Runes Pricing Question.

I've noticed Rune Prices have really spiked lately.

Stalwarts are suddenly up to 260g, when you can get one; the Trader is often out and Runes of Vigor have doubled; anyone else running into this difficulty.

Perhaps its players leaving and taking stock off the market I don't know, but it makes it much more expensive to run up an alt; and I really feel for any new player trying to rune up a toon.

Your thoughts, BB.

more people playing gw (again), thats what i see (yes, litterally SEE) anyway, more and more come back and also more newbies everytime

I would agree with ayuhmii--I have seen quite a few more people than months ago---also noticed that rare mat prices are up as well (ecto/shrards/rubies/sapphires/etc)....started going up right before wintersday and hasnt come down since.

I've no problem with that.. Its a small price to pay for more new or returning players.
I did notice before Xmas more opportunities to help; slacked off a lil since New years but that might be my work schedule. ..

Cool Ty for taking the time to Re. BB.

I've been pushing to have all my characters have various hero sets, not just a couple. It's proving to be really expensive. Won't ever get to weapon mods at this rate. Unsure to think it's a simple answer as just new people.

Considering the expensive runes, it's not really worth it to equip all heroes right away. Maybe better do a bit rune farming (ie. trolls, ettins, Griffon's Mouth, Northen Kryta etc) and hope for luck.

Yeah.I need more Ks for a certian mat that keeps going up trade ppl.It would seem to me the Old girl GW still has a lot of shine in her.

Well I definitely intend to do some Feather Farming outside JBluffs, Runes drop at a decent rate and its always profitable. I do like to have a base build on each of my Alts hero team.

I had two mules full of additional runes which I sold recently. Prices did not move a bit. So it seems there are less ans less people selling or more and more buying. I still need more than 80 survivors for heroes on all my charrs and they just go up Seems there will be rune farming again alive in GW1 .

Stalwarts are back on the market, but double their old price; but I did complete my new toons Merc team; so she should be ok till she does NF, and I have to rune up the mandatory heros.

I generally sell Survivors if you pass me your IGN I'll ping you when I have a supply. Just as soon sell them direct to a player as the Merch. BB.

There were never been much people seeling runes at specific vendors in the last years because it wasn't worth the time finding one (yeah...). That prices are going so high right now is a sign that people buy runes (and materials) from vendors instead of buying them from other people. I've started salvaging runes/insignias and sell them to the rune vendor a few weeks ago because it's worth it by now.

To make my analysis why this happens: I guess it's a middle road between old players having to much platin to even care anymore and rather buy runes from vendors instead of looking for people and a bunch of new players that don't know where/how to trade. The last one is especially true for rare materials I think. I guess there are people buying their whole obsidian armor at the vendor (probably sponsored...).

I use the trader more now because the cost savings of direct trading are no longer worth the effort of finding a buyer or seller. The last few items that I tried waiting for someone to trade with, before I could find one, the prices at the trader had moved to eliminate the savings.

Usually I just do without most runes on my heroes until I can get them through salvaging. With good builds the runes are nice to have, but not all that necessary. Then I keep a list (sometimes in a spreadsheet) of what I need on which toon, and just stickering them onto armor when I find and salvage them.

Another trick for the really expensive runes is to use a common rune until I can find the better rune. So for all my Derv heroes (and characters) I sticker them with Blessed Insignia until I can find them the Derv specific ones. Some of my other Dervs will get the hand-me-down runes until they are duped, then I sell them to the trader. Yeah, it's a little more work, but saves me a lot of money not lost to the NPC buy/sell spread.

When I find runed armor, I throw it in storage until I fill a panel. I then buy enough Perfect salvages to remove all the runes and insigs. I ID all the purples and golds before I sell them to the Rune traders. I can get up to 250g for runes that normally only pay 25g. Some purples range from 35g to 75g, while some golds range from 100g to 250g. Blue runes can be from 1g to 12g above the runes traders price of 25g. Even if ID'd, the trader gives the higher price between the ID'd or requested price. These traders just might be selling them back to others at the marked up price. (Probably not smart enough for that.)

When I am runing up a character or hero, I just hit up a Rune Trader. Not in the mood for hanging out in Spamadan. For weapon upgrades, I raid "retired" characters.

blessed insignias are better than the dervish ones anyway (unless your running a zurriederv splitter)