r2-pleasent

Lol who bumped this?

lets retrack this. 70mil for a blue phat (market cost) = the cost of 127k steel bars. you can only make 25,400 plates with this, giving you a high alch income of 30.5 mil. youre not making more money than you spent, so comparing the value of the p hat for the income of what you traded it for doesnt work of course, as you said, if steel bars were to drop to 370 each, then you would get more steel bars for the price of your p hat, but still not enough to make 70 mil when alched the real value of rares is that its an extremely lucrative investment. because its value always appreciates over time means that owning one will make you richer than you were when you bought it. for this reason, everybody that wants to get rich for pretty much doing absolutely nothing for a few months will want to get their hands on a rare, and the demand goes up, making the phats an even better investment, and making the demand go up more maybe some of the concepts you talked about (comparing spending 70 mil to high alching 70 mill worth of steel) flew over my head, but thats how i see it. rares are not worth their cost in real value, only percieved value Well, I think an important comment was made in this post, and that's the fact that you can purchase Rares with items other than GP. Because other players acknowledge the values of many artifacts in the game, and accept them in trades at an exchange of equal or slightly under Market Value, it allows for a much more complicated economy. This is why we saw such a drastic increase in Rare prices upon the release of Slayer, due to the extreme wealth created by Abyssal Whips. Basically, the amount of GP is not the only Market Indicator as far as prices go; the ease of acquiring wealth in General is the real determinant of values.

Agility is the coolest 99 Skill in my opinion. I find it to be one of the hardest to level up personally, and the bonus it gives (faster Energy increase) is really helpful for just about anything in the game.

I just don't understand how you can be stupid enough to only compare the monthly Xbox Live fees vs monthly RS2 fees. If you're looking at it from a purely cost-efficient perspective, maybe you should factor in the fact that you need: - An Xbox 360 (Retailing at $500 CAN) - An Xbox 360 Game (Retailing at $60 CAN) - A High Res TV (If you want to actually want to take advantage of the system) - A Broadband Internet Connection For RS2 you need: - A Computer (Preferably 1 GHz+, 128MB+ RAM) - An Internet Connection Now, considering almost everyone in North America has at least some access to a computer, a TV, and an Internet Connection, I'll kindly remove those costs, and add in the monthly fees. Xbox: - System ($500 CAN, Fixed Cost) - Game(s) ($60 CAN ea, Var. Cost) - High Res *Optional* ($2000+ CAN, Fixed Cost) - Monthly Fee ($50 USA / Yr, Var. Cost) RS2: - Monthly Fee ($60 USA / Yr, Var. Cost) In conclusion, an Xbox 360 with one game will not become cheaper than RS2 unless you play it for over 56 years. But hey, who's counting.

I think after this discussion I agree with you that a weekly, or monthly rental of a land plot would be much better. However, 5-10k a month is the most pointless payment in the world. I'd suggest keeping the auction, and allow players to decide what they're willing to pay for a week of public display. This, in the long run, would lead to quite lower prices, and instead of just crashing Rares like Permanent Plots, would allow a much steadier release of GP. Sure, Rares will always be on the rise, and there's no problem with that. Like I've said, without inflation, Rares would increase much more naturally, and at a steadier and slower pace.

How exactly do you find Merchants to blame for these increases in prices? The Rares economy is a Buyer's Market, and no matter what a Merchant says, his sale price is completely limited to what his customer will pay. It's simple economics. Rares are only increasing because the value of GP is going down all the time, and the effect is spread naturally throughout the game. The real problem is that instead of everything in the market inflating (which is the effect in the real world), most items are actually dropping, and only Rares become inflated.

