sspitfire1's page

Hey sspitfire1, congrats on the auction... it just hit 400$, which is more than I'm willing to pay.

Not saying the account is not worth it, only that I don't have that kind of money lying around ;-)

The Fool

Thanks! I know auctions can be stressful for the bidders, so thank you to everyone who participated!

M

Less than 48 hours left on the only Fully backdated DT account available at this time. The account will have two characters at over 400K exp apiece- more than enough to get to level 12 of any role in the game.

Current high bid is $350 with bidding increments of only $5!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171827290781?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid= p3984.m1555.l2649

The auction has passed the reserve price. All bids are final. It closes at 530 pm on Monday eastern standard time.

Y'all might be right!

And just for the sake of clarity, keeping in mind that the author of this guide to buy an account is also a seller of backdated account. I myself would take such guide with caution.

"Caution: This guide will inform you on why you are itching and pining to spend money on a backdated account, help you make a more informed decision about whether a fully backdated account or a used account is better for you, give you a rough sense of what to expect to spend on such things, clarify why DT accounts are extra valuable, and provide you with clear guidelines to make sure you do not get scammed and do not make a purchase you will later regret (eg spend more than you are willing to pay or buy too many accounts). Especially do not use item number 6 in the list at the end. It is extremely hazardous to your wallet and may result in you accidentally paying $1,000 by clicking 'buy now' on unscrupulous auctions. Use at your own risk!"

Thinking through the economics of it all a little more, if you are looking at buying/selling an account that has all its exp spent, the following guidelines might be helpful:

Pure combat characters are the least valuable due to the high degree of personal preference that goes into them.

A dedicated gatherer, profession, refiner or crafter will command the most value- roughly in that order. Gatherers and the professions have steep achievements and a player purchasing one of those characters can pretty well enter the game and immediately begin "earning" an income. Crafters and Refiners also have rough achievements but ALSO have the added value of their recipe lists. And, of course, these roles are all the "least fun" to level up to where they are truly relevant.

Due to the shallow power curve, a low level combat role is still relevant in a higher tier fight. But T1 refined mats and equipment is ubiquitous and useless when the game mostly lives in Tier 2 and Tier 3.

Current bidding is at $285 and within $100 of the reserve price for the account. 4 Days left!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/171827290781?

Thanks Brutus. I think, for a DT account with all of its exp spent, you and they both got a good deal. We feel a lot more invested in our characters and the game when we can build them up from scratch, so the more unspent exp the better.

Sspitfire's Guide to Buying Backdated Accounts

The value of a Backdated PFO Account, explained:

There are basically three things that potentially limit the rate at which you can train up your character. They are Achievements, Coin, and Experience. Of the three things, Experience is, by far, the most limiting, with Coin and Achievements varying by role.

If you have been playing PFO for more than a few days, then you have noticed that while the last rank of a feat may have taken only a few hours to save up exp for, the next rank will take a few days- then a week, maybe then a month, and progressively longer. In PFO, the cost of each additional rank of a feat increases exponentially, meaning the demand for experience points increases exponentially as well. The supply, however, is fixed at only 100 experience per hour. As a consequence, the value of experience to you is increasing dramatically with each passing rank of a feat. You need and want progressively more experience to advance- but the only thing you can do about it is watch the counter go up one slow tick at a time (and play the game, of course!).

To put PFO’s system into contrast, think about table top Pathfinder. In TT, the exp needed for the next level increases exponentially as well. However, the experience coming in to that character also increases at the exact same rate. So if you are going from level 1 to 2 or level 19 to 20, the rate of advancement is static (disgruntled and/or mischievous GMs aside).

Thus the value of backdated accounts! With a backdated account, you don’t have to wait! Well, you don’t have to wait as much. Eventually, you will have to wait because either a) you will have blown through all your backdated exp or b) one of the other rate limiters will kick in. With 6 months of backdated exp, a) is the bigger issue you will face. It’s worth noting that, at 6 months worth of exp, you can pretty much build out a character well into Tier 2 and very close to Tier 3. Tier 3 starts at around 1 year of experience, assuming no major sidetracks.

