Items, Items Everywhere, and Nary a Shop Will Buy ... or Will They? by Thagamal
Here's the bottom line: I'm cheap. I'd rather walk than take a dragon, I'd
rather run or cast word of recall when a dragon's chasing me, and I cringe
at the thought of buying items off auction. So imagine my disgust at having
an item valued at 50,000 gold in my inventory, but no place to sell it. This
was a constant nagging dilemma for me when I started playing. I resolved
then that, when I got big enough, I would scour the land to find shops that
would purchase my looted goods at fair market prices.
When I started playing Medievia, I was thrilled that I could supplement my
meager supply of gold by selling items at the shops right in town. As I hope
nearly everyone who has played for any length of time has learned, there are
shops in each of the quarters that will buy ARMOR, WEAPON, and WORN items.
Additionally, there are places to sell LIGHTS, SCROLLS, and TREASURE right
in the City of Medievia. But one of the things I love about Medievia is how
there's so much more to do after the initial taste of the game. I began
accumulating various items (as well as being cheap I'm a notorious packrat)
that I couldn't sell in the shops, and for which no one on auction would pay
anywhere near the valued price. This planted the seeds of my quest.
The first time I sold something "unusual" was entirely by accident. I was in
New Genesia, trying to figure out part of the zone. I had only recently
learned the resurrection spell and had dutifully purchased a Gem of Souls
for the going auction price of about one million gold. That was the day I
discovered that you could sell a WAND, that not all shopkeepers will pay
full price, and that a certain mob in New Genesia was actually a shopkeeper.
I discovered this when I saw the text "The shopkeeper gives you 44 coins for
your Gem of Souls" on my screen. That's right - my brand new Gem of Souls
was in the shopkeeper's hands, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I'd rather not dwell on just how I made such a blunder, but this event,
though a painfully expensive lesson, finally inspired me to locate shops
that would buy my goods.
The City of Medievia is far and away the best place to buy or sell items -
provided they'll buy your goods. Transactions are always handled at 100% of
the value seen on the Identify spell, so you can rest assured you'll always
get a fair shake. If you're not fanatical about selling every last type of
item in your inventory, you can still turn a handsome profit on the more
common items you've looted. There are more than forty shops in the city, but
only fifteen of them will buy any of your goods.
The next best place to sell items is probably Riverton. It's not very
convenient, but the shopkeepers there buy many of the items the shopkeepers
in Medievia won't. They only take a 10% cut on buying or selling items, so a
trip to Riverton can certainly be worth it if you have enough items to sell.
The Chemist will buy most magical items (with the exception of MAGIC REGEN),
and of course Riverton is the home of the heavy oak staff, a favorite of
many Medievians. Between the City of Medievia and Riverton, you can sell the
majority of your looted items.
The Mystical Forest is one of the least convenient spots to get to, but like
Riverton, if you've got enough items, it can be worth it. Unlike Medievia or
Riverton, however, you'll probably need to be fairly experienced to get into
this zone; the mobs are aggressive, and you can die simply trying to get to
the shops. The shops here will buy just about anything you couldn't sell in
Riverton or Medievia. Each shopkeeper sets their own purchase price (always
more than half but never full value) and will sell items for full value. And
the Mystical Forest is the only place that I know of to sell BOAT, KEY, and
TRASH item. Taken together, the City of Medievia, Riverton, and the Mystical
Forest will buy just about anything you have to sell.
Trellor, on the other hand, is quite possibly the worst place in Medievia to
do business. The shopkeepers mark their goods up by about 25%, and they will
only buy from you for half price. There is one notable exception: Avoid
Randall's Pawn Shop, for he gives pawnbrokers a bad name. He does buy a wide
variety of items, but you'll only get ten cents on the dollar, and if he
sells you something, you'll pay three times its market value. The best thing
that Trellor has going for it sales-wise is that it's convenient. With a
portal in the zone, you can still sell your CONTAINER, OTHER, and PEN items
at Seraghina's General Store for half their value, which is a whole lot more
than you'll get by just dropping, donating, or sacrificing a looted item.
You can get better prices for these items in Riverton, the Mystical Forest,
and other zones, but if it's convenience you want, Trellor's the place.
