Party Hats - The Only Tradeable Skillcape?

[r2-pleasent]

The Skill Cape update which came out last year was one of the most impactful changes of all time in Runescape2. It gave players a reason to level skills past the former 80-85 milestones, and offered them a way to publicly demonstrate their achievements in the game. Unnoticed by many, however, is the relationship that was created between Skillcapes and Party Hats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The similarities are huge between a Skill Cape and a Party Hat. Skill Capes are wearable achievements, much the same as Party Hats. A wearable, tradeable Rare demonstrates a player has a certain level of Wealth. A wearable skillcape demonstrates a player has a certain level of a skill. The only difference between the two? A Phat has an actual market value; but are Phats now restricted in price by the Skill Cape? Must they now reflect the prices of raising a skill, due to their similarities? I'm going to say, yes, they do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's examine the average buyable skill, one that's been in Runescape for years: Firemaking. Firemaking is the classic buyable skill, you buy the logs, you burn them. The only return you get for consuming the materials is experience, all that remains afterwards is Ash. Assuming a player uses the highest level traditional wood, buying them at average prices, is 90K (Willow) + 1373K (Yews) + 38.8M (Magics), so roughly 40 Mil. So, essentially, you could say a Firemaking Cape costs 40M + The opportunity cost of burning the logs. If we say an hour is worth about 600K to an efficient player, and they earned the experience at an overall rate of approximately 70K / Hour, then this amounts to approximately 185 Hours, worth a total of another 111M. So, the total cost of 99 Firemaking is approximately 150M to an efficient player burning the highest level traditional woods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, if the buyable skill of Firemaking was compared in price to a colour of Party Hat, it would currently be in between a Purple and a Yellow. This seems to make sense, as the rate for leveling Firemaking is quite high, and the cost is low comparative to other skills. This shows a direct relation between Party Hat prices and Skill-Leveling prices. Other skills are much more difficult to measure, but it's quite obvious that one such as Construction would be much more expensive, likely falling somewhere between a White and Blue Party Hat. It is very important to remember that opportunity cost must be factored into the equation when measuring a Skill's price for this equation to work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So what does this mean? I theorize that Party Hat rises have subsided due to their new linkage with skills. Raw Material prices now have a direct relation to Party Hat prices, and as we know, Raw Materials very seldom change in price. This should lead to much more stable prices in the Rares economy, perhaps beginning with a slow decline, as Rares seem to be somewhat overpriced at the moment. I think it was a very interesting update by Jagex, which sheds light on the fact that the Rares problem was one much more complex than inflation. It was the lack of linkage between the skilling economy and the Rares economy.

[BoD]

party hats are pretty

 

 

 

thats all i got to say as that whole thing just blew over my head

 

 

 

it woulda have been cooler if my intelligence level wasn't so low

[krisc6]

i must agree about the firemaking skill cape.cookings another one you can buy youreself.

 

 

 

i dont know what the price of a blue phat is (490 mill last time i looked) but i have a freind with 99 construction and he says hes spent aboyt 800 mill+ so i think constructions a bit anomolous.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the ultimate sign of wealth thought is a blue phat or 3 full sets of 3rd age armour

 

 

 

great topic btw.id like to see people reactions to it

[ktmcf121]

party hats = skill capes? i dont think so. a skill cape means you spent hundreds of hours leveling a useful skill, whereas you could have spend those hours merchanting to get the money to buy a party hat with absolutely no skills at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

as far as the buyable skills go, i guess you could compare them to partyhat prices, but still, after you're done, you actually have a 99 skill to make that money back with later(even firemaking, if you count shade burning, maybe not so much with construction).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but as for your "theory," id say its pretty much common knowledge that people are putting more value on the skillcapes now than just having a lot of wealth, which is what a partyhat shows.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

i guess you could say the construction cape is comparable to a party hat, but for other skills, i'd say no. to me, i'd rather have a few skill capes than a set of partyhats.

[STOOF]

yea good theroy intresting to read, althouw i think that players wil have to be very deticated to rs when they play for 185 hours and make 600k evry singel time. (gess more like 200 hours)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Skill Capes are wearable achievements, much the same as Party Hats"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dont forget if i get lucky i and lure a phat that dousent mean i got scill, it only means the other person is silly enuf to take it in to the wild. i think its the same with staking there is a "luck" factor involved.

