The Overpricers Are Trying to Kill Themselves

Not that I normally personally buy any of these specific things on market (though I do on rare occasion), but since the prices stabilised after the last bout of greed, a new wave of greed has been noticed on market... primarily in the iron, coal, and FE area.

Fortunately the "greed disease" hasn't heavily caught on yet, but there's a few who are trying it.

Now, there's been greed rounds in the past, but this one is taking things to a step of no return. A step that takes the greedy ones into battle with NPC prices, which don't change so it's a definite losing battle.

Let's take a look at what I'm talking about. The current stable prices of these three items are:

iron - 4gc
coal - 2.5gc
FE - 5gc

Not including food, that totals for bars to:

iron bar - 45.5gc
steel bar - 59.5gc

Right, what's the NPC price for these bars?

iron bar - 50gc
steel bar - 70gc

So at those prices for the ings, there's some leeway to make a profit, though not by much once you include mixing food and lost ings while mixing.

NPC Bar Prices

Why do these matter so much? Because the bars are hardly the endgame. Bars -> S2Es -> the holy hydro grail. These bars are just ings, just like the ings used to make them.

Upsetting the price of the lowest ings affects the price of these bars (which have an NPC sell price limit), in turn affecting the price of S2Es, in turn affecting the price of hydro bars (also have an NPC sell price limit).

So there's actually 2 NPC price limits involved with these three primary ings. The second those ing prices go above either NPC sell cost, the entire chain will get wiped out.

And that means that iron, coal, and FEs, currently methods many use to make gc by harving/mixing, will die off. Sure, some will still sell, but nowhere near how they do currently. Which means they'll lose their usefulness in gc making.

How the Overpricers are Ruining Their Own Product

Having shown "the NPC factor" above, any harvester or FE-maker with a bit of common sense should easily grasp that hiking prices at this point is going to hurt their own business. If it's cheaper to just buy something from the NPC, that's what will happen. We see it already with things like spirit essences, health essences, and so on.

Iron and Steel Bars are the primary use of these 3 ingredients. It makes good business sense for the ing providers to keep the cost of those ings below what the NPC will sell the bars for.

But some don't quite grasp that. Names removed to protect the ignorant:

[----- @ 3]: selling 10k coal at 2,75ea , ... , 5k fes at 5,2ea
[------ @ 3]: selling 1.25k iron ore 4.8k pm me
[------- @ 3]: selling 10k iron 4.5 each

Those are just samples of recent ads seen on market. Other pricing by the greed patrol has been about the same.

Let's assume the iron hike is to 4.5gc, and use the coal/FE prices in the first ad.

That would make the bars (without food):

iron bar - 50.15gc
steel bar - 65.35gc

Those prices alone already killed the iron bar. 50.15gc for ings, add to that food cost, and you've made a grand case to just buy the iron bars from the NPC at 50gc.

Steel bars aren't far behind. Combined with food and ing loss during mixing, these prices are starting to make the case for just buying the bars directly from the NPC.

The Basic Gist

Simply put: If more people start buying bars from the NPC, less are buying iron, coal, and FEs from you.

Keep that in mind next time you think you're bright by overpricing basic ings. And yes, your name gets noticed when you show your greed so publicly. For every 1 person you've sold to, 3-4 have probably added you to a don't-buy-from list.

I know I have. I trust noone who so blatantly shows their greed, especially when it's to their own detriment in a case like this.

Exploring Guild Maps V - LLL

Notice: This is just a look at some of the guild maps that have been made for Eternal Lands. This blog provides no secrets.
The entrances to these maps and any secrets to get around them will never be posted, nor will I provide them so don't ask.

View all Guild Map exploration via the Guildmaps tag.

LLL, Lords and Ladies of Legend, is another long-running guild that still has some active members, though not as active as it once was.

Guard Bot: No

PK: No. One small PK arena, and one small section on entering (presumably where a guard bot once was placed).


This guild map is full of buildings... you just can't enter them. It's a very old map, and apparently broke during a past major update with noone bothering to fix it.

