FWIW I've never trusted things like smelting services and coli services to be 100% reliable and truthful either. Service sellers can easily skim off the best stuff since there's no proof/accountability of what RNG spat out.
If I had to articulate why a smelting thread seems a little less scummy, it's that materials only have a ~potential~ Auction House value, a dynamic ever-changing number dependant on the userbase; Checking prices and listing each individual material takes valuable time from your day, and you may get undercut despite it all and have to start over. It may be worth it to take a loss by bulk-selling to an individual instead of the AH for the sake of convenience. If everyone involved is aware of what there goods are worth and what they're gaining/loosing, it's fine.
Coli familiars on the other hand have a hard Hoardsell Treasure Value, and exchange rates are fairly stable at 1:1000, so this is a more measurable scam. PlagueMaw is basically asking for people to inconvenience themselves with a CR/PA AND loose money at the same time. There's no material benefit for the sellers, and a week-old user is less likely to be familiar (hah) enough with the game to realize they're getting a bad deal.
I’ve occasionally tried my hand at selling Baldwin mats, and let me tell you, it is a major time suck. If you can check in regularly it’s not bad but if you can only reliably hop online once or twice a day it’s a nuisance. I’ve absolutely sold in bulk before - on the AH, not in the forums, but same diff - because it wasn’t worth 10 extra gems for me to keep poking something I was selling for 75 gems already.
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Re: PlagueMaw
(Anonymous) 2025-03-08 06:29 am (UTC)(link)If I had to articulate why a smelting thread seems a little less scummy, it's that materials only have a ~potential~ Auction House value, a dynamic ever-changing number dependant on the userbase; Checking prices and listing each individual material takes valuable time from your day, and you may get undercut despite it all and have to start over. It may be worth it to take a loss by bulk-selling to an individual instead of the AH for the sake of convenience. If everyone involved is aware of what there goods are worth and what they're gaining/loosing, it's fine.
Coli familiars on the other hand have a hard Hoardsell Treasure Value, and exchange rates are fairly stable at 1:1000, so this is a more measurable scam. PlagueMaw is basically asking for people to inconvenience themselves with a CR/PA AND loose money at the same time. There's no material benefit for the sellers, and a week-old user is less likely to be familiar (hah) enough with the game to realize they're getting a bad deal.
Re: PlagueMaw
(Anonymous) 2025-03-08 09:04 am (UTC)(link)I’ve occasionally tried my hand at selling Baldwin mats, and let me tell you, it is a major time suck. If you can check in regularly it’s not bad but if you can only reliably hop online once or twice a day it’s a nuisance. I’ve absolutely sold in bulk before - on the AH, not in the forums, but same diff - because it wasn’t worth 10 extra gems for me to keep poking something I was selling for 75 gems already.