Apparently we are finding out that with the revamped spell research system it costs a crazy amount of plat to create low lvl spells. People are reporting it costs around 25PP to attempt to create lvl 16 spells. The classic way of spell research didn't really cost anything as the runes/pages dropped like candy on mobs in said level. I don't see them reverting the research system back so it might just be easier to consider adding a merchant with researched spells on them. I know that isn't the "Classic" way to do it but lets face it there are plenty of other things that distract from the true classic EQ already. 25pp a pop at lvl 16 is pretty steep on this server.
This isnt true. If you actually played back in classic, finding research items was a pain. The rare page was hard to come by for the combines you needed and players charged serveral plat per just to have an attempt. The new system actually does a pretty good job of recreating the PITA that was research back in the day.
I'm not sure what this new system is, as it has always befuddled me, but as late as PoP I was selling research pages consistently in the Bazaar, so I am pretty sure you didn't always have all the runes and pages you needed.
Players may have charged several pp for rare low level spell components but that is a far cry from 25pp per attempt. The components to make the level 16 spells were never hard to come by.
Point being you had the option to farm these spells and were not forced to pay 25P per combine to a merchant.
You Dont make up errent points to put in my mouth. The point is, you had to spend time to get the mats just for one combine costing MORE money or time. It doesnt take long to farm 25p for an attempt. Far less time than finding the right page took.
The new "systematic research" is AWFUL on the progression servers. It makes no sense, has no place here. The economy simply won't support it. Yes, I am trying to scrape up enough plat to make my lvl 16 spells and coming up way short. I am someone who is VERY practiced at spell research, using both the old and "new" methods, and so I am doing it the most cost-effective way I know how and it is super fracking expensive. I preferred the old method. Far and away, hands down, no question. I loved dumpster diving for runes and words on The Combine! That having been said, if they add in spell merches to just hand out these spells, I would be furious. The merches in PoK having previously research-only spells for sale is part of what made me quit Fippy. Adding stuff like that just seems like another way to break the economy, make a tradeskill useless for a long period of time (until you start doing raid augs), which means you are skilling up with little to no way of recouping any costs that would normally be going to fund future research skillups. DO NOT ADD RESEARCH-ONLY SPELLS TO MERCHANTS. There are other, much longer explanations for why it would be a horrible idea, but just please... don't. They have said they want to reduce the cost of skilling up, and that's a fine idea. If they can't roll us back to the old system, I think making it more affordable is the only option. At this stage, even if I saved up enough to make a spare copy of lvl 16 spells to sell, almost no one who is lvl 16 is gonna be able to afford a spells that are 25pp per. Even if I sold them at cost (leaving me no money to further my skill). Prices need to be cut in HALF for gnomish heat sources, parchment solutions, quills, and inks for this to work on a progression server. Things might cost slightly less if you do all the subcombines yourself, but it's not enough to make a the needed difference. So is reducing the costs one of those things that would be changed globally, on live servers too? I have no idea about that kind of stuff. But I don't see that it would even matter. People on live servers who want to start research for the first time are either 1) total noobs who have the same lint-filled pockets as us TLPers, or 2) people who are starting research for the first time even though they have higher level characters, and their accounts have a bank roll so big that it doesn't matter if parchment solutions are 1p or 1000p, they're not gonna think twice. In the case of either situation on live, decreasing the costs of skilling up has no drawbacks that I can see. Maybe I'm wrong; I am very open to hearing the other side of that argument... if there is one. But, for reasons I won't go into because this is already a wall of text, i don't think it would mess with live server economies at all. It only becomes an issue on MUCH higher lvl spells, like SoF and later (rkII spells, for example, which i believe are still research-only) and for things like raid augs which... do people still make those? tldr: decreasing the costs, even if that means it will change globally, seems like it would have a HUGE benefit for TLP and an almost non-existent effect on live servers. But for the love of god do not put these spells on merchants until much later in the game.
This was true once you started getting up to spells like pyrocruor and needed words that dropped in places like Veksar and Chardok, but the level of spell the op is talking about, 16 up through even 40ish, the words were pretty easy to either farm or find on merchants. I did this a ton on previous servers, including the first progression server. It was at least more exciting than trying to farm plat to buy a bunch of lame components of of merchants. The real PITA of old research was the practice runes, trying to carry around bag full of 30 giant snake rattles lol.
---------------------- " Yes Ishbu. But you see this meant certain players would invest energy during their gameplay hours at working the Research craft up and becoming accomplished in it, or at least a combination of that and fighting the RNG goddess ;o). Unfortunately, the notion of my having something you don't because I worked for it and you didn't is counter- intuitive to some players now. They are ones who wish to have expediency and productivity the central portion of their leveling experience as they focus primarily on the endgame or a process which leaves very little delineation between investment versus I'm-here-I-should-get-everything-you-have. o-0 *In before, "But its not fair...everyone should be able to waltz up to an npc and just BUY it." Not. The thing is, if its a PITA process, that means some portion of players will do it, and some will make a choice to instead do something else. Making choices. Consequences. Reward vs risk.
They definitely need to look into reducing the cost. With the way it is now people just don't even bother. They skip the research only spells and keep grinding. It is too expensive to even be a money maker, because no one has that kind of money to spend on a spell they can do just fine without.
My gosh no need to get so hateful about this. Just saying there is nothing "Classic" about overly expensive merchant bought combines.
If they are going to add research only spells, they need to add handmade backpacks, reinforced medicine bags, magic jewelry, and other tradeskilled items. Research is a tradeskill. Not having a few spells or using lower level spells is just like a Warrior still using leather or banded. Eventually it will be upgraded. Missing a spell or two each tier isn't going to make or break a caster. You have other spells you can use.