Should correct that, two of the buildings may actually be entered. However, due to the map breakage, once you enter, you can't get back out. (You'll have to teleport or use a ring to get out.)

If you happen to find this map, keep that in mind and be stocked if you attempt to enter buildings.

For that reason, there's only so much to show and little to say about this map. I'll post some comments to start with on the first few images, but the rest I'll just post as "showing around" with no comments. At the end, the two enterable buildings.




Here's where you enter...




The entrance portal leads here to the main map. Every image shown below is an area you can walk to on this main map except the final two building shots.




Here's your guild lettering, as seems to be obligatory on every guild map.




And the obligatory PK arena to the left, conveniently opposite the official LLL outhouse. ;-)




And well... here's a bunch of screenies to show you around. Not much else to say here.







Oh right... this ship is the exit, used normally. As for the building across from it... it's not even walkable, much less enterable. Methinks this map wasn't fully finished in the first place.




































Finally, a peek at the only two of the many buildings that can be entered.

Pears and Gods and OAs and Alchemies and Other Goodies

'Tis been some good levels since last update. Alchemy is still on a roll, OA of course moving up, and more... and a decision on the gods causing a plan change.

But first...

The Pears Continue

Pear finds are now up to 463. Still over 60% found when hunted which allows them to remain at a profitable level. There's of course been periods where my name showed up a lot as finding it, and others not so much. (That has more to do with real-life than anything else... during times I'm not finding many I'm spending a lot more time out of the game, thus not hunting. Add to that the under-40% of times I just don't find it.)

I've been asked two things regularly. Granted, I've grown very tired of pear talk and I don't respond to PMs about it anymore. But since these two things come up frequently, I'll mention them here.

And BTW, if you are hunting or trying hunting, don't expect me to be chatting with you. I ignore all chat during hunts. I'm focused, and as well with some health issues that affect my hands, I can't chat and be running around trying to hunt at the same time.

Besides that, you're the competition. Just because I wrote the ultimate guide to pear hunting doesn't mean I'm going to help you in any way mid-hunt.

(I'm also not going to chat about "where it was" or "is it harvestable?" or such once I'm done... I've been doing this a very long time. It may be new to you, but I grew weary of that a very long time ago and won't respond. I'm on to doing other things or going afk the second I finish hunting.)

1. Are they profitable?

What's a profitable level for pears? I did the calculations during my first few hundred hunts, both when they were found and not found. It's very important to include all the time and finders and essences and hax food used when you don't find it in your calculations to determine the average per found pear.

Profitable: When it can be sold for more than the cost of the pear finders used on all hunts, whether found or not, as well as covers the value of the time wasted, both when found and not.

That of course is when you hunt solo. Keep track of the time you use on every hunt as well as all finders used (whether you find the pear or not). Average those out. Requires a good 50-60 hunts to get a good average. Determine the current pear sale price. If a team, split that price equally.

Now... having done that, calculate the total time you spent hunting, and the cost of the finders and other things needed while hunting. Determine how much iron ore you could have harved and sold in that time. Is the value of that equal to or better than the profit you get from selling pears, after finder cost, essences, food if haxed, and so on?

As a team you have to split the profit... at its current value, definitely not worth it in the long run. Maybe back when they sold for 70kgc as they did when I first started hunting, but I've since forced the price down via my bot to 45kgc. Which is still profitable. For a solo hunter. I dunno what the price would need to be for two or more as a team, since I never considered the team option.

That's why I always fly solo. (And well, giggle a little when teams occasionally appear, as they have done a few times. They drop out pretty quick when they realize it's not profitable to continue. Larger the team, the worse it gets for them.)

The basic gist is: Including time/finders used when you didn't find it, is the pear value more than what you would have made in the same time doing your most profitable thing? Or just harving iron ore or gypsum to sell if you don't know what to compare to.

Oh right, and definitely not worth it if you don't have your own ability to use the pears, or people you have a working relationship with to sell pears to. There's very few people in the game who can use these, and less who actually do. Those who do tend to already have their sources, like me. Selling to just random people at this point simply doesn't work, unless and until a new use for them is added.

