Best Weapon / Armor EVER

[BasiliskWrangler]

Lot's of good points here.

IJBall: it really was not planned that some items would be unsellable to merchants. It just happens that if all the "rolls" are right, some items are so unique that they become "priceless". They are simply not sellable because merchants don't have that much cash assets. This is quite common in RPGs.

One technique I used, which I am surprised is not mentioned, is to buy some things from the merchant to boost his gold reserves, before selling that one big item. Then you can resell these smaller items back to him later or another merchant. Also, I have him repair my gear to boost his cash as well. Of course, this idea is broken if you raise your Mercantile skill so high that you are swindling merchants out of their gold!

I am not opposed to raising merchant gold levels in 1.04 a bit, if we can figure out a good compromise between what is helpful to the player yet realistic.

[s4br3]

I think the annoying lack of merchant gold could easily be corrected if a bartering system was used. Then gold would be used to make up the difference in the exchange.

An inventory box for what you want to trade, a second box for what you want from the merchant, and then click a button to calculate the gold difference, to make things "equal".
This, of course, would take into account a characters mercantile skill. Problem solved.

Trading/bartering makes perfect sense in the world of Eschalon.

This would certainly make upgrading expensive items easy, for both the player AND the merchant.

[Gorgon Rider]

Actually, someone mentioned before about buying some other items to boost a merchant's gold reserves so you can then sell the big item (the suggestion was Demon Oil flasks, as these are always useful anyway). This isn't a bad idea and it can work for a time, but I think the merchants still need a bit of a bump in gold reserves. Mainly because even if you put no points in Mercantile, you'll still run into the problem of not enough cash on hand to buy your cool find.

Maybe just a couple grand each would do the trick (or even if it were only a couple grand at the more exotic merchants and not at the regular ones). Combined with the 'buy some other items to boost his gold reserve' trick, you should be able to eventually sell all but the most expensive and rare items.

[silverkitty]

Also, I have him repair my gear to boost his cash as well.

binger mentioned "gold spent on repairs does not add to the merchant's gold count" in a post a few weeks back. It was passed off at the time (albeit not by you) as "oh, well. it's a feature, not a bug", but maybe you secretly considered it a bug and fixed it in 1.04 anyway?

[Kreador Freeaxe]

Also, I have him repair my gear to boost his cash as well.

binger mentioned "gold spent on repairs does not add to the merchant's gold count" in a post a few weeks back. It was passed off at the time (albeit not by you) as "oh, well. it's a feature, not a bug", but maybe you secretly considered it a bug and fixed it in 1.04 anyway?

Actually, I think it was worked out to be a bug, because repairing all by right-clicking the button would add to the smith's reserves, but repairing individual items would not.

[IJBall]

binger mentioned "gold spent on repairs does not add to the merchant's gold count" in a post a few weeks back. It was passed off at the time (albeit not by you) as "oh, well. it's a feature, not a bug", but maybe you secretly considered it a bug and fixed it in 1.04 anyway?

Actually, I think it was worked out to be a bug, because repairing all by right-clicking the button would add to the smith's reserves, but repairing individual items would not.

OK, I just checked on this "bug" (with v1.04c, using a v1.04 character), and here's the deal:

You click on the single-item repair, you hear the "coins" sound FX, but the merchant's gold total does not update at the same time.

However, I then said Goodbye to the merchant, to get out of the dialogue box. I immediately followed this up by re-chatting him up, and at that point his cash-on-hand total was still incorrect. (Edit: I just double-checked this, and I can confirm that the repair payment never got added to the merchant's cash reserves.)

So, yeah, this is a bug...

[KillingMoon]

What might be an acceptable compromise would be to add another option at game creation for "Low money supply games" in addition to the "Fixed seed", "Item wear" and "Food/Water" options...

I like that idea. I would then put the starting money for our character at zero, not a penny more.

For the record, I prefer the current situation of the merchants having limited money supplies. The catch 22 situations and how you solve them are a mini game in their own. For me the game would lose something if there were unlimited money supplies.
So that also attracts me to your suggestion of different options at start-up, because our tastes differ, and being able to make our own choices choice with regards to money scarcity would keep the both of us happy.

Err... I hope the repair money does get added to the blacksmith's total.

[Rebelicious]

I didn't even know that Book 2 had randomized items before I saw this thread. I suppose that my gains have been decidedly underwhelming. I've found a few nice items, but only things with set names, which appears to not be randomized. I suppose they could be called "Uniques".

