Is the cooking cape killing fishing?

[dante1918]

After browsing the official forums I have seen more and more threads about the lowering price of shark. The reason these people say that the price is falling is because of JagexÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s lack of effort to stop people using macros. The complaints have gotten so numerous that Jagex have created a sticky in the rants form defending their actions against the macro population. I however believe the price drop is cause because of a completely different reason.

 

 

 

The reason shark prices are down in my opinion is not because of bots or even the money hungry merchant. (OK maybe a little) the reason why shark prices are down is.................... SKILL CAPES! Yes thatÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s right itÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s all because of that lovely purple cooking cape, that all aspiring chefs seem so driven to obtain. DonÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t believe me? Here me out......

 

 

 

Now in other skills the skill cape has improved prices of raw materials, because people are buying their way to an easy 99. For example, fetching and cooking.

 

 

 

LetÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢s use these two as an example. Its easy to see from the high scores that there are more people trying to get 99 fletching and cooking rather than wood cutting and fishing, this creates more demand than supply so the prices (at least on paper) should rise for the materials used to reach level 99 in those skills. In this case for fletching, Yews and Magic logs. And for cooking, lobs and shark.

 

 

 

Now most of you will be thinking that all four should rise in price. But looking at the market only yews and mage logs have raised in price while lobs have stayed roughly the same and shark have nose dived to ridicules prices. Now why should logs rise and fish fall? After all both are used a lot for quick 99ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢sÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâæ

 

 

 

The reason is that with fletching there is a constant need for the byproduct of that skillÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâæ. Bows. After all what else would mages cast high alchemy on in bulk? Where as once somebody has gotten 99 fishing he/she is left with about 30k of cooked fish that must be sold. And the people who generally buy cooked fish are those who are using it to go into combat. However where as a mage will cast the high alchemy spell on say 1k of bows an hour, a high level warrior will only eat at most about 60 fish an hour. This leads to a large backlog of cooked fish. And with more and more people training in pest control food is becoming less and less useful.

 

 

 

A quick example would be:

 

Wood cutters produce logs --> fletchers make bows --> mages cast high alchemy on all the bows --> no backlog.

 

 

 

Fishers catch fish --> chefs cook the fish --> only some people buy the food for eating --> backlog of cooked fish.

 

 

 

As I have crudely shown this leads to a backlog of cooked fish that the chef needs to sell. Because all his stock wonÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t be used for the purpose its intended, he/she has to appeal to a new marketÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâæ The merchant. By offering a lower price than others he gets people looking for a bargain to buy his/her fish. Now this happening once in a while would be no problem, but with more and more people getting 99 cooking they have to resort to the same tactic. Because of more people are selling at the same low price that price becomes the normal price and the process after a while is repeated.

 

.

 

At the other end of the market the people who are just starting their journey to 99 cooking look at the prices of raw and cooked fish and see for example, raw shark selling for 1k each and cooked shark selling for 800gp each. The chef then says to his/her self ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâ¹Ãâhang on IÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢m going to lose a lot of money hereÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢ÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ãâæ IÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢m only going to buy raws for 850gp each. Now again one person doing this is no problem, however as more and more people go for their 99 they do the same and again the lower price becomes the norm. And since the fishers can only sell for the price that the chefs are willing to pay they are forced to go along with it.

 

 

 

Now what can be done about this? If this problem was the real world representatives of the big fishing companies would get together and discuss the problem and agree on a set price of their fish so they could earn a living wage. However the problem in Runescape can not be solved in this way for two reasons.

 

 

 

Firstly the fishers of Runescape (well the vast majority) do not work in fishing companies, instead they are thousands of lone men and woman fishing on their own, which makes it imposable for the majority to get together.

 

And secondly even if a vast number did get together in game or in the forums Jagex would stop it because it falls under price manipulation. Even though the people are just trying to get a fair price for their hard work.

 

 

 

So in conclusion can the price of shark be raised? In all honesty I really donÃÆââââ¬Å¡Ã¬Ã¢ââ¬Å¾Ã¢t know if it can without an intervention from Jagex. What that would entail I do not know, all I know is it needs to happen soon.

 

What do you think?

