What is wrong with "buying" skills?

[Zamorakshadow]

The only thing i hate about buyable skills is that someone who got a lucky visage drop get to train faster than someone who worked for a long long time.

 

 

 

Besides that, no problem with it, you are training faster, but with a price.

[ilovecardj]

No problems with people buying out skills.

 

 

 

Efficiency here is the key, and being smart. Usually efficient training seems expensive but in opportunity cost its miles faster and cheaper in the end.

 

 

 

same goes for power training.

 

 

 

 

 

Ive lost friends, been called "botter" , "no-lifer" "cheater" many times by some noob friends cause i train very effecient, and concentrate more then them on getting better exp.

 

 

 

Fact is playing efficient, is playing smart. its not cheating, its not any less respectable then someone who does it a slower way or in some cases a "dumber way"

 

 

 

Example. I just powered through teaks for 99 wc, didnt take that long at all. one friend says i dont deserve the cape and im a noob, because he slaved away at mage trees all the way to 99. Fact is I saved a few hundred hours more then him, and in that time I can just runecraft an easy 100M+, or start training a new skill. Tons of time/potential cash earned there. Its not my problem he chose a very innefective way to train his wcing, and im reaping alot more rewards then he is.

 

 

 

His cape isnt more earned in any way. We both earned the same amount of experience, just used different tactics. Some tactics are faster then others. Maybe he should have researched his method more, instead of complaining that teaks are a fake wc cape. And in the end the WC cape is a WC cape. It doesnt have a massive chart showing what kind of trees you cut on the back of it lol

 

 

 

Any how that could be said about any skill. New ways to train every skill are always coming out. Skills are always becoming faster. Theres nothing to do but accept that and move on

[mrph3r]

Here's a slightly different perspective from the ones I seemed to see while scanning the posts so far.

 

 

 

I'm a skiller, and an old-school one at that. I first created my account in 2002, and I've been the same combat level (89) for almost 4 1/2 years now.

 

 

 

I reached 99 agility in July 2006, when the Ape Atoll course was still fresh and new. Since then, there have been three new courses that have surpassed the approximate xp rate of the Ape course (40-44k without any pots). The Dorgesh-Kaan course was first, with an easy xp rate of 48-50k an hour at 90+, followed by the two Extended courses (63k for Gnome, 71k for Barb as the approximate max xp rates).

 

 

 

Does that devalue the 99 agility achievement compared to those who slaved away at a course with barely half the xp rate of the Barbarian course? I think most people (we people already at the top especially) would say that it does.

 

 

 

Likewise, with the more buyable stats such as herblore or smithing, the Grand Exchange update essentially destroyed any illusions of misinformation that people might have had with their suppliers. With the massive amounts of inflation coming from: a) the increasing population of fletch/smith alchers, B) 26k-ing, and c) a lack of effective and popular moneysinks, the relative trade value of skill items had to keep pace with this inflation. However, at the same time, due to the 'merchantability' of the Exchange, the top 1% (or fewer) of the community started to profit big-time from the Exchange and probably hold well over 50% of the wealth today. I don't begrudge people who make money from skills and use it to spend on the other skills (isn't that the point of the game? That's how I play it anyway - you don't get 137 million skilling xp by not spending money anywhere...), but money from merchanting? Those of us who play the game the way Jagex seems to expect us to simply get stomped on by the half-capitalist half-communist system that they've set up with the Exchange. What are we to do about it? Jagex says they're against price manipulation, but yet they can't do anything about shutting down merch clans now that the Exchange is in place. Once again, the most effective way to make money is to simply fleece it from the small-time traders by what most people would consider less than scrupulous methods.

 

 

 

So, somebody buys 80000 lantadymes, 80000 water vials, and 80000 blue dusts for 99 herb. Did they raise the 204m from runecrafting or fishing? Probably not.

 

Somebody buys 100000 adamant bars for 99 smithing. Did they raise the 266m from hunter or slayer? Again, unlikely.

 

The only two methods of gaining money that I would consider substantial enough to gain that kind of money, or even close, are runemining and double natures, both of which require incredible amounts of time to put in to make that kind of money. The likelihood is that those skill-buyers are merchanters, those who perpetuate this cycle of separating the extravagant haves from the subsisting have-nots.

 

 

 

So, when the do-it-yourself skillers see themselves being passed by people who earned their money by essentially stealing it from other people, including themselves, we tend to get a bit ruffled.

[rsp]

The likelihood is that those skill-buyers are merchanters, those who perpetuate this cycle of separating the extravagant haves from the subsisting have-nots.

 

 

 

So, when the do-it-yourself skillers see themselves being passed by people who earned their money by essentially stealing it from other people, including themselves, we tend to get a bit ruffled.

 

 

 

Amen!

[Troacctid]

I don't begrudge people who make money from skills and use it to spend on the other skills (isn't that the point of the game? That's how I play it anyway - you don't get 137 million skilling xp by not spending money anywhere...), but money from merchanting? Those of us who play the game the way Jagex seems to expect us to simply get stomped on by the half-capitalist half-communist system that they've set up with the Exchange. What are we to do about it? Jagex says they're against price manipulation, but yet they can't do anything about shutting down merch clans now that the Exchange is in place. Once again, the most effective way to make money is to simply fleece it from the small-time traders by what most people would consider less than scrupulous methods.

 

 

 

So, somebody buys 80000 lantadymes, 80000 water vials, and 80000 blue dusts for 99 herb. Did they raise the 204m from runecrafting or fishing? Probably not.

 

Somebody buys 100000 adamant bars for 99 smithing. Did they raise the 266m from hunter or slayer? Again, unlikely.

 

The only two methods of gaining money that I would consider substantial enough to gain that kind of money, or even close, are runemining and double natures, both of which require incredible amounts of time to put in to make that kind of money. The likelihood is that those skill-buyers are merchanters, those who perpetuate this cycle of separating the extravagant haves from the subsisting have-nots.

 

 

 

So, when the do-it-yourself skillers see themselves being passed by people who earned their money by essentially stealing it from other people, including themselves, we tend to get a bit ruffled.

 

Actually, at current prices, 99 herblore with antifire pots costs 174m after reselling the finished potions. And that's if you buy unfinished lantadyme potions instead of herbs. It can be obtained much cheaper in other methods as well. But that's beside the point.

 

 

 

Once again, this isn't directly related to the topic at hand. Your issue here has really nothing to do with "buying" skills at all; it's just about earning money, merching, and rich players in general.

 

 

 

And anyway, there's nothing inherently wrong with solo merchanting. It's just the big clans that damage the economy and defraud innocent players for profit, and you seem to have lumped all merchanting together. Solo merchanting is even encouraged by the Grand Exchange itself--just look at the NPCs gathered around shouting about how much money they're making.

[mrph3r]

I felt the need to lay the groundwork to make the point, and I did get a bit carried away.

 

 

 

 

 

Either way, Jagex is sending blatantly mixed messages about the state of merchanting and how, if at all, it should be carried out. Jagex did not condemn selling items at whatever price you wanted to try to before the trade limits, but the Grand Exchange implies that merchanting is not meant to be done in the form that it was pre-'08.

 

Before I descend into another elongated rant, all I will say is that pure skilling is often held in higher regard than merchanting to finance skills, whether or not one is more effective than the other. I'm one of those who would rather follow that example than perhaps try to make a quicker buck.