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Third Shop: Dernier Cri
So the rumors were true. Today a third new shop opened. We've never had a shop like it before. It is a gold shop and you must pay Gaia gold for the items. The items in the other gold shops can be bought for gold or with Gaia Cash at a rate of 1c per 60g. The items in this shop cost millions of gold.
Not only that, but this shop breaks two cardinal rules of gold shops. Usually gold shop items never leave the shops. Not even those refurbished ghost sheets or zurg and gambino energy drinks left the shops. (The only items I know of that left the shops were the vials from 04, the pants on April fools day and we were told that they'd only be available for a day, aannd I've heard that the brown paper bags were in the shops in H2k3.) Anyway, gold shop items stay in the shops. That's the beauty of them. They stay at the same prices so you can quest as long as you want for them. Before this, the highest gold shop item cost less than 60k. I'm thinking of the elegant set. There could possibly be something more expensive. *shrugs* No gold shop item costs over 100k, I know that for sure. And heck, even if it did, you could take all the time you wanted to earn that 100k because it'd always be worth the same price in the gold shops. The items in this new shop are subject to price changes and can leave the shops. The whole shop can also up and disappear for months. Interesting.
At its release, the first items are:
Smouldering Helm 3,501,727g
Merlin's Hat 4,700,500g
Royal Tyrian Raiment 6,999,000g
Monarch Crown 2,155,222g
The Bifrost 1,303,099g
I haven't had enough time to form an opinion yet. That'll come after a few months. I want to know how drastically the prices will change over time. And would it even be worth investing in? Theoretically, the prices will be very inflatable once the items leave the shops and the shop disappears. But would people be willing to buy those items? You'd think if someone wanted them and had the means to have enough gold to buy them... that they'd buy them before the item leaves the shops, not after. ...For the most part.
Also, RIGs sometimes gives gold shop items as booby prizes. Will these items be possible RIG prizes? @ 3@ You know, extremely rare prizes. Still, that'd guarantee you a prize worth at least a million gold. ...Instead of a prize that was once worth a million gold but now worth about 700k a few RIGs down the line.
My first thought was, "Wow, now that's a gold sink." XD Some people are arguing that this shop is not a gold sink, it's a ploy to get more money from users. In order to get the gold to buy these items, most users would have to spend Gaia Cash. It would take an unreasonable amount of time to earn one million gold by posting in the forums. Remember that Gaia does have the free GC offers. And there are people who have mini shops and others who vend and there are all sorts of other ways that people earn a million gold. Heck, it doesn't even take much GC to earn a million if you make wise purchases. I should have taken all the money I'd spend on Gaia this year and invested in first gen Gogh Reeds. That item currently goes for 675k in the mp. If I had invested in them, I'd've gotten much more bang for my buck this year and could have used that gold to buy other EIs.
Anyway, my first impression of the store is that I like it. The fact is, there are a large amount of users on the site who walk around with millions in pure gold. I still find that fact amazing. XD I know that it's common, but.. I'd love to feel broke if I only had a million in pure on me. Heck, I'm still happy when I've got 20k. I'm very behind the times. Just because I can't afford those items doesn't mean we don't need this store. I like the gold sink aspect. I've also long ago given up the idea of being able to own one of every rare item on the site. Before the CS, I thought it was at least.. possible... but now it's impossible unless I wanted to spend my savings on this site. I like this site. I do buy Gaia Cash from time to time.... but I'd never be willing to spend /that/ much.
I'm rambling, what was my point? Oh yeah, I don't think that the point of this shop is to make people spend money to earn cash, to sell cash shop items, to earn gold for the items in this shop. The fact is, there is already a whole upper tier of people who are able to buy items from this shop so... go go gold sink! :3
I'm just confused as to the value and worth of items.
It used to make sense to me. 2003 rare items were worth their prices. I thought the prices were outrageous, but there was at least logic behind it. The items are rare. Those items also have history and memories attached to them. Why buy a RRC? It was given out at the first annual Gaia ball. They were a nice surprise and a reward for the users who had thought up and pulled off such a successful user run event. The RRC may be just one pose of a two pixel item, XD but it has history.
I do understand that the Gaia economy needed RIGs. So many people had learned to play the buy and hoard game that the items just weren't able to inflate to millions anymore (unless artificially inflated). Items just aren't rare. And items released straight from the CS could never be rare since people have a straight shot at earning them. RIGs ensure that these items have low drop rates, are then rare and the economy can flourish without depending on 2003 items to be the only ones worth millions upon millions.
So yes, I understand that we need new items that are instantly worth millions as soon as they're released. What really makes them rare, though? Heck, the Moon Lantern is a common booby prize from RIGs. The market is so flooded with them that people sell them for 6950g in the mp (store price: 14k). People aren't snatching them up since the item is common. But wait, if it were released as a rare drop and put in the mp for 700k, people would be clamoring for them and showing off the item all over the forums and virtual spaces. But nope, poor item. It could have been great, but was given a common drop rate. It's therefore worthless.
I know we need the new items that are instantly worth millions, but why are they really worth more than old 2003 items? I used to value items by age and rarity. Once MCs started getting so many poses, I started valuing items by the number of poses they had. This is why I love evolving items. For the price of two MCs, you can get an EI that has many many more poses than the two MCs would have. But a lot of these new expensive items only have one or two poses. Why /should/ they be worth so much? I know we need them... but why do people pay those high prices for them? Why? Why would you spend six million on one item to show off when you can spend six million on six different million dollar items?
These new Dernier Cri items are rare since they're so expensive and will only become more rare once they disappear from the shop or the shop disappears. I know we need them to be worth that price. I know we need people who will buy them... but why? Why spend six million on one item for two poses? @ .@
.... I guess I could understand it. I mean, if I had millions of gold as chump change and saw an item that would work with my avatar or I just genuinely loved, why not? It's the same as me snatching up an item worth 3k because I adore it.
Also, users reported that the Brennivin doll got new poses. Apparently he was the mysterious man behind the dark reflection RIG.
O: Newsflash:
This just in, a new mini-comic:
I didn't know why users in the GCD were crying over this guy. Finally someone said a little more info in a post. I guess Bruce and Ricky were last year's announcer's during the Olympics. I missed the whole event, reluctantly. I didn't even know who they were. This explains why a Bruce and Ricky Doll appeared in an RIG. XD
He died from potato inhalation. Morbid. A hint on the comic says it's related to Halloween. Killer potatoes? We'll all be turned into marshmallows! D:
Users in the forums are currently guessing that this Halloween will have a zombie or ghost theme.
Others are pointing to a Frankenstein theme.
The Bruce and Ricky NPC's name is Bolt Vanderhuge now. They found an NPC Stein a couple months back. And we just got Frankenstein themed updates in the gold shops. Mad scientist, frankenstein's bride, misplaced bolts...
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 Posted by: sdrawkcab Fri Oct 02, 2009 @ 12:35am
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