Scuzzys Comb

[Scarblade_]

I'm trying to buy a second Scuzzys Comb for my 1p war set. But lately, prices have been way too high. I bought my first SC for around 300k. But now they're on the TP for 400k-450k.

Is this inflation "real"? Or is someone inflating them themselves? Should I buy before they climb higher? Or should I wait until the prices drop?

[parondante]

I wouldnt buy them, if you need them badly you can, but i wouldnt recommend.

[PilotGrarrl]

Just checked the TP and didn't even find a SC for sale? The neo-stock market was banging last week and I suspect a fair number of folks took their profits out for a shopping spree. When there are very few of an item on the TP you're going to pay a premium for certain. Personally, I'd go ahead and spend the extra 100-150k and be done with it. In the long term, it just isn't all that many more nps. Then again, I'm flat dusted broke due to my profligate spending habits

Follow-up: darwin offers very sage counsel. I was thinking you wanted the icon types offered by the SC, but as that doesn't really matter for 1p, maybe someone can suggest a cheaper alternative 10 iconer.

[+darwin]

If you're doing 1p, why not go with Essence of Esophagor? Same amount of icons for 1/3 to 1/4 the price and if you make the transition to 2p, it adds 2 more icons to your mix

[+Josh]

darwin Wrote:If you're doing 1p, why not go with Essence of Esophagor? Same amount of icons for 1/3 to 1/4 the price and if you make the transition to 2p, it adds 2 more icons to your mix

EoE is fractional. It does not do a full 10 icons, it does 9 ( x 4.5, x 4.5). It's still a good 2p backup weapon though.

[parondante]

EoE is fractional and does only 9 icons...

[Scarblade_]

I already have one EoE in my SDB for use as a backup weapon when I build my set.

[rabid_schnauzer]

As an NQ2 prize weapon, there's a pretty steady supply of Scuzzys Combs entering the economy.

But as NQ2 takes a while to complete it's an item subject to fairly significant fluctuations., I've seen it trade from as low as 250k to as high as 450k in the past 12 months.

With the many 9 icon options available now, the steady supply stream and the inevitable trend of icon inflation, I don't like Scuzzys's long term future potential. But you said you're building a 1p war set, and if there is a "war" any time soon, the prices will rise a lot further.

Now personally, I'm betting pretty heavily that either "Mysterious Voyage Continues" or "Neopian Justice" will have a battle component, and as neo hasn't run even a mini-plot since the AC2 ended at the start of July, I'm expecting a "war" fairly soon, and I'd advise you to try to buy one soon - just try to haggle them down from the current TP asks.

Of course, there's also a chance that we'll go another 2 years with no battleplots, and my hunches may be just wishful thinking, and in that case, the price should slowly fall.

So ask yourself if you would you feel worse overpaying for an item that deflates or would you feel worse not having one during a battleplot?

[cooly9052]

rabid_schnauzer Wrote:As an NQ2 prize weapon, there's a pretty steady supply of Scuzzys Combs entering the economy.

But as NQ2 takes a while to complete it's an item subject to fairly significant fluctuations., I've seen it trade from as low as 250k to as high as 450k in the past 12 months.

With the many 9 icon options available now, the steady supply stream and the inevitable trend of icon inflation, I don't like Scuzzys's long term future potential. But you said you're building a 1p war set, and if there is a "war" any time soon, the prices will rise a lot further.

Now personally, I'm betting pretty heavily that either "Mysterious Voyage Continues" or "Neopian Justice" will have a battle component, and as neo hasn't run even a mini-plot since the AC2 ended at the start of July, I'm expecting a "war" fairly soon, and I'd advise you to try to buy one soon - just try to haggle them down from the current TP asks.

Of course, there's also a chance that we'll go another 2 years with no battleplots, and my hunches may be just wishful thinking, and in that case, the price should slowly fall.

So ask yourself if you would you feel worse overpaying for an item that deflates or would you feel worse not having one during a battleplot?

There will never be a war. There hasn't been one for the last two years so don't expect a war. The best we can hope for is a puzzle-battling plot

[Shattered Rift]

rabid_schnauzer Wrote:As an NQ2 prize weapon, there's a pretty steady supply of Scuzzys Combs entering the economy.

I'd like to disagree: despite the inflation on Wand of Reality and Bow of Destiny (and Scuzzys Comb: I'm not sure about Sword of Apocalypse, and Staff of Righteous Fury was equal in cost to Scuzzys last I checked, rather than the 100K more it has been in the past), less and less are entering the economy due to the deflation that was occurring. Perhaps the inflation will take more players to playing through, but the supply entering the economy was certainly tapering off (or the number of battlers buying the weapons increased more rapidly than the number entering the economy). The reason being that we're long past the days when it was beneficial to play Evil over and over, and Insane the once for the chance at a great weapon.

If Scuzzys is too expensive, the (best) alternative is dual-Essences. Backing those up with dual-Golden Compass is an option (or, at the loss of an icon, Skeletal Fire Gun).

Right now, there's no reason to expect deflation. Unless a bunch of people suddenly go playing Evil, or the randomizer decides to favor Scuzzys, the price will stay the same (unless a hoarder really does dump a pile, but there would be almost no reason to). Comparatively, there's less to gain by waiting than by buying now.

[Scarblade_]

rabid_schnauzer Wrote:So ask yourself if you would you feel worse overpaying for an item that deflates or would you feel worse not having one during a battleplot?

But here's the thing, I don't really expect a war/battleplot (apparently, I do have to include that last part, as people keep misunderstanding me) for some time, like possibly not until next year. And I'm saving for some expensive CoM prizes, so I really don't like spending money, and spending 100-150k extra hurts that much more.

I guess I'll just continue to keep an eye on the TP and see if I can get one for around 350k.