People owning the items mentioned in the thread title will have an innate tendency to protect their value, while the rest of the population will have a tendency to devalue them. This could be either in anticipation that they might one day acquire them if prices drop low enough, or they could simply be trying to reinforce their belief that they have no need for such items. I belong to the first group, and am thus partial to maintaining value, though I will try my best to be as objective as possible. I personally base worth on ROI both in terms of time investment and realized profit. In the right hands, one can justify spending two or three times current market values (based on a 2-3 year ROI); the loot system right now is
much, much better than it was during peak prices in 2006-2007.
The new L guns are meant to bridge the gap, providing cost-effective options for players who are here for fun, don't have the skill to use older, non-SIB weapons, or don't play often enough to justify paying the markup on a UL variant. They aren't intended to replace the imk2, mod merc, i2870 and the like. I'd be willing to bet the farm that we will never see another weapon as efficient as the imk2 (and similarly, none with the eco/damage ratio of the mod merc either). Guess what? That's perfectly fine. The vast majority of players that own this type of equipment under-utilize it. As newer, smarter players reach higher levels, they will be able to more easily make offers based on projected savings/earnings, and the aforementioned group will eventually get to a point where they can no longer justify hoarding items that see little or no use. For everyone in between, there now exists a plethora of L options to fill the void.
All I will say Sahci is when you are ready borrow one and test it before you spend major peds. For me the return a gun pays is more important than the damage, so if that borrowed gun isn't paying no matter how good it is for taking down mobs then you have your answers.
In fact looking at it from the other angle, I would like to see major ubers try some high end L for a few weeks and see what returns they get. Not becasue I want to convert them to L, just to see if there really is a change in return at very high levels.
If it turns out the unlimited pays the ubers better than L then we have answers, although I am yet to hear about an uber that really wants to test it. (is this an ego thing?)
I'm done I will stay out of this thread.
Rick
Rick, I want to preface this by commending you on your progress thus far in EU. I've followed it with interest and think your enthusiasm, vigor and persistence are a huge boon for those players looking up to you; we could use more people with this type of attitude.
However, I feel some of your theories are misguided. You stated that you borrowed a RockJacker and other weapons from friends, noticed mobs "weren't paying," and dismissed these items forever. I see several problems with this evaluation on your part. First, you have respectable skills, but surely you aren't maxed on this weapon yet, right? Hunting with an un-maxed, average eco-based weapon is probably one of the easiest ways to rack up unnecessary hunting costs. Second, you dismissed the gun simply because mobs weren't paying? I can promise you there is
no gun in the game where you can go out on one hunt (or an entire day) and guarantee global and HOF spam; that's not how the hunting system works, and I think you know that.
I’m not going to blindly state that Mod Faps and Mod Mercs are worth X and Y. In an ideal setting, they would be worth whatever you deemed worthy based on an acceptable rate of return. However, for whatever reason, very few people understand this line of thinking. Or, maybe they’re just having fun, which is perfectly fine. Is it worth owning these items if you play for a few hours a week? Not from a financial standpoint. If you’re simply having fun with money (see: Kimmi) then by all means, have fun. Just don’t do it on borrowed money, lest you suffer the same fate as the US economy