So basically, the question for you is, “How much are you willing to pay to not wait or to wait a lot less to get deep into Tier 2/into Tier 3?” (And then x2 for that DT account!)

Of course, the other benefit of Day 1 accounts is being able to have that character that is as uber as the game will ever allow- to be at the top and never a second behind!

The two other rate limiters:
Achievements - For combat roles, achievements are virtually nothing. You will blow through them in weeks. Crafters and Refiners are limited by their access to recipes and materials as well as their current rank. Gatherers may or may not ever be limited by achievements, depending on how much backdated exp they have to spend and how much the player enjoys gathering.

Coin - Combat roles have it very easy here, as well. Party up and go kill stuff! Gatherers can find a lot of value in selling raw mats and kill a few things along the way. Crafters are pretty well at the the mercy of a feeder account or their settlement/company until they get up enough skill to make goods that are worth selling at market.

By the roles:

(If someone else wants to chime in with more precise numbers here, please do!)

Combat Role - Coin is the only potential hard limiter, but won’t likely be a major issue until the account has years backdated exp. The real challenge may actually be getting yourself into the appropriate gear. (Here’s a hint: join a well established settlement and earn your keep!) You can never go wrong buying a backdated account if you plan to build a combat role.

Gatherer Role - Coin will be limiting sooner for the gatherer than the combat role; but achievements may be limiting at 1 years worth of back dated exp as that is about the point where the gatherer needs to have several thousand nodes harvested of a particular type. Make sure you really love gathering (and it really is (mostly) very relaxing) before you buy a backdated account to build a gatherer.

Crafter/Refiner Role - On the one hand, if you have folks feeding you what you need, you could zip by faster than the combat role and gatherer role, save for having to wait for stuff to cook. On the other hand, if not, you are going to be moving faster than if you also had to wait on exp; but not always by much. A backdated account for a crafter or refiner may be a valuable investment, but you will want to check with the settlement/company you are joining first.

The big DON’T! of buying backdated accounts:
Don’t buy more than one, especially if it is a DT account. If you are considering a back dated account, then you likely already have one account that you can continue to maintain at your leisure. For most folks, 2 or 3 characters is enough. Before quitting gaming, I was very happy crafting and fighting on my DT account and using my regular account for training a dedicated gatherer. I likely would have never used the 2nd DT account- most folks don’t! (And don’t forget you will have your 1K exp alts to run around with.)

How much!?
The prices of accounts vary greatly depending on what is on it, who is buying, and who is selling. DT accounts will always command a premium- not just because you are getting two characters now, but also because you will always get two characters for the price of one going into the future. At $11.95 for the annual subscription, if you plan to play the game for the next two years, then you are saving $286.80 on subscription fees alone with a DT account!

At the very least, for an account backdated to Day 1 with none of its exp spent, expect to spend somewhere in the hundreds of dollars for it- DT or otherwise. Once the game officially launches in 2016, Day 1 DT accounts may be selling for close to $1,000.

If the account is backdated to Day 1 but some or all of its exp is spent and it is NOT a DT account, then you should be able to land the account for under $100. (Just make sure you get their stuff!) Because of the way the ability score system in PFO works, this might not be a bad deal for the budget conscious. Basically, unless you are going in a radically different direction with the character, the bolstered ability scores will likely save you some time and training later down the line.

“Buyer Beware”
Goblinwork’s policy on buying and selling accounts is that we do it at our own risk. Here are some tips to make sure you don’t get screwed.

