I recently acquired some - not exactly cheap, but still quite low - B Crystals, and decided to turn them into soulshots for a profit.
While I was doing my calculations to judge which price I should charge and how much I could afford to spend on Soul Ore, I realised that there was barely any need to consider craft store prices:
My profit per batch using the various BSS craft stores around Giran, even calculating the most expensive one at 250a / click is still about 12 times that of the dwarf that crafted the shots, a nd I'm not pushing a high price.
The only time I've ever really noticed private manufracture stores as a hit in my profit was while making crafted leather, and even then it was still preferable to use all stores that offered it at a higher price over waiting for the cheap stores to regenerate.
All of this only served to remind me of two questions I can never seem to answer myself: Why are there still dwarves that think private craft is a good thing (other than baby dwarves like myself who are using them), and why do people not craft their own shots?
I'll start crafting my own shots again as soon as I get that second recharger levelled up. I'm lazy.
People don't make their own shots for the same reason.
Besides, I can put 20 things in my craft store. So I put up B,C,D shots of all kinds, A grade shields.. A grade jewels.. and BW tunic. I can't retire on the money I make per night, but at least I'm not the one waiting for my mana to regen :D
I mean using craft stores. I can make around 80k BSS in one go using the craft stores up in Giran - no recharges needed. I'm not travelling for cheap ore either: I just buy it off the resellers that are already in Giran.
I spend between 0.2 and 0.5 adena per shot made, and in resales make 7 per shot sold - that means someone is paying me 6a per shot for the convenience of not having to buy their own crystals and click a few stores?
Well I think the answer to your question is that for most of us that warsmith we leveled to C-grade was right about the time we realized that it is difficult to use them for much OTHER than crafting shots (and bigger inventories for afk sell-shops).
Let's be honest--they don't have attack skills that count, the golem summons is cost prohibitive for normal use, and you can't pay people to include a dwarf in a party/raid!
My warsmith sells drops from DA's hunting every night...and crafts shots for my DA's use and for my alts. That's the sum total of his reason for existence--which is a shame cause he was fun to play up through 40 for me. Now he only makes dss, sps-d, and css cause that's all I use right now. When DA gets to B-grade i'll find the bss recipe.
I don't know why folks don't craft their own shots either. Just looking at dss figuring a profit margin of 1.2a each (which varies)...that means it's a savings of 1.2a each soul shot if you craft your own. That's 1200 adena every 10k dss u use. 12k for every 100k dss you use. Might as well keep that money in your pocket so to speak.
Best of all, if everyone crafted their own shots--we wouldn't have to listen to incessant whining about dwarves cheating people cause they are selling dss at 13 or css at 18.
People don't take the time to figure out how much they will save. They don't want to take the time to find the crystals and the ore they need at a decent price. And they don't want to take the time away from playing that it requires to craft a lot of shots if the dwarf has to regen.
let s say i spend 5 minutes hunting, i use to make at least 10k.
How many SS do you craft in 5 minutes ? -> ** much you spare ? ok, probably more than 10k, i assume you can make enough SS to spare something like 100k.
That s 90k you earn, ok...
now, 90k is nothing to me, i have millions and millions, i use to make millions each night... 90k is really nothing.
BUT, 5 minutes of my time is worth much more to me: i use to play (XP) 2 hours only per day... if i "loose" my (valuable) time to earn 90k crafting SS when i don t need money... i d consider myself greedy (even for a dwarf).
Drakkos: I'm not talking about raising your own dwarf. I'm talking about using the present craft stores.
In that context: In 5 minutes, I can craft about 90k BSS without a recharger emptying an additional mana bar into a dwarf. Of course it takes longer to sell, but then, I don't cut into active play time to sell.
oh well in that case, then I take full advantage of craft shops if I have the meens to do so.
I usely have a friend that lets me craft off him for my A bsps, and I make about 3k+ at a time then give up.
I won't pay over maybe 200a at the most for shot craft per-click.
Because its really easier in the long run to buy them at 61 adena, than it is to keep crafting them yourself, running out of shots, running out of crystals, constantly getting soul ore, etc.
Dunno about other servers, there's always a decently priced (295/485) ore dwarf around the soulshot corner on Devianne. I buy crystals in big chunks or overnight when I don't have any key mats to buy or full items to sell.
I guess it depends on personal preference - I would rather spend 20 minutes once to have a very long-lasting stock (350k) of BSS in my WH (that's the total game time it took - I was AFK while the BSS dwarves were regenerating) than having to run through lag-hell to the SS corner every time - and of course, going back to Giran when I need BSS, and even then running the risk of not finding any.