[Guest under_sweet]

:-k you kno...the thing is sharks are becoming like rares...there unstable, people who say jagex can go on a massive banning spree and fix the problem are kidding them selves. the way i see it..sharks will rise in price but it will take time just as it takes time for anything to raise or lower in price but yeh you make a good point =D> i enjoyed reading your post

[nomadmike]

:| Its actually happens like this.

 

 

 

When autoer makers saw a demand in people wanting sharks they made themselves fish. Droping the prices is just a faster selling method. And there is a lot of them.

[dante1918]

:| Its actually happens like this.

 

 

 

When autoer makers saw a demand in people wanting sharks they made themselves fish. Droping the prices is just a faster selling method. And there is a lot of them.

 

so why hasent this hapend to wood cutting? thats where i see a problem in the whole macro arguement, if its hapening to fishing why not wood cutting? after all both are quick 99's and both have very bad macro problems

[nomadmike]

:| Its actually happens like this.

 

 

 

When autoer makers saw a demand in people wanting sharks they made themselves fish. Droping the prices is just a faster selling method. And there is a lot of them.

 

so why hasent this hapend to wood cutting? thats where i see a problem in the whole macro arguement, if its hapening to fishing why not wood cutting? after all both are quick 99's and both have very bad macro problems

 

 

 

Let me say this. Woodcutting has the tree falling over...move a spot...tree falls down...move a spot...etc. You waste more time And as stated by those rc's that 3 secs does add up :XD:

 

 

 

Sharks are less of a hassle.

[bgkahuna]

good point, the autoers may be contributing to the problem but there probably only about 25-35 percent of the problems.

 

 

 

its hard to blame jagex for this problem, they are game programmers with a real world economic problem that they know nothing about. when this game was created it was NOT designed for this type of economy and considering the problems are with the original skills its near impossible for them to fix at this point.

 

 

 

they basically have to devise a HUGE money drain or just let the game do its thing

 

 

 

 

 

** on response to the 3 seconds argument, fishing spots move and banks are usually farther about from fishing spots then trees**

[leebrave]

Sharks are easy to get without fishing or buying.

 

 

 

Troll runts drop noted shakrs and the new brine rats also drop noted shakrs - alot of people are now killing these to get sharks and other fish -so why fish and why buy.

[IGotGrapes]

:shame: :shame: :shame:

 

http://www.tip.it/runescape/?times=90

[dante1918]

:shame: :shame: :shame:

 

http://www.tip.it/runescape/?times=90

 

yes i read the artical and im aware my post touches on it. however if you look on the forums most people didnt seem to be able to understand the link between skill capes and price drops. i think i put up an arguement that clarafys the artical. also i went into grater detail on the fishing side of price drops

[tonytang123]

wow well posted, that's a very good idea on why sharks are cheap etc.

 

 

 

 

 

i kinda like that sharks are cheap..good for me cuz i never fish i use them to pk and i pk everyday so 8-)

 

 

 

and i also happen to like autoers, they bring prices down :lol:

[The_Valor]

Very good points made, I see what you are saying.

 

 

 

I'd say that is the best assumption on whats going on Ive heard yet.

[blouinator]

I am a 99 fisher as of today. I started fishing sharks at 87 fishing. You would see the odd macro(who i would report) When i hit around 93 fishing. They were increasing a little.When i hit 95 fishing they were everywere. I went to monks at 96 fishing becuase macros made the price of sharks go down. Cookers may have an effect, but mostly macros bring down the price.

[BBC3]

i used to think it was autoers as well but...

 

 

 

gold farmers seem more efficent, they dont break rules at all when they play, they are smarter than bots, the ONLY time they get banned is when they give all the stuff to the main account and sell it online.

 

which techincally hasnt broken the rule either, and the main account would be a lvl 3 that gets banned after the money is already sold.

 

 

 

and this is probably why friends who trust trade and etc get banned easily,

 

im pretty sure autoers have been mistaken for gold farmers all this time.

 

 

 

its a lose/lose situation so far for jagex

 

and a win/lose for the economy

[Alg]

i thought cooking came first...

 

it's all supply and demand, although macroers and skillcapers are the cause likely

[smartme]

By your reasoning, Guthans and Bones to Peaches are also to blame...

