Question on weapon prices

Something that bugs me (a little). Looking at the buy/sell threads I see people willing to pay 70, 100, even 150k for weapons that are in fact inferior to the best weapons obtained from collectors - all of which have max damage and +15% damage modifier, and, obviously, can be given exactly the upgrades you want (whoch goes for any weapon, of course).

I was wondering why... For looks? Just because they are "gold"? Because of the cost of the upgrades?

For a while I thought those may be people who only PVP and don't play PvE at all, but then they wouldnt have the gold required, would they?

Or maybe I am simply putting too much value in gold? Or missing something important?

Just curious (and might have a few weapons for sale... ).

Well, one thing are the max upgrades - you can't get them on collector's items. Second, you can't salvage collector's items; once they're on, they're stuck.

Ok, but that still doesn't quite convince me.

*max* upgrades are rare, very true.. so I agree they worth a lot to some people, the thing is, some of the weapons that sell for a lot don't really have any max upgrades on them.. just good or decent ones. And these can be bought relatively easy, at least I believe so, and then applied to a collector weapon to make a truly nice item.

(not sure if you realise that the collector weapons I am talking about come with no upgrades at all).

The fact that you can't salvage them is not really a liability, for once you apply a max upgrade you probably won't want to risk losing it by salvaging the weapon anyway... much better to sell the weapon and use the money to buy the next upgrade you want IMO.

i totally agree with you venti, some stuff goin for sily money now....
however, if i had sumthing to sell and ppl were willing to pay 50k+ for it i would be a very happy chappy

Well I've been checking some more threads here and thingking a bit...

And I believe this is in part psychological.. seems like people just want to have "rare" (= gold) items, certainly something that's unique as it makes them feel that bit more special I guess... even if this "rare" item is inferior to a plain collector's bow, for example

I can kind of relate to that, this is one of the major attraction of mmorpgs for many (including myself, I played AC for a long time and loved the extremely rich loot system there)...

anyways, completely agree... if people want to pay that much, no reason not to keep them (and myslef) happy

Personally for me, I use collector items and I am not afraid to put some decent upgrades in them. However, complete the game is quite easy and short. Getting the 15k armor is not that hard either. Afterwards, there is not much to do other than to get a cool looking item of comparable power (unless I have 100 ectos or a million gold, I'm not going to get one of exactly the same power) as a collector weapon. I am currently saving up and going to buy a chaos axe with a decent base (although it is weaker, there is nothing left for me to do other than to fool around and look cool). This game is alot shorter and has much less to do than the other rpgs, so people just strive to look cool at the end (whereas in other games they would be trying to continue to level up).

However, there is a bit of strange psychology. A "gold" item looks no different than a "blue" one. Yet a "gold" one will usually be worth alot more. I know that stats on "gold" ones tend to be better, but if you have the same stats on a "blue" one you won't get as good of a price. Also, something like a fellblade (with +15%>50% health) of fortitude +30 health should not be worth more than a fellblade (with +15%>50% health) and the fortitude +30 health upgrade separately. I don't understand why people would buy a 5:1 Vampiric bow for 500k when they can buy a good bow base with 15%>50 and then buy the 5:1 string and add it on for cheaper. When you buy a package, the price should be lower because you as the consumer have less options (what if you don't want the 5:1 and prefer sundering?). Package deals should always cost less. Also, I saw someone who refused to buy an axe because he found out the requirement was 9 instead of 8. Honestly, what warrior has 8 attribute points in axe mastery? If he is under level 20, he will be able to meet the requirements very quickly.

Also, sometimes the consumer is misinformed. The +4-5 armor "of defense" upgrade is one of the best in the game. In fact, it rivals (and in some situation, beats) the +30 health upgrade. Just do the calculations and you will see how much 5 armor actually is.

actually, you'll find most of the upgrades are balanced, each one in a different situation ... If you're getting attacked by 5 warriors, that +5 armor will be worth more than +30 health (actually depends on the damage the warriors do, but let's just assume this) but when some mesmers or necro's are draining away your life that +30 health might just be a lifesaver. It's all about the situation ... people just need to decide for themselves in which situation they are more.

i myself also prefer to "build my own weapons", using what i get from drops and collectors. It does the trick more than fine. But when you play this game a lot, after a while, you're out of "gold sinks" to spend money on, and that's when you go and bid crazy amounts of money for that one weapon that looks cool

I think your argument only applies to bows.
There are no 15>50 max sword, axe or hammer collectors.
There are 15% while enchanted sword and hammers...but that black longsword model is just plain ugly. The hammer is alright though, but I'm not certain how many hammer warriors actually have enchantments on themselves.

You got it, VisVenti, in your very first post. There is nothing you HAVE to have (aside from superior vigor and absorption, which you still don't have to have, but does contribute significantly with no penalty) that costs a lot of money, so once you have beat the game and have millions of gold or gold equivalents, the only thing left is fissure armor and that flawless weapon that LOOKS cooler than the collector weapon.

Ok, I get the point, more so since a lot of people are saying the same thing . I haven't even 'finished' the game yet (stated playing 2 weeks ago) and true enough, I have have 50+plat and some nice items already, I guess it can only get "worse" later on...

It'll be interesting to see if the first expansion addresses this issue, and if so - in what way.