Wheel of Time MUD

I know the argument that an item is worth whatever someone is willing to give you for it, and I know that actual trade value of certain items will fluctuate based on basic principles like supply versus demand. That being said, I really struggle with determining a rough idea of how much items are worth, especially rare items, when trying to trade, and I am curious about the perspectives that more experienced players have and how they decide that a trade feels fair at a basic level.

For popular rare weapons or armor pieces, other than just asking someone to give you a fair offer and taking them at their word, what is your thought process on determining the ballpark on whether a particular trade is generally fair, or proposing an initial offer yourself?

Pretty much what you said...worth whatever someone will give you. Except for that, look at what most people are using. Look at crafting costs. Try to find historical prices.

Top tier weapons, especially defense ones with good damage are usually worth more than a run of the mill abs rare.

When talking rare body gear, lace shirt is way more scarce than ornate. Value accordingly.

Trinkets aren't worth as much any more. They load everywhere regularly and with loaders. Clanned can often issue them, too, a further potential decrease in value.

Onyx shields are worth a decent bit, but are only ever so slightly better than an etched. Same with jcuffs versus Kandori and gown/surcoat.

So really, I think this is only important when talking weapons or a lace shirt.

I typically throw an offer out there and see what they say. There isn't any formula to what something is exactly worth. They have an idea of what they want for it and I have an idea of what I will offer. There is always room to negotiate, to haggle. Unless you offer something completely ridiculous for a lowball (1 obsidian staff for a heron greatsword, for an example) then you might just make them angry and not want to trade. You can't really come back from that saying "Oh I don't know what that abs heron is worth! Honest!" because that is BS, lol.

So I tend to think if things in terms of crafting, gold, effort, effect, and scarcity.

Craftable rares are mostly 5 crafting tokens, some weird materials and a trinket or two. So their base value to me is 5 tokens. A crafting token is sort of equivalent to a jcuff because they are about the same to buy at the market hall.
Then you have to consider how effective the item is. In my opinion, without giving it a ton of thought, these are my values of the five token craftables based on how good they are:
Nimble> spiked club/razor sword> hooked swords/axen> crimson axe

Then there are dog swords which are five tokens but also costs onyx shield. So they are more valuable and no one wants to craft them so they get valued like they’re not craftable. Obsidian staff is a silver token but isn’t worth that to craft so I rank it below dog sword. Diamond lance is only 4 tokens so it should be lower than any of the 5 tokens craftables but it’s kinda hard to say bc no one really bothers with them. PoG is 7 tokens and is a great weapon but very prac intensive so they are uncommon. I put their value similar to an obsidian staff with variance based on preference. I’d say staff is only higher because exchanging it for tokens gives 8 and PoG still only gives 5.

Dst is interesting bc it costs 6 tokens but it is worth more than 120% of a 5 token craftable bc it’s a great utility weapon. That being said it’s not really worth two 5 token craftables bc that’s equivalent to a silver token which is almost the cost of serrated polearm(+1 jcuff +1 crafting token). Sai is ten tokens and two basilards. I don’t like them very much so I dunno.

Then you get into the noncraftable weapons. Those values are all over the place. For example: a heron med right now is worth more than a heron long bc of the current meta(imo) so trading means heron med is worth a heron long and a little something extra. A wicked knife bladed axe is almost as good as a heron long but no one is gonna trade me a heron long for a wicked axe + a little extra. A steel warhammer is better than a wicked axe too and I’d argue as good as a heron long. Heron foils I’m not sure about. I’m also biased toward them. The real issue is heron scarcity and this attitude about herons this mud has always had about how desirable they are before a bunch of other weapons were added. That being said, I want em.

Ornates vs lace shirts. This one is interesting bc imo ornate has way more of an effect when you add it to a combo set than a lace shirt does when you add that to a dodge set. Also a lace shirt can be crafted for twenty one tokens. But it seems like most people aren’t willing to spend that. Ornates are more common because of that, so no one is trading Ornates for lace shirts 1 for 1 even though I think the probability should.

Dbelts are basically worth 11 crafting tokens plus some trinkets. But I’m not sure if I’d trade a dbelt for 11-12 jcuffs. Actually. I would. But maybe other people wouldn’t.

Egowns and onyx shields I basically don’t trade for. Onyx shield can be crafted for six crafting tokens but they load enough I’ll just wait to get one. Egowns/surcoats can’t be crafted but they can be bought with gold. The timing on that is hard so they’re worth more than their gold cost imo.

Silver medallions are….i dunno. I’ve only traded for them a couple times and just happened to have what someone wanted at that time.


After taking all that into account you need to factor in who you’re trading with. Someone that trades bc they like to hoard gear and trade things is going to look at items from a similar perspective as I do. Someone that is looking for something specific to use and has a bunch of extra stuff they won’t use might give you a good deal for what you have and vice versa.

I don’t know if this helps or makes things more confusing but I typed this whole darn thing on my phone and I’m not discarding it now.

I have to say I love reading this thread and seeing how others think. Thanks.