[jessy87]

before reading it was i was thinking it meant, literally killing fish you had caught. i was like maybe... but now i see what u mean by flooding the market

[rune0nite]

I talked to a friend a few weeks ago about this and came to the same conclusion now that people no longer barrow with sharks the only peopl that really need sharks are KQers pkers and the like. And I guess raw shark prices have fallen because the 99 cookers are a small population of people.

[HatSlick]

By your reasoning, Guthans and Bones to Peaches are also to blame...

 

 

 

How in the world did you draw this conclusion? He said it was because there are backlogs of cooked sharks that people need to get rid of. It is a greater number than the number of sharks that normally came into the game.

[Mementh]

The only reason this has not affected the yew/fletching market is this

 

 

 

YEWS GET A CERTAIN AMOUNT BACK NO MATTER WHAT!!!!

 

 

 

That means there is a stable return on investments... sorry but thats why.. the autoers/normal players know that the person that buys the logs gets X back per log and wants more...

 

 

 

yews have fluctuated a bunch i understand but not to this wild a swing..... because sharks don't have a return on investment..

[ValaraZ]

i used to think it was autoers as well but...

 

 

 

gold farmers seem more efficent, they dont break rules at all when they play, they are smarter than bots, the ONLY time they get banned is when they give all the stuff to the main account and sell it online.

 

which techincally hasnt broken the rule either, and the main account would be a lvl 3 that gets banned after the money is already sold.

 

 

 

and this is probably why friends who trust trade and etc get banned easily,

 

im pretty sure autoers have been mistaken for gold farmers all this time.

 

 

 

its a lose/lose situation so far for jagex

 

and a win/lose for the economy

 

 

 

I'm sorry, but are you stupid?

 

 

 

Do you have any idea what's the difference between gold farmer and a macro? None.

 

 

 

I'm sure all of us have read the article on chinese goldfarmers and by that you should allready know that they use macros on characters to repeat certain things untill they trade in the goods, for example chop wood.

 

 

 

Do you honestly think that there is a chinese person looking at the computer the whole time? No, they have several computers they need to monitor and that's what they get paid for.

 

 

 

The comment above me hits the nail btw, that's why sharks are going down, down, DOWN i tell ya!

[britrockdude]

I like how you pointed out the full circle with fletching, but the leftovers with sharks. Interesting point. Certainly would drive the price I'd say.

[primadog]

tbh, this look allot like a planned market manipulation.

 

 

 

If you don't believe me, ask others about how many successful coups happened in the past (mostly on rares, also on other item like the robin hats from a few weeks back). The surprise here is (if this is a coup) someone plan it on a much more developed market on sharks.

 

 

 

On my honor, I recommend everyone to stock up on sharks and wait out the market manipulation.

[jamie22b]

Yeah well wrote, sharks are not needed as much and yew logs are even more needed now since:

 

 

 

Sharks only used for combat

 

 

 

Yew logs needed for fletch + fm

 

 

 

Obviously demand is higher for yew logs which is why they rise

 

 

 

 

 

In the future though i reckon sharks will rise becouse more monsters will be released shark demand will increase

[kemikalkadet]

Well written article, i think you've hit the nail on the head for the main reason affecting shark prices. In a lot of skills changes happen that affect prices etc of old methods but i think shark fishing has had a lot of these in a short space of time which is what makes it most noticable. The point in your article i think is the main one, but also the introduction of monkfish, increase in autoers and new methods to obtain shark (monster drops) all play a small part too. Together, all these factors caused the massive price crash we've seen other the past months.

[Freesia]

One main reason why the fletching market is not affected compared to cooking is mainly due to the reason, when yew logs get passed into a fletcher hands, he turns it into a widely demanded bow by alchers. With magic skillcape going around, there's bound to be increase of alchers for extra yew longs put into game. Therefore, the supply and demand section is balanced.

 

 

 

For sharks it is different. The demand for it does not increase because skill cape update does not affect it. There is no skill cape "kq" or "pk" so demand stays rather constant, cooking skillcape causes supply of cooked sharks to go up and results in excess sharks in the game, accounting for the drop of price for cooked sharks. Probably the only way to address this is to reduce the rate of sharks put into market, mainly by reducing amount of players going for 99 cooking, which is not going to happen anytime now.