The Bazaar FAQ / Tier List

[Max Dirks]

We don't use a basic tier listing anymore (as in particular items are a particular tier), but we still use relative strengths in calculating prices. Thus, instead of asking for a material of a particular tier, you'd have to ask for the material itself. Here is a list of all our basic materials, ordered from weakest to strongest:

Metals

1. Iron
2. Steel
3. Plynt
4. Damascus
5. Dehlar
6. Delyn
7. Titanium
8. Mythril
9. Prevalida
10. Osmium
11. Black Diamond
12. Adamantine*
13. Icemold*

Woods

1. Oak
2. Yew
3. Cyper
4. Trakym
5. Eklan
6. Akashima Redwood
7. Rywan
8. Talymer
9. Ulder
10. Liviol
11. Root Walker Husk*

Hides

1. Hide
2. Pelt
3. Leather
4. Magim Beast Hide/Leather
5. Arctic Hide
6. Arctic Pelt
7. Arctic Leather
8. Gorian'fel Hide*
9. Drakescale
10. Young Dragonscale
11. Sea Serpent Scale
12. Haidian Demonhide*
13. Ancient Dragonscale*

Bones

1. Chitin
2. Carapace
3. Bone
4. Golem Hide
5. Cartilage
6. Golem Carapace
7. Petrified Bone
8. Young Dragonbone
9. Young Dragonhorn
10. Ancient Dragonbone*
11. Ancient Dragonhorn*

Cloth

1. Burlap
2. Linen
3. Denim
4. Wool
5. Canvas
6. Spidersilk
7. Hair Weave
8. Sifan Cloth
9. Vlince
10. Njalian Spidersilk*

Glass

1. Calli
2. Cillu
3. Mukakkannati
4. Valaiyalman
5. Kiramaini*

*Denotes that the material cannot be purchased in the bazaar.

Check back often as player submitted materials will be added to this list upon review by the administration.

[Max Dirks]

At the end of the day, it's not your equipment that matters. It's how you use it.

There are plenty of things that go into how materials interact with one another. A powerful sword, if it scores a direct hit against a shield, might break it apart. But it could also hit the shield on the side or slip harmlessly off the wood. The strength of its wielder also matters; no sword, no matter how strong on paper, can hurt an opponent if it's wielded by someone who lacks the strength for it.

And there even comes a time when different strengths stop mattering. Against simple cloth, for instance, a sharp iron knife probably cuts just as well as a sharp mythril one. And a bronze sword could probably withstand roughly the same number of hits from an iron sword as it could from a titanium one; the difference in this case would be the amount of damaged suffered by the iron sword in comparison to the titanium one. They would both deal similar damage to the bronze (alright, maybe the titanium will do a little bit more), but the difference lies in how much damage each takes in return.

So the advice is this: don't worry too much about the way materials interact. If you're a swordsman who wants the most powerful sword out there, you're going to want adamantine sooner or later, we're all sure of that. But don't expect your super-powerful sword to mow through your opponents without requiring a little bit of work. At the end of the day, your scores will be what matters.

As for the battle you're in now: judges know to take equipment into account when considering whether characters were acting realistically. If your opponent is letting her inferior equipment take tremendous amounts of damage without breaking, then a good judge will penalize her score. Chances are you'll win in the end!

[Max Dirks]

Absolutely. Characters can sell back their items, craft items from raw materials or sell raw materials to the bazaar. At this time, all of these transactions must be completely by writing out your transactions.

Selling: Characters can sell items (purchased at the bazaar, from another player, or earned from a quest) back to the bazaar to obtain GP. Like a real market, this is generally done so at a discounted price. Haggling at this point is very beneficial, especially if you are trading in items for new items.


Please note: raw materials will be awarded by judges in "pieces" rather than by weight. To make things simple (though not wholly realistic) a piece is the amount of material necessary to make one new item. The system will balance itself out as long as this standard is consistently applied.


Crafting: If a character supplies the raw material, the bazaar can construct a weapon charging only labor. This is a good way to combine spoils earned in quests with the speed and efficiency of the bazaar. Labor prices, sadly, are fixed by the Bazaar Union and cannot be haggled.

Selling Raw Materials: Raw materials obtained from quests can also be sold to the bazaar. Like a real market, this is generally done so at a discounted price. Haggling is beneficial, especially if you're trading raw materials for new items.

Crafting and selling raw materials can be combined into one transaction.

[Max Dirks]

Yes you can. The automated system has a "donate" option which can be used to conduct transactions between players. Simply have the person "donate" you the amount you desire for the item and you "donate" them the item. Transaction logs can be viewed at any time to confirm the validity of the transfer.

If you desire to write out a transaction with another player, you can set up a shop in the Black Market forum. This is free to do and anyone can participate. Please be advised that your player must own the items he or she is selling in order to create transactions.

[Breaker]

For anyone who might be curious, this thread includes the most up-to-date list of metals, woods, cloths, pelts and bones on Althanas, including their relative strengths.