Market Report – January 2011

((Dev Note:  I end this report with a bit of an editorial/opinion piece regarding a rumor I’ve heard.  It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s true, but I simply don’t understand WHY you would do it from a business standpoint because it doesn’t have any longevity and I imagine it would hurt one’s reputation in the eyes of the older gamers.  Skip down below for that piece.-S.K.))

NOTE: All prices and price-ranges listed were observed on January 7th and 8th.  If you have a shop and I missed it in my survey, please send me an IM in world and a Landmark.  I will include it in the next month’s Report.

A new year of scavenging and hoarding and a new season of barter and trade have arrived in the Wastelands.  The population of scavs has steadily increased over the last couple of months and consequently, so has the number of local traders looking to unload some of their loot.  While most of the old shops remain, many new ones have sprung up and even a couple of competitive public marketplaces.  One of the largest is the Junkyard Public Market, hosted by the Black Market ghouls.  Its many tables and crates of salvage and food are arranged high and low in a damp chamber within the Junkyard tunnels.  Another is the Swamp Rat Trading Company located in a modest shack in Malady Bog.  The Swamp Rats have packed the inside of this shack with tables heaped with salvage from various sellers.

The Public Market and the Swamp Rat Trading Company are only two of the many new shops, large and small, that have appeared in the last few months.  I’ve explored the residential regions of the estate and taken note of the shops I found as well as their locations.  The SLURL’s for each shop are linked to their name in the pricing lists below.  Some are owned and stocked by individuals or groups while others are public marketplaces.  Prospective buyers and traders should investigate each one on their own to draw their own conclusions about where to take their business.

I’ve also revised the format of the Market Report.  There are three separate lists below: Food, Salvage, and Weapons.  For Food and Salvage, I’ve taken note of the price ranges for the three (3) basic types found in salvage crates appearing in the estate: Common (BV:1), Uncommon (BV:7), and Rare (BV:10).  I’ve also added a fourth column, highlighting particular foodstuffs or salvaged goods that commonly appeared among some of the shops and their prices.  For Weapons, I’ve also split the list across four columns: Melee, Pistols, Rifles, and Ammo.

The reader should bear in mind that these price lists are only meant to reflect a range of prices observed at these shops for a variety of goods.  The generally agreed upon rule-of-thumb for basic pricing is the Barter Value(BV) of an item multiplied by ten (BV x 10).  Some sellers may choose to go above or below this in their pricing and that’s certainly understandable since some salvage items have a high demand while others do not.  It is up to the buyer to decide how much they’re willing to spend.

Understandably, not everyone wants to pay for salvage or food.  Some may wish to only barter and trade salvage-for-salvage to get what they need.  Don’t worry because there are many, including most of the shopkeepers at these establishments, who will gladly do just that.  Just be sure you trust who you’re dealing with.  Regardless, it’s still worthwhile to learn and understand the range of Barter Values tied to particular items in both methods of business.

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FOOD

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SALVAGE

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WEAPONS

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((Dev’s Note:  While selling salvage for lindens is one of the long-standing methods of commerce in the game in addition to directly bartering salvage-for-salvage, I’ve heard rumor that some people are actually selling recipes.  Of course there’s nothing that says you can’t do that.  The Devs realize there’s no way we could take such a stance anyways because it couldn’t even be policed.  We DO frown on people handing out recipe lists and players have been banned from the game for doing so.  Regardless, I believe selling recipes is a business mistake for both sides in such a deal while also defeating a certain spirit of the game.

For the Seller:  Let’s talk $$$ since that’s what concerns you.  Simply put, selling recipes is bad business logically because it is not renewable.  You’re really hurting your own business because it does not produce a sustainable customer base.  Conceptually, Recipes are essentially priceless because they are the KNOWLEDGE of a thing.  By selling off that knowledge, the seller has chosen to give up ALL advantage they ever had to the buyer for a particular product.  Once that route of business is chosen, the seller has set himself up to eventually sell all of his knowledge.  The seller will only receive repeat business from that buyer for as long as he knows more than the buyer.  Eventually, the buyer will no longer need the seller for anything because: 1.They can now make the product on their own and/or 2. They become a competitor who turns around and sells that knowledge off also. The seller may have acquired some cash for selling off recipes but it’s really not a renewable business model.  It dries itself up once you’ve sold off all you know.  Maybe you think there’s always some newb that will bite.  Yeah, that’s probably true but you’re still only increasing the number of your competitors.  Most old-timers are going to frown upon it anyways and probably spread word of your practice which hurts your potential business with them and others.  You’ll soon learn that Wastelanders, despite their various rivalries, are VERY protective of their home and the game.

When there’s an update, what will the seller do?  Chances are they didn’t even figure the first batch out on their own but got it from someone else.  The veterans won’t dare sell a recipe or give it up easily.  Some will only exchange knowledge for knowledge, recipe for recipe, IF they think it’s worth it.  Others will refuse to even share it with members of their own clan/faction, insisting members figure it out on their own but willing to support them in other ways (with food or ammo or weapons they’ve already made).

For the Buyer:  Although you may think you’re walking away the big winner in this scenario, it’s still just a game.  A FREE game.  I’d say 90% of the traders and merchants are residents who use salvage/food/weapon sells to pay rent for their land and they work hard to provide those goods, but they do not sell recipes.  It simply doesn’t make sense for them to do so.  Why spend a large sum of money for a mere game recipe?  If you’re a Wastelands resident, save those $$$ for tier!  If you’re just a gamer, STILL save those $$$ for something else.  In many instances, you’ll just learn a recipe with ingredients that are compounds you still don’t know how to make (unless you pay them even more money).  Most importantly, NEVER give up all of your salvage just to learn a recipe.  If you play casually, salvage will be hard enough to collect already.  You’ll really be kicking yourself if you just gave away what you needed to make what you just learned.

If you really want to learn how to craft your own weapons, then take the time to actually scavenge and spend time at the masheen.  If you don’t have the patience for that, then at least ally yourself with someone or some faction that loves to do that and work out an arrangement where they will make it for you.  In doing so, you’ll have an ally and friend to play the game with and possibly help fight off the occasional hungry scavenger bandit! – S.K.))