Crowded? If they started with my suggestion of 100 or so plots, and then added 2-3 each week, it would be far from crowded. The Falador area alone could *technically* hold pretty close to 100 plots. If these were spread correctly across the World, the new plots would be more than balanced out by the new areas created by the weekly updates. You have to remember that it doesn't take much space to make a house. As far as permanent / part-time ownership goes, I can definitely see upsides to both. Permanent plots would favour the richer players for sure, as it would require a large sum to purchase. However, it would also create a better atmosphere if the houses are there to stay, and aren't changing every few weeks. On the other hand, rent would allow nearly anyone in Runescape the chance to display their house to the public, and create a MUCH steadier rate of decline in GP. If rental plots were implemented, I believe there would only need to be 20-30 total areas for rent. Of course, a combination of the two would work great as well. As far as the people calling me a Rares hater, that couldn't be farther from the truth. I love Rares, and spend nearly all my time on Runescape dealing with them. I am simply stating that they are beginning to really slip away from the rest of the economy. Around this time next year, if the game continues at its current rate, we could be paying 150 Mil for Blue Party Hats. Now, this wouldn't be a real problem if there were any methods whatsoever to acquire this money in the game, but there really isn't. Jagex temporarily made Rares very obtainable with the release of Slayer, but by next year it will likely require 50+ Whips just to buy a Blue. Staking aside, there's no way for any new player to make that much money these days (unless he's ready to mine 750,000 Coal).

I would like to note that there are quite a few unknown players who have a great deal more than Duke and the Cursed brothers. The extreme rich players tend to stay on the down-low, so most people don't even know they exist. Duke would likely only be able to afford one nice plot if this was implemented, maybe two cheap ones. But trust me, no one would "dominate" the Land Market.

Like I said, this will not impact anyone's ability to make a House. Jagex has already said that houses will be like farming patches, as in everyone will use the same plot, and will only see their house. The point of buying Land would be to display your house to the public, and allow easier access, along with different locations.

Well, if you're "poor", then you don't have to buy Land. Every Player has the option to use the common plot, which will allow you to invite anyone you wish. These purchaseable plots would be only for those who wish to pay a large wad of cash to display their house to the public.

I'm pretty sure they would be untradeable; I mean, Land prices would be pretty high otherwise. Every plot that was sold would be permanent, I just meant 2-3 New plots would be added every week or two, to allow anyone to gain possession of land. IF Land was tradeable, it would have to be auctioned in the same method as it was sold. A player would put it up for auction, and it would appear on the next week's list of new plots. HOWEVER, there would be a 10-20% tax on whatever is paid, so basically, the seller only gets 80-90% of the sale price, and the rest gets removed from the game. Although I am a player that loves Merchanting, the idea of these plots is to create interesting atmospheres, not to exchange deeds everyday.

Exactly. Land would most certainly not be Discontinued. They could start with maybe 100 Plots, then introduce 2-3 new ones every week. It really wouldn't take up much space, and could brighten up some completely unused and boring areas in Runescape.

For many years, people have been talking of the long-awaited Carpentry Skill. I, myself, believe it could be by far the most interesting and enjoyable skill in the game if implemented correctly. However, in my opinion, Jagex could be on the wrong track. Player Owned Houses, or POH's, are the main event in the upcoming skill. The main difficulty is that it is in no way possible to give every player their own plot, and most people will be using a common entrance to their POH. However, there is still the oppurtunity for Jagex to sell a limited few plots via auction. The sale of these plots will not only add players' touches to the Runescape World, but can also greatly repair the inflation occurring in Rares, which is getting somewhat ridiculous. The reason the Runescape Rares are inflating at such a drastic rate is the imbalance between money that enters the game and money that exits the game. Currently, the only real money sink in the game, as Duke Freedom mentioned in a Tip.it Times article, is repair charges on Barrows armor. This, however, is by far outweighed by the huge amount entering game from the increasingly popular High Alchemy spell. If Jagex allowed Land in the game to be auctioned, it would allow much more money to exit the game, as the payments from the purchases would go to an NPC, and in effect be removed from the game. Now, I know it sounds sort of weird to sell Land, seeing as there are 91 Servers and counting. Yet, if Jagex only sold a limited amount of them, through auction, which appeared on every server, it would be very implementable. The method of purchasing these territories, would be a 5-7 day long auction period. To make a bid on a specific piece of land, you would talk to an associated NPC. Any bid made by a player (mind you every bid would be in cash) would be temporarily held by that NPC, as otherwise the player could spend it. At the end of the auction, losing players will be recompensated, and the winner would receive a "Deed" for the property he purchased. There are also other positives introduced when certain players' houses are on display. Some great playing atmospheres could be created, as most POH's will include Banks, Skill Areas, and a unique structure. I, for one, would create a massive Party Hat exchange area, and leave it open to the public. It would really help advance the Runescape community, and eliminate some of the clutter in areas like Falador Park. Hey, I'm sure Jagex is looking at every possibility for this new skill, since they've taken their sweet time on it. But it's important to also analyze the after-effects it will play on the market, and there's a real chance here to fix some of the mistakes of the past, while at the same time creating a fun and healthy gaming atmosphere. Land Sales would satisfy both of the latter, and would make Carpentry all that more fun to raise up.

