Marketing Mules

[KnitePrince1]

MUCH has changed in a little over a year since I was last capable of playing. We built a new house, and I am back.. to find a very different economy than the one I left..
i am not looking to make anyone mad, nor spark argument, so If what i state upsets you.. let it go as unintentional.. please.

When i was forced to walk away.. I was selling my mules regularly at 250K ea.. those were max mules, UN ointmented, those I did max out with oints sold for more..
I am currently attempting to re fit, into this economy, with little luck, but I will keep trying until I have nothing left to spend

Max Mules are priced 100K less, at 150K and selling.. VERY slowly.. Ointed mules with 1100 HP, and those with 1100 hp, and 550 stamina are 200 and 250K respectively.. and do not sell.. period..

at 5000 each.. 50 ointments costs 250K PLUS the reagents needed to change them over to make them stamina oints.. so, it would seem to me, that 1100 hp, and 550 stamina SHOULD be worth closer to 750K.. barring of course those who don't mind hunting oints in Fel to max their own pets.. so.. 250K should be a whale of a deal right? the Market is proving me wrong on all counts..
Fully ointed mules.. with ALL stats max ointed, minus Mana.. have over a mil each in ointments, and yet I cannot sell them for 500K..
the Mules I hunt with have 1100 HP, and normally maxed other skills, and I have little difficulty hunting normal mobs, doing Dread, travesty etc, even with one hand.. The mule I ride has 105 power scrolls, and IS fully ointed up.. and can kill a paragon Balron with only minor healing.. Solo..
I understand, that ED at 20K ea is gone. Ointments at 1400 Ea is gone. 500K normal max Nobles and Mules are gone..
(I saw normal max nobles for sale for 95K.. terrifying for the amount of effort and work that needs to go into them!!)
Even max Frenzies used to sell extremely well, and I cant even DUMP them for 40K ea.. I took five max frenzies in and ran blood a few times, killing the balrons with ease.. I thought maybe they had been nerfed.. but they worked to perfection.. yet, no one is interested..
Nobles, Frenzies etc are one thing.. yes, nobles are fast, frenzies have pack instinct as well.. but neither are poison immune, nor do they have backpacks allowing you to carry vast sums of loot and money out of Fel, so Apparently something else has changed I am not aware of....

So I guess, i am wondering what happened? What am i missing?
Again, I am not trying to stir controversy or make anyone angry, i am just wondering what i am doing wrong, or what has changed in order to adapt to a situation that is no longer friendly to the things I want to do/enjoy doing the most.
Thx for any constructive replies!!
KP

[tiggerjlk]

I can't vouch for the last year or so, but I will say for my game style a mule is more of a stepping stone.
I bought one at a time each at a cost anywhere from 170k to 200k.
I used them to progress enough to buy nobles. Now that I have nobles, I will be working towards imps, then towards bios.

As large groups of people progress, they tend to sell off their mules. in a few months, mules may be worth more again. They tend to peak and valley.

I bought my first mule maxxed out. after that, I was able to hunt and make my own ointments, so it was cheaper for me to just by a mule and work it up myself...now that I have the money, I would rather just buy one already maxxed

[aaron]

Undercutting is rampant with the exlist site. Everyone also seems to favour imps now so bred pets took a bit of a nose dive. I only know of a couple situations, but when a new player is given maxed breedable pets, their effort put in is zero so they feel no loss when they severely undercut everyone else just to make a quick buck. The original owners may have thought they were doing a great deed by helping a newb but in reality it's like introducing a foreign species to an ecosystem. In my opinion with the exlist, just one single person can tank an items value by extreme undercutting on a semi regular basis.

Just my point of view but the exlist needs to go.

[debeza]

I agree with some of the above comments, but I think the biggest reason is that imprisoned pets are very easy to come by. In fact, the price for an imp pet has drastically plummeted as well. If an imp can be purchased for 40k-100k for a lower strength one, the need to buy a pet with a weaker attack and the possibility to lose stats upon death diminishes.

Mules are useful for their pack. But what you'll find is that for those who don't have a BOH, some ride a single mule and sport 4 imps.

[KnitePrince1]

OK.. so its mostly the IMPS that did it.. i was afraid of that when they arrived on Scene.. was the imps that sent the price of Oints through the roof as well...
Too much time and effort invested to walk away from Exc now, and there are few shards that are anywhere near the quality of this one.. i just wish that Coli would consider what he is doing more carefully before adding things that will destroy something he already has..(maybe he did, and maybe this is what he wanted to happen? I hope not... ) I suppose, depending on your perspective.. it goes both ways.. there are those who love their imps, and there are those who PLAY for the animal breeding.. Losing one for the other doesnt seem to be a good compromise to me.. but I am biased toward the breeding side.

