Affording Blues/SOS

jichiong · Post by **jichiong** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 2:42 pm

Hi Guys,

Im saving gold, meaning pick drops, sell equipments, elements and tabs. I don't buy equipments, i just use the equipment drops if they are better than what i have and sell my old one. So far, i've managed to save only 5m.

Is it better to upgrade my equipment by buying nice blues/sos at my level (assuming i can afford) to kill mob faster/level faster? Because at higher level i get better drops and could sell them more?

I mean which route (saving all the way or leveling up faster to get better drops) would give me enough to afford good gears at lvl 6x or 7x?

tnx

SuicideGrl · Post by **SuicideGrl** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:18 pm

if you do all the alchemy yourself it can arguably be cheaper. but to really do this properly you have to grind a wide range of mobs which drop all the different elements you would concievably need for alchemy at your degree. example:

I wear full 8th degree, which means my stanes need Earth 2/4/6/8, Water 2/4/6/8, Wind 2/4/6/8, and Fire 2/4/6/8. But when i am grinding on a mob for a quest, to farm, or just because it's not bot-infested there, those mobs will only drop 6 types of alchemy items which will each only give me 4 different elements, one of each category. some of these items will give some of the same elements. so grinding one set of mobs will not necessarily give you every element you would need to alchemize every possible stone you would want to pimp up your gear.

buying stones is another way to do it, but it sucks to buy a 5mil str stone only to have it fail. so maybe instead you buy the elements needed to make your own sword. this can work too, because each element is needed for more than one type of stone. but some of those elements are very costly (wind 4 on Xian costs upwards of 3.5k each sometimes). so this is also expensive.

so maybe buying pimped gear is the answer? it's definitely cheaper than pimping it yourself. i am trying to sell a pimped 64+5 ring right now w/ 100% blues and str+4 int+5. i have probably spent 100mil getting it to where it is, but i can't even sell it for 25mil now. it's a terrible return on my investment. it's cheaper to buy a piece of gear w/ str on it on Xian than it is to buy a stone and add it yourself, which wouldn't even necessarily work.

so in short, keep saving.

jichiong · Post by **jichiong** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:41 pm

Thanx SG!!

100m!! :shock:

I don't know how i can save enough to afford pimp gears considering i can save roughly about $100k-200k a day (it would mean 166 days just to afford your pimped up $25m).

Does the drop go up substantially in higher levels? I don't think gold does so maybe nice equipments every now and then that would sell for a couple mils each in say 7x?

WrathShielder · Post by **WrathShielder** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 3:52 pm

jichiong wrote:Thanx SG!!

100m!! I don't know how i can save enough to afford pimp gears considering i can save roughly about $100k-200k a day (it would mean 166 days just to afford your pimped up $25m).

Does the drop go up substantially in higher levels? I don't think gold does so maybe nice equipments every now and then that would sell for a couple mils each in say 7x?

I think you will find as you fight higher and higher level mobs that your drops/gold and sell value increases drastically. I am fighting 21-27 level mobs and depending on drops, I can make about $20k - $40k every 20 minutes and that is selling only back to NPCs. I don't keep a bunch of stuff and like you only watch for drops that I can trade out my old stuff for. If I decide to hang on to some things (good blues, + equip, good %/crit) then I could make $100K+ in that same 20-30minutes (plus stall time) so lets say I grind for two hours and only sell to NPC; I can make with gold and drops around $180K now if I decide to set up a stall and go to bed :roll:

then I can possibly make $400k by morning maybe.

But, at level 3x you should be seeing those same high $ drops like me or even more.??

jichiong · Post by **jichiong** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 4:09 pm

Quite true, but i noticed not many people buying equipments from stalls (not pimped up). So i end up selling most of my drops to npc. I try to keep the elements and elixirs though because the prices are not good now (weapon for 180k, accessory 35k, shield for 45k, protectors for 60k in red sea).