The ground is insanely well done. The clouds also look really awesome, hard to believe you make them in pixel they're so well done. There are a few areas I'm not loving, like the rectangular hole with the 2 eyes peaking out. You're one of the best pixellers I've seen though Xman, whether it be on the tipit media boards or worldwide. I hope you can manage to mix your insane artistic talents into your career, because I'd hate to see them go to waste.

Although I understand where you're coming from on this post Duke, there are far too many generalizations on this post to truly calculate the average GP in Runescape. As many people have said, Fletching and Smithing have many methods of gaining experience. I believe a huge area left out of this estimation was the amount of Exp that went into arrows, or other items which do not create GP in any way. I would say 90% of the people on my Friends List have used arrows for Fletching exp, and have made items like Cannonballs or arrowheads for Smithing exp. When it comes down to it, using experience as an indicator of how much money is really floating around in the economy results in a number that is based far too greatly on generalizations. There are numerous ways to earn Experience in either skill, and therefore, it is foolish to theorize as if everyone was using the exact same method to gain this experience. What is safe to assume, however, is that the majority of cash coming into the game is from High Alchemy. Basically, as we all know, the game is continuously growing. Yesterday I noticed a whopping 150,000 users logged in simultaneously at one point in the day, which is the highest I've ever seen myself. What is definitely proven by this estimation by Duke is that the amount of GP being produced is much greater than that which is taken away, and therefore, as the number of users continues to grow, then the amount of Gold in the game will increase accordingly. In my opinion, the amount of actual cold hard cash floating around is unimportant. We can get a very good idea of how much GP is in circulation simply by the prices of Rares, which reflect this number in a comparative fashion. What you can rely on is that with time and more players entering the game, we can expect the margin between GP being produced, and GP being destroyed to greaten. [/b]

I have even more to add to this after today. Santa Hats rose 500k today to 4.5M. So please do not accuse me of making this up, as the item I pointed out just made money. Sometimes you should just listen.

The prices I posted are all real, so go ahead and accuse me of "manipulating". The post is obviously too complex for your miniscule brain.

I think one of the main problems people have with merchants is because we seem to treat Runescape money the same as real-life money. It seems like only greed could make someone want more than one Party Hat, as they could already buy just about anything in the game. However, I myself treat Runescape money almost like experience. And people that make 5-10 Mil a day without working (I assume you're talking about LTRM's) are only those with a very large bank account. These players most likely worked very hard to earn their base value and now are just investing their money. It's like saying Bill Gates is lazy because he makes a billion dollars every 6 months or so just from his investments. As far as Short-Term Rare Merchants go, it's important to realize that most Party Hat deals are between merchants. 90% of the time that I buy or sell a Party Hat, it is with another STRM; so it's really not an effort to capitalize on his misinformation. I find non-merchants much more difficult to make profit from, as they are usually extremely cautious with their sales, as they are very aware that people could rip them off. It's very easy to critique what someone else is doing and call it "easy" or "cheap", which many people do to these merchants. The market has lost many players tons of money, especially within the last few months, and there is definitely a risk these days when dealing with Rares. We are past the point where Rares rise 95% of the year and are down the other 5%. Since January 2005, prices have been dropping from January to February, and also from mid June to early August. That's almost 50% of the year.