1. Ask for a list of all feats that have been trained on the character(s).
2. Ask for screenshots of the character(s) with their character sheet open and the computer’s calendar open.
3. If you are buying what someone purports to be a Day 1 DT account (or any account that might be high value), then you are well within your rights to ask them to make a video of them logging into the account (from the login screen!), and showing you the two characters. Its your money, after all, not theirs! Feel free to make them work a little for it!
4. Ask if the account has ever *not* been actively earning exp- even if just for a day or two.
5. Ask around! Talk to your company and settlement mates about what you are looking for, how a price is, who the seller is, etc!
6. If you don’t like the price, don’t pay it! Simple as that. Don’t be afraid to walk away from a deal. Other options- possibly better ones- will always be there. That seller is never your only option. As with many things in life, the more patient you are, the better the deal you are likely to get.
7. Make sure there is some kind of paper trail for the transaction.

Day 1 is down an the auction is up to $255.00. The reserve has not been met but there is still 6 more days to go. Thod has a few interesting alternative options on tap, so it will be intriguing to see how this plays out. Happy bidding!

My point about the EVE thing was even the most Godly accounts from 11 years ago with 180m-200m SP sell for around $900-$1200 (based on training and name/histroy). And I was trying to show how steep your price was in comparison to that, an EVE account that is 10 +years old versus your PFO account 5 months old.

And my point is that the value of exp has a cap. 11 years worth of exp and training is useless if 2 or 3 years worth will get you where you want to be- and in Eve, the game is old enough for there to be plenty of old-timers and "new-timers" selling multi-year accounts. Now if one of those accounts came with 11 years worth of ISK and ships to boot, however, then you would see much more exorbitant prices.

Right now, it is not possible to buy an account in PFO that has more exp than the person can spend *without* having to also buy coin. Until such a time as most players can't cover the costs of their exp without also purchasing in-game coin via goblin balls, the per-unit value of exp is going to continue increasing- and that means the value of a Day 1 PFO account will also continue to increase at an increasing rate over the next few months. (Provided demand is there- which we are all assuming it is and which is an assumption that appears to be holding true for the time being).

If we work with your mis-valuing of the account, then we have $110 for the current assets in the account. If someone buying this account is planning on playing the game for the next two years, then they can expect to save an additional $143.40 per year on buy-one-get-one-free exp. That brings the minimum value of the account up to $35+5*$15+2*143.4 = $396 That is actually more than what I currently have the reserve set at.

Don't hate the player, Low, hate the game. And the game already says the account is worth more than $110.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/171827290781?

As to a 2mil exp Eve account, why buy that much exp if you don't need it? In PFO, someone can immediately* use 400K exp (per character) but they cannot immediately get 400K exp on a character outside of buying this account (and with it they get TWO 400K exp characters!). Eve, on the other hand, is so old that the market is no doubt saturated with old accounts that have all the exp a new player could want- which is no doubt way less than 2mil- driving their value waaayyyyy down.

*achievements blah blah blah coin blah blah blah- Exp is still the limiting factor.

So bids away!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/171827290781?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/171827290781?

Dude 2003 eve accounts with almost 200mil SP don't even sell for $1k. You are insane............ Way to try and scam the community.

Let's do the math here let's say you bought a DT for $35 then payed your sub for 164 days since then, 164*2400= 393600 XP. So that's an average of 5 months times $15/month which is 15*5. So that's $35+$75 or $110 you invested into an account. So what makes it 1000% more valuable than it really truly is?

At most I'd say 100k XP is like $30-35

So the account should be at max $200-$250. This is no where near worth $1000. No name is worth an additional $800 or the fact you have a stupid Dwarf mohawk.

Um.... its an auction with a "Buy Now" option set at $1,000. Bid what you think it is worth. If you meet the reserve price and no one out bids you, then you paid a fair price.

Also, your math is a bit fuzzy and your economics is horrible. $35 for the account + $15*6 months * 2 (DT account) + $10 Newbie Pack + ??? Daily Deals = Minimum face value of $225

After that, some hard to value add-ons come into play. For one, NO ONE will ever have a chance at a max Exp character (let alone two) again save for purchasing one of a limited supply of Day 1 accounts (such as this one- and oh by the way, not many folks are selling those yet). Even fewer folks will ever have the chance to have a Day 1 character (let alone two) with *none* of their exp spent. There is major value in that to a great many players. Then, just to add on to all of it is the fact that once someone purchases the account, they get half-priced exp for the rest of the account's life. If they play the game for only one year beyond purchasing the account, that is still a savings of $132. If they play the game for the next 8 years AND they paid the full $1,000, then the account has paid for itself (roughly accounting for discounting the future value of savings).