I'd have quit hunting long ago if it weren't for my own occasional use, as well as "working relationships" to sell to.

2. Can I team up with you?

Generally asked by newbie hunters who don't really know what they're doing, usually after doing a couple unsuccessful attempts...

Absolutely not. First off, I've been guildless the overwhelming majority of my time playing for a reason: I don't have to depend on others or have them depend on me. Thus I can do things at my own pace, and always be doing what I want, not what needs to be done for the guild or such. I answer to noone but myself.

I won't team up with anyone to pear hunt for several reasons.

1) Basically the same as why I'm guildless. I enjoy finding it on my own. And with my current patterns and such, another person would just end up in my way. With 463 finds as of this post, I think I'm doing just fine without help.

2) As I explained above, it's difficult if not impossible for pear hunts to be profitable as a team. Every team that tries eventually gives up because of that. It's costly in both time and gc. With other competition, unreachable pear days, and so on, keeping the hunt at a pace that doesn't make you lose money is difficult even by yourself.

3) I have spent a massive amount of time learning the maps, inside and out, in very thorough detail. I know that the chances of me missing a harvestable on a map are damn near zero. I can't be assured a "teammate" has done the same and won't end up missing a lot. Especially when those wanting to team up are usually nowhere close to being long-time players. I'd just find myself going over the areas they did myself. Not worth it.

Okay, as I said, I've bored of pear talk, just wanted to clear up those two things that seem to come up often.

The Gods Have Gone a Bit Nuts

I've been on manu, alch, and magic gods for quite a long while. But I realized for the last one that I just didn't have it in me to keep trying to force-level magic at this time. I wanted to do other things.

So, I dropped the magic god.

Manu and Alch remain of those three. I still have a way to go before I'll drop alch. But manu... two more school days where I'm stocked for a full day of mixing and I'm done with it.

So replace magic with? Another thing I learned is that my build is finally up to a point where I can very decently handle a double frost troll spawn. Seeing as it's been an incredibly long time since I've done any a/d training, relying almost solely on dailies for levels, I decided it was time to maybe get back into that for a while.

I wanted to continue to focus on alch and manu mix-wise, so rather than get another mix god this time, I went with defense. (Attack is an enemy of Alchemy, so that wasn't an option.)

I've since used a couple Tzu days on a double frost spawn with some very nice results. Hell, I've even hit the double spawns on normal days as they're decent experience then as well.

But yeah... now my gods are: Manu, Alchemy, Defense

Next step: Due to the Alchemy god, switching gods after this will be problematic until I reach my goal in that skill. I may switch manu to magic once I hit 100 in that skill, if just temporarily until I can get into crafting (alchemy enemy) and summoning (defense enemy).

Redeemer Perks

Two new redeemer perks (so far), and with tons of harving in between, I've gotten both...

Here We Go Again... LevelMania Continues

Alchemy - Surprisingly the last level got done mostly outside of school. Doesn't mean I was never in the school though, hehe. I need two more school days for Manu so manu will get priority on future school days until it's complete.

You advanced to level 138 of alchemy!

Magic - Dropped the god, but got this beforehand. I'll continue leveling it, just without the help of the god for now. When I feel like it. I do still have a goal to get it to 100, it's just been de-prioritized.

You advanced to level 85 of magic!

Overall Levels - These have been coming along nicely despite how high I am. Yeah, they're painful to look at when trying to get them though... 164 occured on a School Day, 165 while I was training on Sun Tzu.

Your overall level is now 164!

Your overall level is now 165!

Engineering - While I don't focus on it these days, I do still collect my amber when my Action Points allow for it. And I'll gather the rest of the ings to use that amber in the school.

You advanced to level 104 of engineering!

Tailoring - I really need to stock up and work on this. No god to play with so I forget about it. But I have read a few books for it lately.

You advanced to level 70 of tailoring!

Harvesting - A long-forgotten skill. I do the dailies, occasionally I'll take advantage of 3x days if I happen to need something higher level (like yew for engineering), but generally I don't do anything for this skill, just harvest what I need regardless of the harv points.

