Price Gouging on FFXI

[Archi]

I'm not sure how many of you actually play, but if there are those among you who do, I'm sure of late you've noticed the sky-rocketing prices on items like Sniper's Rings (700,000 gil on my server, and over a million on others...), Leaping boots (which have doubled on my server in price since the U.S. PC release), Emperor's Hairpin, and so on.

I've heard all kinds of reasoning for this; some people say the gil-sellers/botters are to blame (probably true to a point), some blame the high costs on the fact that money is more available to more players than it has been to the past and as such, people are willing to allow prices to climb at a rapid rate.

We can all debate the how's and why's of the issue, but the bigger question is... what can be done to cull the trend? Certainly it's not possible to coordinate a sort of boycott of these luxury items, what with the language barriers and of course the higher level players that seem to have a memory lapse when it comes to ever having trouble affording integral equipment for their jobs.

Obviously, not everyone has the time to take up a craft and make items like Sniper's Rings themselves-- and hell, even if they did, components of high cost equipment like that cost so much that it really wouldn't make a difference. From what I see on the Auction House, no one's really making a profit off Sniper's rings on my server; Archer's Rings (the big cost item in synthesizing them) cost 700k a pop. Sniper's rings sell for the same amount.

So crafting's out of the question. What about camping these mobs, then? Perhaps with Leaping Lizzy, or Valkurm Emperor, you might have a chance at getting those items-- they're heavily camped, certainly, but because of the spawn radius, you generally will have a chance at getting the items despite the ceaseless rumors of botters. Speaking of which, I've heard reports of a large number of people camping the spawn points of Stroper Chyme in Ordelle's Caves-- supposedly botters and/or gil sellers, getting spawns before the enemies are even visible. That being said, that too is out of the question.

With all these problems, what can one do about it? I'm currently a level 45 DRK, and I'd love to get my hands on a pair of Sniper's Rings. But it's just not feasible. Any ideas on what to do?

[Teenr0cker]

How hard is it to get 100,000 gil? Just outta curiousity...

[Archi]

Well, farming I can get 10k in 1-2 hours-- more if I have competition. If you're a high level crafter, you can make gobs of money in no time-- but that requires an insane amount of time and expense. You can mine or log as well as a decent means of making money, but there's a lot of competition as far as that goes, too.

Most I've ever made in a day was 80k, but you can only have 7 items on sale at the Auction House at once-- and I don't feel like shelling out the extra dollar a month to have a mule-- so I ended up waiting a while for it all to sell, anyway. Three days, to be exact.

If you're lucky and clip off an NM and get the drop (ha.), then you'll get of course a ton of money at once. Which is the only real good part about all the inflation, but that's not likely to happen.

[Teenr0cker]

hypothetically you could get yourself a pair in a month or so...but nobody wants to do that. My guess is that if there is any stat you can increase to help your chance of getting a componant, boost it. Then fight whatever you need to get them and craft it. Thats my best guess. And If crafting the rings won't work, craft lesser, but still expensive items and buy the rings if you can/want.

[Archi]

That would be the best course of action, if not for a couple of reasons. First off, there is no stat that boosts my chance of getting the item I need, other than (literal, not statistic [seeing as there IS no luck stat in FFXI]) luck. Stroper Chyme has two spawn areas, which are covered constantly by voke bots and gil sellers-- sometimes entire clans of gil sellers.

Even if I managed to kill one, my chance of getting the drop would be something abyssmal... like, 1/24 or something like that (I don't recall what it is to be honest).

What's worse, I can't really get anything close to those rings, either-- Sniper's give +5 accuracy a piece, and the closest thing at my level is Deft Rings, which are +3 Dex a piece. Basically, the accepted belief is that 2 points of Dexterity = 1 point of accuracy (this doesn't work in reverse for accuracy -> dexterity, though. Not that that matters...), so they don't even come close to comparing-- 3 total accuracy with a pair as opposed to 10 with a pair of Sniper's rings. And even barring all that, I'd need high goldsmithing level to even successfully craft the non-high quality synth of Deft Rings (they're actually the exceptional result of Ametrine Rings).

I suppose, though, that I could buy a pair of Deft rings. They're about 100k a piece, but they're the closest thing to Sniper's at my level. Even if they don't compare.

[Inderos]

I actually don't think there is anyone in this community that plays FFXI.

I would, if my computer were good enough... But, it's not.

So really, there is not going to be any conversation here about this subject that will result in a solution to your problem.

[Teenr0cker]

I was just kind of giving solutions from what I've learned from him and from playing Diablo2. I dislike playing MMORPGs if I have to pay monthly fee. I'm just not ready for that commitment.

[OverlordBill]

Wrong as always Inderos. You idiot. I hate you.

But in other news, Yay! Archi! You lurker you. I think it's Excell or Exiled or someone who plays FFXI. I'll have to look through some of the IRC logs.

Yeah. It's Exiled. I don't remember having seen him in a while though.

[Teenr0cker]

I just remembered some Kraiji asians i saw the other day. They said, to quote exactly "OMFG! esss oh Jaaaaaay!" Apparrently they had Stone-of-Jordan-ring-equivilant news on their hands.

[Archi]

Wrong as always Inderos. You idiot. I hate you.

But in other news, Yay! Archi! You lurker you. I think it's Excell or Exiled or someone who plays FFXI. I'll have to look through some of the IRC logs.

Yeah. It's Exiled. I don't remember having seen him in a while though.

Ah, thanks man. Was afraid I might be preaching to the wrong crowd, lol.

[Teenr0cker]

Like i said, I don't oppose it, just the pricing.

[Archi]

Yeah, but I figure if I go to the movies every weekend and spend $10 for two tickets, which means $40 for likely less than 8 hours of 'enjoyment' [assuming the movies are good], then $13 a month for unlimited access to 'enjoyment' that's likely equivalently fun, if not moreso, I'm getting a good deal.

[Excell]

Exiled. Yes, our names do spell alike Bill.

[Teenr0cker]

I dont go to the movies


often...>_>....<_<

[Exiled]

My personal money builder is camping for the Valkum Emperor. I make about 500k for each I sell on the auction house in Jeuno. (Ifrit)


But my personal oppion is that people are starting to get good and more people are able to get their hands on these kinds of items so they will mash the price up. I remember when Leaping Boots went for 150k in the AH, now they go for abour 300-350k.


But for cash I would hunt Notorious Monsters. Yep.