Spell Component Drought

[NPC Logger Number 2]

I can't find spell components in any shop on the surface. It's been this way for over a week. Makes me really want to go divine caster instead of arcane. People can't go around buying up all the surface's piety.

Please don't suggest crafting them myself or ordering them. I've already bought enough to last until I roll this character.

[Ninjimmy]

... how else does it get addressed?
Telling the people who own shops they need to start selling them?

Sorry, I'm genuinely baffled, what's the feedback angle here?

[Nitro]

Honestly I don't know why we still keep spell components around. Divine casters with the gift of devotion get 3 piety per tick, easily enough to cast as many 7-9 tier spells as they want, and that's before taking into account other sources of piety on top of that. For arcane casters it's just a chore, either get art crafting or alchemy and make them yourself faster than you can use them or take another craft and get a tax put on your GP for using all your class features.

[AstralUniverse]

Last time I played a cleric I never felt like I actually need to manage my piety. Every time I looked at my piety I was on 100% for some reason. I guess war/hearth gods do that with how kits and -guard works. If mages were to put on the same level of QoL as cleric's piety management, it would be no components at all.

[NPC Logger Number 2]

I don't mind spell components being necessary but they should at least be available to buy somewhere. I don't want to spend time crafting them or go around hunting an alchemist or an art crafter to do it for me. Maybe make it so you can just purchase them from the Arcane Tower for 1200 each. Will still be plenty of incentive for people to make and sell them at the current price but there would at least be a way to get more when all the player shops are all out. The fact abeyant templates and perfect chard stones are both more common in shops than spell components should be a bit concerning to everyone.

[AstralUniverse]

I can just guess that they are already for sale overpriced on less known FOIG NPC merchants. If it's not the case then its weird. Given that we can find rare stuff on remote less known merchants, such as skleens, wisp bottles, mojo, etc. Would really surprise me if none of those sell components.

[Xerah]

The RoI for spell components is fairly low assuming current prices of 600 gp. I’m not talking about material costs but crafting point costs (as well as annoyance to make glass if you are low str).

That said, yesterday I saw two shops with 50+ spell components in it in Cordor yesterday.

If I had the right character though, I’d be exploiting this market void.

[DangerDolphin]

This isn't feedback, it's an IC problem to solve, with plenty of solutions available.

[Archnon]

Spell components are like ingots and repair kits. The return cost for sales does not match the effort put into them, relative to putting in crafting points and time into high end sale items. Add to that, most shops now are loot based. Lots of basic loot and runic materials and addy ore.

If the costs to produce them (mostly in point allocation relative to other things) are greater than their price, people will only produce them out of kindness, basically to provide a service to the community. As in real life, this type of attitude is not super common.

[Aradin]

Agreed that this sounds like an IC problem. Spell components are available in a number of player stores in the UD and they're regularly purchased, so I don't agree that it's a 'kindness' to make them. If there's a gap in the market on the surface that means there's opportunity for a crafty wizard to make a lot of money. The return cost for sales will match the effort put into them when the item in question is scarce (as spell components on the surface apparently are), as you can up the price. Supply and demand.

Please don't suggest crafting them myself or ordering them. I've already bought enough to last until I roll this character.

But...that's the point of an RP server, isn't it? Crafting things & ordering them (ie. interacting with other players) is what Arelith is all about.

[The Rambling Midget]

This is an IC problem, but honestly, the reason why I rarely bother to make components anymore is because mage players usually make their own, and the ones who don't are too cheap to pay a decent price.

Post a notice offering 1k per component, and you'll have takers on the spot.

[AskRyze]

I can only state that I agree with the things being said - most mages craft their own components or have a friend who does for them at low to 'favors' cost.

[Aelryn Bloodmoon]

I will say, for all the effort involved in crafting spell components from scratch (because whether the mage does it himself or someone else hauls the sand/metal, the glass/ingots had to come from somewhere), it would be nice if spell components were able to be crafted in multiples, or rather if they were treated like potions and produced stacks.

