance and rarity. So yes, aesthetic desire drives most of the weapon value in Guild Wars.

people like to show off. People want to show off good looking or rare skinned weapons. this isn't a big problem when there no one to show off to, but you interact with people and they feel like having better looking weapons or armor makes them better rather then actual skill.

James, you're not a freak. Prices in Guild Wars are generally driven by rarity, which is assossiated with riches. It's like in real life, why live in a mansion when all you need is a three-bedroom house?

It's about people's preferences when it comes to armour, however much of this is arguably driven by 'Epeen', much like the massive-engine sports cars driven in city centres.

/agree with previous posters.

GW is an extreme rarity, in that it's possible to get max armor or maximum-stat weapons or items cheaply, easily, and early in gameplay (which goes along with the level 20 cap, making it very easy to be a max-stat player)
Thus the price of items in GW is mostly based on how it looks and how rare it is (or how hard it is to get, even if it's not uber-rare)

Most MMO's prices are driven by stats, in other words certain rare items will give you more health or more armor than more common items, and are worth more. I've played those games too, and I enjoy GW more for not being that way. I can choose to save my money, stick with my max common skin items, and use it for buying cap sigs, mini pets, and booze

The max damage for weapons in GW is set in such a way that every player in the game will have a max weapon quickly and easily, they can even be aquired via collectors for free.

When selling an item you should concider the mods that can NOT be aquired so easily and the skin as well.

There is also the "prestige" factor where weapons with exactly the same stats are worth different prices based solely upon the colour of the item.

For example a Blue Shadow Shield with Require 9 and an inscription slot, a Purple one and a Gold one. The blue and purple shields might sell for between 1 and 20K and the gold up to 100K.

Keep in mind one can craft a max damage item(weapon/shield/staff/wand/offhand) with just about any single mod(ie not dual modded) for 5K. Then you just purchase the second mod of your choice and you have a perfect item.

item skin, demand and supply