Well first off, I am an owner of one of these fine guns, so think what you will about that, I will try to be as honest as I can. You can fast-forward to the bottom for the price-check.
For anyone who is buying, you have to think that the i2870 is a long-term gun, you will have to use it a long time to benefit from it(With skills or no skills). In regards to skills, I was not so skilled when I bought it either(I was about 50). With scopes (Which are cheap as dirt atm) and a 106 amp, don't expect to consistently break even until about ~60 hit and dmg while hunting mobs that drop decent markup. It is a long term gun because you will have to use it a lot to get to the point where you have eco that outpaces the sib guns to get your money's worth(Unless you chip, which I could have chipped in like 30 levels worth with the money I'd have saved had I bought today
, but it was far cheaper to skill than to chip for me, if you want to go that route.) And then you actually have to use the gun while you have that advantage in eco for a
long time.
Skilling up was not too bad. In the 40's I think you would get maybe 2 levels a week hunting about 4 hours(Non stop shooting) a day? In the 50's it would perhaps be 1.5 to 1 levels (towards the high 50's) a week hunting the same pace? Keep in mind that the skill events don't seem to have an end in sight either. When those come around, grab some caffeine, the energy drink of your choice and shoot from evening until the sun shines and then until evening again. I think I went from 54 to 63 in the triple skill event and I had finals during those weeks(Those weeks sucked. But I tried to get everything I could out of the event. If you really had some time maybe you could get to commando or real close)
The gun is a good gun, practically speaking, there's no other gun out there with more eco and dps other than the mod-merc(Of course there is ancient imk2 or mod mk2 but if you are being practical...). You shouldn't have trouble killing anything that you can get two hits in before having to fap(Although you shouldn't be fighting like that, heh.) The way it is now, for a lot of the mobs, it is like hunting mobs pre-regen. You'll have fun with the dps if you're used to something like the korss, but the DPS is really just a novelty the first few weeks, unless you try switch to something weaker that is(Then you'll miss it).
Also if you're looking to upgrade, the way I see it, it's a good gun to invest in, because no matter which way the market for the mod-merc goes, the i2870 will follow it. If prices continue to drop, it's not such a bad thing IMO because you can upgrade to the mod-merc for much cheaper other-wise. And if it goes upwards, you're richer, and you will get more for your I2870 when you decide to upgrade.
About the market, In retrospect I think I bought at the wrong time. I bought at a time last summer when everyone was looking to buy the gun(There were like 5 buying threads back then). Right now, everyone seems to want to sell the gun in this financial crisis. From an investors point of view, it may be a smart time to buy right now. With all of the sellers, I would think you could get a pretty good deal maybe as low as 70k at the moment(Sell when there are a lot of buyers, buy when there are a lot of sellers. Damn how I wish I had waited).
If you are serious about hunting it is a good value. Even with the way I hunt, which is in spurts I think it's a decent value, whatever I lost in depreciation, I've made up in skills at this point(If you value skills that is, if all of a sudden you find yourself thinking about chipping out in a year and you're not in it long-term, it can bite you in the butt if the value goes down more. Ask yourself if you're really a gamer. A lot of people who have been selling recently, they haven't been very active as of late.)
Really it is all about whether you are really serious about using the gun. If you think you can put in 4 hours a day for the next year, and you enjoy hunting, it's a great value. That's not easy to do IMO, especially when you first buy it, you might love the dps, but at lower skills, when your losing peds, it can be demoralizing. PEDs won't exactly be pouring in after 60 either, at that point you'll be on average breaking even weekly(Expect 1k dips and spikes, from my experience from 60-65 on CP). You will likely be breaking even most of the time, and hoping for the big one to bring you in some true profit after that point.
That was a long post eh, now that I'm looking at the title, your original question is what the price is now and what it will be in June... Right now I would say 70-75k could likely net you one, based on previous sales. But recently a lot of the guns that were for sale for like 3 months have finally sold though, so I think there could be a chance that the price will be turning sooner rather than later. As for June... that's a few months away... If you're not going to use the gun right away, I would wait until June. It's always a gamble though. My honest opinion as a owner, is that I don't perceive that much demand right now. Bottom line I think ~65k in June.(More than likely the price will be still around what it is now, since that's how it's been since like January I think.), that's just me spewing out numbers based on perception though. If you'll put the gun to use right away, regardless of which way the gun goes, it's a good buy. So if you really plan to use the gun, it's a good buy IMO, as an investment, more than likely I think it's going to hover around this price for awhile. Well, I hope that helps you in making your decision
. The value is worth it IMO, but you may be able to get it cheaper down the road. It's pretty low right now though, there might be more downside to waiting than upside. I'm going around in circles now. I will just say I think it's a good value at the current price, and I will be keeping it unless the price spikes up again because I do think it's worth it. The market is too crazy to predict, everything is cheap right now compared to a year ago, but things still seem to be getting cheaper... though I would say most of the depreciation seems to be slowing a lot lately.
)