 

 

 

and with scill capes u will you will have to lvl the scill up to 99 before u chan wear it witch dous prove ur achievement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

yea horibel spelling i know :anxious: :-$

[tskolar]

...but are Phats now restricted in price by the Skill Cape? Must they now reflect the prices of raising a skill, due to their similarities? I'm going to say, yes, they do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The influence of skillcapes on rares prices is probably mild at best. Most people, well the large majority of players does not really give a damn what kind of skillcape do they own as long as they do own one. And if they do allready have one, they merely want it to be trimmed pronto. Thats more or less it as far as i know ( i might be wrong though).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fastest skills to level at decent gp used/ exp gained and exp/ per hour ratio are cooking on one side and the fletching on the other side. This two skills together with combat training are probably the most used training methods for players which want to get a skillcape fast and/or cheap. I see no ( or little) correlation between training in this skills (or most others) and rare market beeing almosts stagnent for the last 8 months.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rares are probably staying foot becasue of two main reasons:

 

 

 

- Jagex seems to have developed and is enforcing a strict "anti-inflation policy"

 

 

 

- the impossibility of concentrating capital.

[r2-pleasent]

party hats = skill capes? i dont think so. a skill cape means you spent hundreds of hours leveling a useful skill, whereas you could have spend those hours merchanting to get the money to buy a party hat with absolutely no skills at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So long as you're making the money within the game, what's the big difference if you're technically using a skill or not? Could you not say that GP is like the exp points for Merchanting? There are millions of players on Runescape, and they all have different goals. Some of them are firmly concentrated on Skill Total, some of them care only about Combat stats, some of them only care about wealth. What you are saying is that there is a "right" way to play this game, but in an MMORPG, so long as you're playing within the rules, there's no "wrong" way to play.

[Esper_Jones]

I know a lot of people who just buy the 140,000 willows necessary for 99, and only lose 4M doing so.

[Fredz]

party hats = skill capes? i dont think so. a skill cape means you spent hundreds of hours leveling a useful skill, whereas you could have spend those hours merchanting to get the money to buy a party hat with absolutely no skills at all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Skill? Money?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think you should take a deeper look on how rs works, and what "wealth" really is in Runescape. When you reach a certant point in Runescape. Its actually not about "skill" at all, its about game progress. And game progress is measured in time invested. So comparing a party hat (game price ~600mil) to firemaking (80mil + X houers invested). (X hours invested = Y mil's.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But its really not as simple as that. Offcourse it is not!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taking it to the next step we would have to analyze how much profit( remember profit is equal to time invested) you get by having a party hat. And how much profit you get when you have reached 99 fletching for example.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, how much profitt you get by having a party hat. No-one can tell. The strength to the party hat is that it seems to increase its value over time. While the fletching skill don't give you any profit by just having 99 fletching, but you have to use it in order to extract profit from it. However if you constantly fletch for profit, getting 99 fletching would probably yield a better profit than getting the party hat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So all tho lets say (as an example) that a red mask and 99 fletching is equal in 'value' (which makes it equal in game progress) does not make it equally good when it comes for -future- game progress.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Breakdown:

 

 

 

Lets say one hour of game time is currently worth 130k for you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Theoretically lets say that at this rate you would need to spend 200 hours to get a party hat, or 200 hours to get 99 smithing. While thees two things are cost the same time, thus yield the same "game progress", you might be better of getting 99 smithing. because getting 99 smithing would raise your current value on your game time. to lets say 250k an houer. Instead of 130k an houer. While with a party hat, it might raise like 30mil in price over a year. But your game time would still stay at only 130k worth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So it depends on your style of playing. If you plan on quitting for a year. a party hat with a current game value of "200" would be a better investment than 99 smithing with a current game value of "200".

[r2-pleasent]

I know a lot of people who just buy the 140,000 willows necessary for 99, and only lose 4M doing so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You are forgetting to factor in Opportunity Cost to your calculation. Sure, the material cost might only be 4 Mil, but the extra time used to burn Willows instead of Yews / Magics costs you in the long run.

[DeadPolkaDots1]

Yep I agree. Alot of people who have rares stashed away in their bank can buy several 99s. If you have the fudning for a buyable skill, then it is yours. That is why I respect pople with 99 fishing, mining etc, as you cannot buy those skills.

[Fredz]

Yep I agree. Alot of people who have rares stashed away in their bank can buy several 99s. If you have the fudning for a buyable skill, then it is yours. That is why I respect pople with 99 fishing, mining etc, as you cannot buy those skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You clearly missed the point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The thing is that you can convert a party hat into time, and you can convert a skill into time. Then you can compare them to see whats the greatest achievement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its a personal calculation though. So its not a universal formula you can use to calculate whats greater.

[WookieeMania12]

you know, another good way to get a phat is to hope a drop trade happened, lol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, I have 86 fishing and sooner or later I'll try to get 99. Although a different you don't mention is that there is no emote for phats but there are emotes for skill capes :ohnoes:

[Adam007]

This should lead to much more stable prices in the Rares economy, perhaps beginning with a slow decline, as Rares seem to be somewhat overpriced at the moment.

 

 

 

You think so? They've remained stagnant for over 6 months now. I think if anything they should start rising again.

[tommyolson2]

i want to point out that it is infact quite possible to concentrate wealth to a powerful few. I am referring to the stakers with the skill or possibly bugs capable of gathering up the money of all the hopefuls who try to get into staking themselves.