There are more shops out there; generally speaking, if a zone has a trade
post, it will usually (but not always) have shops. Other zones also have
shops and may give better prices than those listed above. Two types of
shops, those that sell TREASURE items and Post Offices, are slightly
different than other shops. Shops that buy TREASURE will, with few
exceptions, buy and sell at 100% regardless of the zone they're located in.
Post Offices will normally only sell quills and paper, they usually won't
buy anything, and they may be the only shop in a zone.
It wouldn't make much sense to go through all this effort if selling wasn't
profitable. A very lucrative zone that won't get you killed often is the
Rydhordel Woods. Depending upon the containers you carry or wear (I prefer a
chainmail satchel and 2 jars), you can easily walk out of there with items
that will fetch over one million gold. The pickings at Rydhordel are so good
that I usually don't keep anything that's worth less than 1000gp/stone. It's
possible to go into Rydhordel and leave with a full load before visiting
every room. You can then sell most of your loot right in the City of
Medievia. Looting four or five deerskin packs can make a trip to Riverton
worthwhile. And the 20k LIQUID CONTAINER items can be sold in the Mystical
Forest, although you'll get a better price for them in New Ashton.
Another lucrative zone is the Forest of the Alendora. Once again, if you
adhere to the 1000gp/stone looting rule, you can normally walk out with
about 750k in looted items. You'll need to make a trip to Riverton to
dispose of your CONTAINER and FIRE WEAPON items, but they'll fetch you the
extra 100-150k that makes the Forest of the Alendora all that more
profitable. Alendora is probably a little easier than Rydhordel for the
melee classes, since you can normally pick off the mobiles one at a time,
and few of them are aggressive.
On a side note, if you're going to Riverton to sell items anyway, you might
take a little detour and visit Crystal Lake to see what Purrsious is
guarding. If you're lucky, you'll realize another 50k or so of profit for
your troubles.
The two "cash" zones mentioned above will net you profits that will rival a
good trade run. You won't receive any trade run points, but you will earn
respectable experience points for your trouble. There's no waiting around
for the trade run to organize... just go run the zone. A full trade run
formation is truly a thing of beauty, and can normally blow through anything
that opposes it, but how often can you get in on one of these? Trying to
organize one is like herding cats, and once you're finally on the road,
unless you're fighting or leading, there's not much to do. Bigger trade
formations will reduce your risk, but there are still risks; death by mob
faction, loss of freight to mob faction, or (sometimes the cruelest blow)
devaluation of your freight at your destination. The alternative, solo
trading, can be very discouraging unless you're very good. You can run
Rydhordel or Alendora on your timetable, it will keep you occupied, and your
profits are only limited by the quantity of items you can carry (and no
pesky mob factions to deal with). If you prefer to solo, or are having a
hard time finding an organized trade run to join, looting for profit may
provide a quicker, safer, and more profitable alternative.
One last tip: keep an eye on auction. Many players will sell items at far
below market value. If you know where to sell these items at or near their
full value, you can make some "free" money.
My quest is nowhere near completion. As long as new zones continue to open
up, there will always be new shopkeepers. I might not get there right away,
but I'll get to them eventually. Heck, I'm sure there are shops out there
*right now* that I haven't visited yet. Another great aspect of Medievia is
that there's always so much more to see! I've received incredible help from
my clannies and townies, specifically Pleen, who made suggestions for
improvements to my pages and gave me leads and information on shops he knew
about. I'll keep on looking for shops and documenting my finds and you can
help!
But how do you find a new shop? Sometimes they're pretty obvious, but if
they're not, try casting a benign magic spell; if all you get are sparkles,
chances are, you've found a shop. Other ways are typing list or looking at
the suspected shopkeeper. Either method should allow you to see what items
this shopkeeper has for sale. I've compiled a comprehensive list of the
shops I've found on my webpage . If you
think you've found an "undocumented" shop, you can let me know about it by
emailing me at thags(underscore)email(at)yahoo(dot)com. In fact, let's
sweeten the pot - the first player who can lead me to a shop in a current
zone where I can sell a MAP or a MAGIC REGEN item will be rewarded with two
million gold from me after I make the sale. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have
some shops to visit.
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