I'd much rather have generic spell components not be a thing - a great many spells in tabletop require components that are covered entirely by the purchase of a 3 gp spell component pouch- they're esoteric little bits the mage picks up or prepares in his downtime, and they're not considered to cost a lot of money. As an example, a delayed blast fireball uses the same pinch of bat poop that a regular fireball uses, not a 200 GP costing rare component.

I would, in turn, be okay with a number of spells retaining the current component system, or even requiring their specific components (which may be rarer and cost more) and Focus components (for those unaware, a focus item is not usually consumed in the casting of a spell- an example is the 1000 GP silvered mirror or crystal ball that mages use during scrying).

This subject has actually bothered me for awhile, because spells in D&D-based worlds are 'balanced' according to their 'investments' determined at creation. You can get an expanded idea of this by looking at the epic spell seeds for creating epic spells, if you're interested, but the short of it is that a level five spell that requires a 500 GP component that is consumed by the spell might do something you think counters or bypasses a level 7 spell that is determined to be covered by your 3GP component pouch forever.

Instead just about every spell in the game is assigned either no GP cost or a fixed cost based solely on their level, which leads to some spells being drastically better than their higher-level counterparts and vice versa, because there's no perspective of cost opportunity that would normally exist for those spells. (True seeing is a great example - an ointment made from rare powders you'd have to buy or collect yourself probably would've eliminated the need to make it last 6 seconds).

[Anomandaris]

it would be nice if spell components were able to be crafted in multiples, or rather if they were treated like potions and produced stacks.

You can make bulk comps through art or alchemy. It produces stacks of ten. Also each component has 5 charges so one is technically multiple. Not saying I like the system, it’s tedious, but in case you didn’t know bulk crafting was implemented.

As for the OP. Find someone who can make them and offer a trade or hire them. You have to be able to find an alchemist your PC is likely friends with one. Make some rp out of it, create a better or exchange of some sort... Alchemists and artists are everywhere.

Also get creative about stockpiling greenstone and malachite. Trade mundanes for them. I have hundreds of each because I ask ppl if they have them and low and behold, some carry tons in their pouch and didn’t notice or just haven’t sold them yet. Glass is easy to get materials for so deliver it all to a contract manufacturer and boom, there’s your comps!!

[Aelryn Bloodmoon]

it would be nice if spell components were able to be crafted in multiples, or rather if they were treated like potions and produced stacks.

You can make bulk comps through art or alchemy. It produces stacks of ten. Also each component has 5 charges so one is technically multiple. Not saying I like the system, it’s tedious, but in case you didn’t know bulk crafting was implemented.

Did not know this, thank you! Tells you how long it's been since I've crafted my own components.

[Wuthering]

Any non-arcanist with a store is missing a sure thing if they don't sell the greenstone and malachite they've picked up. Wizards will buy the gems at 200 apiece, even 100 apiece uncut. Maybe even more.

I think this is cyclical. As it's been said before most arcanists make their own so the demand only spikes if there happen to be a significant number around who don't or if there are a lot of lazy and extremely wealthy epics who'd rather pay then craft. I've had 5 stacks of competitively priced components sit in a store unsold for RL months in the past and after there's likely a small rush from a dozen people making components based on this thread the market will probably die again.

[Algol]

I know shops on surface thhat have spell componenets stocked and they usually have them last for a few weeks. I suggest you broaden where you shop.

[AstralUniverse]

What you can or cannot find in player shops in a given moment is a lot like RNG loot. As it depends on what sort of characters (and their trade, and their level and their friends' level and trade) hold on to shops in that given moment. Since a mage only needs components for their 7-9 spells, they should never have any issue collecting the ingredients and a craftsman, that if they dont already have 18 points in alch or art.

[Party in the forest at midnight]

I put spell components into my shop. I stopped selling them after the crafting mastery update because people dropped the price to 600 each, and I'm not going that low.

[Flower Power]

I just put spell components into my shop. I stopped selling them after the crafting mastery update because people dropped the price to 600 each, and I'm not going that low.

I always have wizards trying to get me to go below 500 GP per. They take so much malachite and so much CP to make, and nobody is willing to pay a decent price for them.

[NPC Logger Number 2]

I've been telling every shop owner I know to sell them at a higher price right now due to the low supply. I'm willing to pay more for the convenience.