 

 

 

kids work for money- invest in items- stake items- etc.

[Clown]

This is a good idea. But you have to remember, anyone can get a skill cape, and not everyone can get a party hat. When I say this, I mean that you could get 99 firemakeing if you cut all the willow logs yourself, say. That means a level 3 character with a rune axe (Who is F2P) can get 99 firemakeing (As well as Wcing in the 80's) without spending one gold coin. You should also take into account the fact that skills take a somewhat set amount to buy to level 99, whilst party hat prices have such a high base price (Along with a rising value every day), so getting one could be infinity easier then getting the other. In the same spirit, a level 3 could merchant at high levels to make hundreds of millions of gold. So, in a way, this means that anyone has the opportunity to get high skills, or a party hat, equally.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...But I still trust your skills as a merchant, good report =D>

[Dalcyte]

party hats are in a sense the merchanting skillcape, or the skillcape of who has been around the longest.

[wakka102]

Well lets hope phats stay stable if I ever hope to get a full set after all 99's (currently have a white) :ohnoes:

[nyyankees588]

nice, read, i think that rares are still over rated though

[Pandaman115]

Let's examine the average buyable skill, one that's been in Runescape for years: Firemaking. Firemaking is the classic buyable skill, you buy the logs, you burn them. The only return you get for consuming the materials is experience, all that remains afterwards is Ash. Assuming a player uses the highest level traditional wood, buying them at average prices, is 90K (Willow) + 1373K (Yews) + 38.8M (Magics), so roughly 40 Mil. So, essentially, you could say a Firemaking Cape costs 40M + The opportunity cost of burning the logs. If we say an hour is worth about 600K to an efficient player, and they earned the experience at an overall rate of approximately 70K / Hour, then this amounts to approximately 185 Hours, worth a total of another 111M. So, the total cost of 99 Firemaking is approximately 150M to an efficient player burning the highest level traditional woods.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

40M for 99 firemaking? It really all depends on how you train it. I calculated it from where I currently am (60), + training at a Lumbridge General Store (12 GP per willow), and I got 1,700,568 GP. 1.7M. Of course ,taht's 141714 willows to burn. It's all how you train it.

[DeadPolkaDots1]

 

Yep I agree. Alot of people who have rares stashed away in their bank can buy several 99s. If you have the fudning for a buyable skill, then it is yours. That is why I respect pople with 99 fishing, mining etc, as you cannot buy those skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You clearly missed the point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The thing is that you can convert a party hat into time, and you can convert a skill into time. Then you can compare them to see whats the greatest achievement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its a personal calculation though. So its not a universal formula you can use to calculate whats greater.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How did I miss the point? :-s I was just saying that someone with 20k in their bank cannot go out and purchase 99 cooking as someone with 10mil can.

[r2-pleasent]

 

 

Yep I agree. Alot of people who have rares stashed away in their bank can buy several 99s. If you have the fudning for a buyable skill, then it is yours. That is why I respect pople with 99 fishing, mining etc, as you cannot buy those skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You clearly missed the point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The thing is that you can convert a party hat into time, and you can convert a skill into time. Then you can compare them to see whats the greatest achievement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Its a personal calculation though. So its not a universal formula you can use to calculate whats greater.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How did I miss the point? :-s I was just saying that someone with 20k in their bank cannot go out and purchase 99 cooking as someone with 10mil can.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Think the problem he had with your quote was that you didn't factor the time in. Sure, you may have the money to buy the materials, but the time required is equally important, if not more.

[Fredz]

 

 

 

Think the problem he had with your quote was that you didn't factor the time in. Sure, you may have the money to buy the materials, but the time required is equally important, if not more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, exactly. If you already have a party hat to "buy a skill" you have already put tons of hours into the game. So a bought level 99 construction does not need to be a poorer achievement than getting 99 fishing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

People seem to think that if you have "bought a skill" its less admirable than if you had "worked" for it, like fishing, mining etc. People need to remember that actually accumulating the cash takes a lot of time as well. And has probably taken a longer time than the time taken when he/she actually starts to train the skill with the money he/she have.

[das1330]

hmm, i think your right about partyhats and other rares being similar in status to skill capes, but i dont agree with the fact that that is the reason that prices have been stagnent. there simply isnt enough people to affect that. also, most sales of phats are between merchants, meaning that the prices are largely independent of skill cape prices. i think the reason that they arent going up is because if there really is a 2.1 billion gp cap, then its just not possible to gather enough money to buy them.

[TheAncient]

This doesn't belong in P2P general :wink:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can see where your point is coming from but your explict argument isnt clear through your writing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's quite an intriguing idea... but the exactly values you put on the capes (i.e. Yellow party hat on 99 FM) doesn't exactly work out. A staker could make a party hat in a week, and you can't do that with firemaking. It's a different type of status. Personally I'd much rather have 3A top and bottom than any skill cape.