Also, a factor maybe is that i don't kill as fast as other builds (str based s/s) hence the low drops.

and i don't use pet grabbers (don't want to give jm money for not that good a service!!)

good thing i was able to buy a gold dragon flag male for 2.5m coz they are selling like 4m now.

couldn't afford it nowadays. I also got a wolf. it was a big drain at 1m but hey, at least i got a cute puppy out grinding w me. :love:

WrathShielder · Post by **WrathShielder** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 5:55 pm

yeah unless you price cheap and have a catchy stall name you might not do well. I took a page out of someone's book and I take the npc price and double it and stall it. Let's say a level 24 bow and npc will buy for 16,000 so I will put like $30k or even $25k on it...cheap if you look around in other stalls (hopefully i have some decent %) and it will usually sell in an hour.....I sometimes will stall as ALL ITEMS $15K...now I make sure that the npc will give me at least that much. I also sell ton of elements and I price them cheap. I mean how much fire 1 do I need. I will sell like 200 Fire 1 for $15k....that is only $75/unit. Too cheap, maybe but sold within the hour stall time and with the mobs I am grinding now I get 50-100 more per hour at least Fire.

I sell the shield elixars but not weps and accessories/ I will use them myself.

Lastly I too do not have a pet nor will silk one but I do have a wolf

and like you I love to have my pup grinding by my side.

HakubiNi · Post by **HakubiNi** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:05 pm

Depending on your build, the wolf can be really helpful while grinding. Mine, besides dealing lots of damage, can tank like no other, and I don't even need to use pots on it. :roll:

Selling cheap can be more worth. My friend has some talent on selling items, but I don't... Even following his suggestions on item prices I can barely manage to sell them. Eventually I got ticked off and NPC'ed them, even +3 stuff I happened to pick. If I sold it a little cheper, I might have gone off without stress and with more money.

I sell my shield elixires because I don't use them, but the rest I keep.

If you're looking for items, best you should kill some green mobs, they drop more items (altough not best level ones). You should favor looking for higher degree items too (so kill Scorpions instead of Hyeongcheons, might find a 32 weapon).

jichiong · Post by **jichiong** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:18 pm

tnx guys,

i guess i'll just save save and save. might as well start now rather than regretting it when i get to 7x and realizing that i could have saved enough to afford good gears.

im currently doing the 5x scales quest and the 5x expensive jewel quest. hope i'll get some good drops so that i can bump my gold.

good thing i was able to join my guild's trade run (i just used pots since the 8x were killing the thieves :wink:

). i got some good money out of that plus trader points. i wish they have more trade runs

MrBow · Post by **MrBow** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:11 pm

i wouldnt do much alchemy, it will cost you alot more money than it gives you
i only do elixers and sometimes str/int
i wait for a good buy (good stats) so i dont need to upgrade it
alchemy hates me

jichiong · Post by **jichiong** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:07 pm

i hear u, i had this blade once +1 with 2 lucky, so i used elixir, boom, gone +1, next, gone lucky. ouch!!

justaskphil · Post by **justaskphil** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:01 pm

buy everything pre-pimped & sell your raggedy tabs...if need cash, make int/str stones. Keep your elements, you'll need them later...

Let me tell you a story about farming a 4x nuker and selling 15k of wind 2 (bunwang farming), only to find yourself having to buy it again with your 6x because you didn't keep any.

@WIND 4 - OMG, why's it so expensive!?!??

jichiong · Post by **jichiong** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 9:06 pm

thanks, but i think i'll pass the alchemy stuff, wasn't too successful in earlier efforts. i would no longer need the elements right?

WrathShielder · Post by **WrathShielder** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 11:58 pm

Better yet, get in a good guild and let your high levels pimp you out (temporarily of course). I am wearing a 3rd degree SOS garment on loan until I find or buy a nice 4th degree set and one of my guildies loaned me his +5 Glaive (which I will be using in about 52%). Upon my next Glaive level, I will return it (or if I find a SOX Glav drop)

I likewise save all my drops for lower level guilders and share the love