But of course, I didn't WH that stash - I sold it off, since I don't have my B Grade weapon yet. Once I get it, I'll probably be making a nice little stash so I don't have to worry about it anymore. :)
I mean using craft stores. I can make around 80k BSS in one go using the craft stores up in Giran - no recharges needed. I'm not travelling for cheap ore either: I just buy it off the resellers that are already in Giran.
I spend between 0.2 and 0.5 adena per shot made, and in resales make 7 per shot sold - that means someone is paying me 6a per shot for the convenience of not having to buy their own crystals and click a few stores?
It just makes no sense to me. :confused:
What's confusing to me is someone buying their shots of me when there is another dwarf with same ssb for a few adena cheaper. But then again, I almost always say "Thanks for buying" :D
Or when i set up ghp sell shop for 1a less then the seller next to me and then she comes to me and buys the whole stack just to add it to her's sellshop. By this making an uber ~700 adenas.
All of this only served to remind me of two questions I can never seem to answer myself: Why are there still dwarves that think private craft is a good thing (other than baby dwarves like myself who are using them), and why do people not craft their own shots?
You can make money with craft shops if you craft something unique and in demand. At level 74 my WS has made several hundred million in craft fees. This is offset by well over 100 million spent on recipes, but still profitable.
The main problem with craft shops is the competition, and the smart [censored] who want to ruin the game for others, i.e. the 1a craft shops.
Well i think it all depends on your customer base and trust. I will sell items and craft at the same time, like everyone else. I have people who tell me they would rather buy from me than a clanned person. I always have a craft shop opened for creation while at work.
I also have talked to people who tell me they use there adena saved to buy sealed stones for upgrades. They tell me they make millions. I looked into it and can seem to see why they take this approach.
A dwarf with 800 mp charging 20 adena a click for lets say leather 10 mp. Would make around 1600 or so in adena for a full run. That 1600 you can buy sealstones cheap and turn into ancient adena.
With extra aa you have all kinds of options. The 1 adena to some will seem like nothing but to a dwarf like me it means a lot. I dont usually share adena tips to everyone cause it can be very complicated. Dwarfs on Devianne have been nice and willing to share there ways. I now see the world on L2 in a whole new way, and for that i love this game.
I know a person selling GSS for 13 did not sell any for 5 hours . He changed the price to 12 gone in less than 30 min. Its just the way things work sometimes. 1 adena is a lot to some, and not much to others.
If you check the tool in the link of my Sig file : BMOGS Tool it's great for figuring how much money you will save by crafting your own shots. I will add a feature to take into account what the craft shop charges and update it soon.
I used it as a n00bie dwarf crafter so I could keep track of soul or and such that I needed. I stopped using it for a long time, but now that I am in A-Grade it helps me to save money making A-Shots for my own consumption.
PS. Bware of the scam: You craftinging shop crafts for 250adena per craft. you spend all thier mana making shots, when you use your recharger to start charging them they stand up and sit back down. now they are charging you 250,000 per craft. I haven't fallen for it, but have had it tried on me. ALWAYs double check the price before you click!
Why are there still dwarves that think private craft is a good thing (other than baby dwarves like myself who are using them),
It's another way to make limitless money while AFK. Aside from setting your pet rock on your craft key, If you only have a couple minutes to set up your dwarf before you run to work, you wont have time to craft things to sell.
and why do people not craft their own shots?
It's a matter of preparedness. If I get pulled into a group set to go hunting, i'm not going to say, "Give me 20min to craft"... Instead I'll grab a stack of the closest shots and head to the grounds... It's also difficult to find the mats and craft shops in the higher towns. If i'm camping Goddard and the nearest craft shops and mats are giran, is it worth the extravagant cost of porting as well as the opportunity cost of my lost time?
If there were 24/7 craft and shot mat shops at the Race Track, then I would call anyone that doesnt use it a fool.
dont think youve realize maline but you just discovered what is wrong with crafters
i remeber way back in C3 when i finally got my *** rec registered i would have to compete with up to 5 elves (yes literally elves) who would just private craft *** and undercut my already reasonable prices
problem was while most WS'S depend on their own crappy mp regen anyone else can just got craft several hundred thousand on a few giran dwarves in a fraction of the time
since the main consideration in profit margins is time spent crafting it wouldn't really bother them to make only a few adena per SS
another problem is that while a real crafter has to spend time crafting and selling the SS anyone else can just spend that potential crafting time with an afk crystal buy shop up once again lowering their crafting costs
the same holds true for weapon and armor crafts, while we have to invest money into the recipies non-crafters just spend a fraction of the cost to click off some afk dwarf