Merchanting is a skill in Runescape 2 unmeasurable by experience points. It is often done behind the scenes, and has led to firm and reasonable prices in most raw materials, as well as continuous rises in Discontinued Items. There are several different types of merchants: Raw Material Merchants, Pseudo Rare Merchants, Short Term Rare Merchants and Long Term Rare Merchants. The common stereotype for a merchant is a Short-Term Rare Merchant. Raw Material Merchants, or RMM's are very beneficial to the stable values of nearly any material in the game. Without these players, items like coal, yews, and sharks would have a much more varied value, and would therefore be much more difficult to buy and sell. RMM's tend to be players with lower amounts of gold, as it is a very profitable method of making GP no matter how much you have to spend. Common materials to merchant are Bowstrings, Herbs, Runes or Yew Logs. A good material to buy and sell is any one that has a high demand and a good amount of sellers who do not use forums. A good place to buy materials is around a bank (such as Seers) where the sellers are usually the same people that found the items, and therefore are not middlemen. Pseudo-Rare merchants, or PRM's were a dying breed in Runescape2 until Barrows were introduced. However, with this new armor, many players are beginning to buy and sell these powerful new items. PRM's also buy and sell Dragon Armor and high-value items such as Robin-Hood Hats and Whips. As the items they are selling are quite expensive in comparison to Raw Material Merchants, it is suggested that a player has at least 3-4 Mil before entering the Pseudo-Rare Market. The real problem with these items is that they continue to drop in value as more are introduced into the economy, so a PRM is forced to sell his items very quickly after he/she purchases them. Sometimes hanging around the Barrows area and buying some fresh items off the runners is the best way to find this stuff cheap. Short-Term Rare Merchants, or STRM's, are some of the most hated players in Runescape 2. They are often low level, and tend to be quite arrogant about their acquisitions. However, it is important to note that these players are just as hard-working as any other player on Runescape2, and that they face plenty of competition at all times when buying and selling items. Most of these merchants have enough to buy 1-2 Rares (whatever's the most expensive and affordable), and will devote their time to reselling it as soon as possible. The best items to merchant as a STRM are, of course, Party Hats. These are quite easy to sell and will often allow for profit margins as high as 3-5 Mil per Hat. However, there are also the overlooked smaller STRM's who deal Santa Hats, Masks and Non-Holiday Rares who can also rake in good cash. The real downside to being an STRM is that it is very difficult to capitalize on the natural rise of Rares when you are trying to get rid of them in (as the more you sell, the more you buy, the more profit you make). As an STRM I liked to buy my Rares in not-so-common areas like World 1, on Tipit Rares Forums. I'd even wait sometimes in the duel arena as high leveled players staked and then offered on their winnings after their duel. As an STRM, and more specifically a Party Hat seller, every little advantage you can get is crucial. It is never a bad idea to have several different forums open, and to be ready to adjust to the economy. I also found that it was better to buy items cheap and sell for normal prices, instead of high prices. The sooner you sell something the faster you can buy another. Short-Term Rare Merchanting is what I believe to be one of the most enjoyable activities on Runescape, as it takes a lot of research skills and negotiating skills. Skilled STRM's can make upwards of 5 - 10 Mil per day. Long-Term Rare Merchanting is also known as investing. It is most suggestable for players with enough cash to buy at least a Party Hat Set, but it works even with only an Easter Egg. Basically, LTRM's will just bank these items and wait for them to rise, sometimes he/she hold onto their Rares forever. It is most