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Keeping the Coinpurse Full

 

 

Posted On: February 5th, 2010
Posted By: Tolero

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I keep hearing a comment that has lead me to believe I am…unusual in the way I play DDO. Too often I hear from my friends, my co-workers, or even just random players I PUG with that they don’t understand how it is I’m never out of plat on my characters. I thought maybe it had something to do with the classes I play, but as I’ve started to expand the variety of what I play I’m noticing that I still have coin to spare. This tells me that something I’m doing is different, so I thought it might be fun to share some of the habits I’m doing that seem to be working well for me. Some of it may seem…odd…but then again I’m never in a position where I can’t afford the things I want when I want them, so how bad can it be?

I tend to do a LOT of the habits described in the Stormreach Economics Guide. If you’ve never checked it out, I highly recommend it (especially if you’re a relatively new player). As I play I find I do a lot of these habits instinctively now, and the only time I slack in doing them is when I’m not in the mood to buy things.

Little Habits That Add Up

These are the most “routine” things I do when I play that are consistent no matter what the class is:

  • Breakables
    • Smash every breakable that doesn’t require me to go too far out of my way and loot whatever is in it.
    • If I’m waiting on someone from AFK, I wander a lil further to smash breakables and loot whatever is in it.
    • I have a key bound to target/pick up any objects. Basically it’s configured so I just roll my palm with minimal effort and YOINK…it’s mine.
    • Generally I don’t ninja breakable loot out from under people, but if someone moves on without claiming it… YOINK… mine.
    • Collectibles
    • I got one of those huge collectibles bags and I grab every collectible I see that doesn’t require me to wander too far off the beaten path. I just set it to auto-gather and let them accumulate. I’ll deal with them….eventually.
  • Chests
    • EVERYTHING is looted until the point I start to get tight on space. Then I switch to only looting things that stack.
    • If I’ve gotta make room, I pick the cheapest thing that doesn’t stack to destroy.
    • The stuff I’m looting has to be worth more than the stuff I already have. I tend to glance at the base value of items (or at least what border they have) before I grab stuff.
    • I always always ALWAYS loot coin found in chests. Doesn’t take up any space so why not.
  • Bags
    • I keep one of each type of bag in my inventory to stash things, including gem bags and quivers.
    • I set it to auto gather so I don’t have to think about it, especially since many things that fit in the bags stack.
    • I keep a quiver on my non-range characters. Any arrows I find in the chests and breakables get stashed there to be sold when I remember at some point.
    • Anything that over-flows outside of the bags (like excess arrows, excess gems) is destroyed if I need the space.
  • End Rewards
    • Unless it’s an item I really want, I only pick the item from the list that is worth the most money

Maintenance

These are some of the erratic routines I have that throttle up or down based on how much coin I need. For example, if I know I’m going to be in the mood to start looking for weapon upgrades (more on this shortly), I start doing more of these things with more regularity instead of every once in a blue moon.

  • I repair as often as I can remember to. The sooner you repair the better when it comes to unbound gear. You don’t just take damage from death in the game. For instance, some spells and traps inflict damage on your gear just by getting hit with them. Hitting certain kinds of monsters can cause more wear than  normal. I just go to a general vendor and look at the repair tab to see if anything needs fixing and fix it then.
  • I try to hit up the vendors/brokers once every play session, usually at the beginning of the night to clear up space for more loot (multiple times per play session if I feel inclined).
  • I bother to visit the brokers in the Marketplace, House D, and House K. I just go to each one and see if they want anything. The final stop is to the general vendor. If I’m so inclined I will make a trip to Ataraxia’s because the vendors there give good prices. Again, this throttles based on how much money I have. The more money I have the less often I do this because I’m just too lazy to worry about it if I am not short on funds.
  • I take the time to crunch dragonshard fragments in the Stone of Change. This is usually if I’m waiting for something/someone and have some down time. I just keep on stacking them until I can’t crunch them any further.
  • I only do this if I feel the need, but I bother to turn in collectibles and sell everything the guys hand back. This is an involved process that I don’t do often because sometimes it requires you to take breaks during the turn-ins to sell off the stuff you have. This became particularly true once I started using the bigger sized bags to hold them.

Shopping

So an immediate assumption made is that I have to be getting money by selling my phat lewtz on the auction house. On the contrary, I have the WORST luck with chest pulls. The best items I’ve ever pulled from a chest were a Sirocco and a +1 tome on a stat I didn’t care about at the time. That’s it. OH and I just recently pulled a holy silver weapon that I’m not proficient with. Woo. So I definitely have a “shopping strategy” since any good items I have are a result of buying them from others.

  • If I’m looking for weapons I try to browse the current prices to get a sense of what the “average” high/low is. I will only buy something that is low enough to be an anomaly compared to the average I’ve seen. This means I often won’t buy the thing I’m looking for for several days as I get a sense for the prices.
  • I will often take the time to check the brokers for items to buy rather than the auction house. The brokers have pretty standard (and predictable) prices. Once in a while, you find something someone sold not knowing any better.
  • Of the things I get that are worth any money at all, I undercut, undercut, undercut. Sure I’m not making the zillion howevermany plat it *could* sell for, but I take the quick money I can get now and I’m not having to constantly re-list it. I never cut lower than what a broker will give me for it though, that would be silly.


Situational Savings

Some habits I have to make money are the result of very selective behavior. These are very dependent on the type of character I’m playing.

  • I bother putting points in haggle and snagging a nice haggle item on my higher charisma characters.
  • I will sometimes buy things with my higher charisma character and pass it through my shared bank to the character it was meant for.
  • I use a LOT of Hirelings. I’ve gotten pretty good with them and use them in lue of potions, wands, etc. I find it cheaper (especially on my higher haggle characters) to buy up a buncha contracts and pass them to the chars I need. Pocket healer ftw.
  • When I’m using the Hirelings I only use the minimum I need, so as not to waste them. I also run them into the dirt to get every precious minute’s worth out of them. I’m obsessive like that :X

I figure the way I play the game is probably not the same as others…but then again I’m always able to get the things I want when I want them, so in the long run I guess as long as I’m happy that is the most important part. I’d love to hear from others what THEIR favorite tips are for keeping your characters’ coinpurses full! Feel free to comment or you can write about it in your blog and ping me back! To ping all you have to do is include a link in your blog post to this post!

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