Doctor Archive

Is it just me or are other people out there worried about the cost of med or even high quality meats? A couple of things. . .I understand you can't just harvest meat like minerals. . .I understand you won't find good stuff on every planet. . .I understand that some of the good stuff comes in smaller quantities per animal.

With all that said, is there really justification for paying 9cpu-15cpu for these resources? I know people can pay whatever they want for them, but it seems like we are conditioning some players to EXPECT large cpu costs for these items.

I know I can't afford 9cpu-15cpu so I'm not sure how many other people can do that?

-Jorr Doomslayer

Scyalla (Novice TKA/Doctor)

I've often wondered the same thing. I think it really depends on what you're planning on using it for.

Check out this thread:

http://forums.station.sony.com/swg/board/message?board.id=doctor&message.id=11801&highlight=herbivore+meat+worth#M11801

Yeah, I read that thread awhile ago but that didn't really address the issue that I see. . .we have folks with lots of money saying "I'll pay 10cpu for it, 15cpu if it's good" (paraphrased). . .not with that out there, why should any Ranger expect any less than that (unless they are nice to you, etc)? I like to harvest my own meat because I like hunting. . .I kill two birds with one stone, but if I didn't do that other people just looking to make some good products get shafted.

Oh well, hopefully I can make a few more Ranger friends.

-Jorr Doomslayer

This has become more and more of a concern lately for several reasons. First, meat is a LOT harder to come by in anywhere near the quantities that we can get surveyable resources. There is more danger involved in the harvesting process, generally, and as such Scouts and Rangers haver probebly been getting ripped off on the prices they really deserve for getting this stuff.

Second, because these folks having been getting the best prices for harvestables, some of them are getting out fo the harvesting business to do other things.

Third, Scouts and Rangers are also getting to the point where they are Mastering thier fields and skillsets. In comleteing thier templates they have less of a need to continue harvesting resources for XP gain. So they only harvest now because they can.

Finally, more and more folks are Mastering the Doctor field as well. As these folks improve more and more high-end stim Bs are hitting the market. Considering that Stim Bs tend to be a primary money maker for so many Doctors, we end up with heavy competition for a single item. The niche markets gernally coming in thorugh the variability of levels presented. Overall, though, the prices of Stim Bs have been pushed down by up and coming Docs trying to shove their way into the market. Making the profit margins begin to shrink. (I would note that, although Stims Bs probably have, on their own, a decently high profit margin, even at 1000cr/stim, it should be remembered that such a profit must go to funding not just Stim B production, but most every other medical endeavour that does not pay for itself, such as all of those Wound Packs and non-sale stims or virtually anything that a Doc uses that they do not get paid for.)

So yes,I can see a further economic conundrum on the horizon for Docs. That Money Issue has been slowly dropping on the Issues list, but I'm starting to wonder if it won't make its way back up again in the not too distanct future.

Herbivore meat can be substantially cheaper than 10cr a resource, as its readily available in large quantities on mission generated beasts, and is of marginal utility. Avian meat I will gladly pay anyone 10cr a resource regardless of quantity. Because there is no good source for avian meat (at least none people are telling). The largest chickens I've found aren't mission generated, and weighs at a pathetic 23~28 meat per beast. The meat itself goes into our highest markup items, enhance packs. While a bit over the top, I've seen them on vendors on my server for 20k a stim! And she's probably selling them at that price (her vendor's right next to one of the most popular weapon vendors on the server).

This means I can easily afford to pay a premium for avian meat, and find that I have to just to give people the incentive to stop and shoot the birds on their way to and from the more lucrative missions.

That said, 90% of my avian meat still ends up having to be self harvested.

i think only quality avain meat should be pricer, i see some really crappy stuff out there that even if u did use it, it would turn out really horrible and not even worth using

--generally, and as such Scouts and Rangers haver probebly been getting ripped off on the prices they really deserve for getting this stuff.--

I would agree with this. For me, I know what I want and someone else knows I will pay for it.

I dont quibble over the price, because its FAR easier to throw down a heavy harvester and come back to 50k of something worth 4-6cr a unit, as opposed to harvesting days on end to get even 10k of it.