For some folks, that is crazy math. For others, it is a great deal.

Auction is live: http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/171827290781?

Personal checks and money orders work fine so long as both parties don't mind waiting on the mail and the check to clear.

Video documentation of the account I am selling can be seen here.

In the coming weeks, I will be auctioning a DT account with full exp on both characters. Details to come!

~Sspit

Speaking of FULL backdated exp, that's what this account is.

The auction will be via eBay and will start in about a week, running for 5 to 7 days. A reserve price will be set on the auction.

M

Valkenr wrote:

Account 1: SOLD 5/4/2015 - $250
Account 2: SOLD 6/6/2015 - $280

Both accounts have sold, threw up the prices and dates so there is some market data. It annoys me when I have nothing to base my pricing on. You're welcome sellers now you have a baseline, sorry buyers now you can't hope for an ignorant seller.

<3 It's only fitting that a fellow Pharosian would provide me with the information I need to make an informed decision about my own account sale :) Thanks Valkenr!

In the coming weeks, I will be auctioning a DT account with full exp on both characters. Details to come!

~Sspit

Gol Tink, sorry for the late reply. I'll take whichever you give me.

Submissions after Noon EST today will still be accepted; however, they will be included at the bottom of the list in the order in which they were received.

I will be editing all submissions for grammar and typos. If you reccon you are one of 'em crazy folks who likes to include typos deliberately for style reasons, yall might want to communicate that to me. ;)

Alright! That lit a fire under some folks' asses :) I have additional submissions from Ozem's Vigil, Keeper's Pass, Alderwag, Hope's End and Canis Castrum now. Keeper's even attached a .png file of their settlement's emblem!

Keep it up! 17 hours and 51 minutes and counting.

Does it have to be roleplay-y?

We already worked on one of these for Brighthaven for GW, can we use the same? Or at least a shorter version.

No, it does not and yes, of course you can. Lack of roleplay-ness will get you knocked lower on the list, however.

I have received submissions from Forgeholm, Tavernholm and Emerald Lodge- thank you all very much!

As to the rest of yall, you get 2 days (48 hours) to pull yourselves together give me something or forever be forgotten in the Unofficial PFO Guide. Chop chop!

"Each settlement gets a maximum of 200 words to describe their selves in an interesting, intriguing, and preferably RP-friendly way. While I have a preset idea of the order in which settlements will be listed, the quality of your submission for your settlement will influence where it falls in the final ordering. Be sure to include things like play style, alignment, and classes/roles you welcome."

Best,
Sspit

@sspitfire1

You picked a bad time to ask for recruitment submissions, as Spring is a busy season.
Some of us are busy at School,
some of us are busy at Work,
some of us are busy with real life, etc.

You'd likely get submissions if you tried in the months of May or June.

No time is a good time for a deadline :) Oh, except the present. The present is always good!

I have 5 days left to get submissions in and no submissions yet!

EDIT: I am dropping the settlement size requirement.

I imagine Sir Terry wouldn't have it any other way. Godspeed and may you rest in peace. :'(

you could start by spelling GolGOtha. ;)

lol edited just in time :)

I demand a we love Golgotha month

This is basically what I took away from the OP. It seems to me what Guurzak is saying is that Golgotha (NC) cannot sustain its status as everybody's favorite bad guy and it doesn't have to try to keep sustaining the status given the level of ungratefulness that gets tossed around for them at times (yes, I know, I know, that was me 3 or 4 days ago).

