Herald Runs Again; Now with more Insight!
The Herald, as it continues, will be more focused on providing insight into the mystical World of Dungeons. This issue features some tremendously tractable and totally tip-top trading tips, courtesy of Memento! But first, we'll take a brief look at some planned design change/improvements on the slate for the next world, and review the exciting chat event that was held this past month. So read the usual League Run-Down, but don't miss these exciting new interview articles, sure to help you step up your game!
Caledonii League Run-Down: Groups - 2000 Season 10
This time around, the mighty Warriors of Kesmet met no resistance as they plowed their way through the heralded Sub-League 1, even with their hardy juggler extraordinaire, Silver Wing II, standing idle throughout the fights. The Heretics similarly beat up on Lucky XIII and The Gang of Non-Clever, with Lucky XIII taking both matches from The Gang, leaving is with a symmetrical 6-0, 4-2, 2-4, 0-6 standings table.
The much expanded Sub-League 2 saw parallel domination by Torrential Reigns, with X-Men and OOG's Revenge tied up in second with 8-4 records. However, X-Men didn't show up for a few matches, and lost some points as a result, placing them in third.
Sub-League 3 was won handily by Order of the Dark Blade, followed closely by Senatus Redux, whose only losses came to the first place group. The Twelve Warriors also just lost to the groups ahead of them in the standings, placing them securely in third in the low-level sub-league this round.
Designs on Design
A few quick notes on some design plans, according to Cathar from the design team:
First off, we can expect some quality restructuring of the current dungeon list. Per Cathar, we can expect there to be a more even distribution of dungeons across the level span, including both regular and appointment dungeons.
Secondly, dungeon rewards rework! Finally, dungeons will offer rewards that look a bit more friendly based on their difficulty level. This should make dungeon progression that much easier and more rewarding.
Last, the design team is hard at work and the next part of the Kargash quest should be ready for a run some time very soon.
Stay tuned for more design updates in the July Edition!
Sha-Jin Chat Event a Great Success
You may all remember details from a chat event coming out in thee last edition of the Herald. Well, the event was held as planned, and those fortunate enough to participate certainly got their money's worth (it was free, after all). The event even included an exciting visit from the Sha-Jin Ambassador himself, who gave a series of questions regarding Sha-Jin culture to those standing by, rewarding correct answers with many gifts! Further, he gave all those who participated several helpings of rice wine and chop suey!
The biggest winners of the evening were Dwargon (walked away with 12 haiku total), shadowice (8 haiku), Goldmoon (4 haiku), Mtsouy (4 haiku), Edwin (2 haiku), and Ragnor (1 haiku).
Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone who participated!
Trade Talk with Memento
Memento was kind enough to spare some time for us in this issue. Please enjoy this interview, chock-full of wonderful information and some quality insight into the trading world present in WoD.
WH: What are the group and clan benefits to having a strong trader in the group? I understand that more money is naturally nice, but many of the powerful items are unique drops, so groups aren't willing to trade them.
Memento: Different groups consists of different kinds of heroes with different kinds of builds. There aren't many unique drops that EVERY group needs for themselves. Some groups don't have a barbarian, some don't have a bard and so on. The trick is to be on the lookout for class-unique drops and groups that don't have that class with them. There are roughly 3 things you can do:
-You can check lot of treasure-vault posts (in the Adventurer's Riches section of the forums) and see if it shows up somewhere.
-You can keep a wishlist up to date and make sure people look at it.
-You can contact other merchants when their group is nearing the level of a certain dungeon and ask them to contact you when the item drops.
But besides that you just need enough money to buy skills, consumables, and non-unique items that tend to break a lot.
WH: Where should a would-be trader spend most of their time? Personal trades, the marketplace, or auctions? Does it require a mix of all three?
Memento: A merchant will be doing all 3 but if you want to get the good stuff you need to be doing personal trades. Almost every serious merchant out there has enough cash so almost all trades are items for items and you need to find and negotiate those deals.
WH: What items tend to be the most useful for a group? Rare consumables have great uses, especially in duels, but strong gear makes dungeons easier. Where does a good trader place his/her focus on getting items for their group?
Memento: You need to look at the group as a whole. In the earlier levels you need to get decent equipment for your blocker as soon as possible. After that priority goes to crucial equipment for dungeons first. Things that come to mind are: good weapons for your melee, a good instrument for your bard, a good gun/xbow for you archer and so on.
Good duelling equipment is nice but not a priority (at least it isn't for me).
For consumables you should always try to get the best consumables you can for the heroes that need them. It is very handy if you can get a ongoing deal going here. For instance all you sulfur for all the ice crystals of another group and then swap every week or so.
WH: Quite simply, how do you MAKE money in trading? Naturally you want to get items that are useful, but how do you also manage to get some gold out of it?
Memento: The easiest money is to just keep your TV nice and tidy and FP/market/auction things you have outgrown and sell them to lower groups.
I think only a very few merchants have making money as a goal in itself. The goal should be to get good stuff and money is only a minor part of that.
If you really want to make money you can try to buy low and sell high but that will take a LOT of time and a lot of market-browsing.
WH: Any final, closing tips or tricks you'd like to share with the community? Something that might help a newer player looking to be a group merchant?
Memento: I think if you want to be a good merchant you should always try to be fair. If you sell stuff on the market: put a price on it you think it is actually worth. Don't put a price on it you hope some idiot might accidentally pay for it.
If someone want an item from your TV, same thing: ask a fair price or trade.
If you want something from another TV: offer a decent price. If you think something is worth 10k don't go bidding 2k and hope the other person is new to the trading thing. Just offer 10k and get it over with.
Being known as a fair trader will give some benefits:
- people with rare items will actually come and offer it to you because they will get a good return.
- if you make an offer and the other party doesn't really know the price they will more often trust your judgement and accept the deal.
And last: try not to be too slow. If you get a mail: answer it asap or send a quick message you will get to it later. When bargaining don't wait a few days for every step or the other party will move on.
WH: Thanks for your time!
Memento: You're welcome. I hope this was something like you had in mind.
Indeed it was. Many thanks to Memento for his help!