effective for players who do not have the time nor the patience to buy and sell Rares on the open-market, or those who have so much money that they can average nearly 10M a day if the economy is healthy. I myself like to combine Long and Short Term Merchanting to maximize my profits. Some days I'll sell 5-10 Party Hats, and some weeks I won't get around to selling any at all. Long-Term Merchanting, if done correctly, is EXTREMELY profittable. If one was to have spent 100 Mil on Santa Hats exactly one year ago when they were 100-150K each, they would have 4 Bil today. That's an average of 10 Mil per day without even having to click once. However, if one was to have spent 100 Mil on 3 Party Hat Sets one year ago, they would only have around 660 Mil today. This basically shows that the better items to buy for long-term are actually the smaller rares, such as Santa Hats, or Masks. These items have a much higher rate of increase. Increase Rates Since Last Year 2004 Easter Eggs - 100k each 2005 Easter Eggs - 1.5M each .. Peak of 2.5M in June Easter Egg increase rate - 1500% today, 2500% at peak 2004 Pumpkins - 200k each 2005 Pumpkins - 2.5M each ... Peak of 4M in June Pumpkin increase rate - 1250% today, 2000% at peak 2004 Disc of Returnings - 250k each 2005 Disc of Returnings - 4M each ... Peak of 5M in June Disc of Returning increase rate - 1600% today, 2000% at peak 2004 Half Wines - 1 Mil 2005 Half Wines - 30 Mil ... Peak of 70M in June Half Wine increase rate - 3000% today, 7000% at peak 2004 Santa Hats - 100k 2005 Santa Hats - 4 Mil ... Peak of 4 Mil Santa Hat increase rate - 4000% today, 4000% at peak 2004 Green Masks - 200k 2005 Green Masks - 4 Mil ... Peak of 4.5 Mil in June Green Mask increase rate - 2000% today, 2250% at peak 2004 Blue Masks - 350k 2005 Blue Masks - 5 Mil ... Peak of 6 Mil in June Blue Mask increase rate - 1420% today, 1710% at peak 2004 Red Masks - 350k 2005 Red Masks - 6.5 Mil ... Peak of 8 Mil in June Red Mask increase rate - 1850%, 2290% at peak 2004 Purple Party Hat - 3 Mil 2005 Purple Party Hat - 24 Mil ... Peak of 27 Mil in June Purple Party Hat increase rate - 800%, 900% at peak 2004 Yellow Party Hat - 3.5 Mil 2005 Yellow Party Hat - 26.5 Mil ... Peak of 31 Mil in June Yellow Party Hat increase rate - 760% ... 885% at peak 2004 Red Party Hat - 4 Mil 2005 Red Party Hat - 35 Mil .. Peak of 45 Mil in June Red Party Hat increase rate - 875% ... 1125% at peak 2004 Green Party Hat - 5 Mil 2005 Green Party Hat - 29 Mil ... Peak of 34 Mil in June Green Party Hat increase rate - 580% ... 680% at peak 2004 White Party Hat - 6.5 Mil 2005 White Party Hat - 45 Mil ... Peak of 55 Mil in June White Party Hat increase rate - 692% ... 846% at peak 2004 Blue Party Hat - 8 Mil 2005 Blue Party Hat - 62 Mil ... Peak of 80 Mil in June Blue Party Hat increase rate - 775% ... 1000% at peak 2004 Christmas Cracker - 15 Mil 2005 Christmas Cracker - 60 Mil ... Peak of 100 Mil in June Christmas Cracker increase rate - 400% ... 666% at peak **All prices are based on my personal observed values of Tuesday August 29th, 2005. All prices are subject to change and should not be depended upon when buying or selling items. They are simply rough estimates.** Basically from this you can see that Half Wines were the best investments from last year. However, due to their extreme rareness at the time and the difficulties in selling them, I believe the best investment from 2004 was the Santa Hat. These are very easy to sell items and they rose a whopping 4000% from last year.

Guess that officially answers how much cash you get from Alching a Party Hat. Still doesn't beat those weird dudes that opened 3 crackers and ate full invs of pumpkins / easters :P

It's funny because Axeraider really isn't that good a Pixeler yet he acts like some sort of 1337 Master on all sorts of posts.

I dunno about this sig, seems sort of rushed.

I dunno about the lady choice :P

X-Man you blow me away with your talent. You should be drawing pixels professionally for a video game company dude, that's just absolutely beautiful.

Thanks for the postive feedback guys :) I'm really bad at shading yellow for some reason o.O