One of the reasons I want EoX at the number 2 spot in the settlement list of my guide is because they need more people- right now they are outnumbered 3 to 1 by TEO and TSV alone (not always on the battle field, mind you; but off-the-field numbers matter more in many respects). If the "bad guys" are going to remain a viable "bad guy" group for the game, they need to be at least at 3/4:1 of EBA+Northern Alliance- preferably 1:1. Another reason I want EoX at the number 2 spot is to help destigmatize playing an "evil" character in the game.

Yes, Golgotha is going to have the highest concentration of hyper-aggressive, a-hole players in the game due to their "evil" alignment- that's just the sort of folk they are going to attract and everybody knows that. Yes, they are going to, as a settlement, do things that piss us all off- and no they should not be allowed to do such things without in-game repercussions. But I agree with the general premise that a "We love Golgotha Month" is needed- partly because I would like to see Golgotha keep trying to take TSV's towers so we can mop the floor with them some more have some more good throwdowns. ;)

Bumper goats rock.

Also, so far no submissions and only one settlement has expressed intent to submit.

You haven't met my friend Mr. Rope. Keeps all the goats in the yard (and they're like, it's better than yours).

*gnawing on the rope* Huh? Oh, is that was this was for? I thought it was just a new way to keep me from bolting my hay. Oh well. *keeps gnawing*

I have heard Phyllain say on more than one occasions they chose Lawful Evil because they figure it will give them the most power advantage later in the game- a purely NON-RP decision, as I have heard him put it.

Otherwise, Gol Tink is actually quite serious with his post, whether he intended it or not. There are lots of things we might call "evil" that Golgatha could do; but if they did them many of us (needless to say, myself included) would cry foul from the standpoint of a) exploiting game mechanics or b) calling 'griefer' on them. In fact, there are more than a few instances of that having already occurred (not all of them being propagated by me- just the most recent one ;).

So yeah, they could really be "evil;" but the out-of-game social consequences would be pretty bad while the in-game consequences could be as severe as an account ban (say, for die-hard griefing).

So naturally the troll post to follow this is that there is no space for true Evil or Good RP in the game. Ok whatever. We are still having fun killing each other as enemies.

No worries. It just gives me something to do instead of doing work, since I am having a very ADD day today.

sspitfire1 wrote:

Al Smithy wrote:

I think many a true Ranger would take offense to your supposition that you "own" the trees and the rocks and the essences of the world.

LMAO

That's a Druid you are describing there, Mr. Know-it-all.

Yes, I can tell you must be a great lawyer. Is your favorite rebuttal during cross-examination, "Liar liar pants on fire!"

??? And I can tell you had no idea how to come up with a good comeback to my burn. You should take some lessons from Gol Tink. He's got it going on. You... not so much.

I reasonable good response would be something other than execution....or a failure of the game to create an adequate role-playing environment.

THAT is a valid point. But until Stand-and-Deliver mechanics go in, killing is the only recourse available to us. And Imprisonment was long ago tossed off the table of options.

I think many a true Ranger would take offense to your supposition that you "own" the trees and the rocks and the essences of the world.

LMAO

That's a Druid you are describing there, Mr. Know-it-all.

Quote:

In other words, it reads that traveling through EBA territory is a totally safe prospect so long as we don't see you clearing our escalations, harvesting our nodes, or occupying our holding-spaces. Doing one of those 3 actions without our permission in our territory means you are taking your life into your own hands. As such, the policy really does read no different from Golgatha's, with the exception that we clearly grant safe passage to passers-through without them having to declare their intentions (Golgatha may not require a declaration of intention, but it has always been heavily advised). That's the "friendly and welcoming part."

Lawful Evil.

Spongebob Squrepants.

sspitfire1 wrote:

... when we see a character we don't recognize in EBA territory doing things without permission and whack it...

Please understand this should not happen without warning unless you're a known ally of Golgotha, or another known enemy.

As I said above - and I really hope this messages gets through all the bluster - the EBA is friendly to strangers and welcomes visitors.

TL;DR: If the EBA also intends to be "friendly" about characters found performing "hostile actions," then we need to clarify that alongside the "don't do this" part of the policy.