You advanced to level 117 of harvesting!

Manufacturing - Almost done with the god. Besides this level, I'm actually only a handful of helms from the next level as well.

You advanced to level 97 of manufacturing!

And finally, as I said I took the Defense god just recently. So I actually am doing some training on occasion now. Still mostly leveling via dailies though.

You advanced to level 133 of defense!

You advanced to level 133 of attack!

You advanced to level 134 of defense!

You advanced to level 134 of attack!

Yup, that's it for now. No summoning, no crafting... but both of those will be attacked hard soon enough, once I'm done with my current gods.

Exploring Guild Maps IV - PIGS

Notice: This is just a look at some of the guild maps that have been made for Eternal Lands. This blog provides no secrets.
The entrances to these maps and any secrets to get around them will never be posted, nor will I provide them so don't ask.

View all Guild Map exploration via the Guildmaps tag.

^@^, The PIGS Guild, has been around for a very long time. Once thriving, there's not as many members today but several are still quite active.

Guard Bot: Yes - Dzik

PK: Yes. If you find the entrance. you're safe on first entry. The guard bot of course is in a PK area though. A good 98% of the rest of the map is PK as well. Very few non-pk spots. If those non-pk spots didn't exist, I'd have sworn the map creator just didn't know how to make certain areas PK. Apparently it's intentional, and makes no sense.


This guild map is, surprise of surprises, shaped like a big pig. And it's big. The largest of the guild maps I've posted in the blog so far. For that reason, more screenies below for it than previous ones.


1) You start off on a ship. (Exit by using the ship should you happen to find the entrance.)




2) Just a bit in, and you'll be "greeted" by their guard bot. Which for some reason isn't part of their guild.




3) Beyond that, we head to the main map via a lone tiny non-pk area.




4) That door leads to a house...




5) Which leads out to the main map.




6) There's quite a few small houses and various buildings of this nature.




7) Several places to rest and relax. Though don't get too relaxed, should someone else be around. As I said, majority of the map, including insides, is PK.




8) Obligatory meeting area with obligatory thrones. I just have to deem myself the map king by sitting in them for each map, hehe.




9) Another building.




10) And another building.




11) Suddenly hitting an ice area. You'd think it would be cold here, but nope. But Pigs on Ice?

12) The domestic habits of pigs is... eating fruit in the cold?




13) ZOMG, they stole Xmas!




14) Okay, enough of the cold. Ooooh, another building.




15) Dead piggies.




16) Hmmm, this is an odd-looking spot. A cave that's walled up, with torches... Perhaps an ebul beast once lived there.




17) This is the very definition of redundant. A PK arena. The entire map is PK, including even the area around the arena, and you still need a PK arena?




18) Yet another building.

19) Yet another building.

20) I need a break. *sits*

21) A crypt. For more dead piggies.





22) Wait, wasn't I just in an ice area? Suddenly tropical.





23) "Now you can feast and fight!" Seriously, couldn't even make a side food room non-pk.





24) Map creator did seem to have issues with handling heights for walking paths. Several glitches like this one... you can't walk up the gangway to the ship, you have to tele-to-range to get where I am.





25) This "arena" (yeah, entire surrounding area is PK so it's pointless) also has the same glitch. Other side has what should be steps to walk up to it, but they can't be used.





26) I need another break. This spot I'm sure is intentionally so you have to tele-to-range to get on the hammock.





27) A secluded kinda-secret spot. Not secret enough, heh.





28) Another shot of the secluded area.





29) The person who made this pier was incredibly drunk. (Really it's the tail of the pig. As I mentioned, the map is pig-shaped.)





30) The majority of the map looks more like this, swampy wooded area. Just one shot of it, as the rest generally looks the same.





31) It's a large map, as I said. Should you need the outhouse, it's here.





32) That outhouse was behind this house. With all the enterable buildings, you'd think you could go in this one as well. But... nope.





33) Temple of the Pig.





34) Yet another building. This one highlights their alcoholic nature.





35) One last internal area, a secret underground passage.

36) That's all... and be careful, you don't wanna end up behind bars.