I've saved them all, because they're worth 4000-5000 each and I haven't been able to sell them. All of them are weapons. As far as armour goes, I've seen absolutely zero randomization in the magic department. It's always the same things. Gloves that gives +2 Skullduggery, +2 Pick Locks or +1 Repair; Never anything else.

And I'm pretty far into the game, afaik. The game really, really could use better itemization.

[BasiliskWrangler]

binger mentioned "gold spent on repairs does not add to the merchant's gold count" in a post a few weeks back. It was passed off at the time (albeit not by you) as "oh, well. it's a feature, not a bug", but maybe you secretly considered it a bug and fixed it in 1.04 anyway?

Actually, I think it was worked out to be a bug, because repairing all by right-clicking the button would add to the smith's reserves, but repairing individual items would not.

OK, I just checked on this "bug" (with v1.04c, using a v1.04 character), and here's the deal:

You click on the single-item repair, you hear the "coins" sound FX, but the merchant's gold total does not update at the same time.

However, I then said Goodbye to the merchant, to get out of the dialogue box. I immediately followed this up by re-chatting him up, and at that point his cash-on-hand total was still incorrect. (Edit: I just double-checked this, and I can confirm that the repair payment never got added to the merchant's cash reserves.)

So, yeah, this is a bug...

Yep, definitely a bug. No matter how well I try to organize bug lists, seems like something falls through. I'll get this added to 1.04 before we go publiuc next week.

[darkhartx1]

Buy just enough weapons and armor of lower value so you can then sell your over priced items earning your coin back and some free items you can then I sell to other merchants to make up the difference. This is Bartering. I didn't mean to insult you with my "jest".

[Rebelicious]

err I actually get a calculator and buy just enough arrows, weapons and armor so I can then sell my "over priced items get my money back and some free items, then I sell those to other merchants. <.< you guys suck at bartering LOL

Well at least I can form coherent sentences.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Please keep on the topic's subject.

[nomo]

i have "studded reptile hide" body armor, 9AR +3, is that the best light armor you can get? i cant seem to find the list of materials that you find in the ingame books here on the forum.....

also i have the Warmoth and the Emberdark
i like these as they are super light and now i can cast without unequipping my weapons.

on the subject of the expensive boots with +20% magick resist:
i bought those badboys, but when they wore down fast from all my exploring, they cost over 5k in gold to repair, too high maintenance IMO.
so i sold them and got some boiled leather 4ARs and added +2 to them. almost the same ar, but no magic resist, but they only cost a couple hundred to repair when they're knackered

EDIT:
to be a bit more helpful and on-topic:
i was surprised at the difference in range of items in book II compared to I. It seems the randomness of effects on items was more wide in book I than II.
i mean there only seems to be 3 kinds of magic cloaks, and only 3 kinds magic gloves whereas in #1 there was a lot more variety.
im not complaining, would just be nice for a few more.

[KillingMoon]

i have studded reptile hide body armor, 9AR +3, i suppose that's almost the best light armor you can get? i cant seem to find the list of materials that you find in the ingame books here on the forum.....

I've seen some armour with +2 dexterity somewhere. That was not an outstanding piece of equipment, but perhaps it's possible to find your reptile body armour with the same dexterity bonus, imbue that with +3 armour rating and you would have something even better. I don't know how likely the chance is, though.

also on the subject of the expensive scale boots with +20% magick resist:
i bought those badboys, but when they wore down fast from all my exploring, they cost over 5k in gold to repair.
so i sold them and got some boiled leather 4ARs and added +2 to them. almost the same ar, and no magic resist, but they only cost a couple hundred to repair when they're knackered.

You can take them off when using quick travel, then it won't cost anything.
Repair costs can certainly be a consideration. You can find a damage 6 machete in the game for only 35 gold. It looks unimpressive, but if money is an issue, it might be preferable to a spear with damage 7 or 8 if the price of that spear is a few 100 gold, as repair costs are a % of the new price.
I know I kept hold of that cheap machete for quite a while; it only was a few gold to have it repaired each time.

[nomo]

I've seen some armour with +2 dexterity somewhere. That was not an outstanding piece of equipment, but perhaps it's possible to find your reptile body armour with the same dexterity bonus, imbue that with +3 armour rating and you would have something even better. I don't know how likely the chance is, though.

yeah i have some "swift" leggings, think they are reptile skin too.
they are +2 AR and +2 Dex.

the only thing lacking is a really good light armour belt, i haven't seen one yet anyway...
ended up training in heavy armour just so i could wear a heavy belt...!