I'm a lawyer, not a diplomat.

The policy clarifies one thing and one thing only: what is a "hostile action." It does not state how "hostile actions" will be dealt with. This implicitly leaves open the option for non-EBA characters in EBA territory committing "hostile actions" to be summarily killed without warning.

In other words, it reads that traveling through EBA territory is a totally safe prospect so long as we don't see you clearing our escalations, harvesting our nodes, or occupying our holding-spaces. Doing one of those 3 actions without our permission in our territory means you are taking your life into your own hands. As such, the policy really does read no different from Golgatha's, with the exception that we clearly grant safe passage to passers-through without them having to declare their intentions (Golgatha may not require a declaration of intention, but it has always been heavily advised). That's the "friendly and welcoming part."

Separately, choosing to place the "hostile actions" part of the message before the "all are welcome" message also sets the tone of the whole thing in a rather unwelcoming light.

@Good versus Evil: The policy is Lawful Neutral. I would add the distinction between a Good and Evil execution of the policy depends on how much mercy is offered transgressors.

Since EoX owns the whole map, can I haz Blackfeather Keep? Pretty please with a zombie kitten on top?

Al, what name should we write down for your Company-that-is-in-the-EBA-but-isn't-really? Also, what are the names of all of the alts you operate in-game currently? Could you please update us on a regular basis when you make those changes? Nah, that's too much work. We'll just let the spies be spies, the honest folks be honest folks, and everyone else be dead.

Seriously, the purpose of this post was a fore-warning, so when we see a character we don't recognize in EBA territory doing things without permission and whack it, folks can't say we did anything "un-lawful" or some such. I believe the term here is "covering our asses." In that context, the less-than-iron-clad enforceability of the policy is moot.

Also, we are creating an extra space for spies and infiltrators to operate in, if that is their game. You're welcome for our efforts!

Phaeros is a blowfish settlement. We puff up real nice and spikey-like whenever a hostile character gets near us. Then we blow them up. :)

bumper boats rock

This is a redirect post to a post on the GW forums.

No but I know where my favorite Golgathans will be :)

You can read one of many articles about him here.

RIP!

*applause*

Aww.... I was looking forward to dancing with the ogres all the way to Brighthaven for my training :)

Fanndis, excellent explanation of CPEH. Thank you!

This is the tool I have shared with a number of different individuals in the community, to date, that Fanndis may be partially basing his valuations on.

Public AH Pricing Guide

Two important notes:
1. The raw materials Base Prices are exactly that: prices. They are my gut estimate of the value of a given raw mat based on time to gather it and demand for it in the game. They are prices, in the truest sense of the word.

2. Refined and Crafting "Prices" are actually cost estimates- that is, they do not take into account the demand for the final products. The Cost estimates do take into account the time required to craft the item.

One thing I would say about what Fanndis is trying to do is this: don't gather anything while you are killing mobs and don't worry about any of the dropped items. Yes, they have value; but their value is highly relative and varies from person to person. Just focus on how much coin you get in an hour as that is a much easier metric to work with across the game. Anybody can look at 10 copper and think, "That is worth x of this to me." When Copper fees for feat training come into the game, that will make Copper coin even more valuable AND relate-able across roles. Conversely, a Wizard could care less about Coal while a Fighter has no use for Moonstone.

I like Thannon's approach- kill mobs for an hour and see what you get, coin wise, then gather for an hour. Divide gathered goods into the coin to get an estimate of its value. That said, keep in mind that you need to use the exact same relative skill levels between gatherer and fighter, and then use the exact same skill levels across gatherers and fighters- something which is very difficult to do without a high degree of coordination (this commercial).

At any rate, all of this will require thousands of man hours of work to do. So yeah, I prefer Hammar's and my approach: put an idea of a price out there, then let the market decide where to go with it (hurray Dutch Auctions!). Feel free to use my Pricing Guide for inspiration.

Gale will always be in green and blue with a longbow trained on you. Does that help?