When fighting the big mobs, I make good support for others, but have little luck taking a primary role. Doing champs.. i couldn't even get the champs health bar up, and attack him before he was swarmed and died, so very seldom got power scrolls.. too slow.. so i gave it up unless someone needed me for support, trees or healing etc. so I resorted to marketing, and really liked it.. In fact, my wife plays, but doesnt ever hunt, she LOVES to tend the store, and I am OK with that.. except that the expense has grown so disproportionally .. I begin to see why people do NOT price their stuff for sale to make a "little" on each item.. they price things to double the profit for a reason.. live and learn.

I also chose to stop hunting, because of a total lack of consideration/respect/morality. It did not matter what you were hunting, someone always runs in and starts killing over the top of you.. if you say something to them, they reply.. you dont OWN the spawn! so i leave... When i approach a spawn, and someone is there, i leave, and try later. I do that, out of respect, and consideration for them.. It has happened to me repeatedly since I returned, so once again i stopped hunting, i remember the names, and when those people ask questions i refuse to answer them. When they PM me to buy something. I refuse to sell to them, and tell them why, and it makes enemies.. Enemies that will likely never visit my shop again.. so i am better off NOT hunting.. I guess, my age, and upbringing have taught me to be a good person, and in todays society, that is more of a detriment than a blessing.

My progression was much different.. i bought Nobles first.. they were OK.. They did their job admirably, but were nothing I was impressed with, other than them being FAST like little ninjas...
Then i had a BIO made.. and still own it.. more of a pain than its worth imho. max bio btw.. massive tank, and will still use it if I ever go kill Grizzle again.. but NOT something i want to have with me all the time.. cant shrink it, have to wait on it constantly in Fel etc...

then i got ONE max mule... Three days later i sold the Nobles, and bought four more Max mules at 500K each. I loved them so much that I still own all five of them, and still use them every day. Faster than a Bio, but still have packs, and are poison immune, can be shrunk, and with six total (bought another slot) I NEVER run out of room to carry everything I looted in Fel.. i still love them....
I had at one time, four imp squirrels.. they hit like a truck.. but, like the nobles.. they still didnt impress me.. I remember tossing them in the trash can... then watching as the price on them began to go through the roof, and the price of Oints to max them also began to rise.... then I sold my house (IRL)., and had to get the new one built....


So.. basically.. mining is toast, and breeding is toast.. at least as far as it USED to be... i will have to learn to adapt somehow if I want to keep playing.. which i do.. Hopefully the bees and the minor sales will be enough to continue to support me. Peace!

[Taz2184]

Just my point of view but the exlist needs to go.

No, keep it but remove pricing. It's nice to have when you're looking fer something specific and don't feel like searching through a gazillion vendors.

[aaron]

Just my point of view but the exlist needs to go.

No, keep it but remove pricing. It's nice to have when you're looking fer something specific and don't feel like searching through a gazillion vendors.

There was no issues with UO before any exlist existed. Houses actually had value depending on their location. I remember a house close to Britain was worth a ton on OSI because of the traffic. Now houses are only worth the cost of the foundation. Home vendors are non existent and really only the elite can run a succesful vendor mall for extended periods of time. I suppose removing pricing may slow down the crash but I think we need a fix. Remember, you cant compare the UO economy to our real economy. Everything sold cost nothing to get in the first place. Even if you did a champ, got a PS and sold it for 1 gp, you still made a profit at the expense of your time only. We basically introduced the speed and convenience of online shopping into a world of suppliers that get all their supplies free. New players who are always desperate for cash can now find the lowest price and cut it in half. They make a small profit because they basically have a no-loss investment. That item now had its value cut in half. Anyways people may disagree but the exlist should be removed in its entirety.

[Ornias]

I don't know about others and can not speak for them.
But, personally the most I use exlist for is to get a general idea on what price to sell goods for.

I have a hard enough time selling things as is, going through the hassle of coming up with outrageous prices doesn't seem like my cup of tea.

Occasionally I do look up who has the cheapest price on certain items. Mainly because I've been here going on two months (Love this shard) and am having trouble making enough gold to make ends meet so to speak.

As for player house vendors I just started one up today in Madga Umbra. Not much in stock yet, whether it will be worth it or successful or not I can't say.

My two cents.

[KnitePrince1]

Ornias..
Talk to anyone on the SHOPS list, and get a vendor with one of them..
At BASE vendor fee, it costs ten K a month for your vendor.. even a noobie noob can make that much to set aside a month.. having said that, you should be able to get a FREE vendor spot JUST to get more vendors in the shops.. The SHOPS menu allows perusal through the web to check prices and stock so People dont have to go running all about, and it also allows those who dont mind shopping direct access to those shops.. The "GATE" for the shops is EXPENSIVE.. so take advantage of the shops that have it, the traffic is higher, and your chances of selling items much better..
PM Sallylyn for a free spot if your interested.