Also, harvesting your own resources (harvester harvesting not scout wise) generates a nice profit from just resources, and its an easy one to make.

I have and will maintain that a good amount of profit from stim Bs comes from just that (gathering the resources yourself), and not really the crafting process itself, especially as competition becomes more prevalent amongst doctors.

I think the problem is, everyone expects to mass produce advanced components and use them in everything. Personally, I see no reason to use advanced components in Stims. . . I'm tired of seeing people with Uber Stim B's and novice medic skills. Alas, other people insist on putting Advanced Components in Stim B's. . . Well that's their choice - let em pay for it. I think devs should hard code the Stim A, B, andC schematics to not allow the use of advanced components, but I doubt that's gonna happen now. If people want to havebetter heals. . . let em get a few boxes in the medic tree and use some nice Stim C's. Stim C with normal components, good resources, experimented up, will heal for as much or more than a Stim B with advanced components.

For my own personal use, I've decided to only use advanced componentson my enhancement paks, where they *really* can be justified. . . for Stims and Woundpaks, I can just use nicely experimented Stim/Wound E or even D, that are made with normal components (ok, maybe, *maybe* advanced BEC's which don't use meat, just so I can get more charges). In my experience, Stim/Wound E with advanced components is just overkill anyhow. . . not like people are, for the most part, say, 'Oh wow you one-shot healed each of my stats from nothing - let me give you 3k creds.' So, if they don't wanna pay for that, I'll just use normal components which will still compleletely heal a stat in 1 or 2 uses anyhow.

Well, they'll come to EXPECT whatever the market can afford to pay them for it. Right now, 10 cpu for good quality meat is pretty good, in my opinion. I've done this many times before, but let's just break this down for a second. Let me use a small stimpack - B because that's the best seller (and I'll use all advanced subcmoponents).

Here are my costs:

• Lokian Wild Wheat (18 Units@ 4 cpu) = 72 credits


• Tatooinian Fiberplast (18 Units @ 3 cpu) = 54 credits


• Herbivore Meat (16 Units @ 15 cpu) = 240 credits


• Class 4 Liquid Petro Fuel (16 Units @ 4 cpu) = 64 credits


• Dantooine Berry Fruit (6 Units @ 4 cpu) = 24 credits


• Talusian Water Vapor (6 Units @ 4 cpu) = 24 credits


• Organic (12 Units @ 3 cpu) = 36 credits


• Inorganic (12 Units @ 3 cpu) = 36 creduts

Total Resource Costs: 550 Credits

Now, I can easily turn around and sell a stimpack like that for anywhere from 800-1000 credits (or more, as some doctors do) and turn a decent profit. And I think the resource prices I've listed are probably a bit high. You can usually find deals if you look hard enough.

Of course, as I broke it down in that other thread, I can actually make more money and very high quality items by leaving out the advanced CRDM and using a high quality normal CRDM. Then, I just keep my advanced CRDM's for my buffs, etc.

It's simply a case of supply and demand, though. Lots of people want herbivore meat right now and not very many people are gathering it for sale. As price goes up, more people will start to gather meat in order to sell it for a profit and, as that happens, prices will come back down. Eventually, the market will stop fluctuating so wildly.

10 credits/unit for meat (and other organics) has been the going rate for decent meat since beta. You can find it cheaper/higher but expect to pay something near there for quality. I usually liquidate my less-than-stellar meat at 3 credits/unit but that's because the stats stink and I just want something for it.

It takes alot of effort to gather 2k of meat from most things (which is a good sized stack). Either you need to kill 300 of them, or 25-50 of them if they're pretty hard and slow to kill. That's a serious time investment. Much more so than things which you can plop a harvester on.

Most schematics require only a little meat, so it doesn't kill profit margins. You just pass the "savings" on to whoever buys your stuff or take the loss if you use them yourself (it's only ~130 credits per pack for 10 cred vs.5 cred meat, less for stimpack B, C, D and some other stuff)

Good meat is highly sought after, especially herbivore, avian and insect (CM). When it spawns, every doc/medic/cm wants it => high prices.

Also, credits are pretty easy to get if you have some combat skills.Naturally, this leads to inflation and high prices on things since people have money to burn.