This bad trade cost me to spend 8 hours on a Thursday, 10 Fri, 12 Sat,
8 Sun, constantly gaining / loosing experience to equal a zero gain.This bad trade cost me to spend 8 hours on a Thursday, 10 Fri, 12 Sat,
8 Sun, constantly gaining / loosing experience to equal a zero gain.
To give those of you not familiar with me, which is the majority of you, some background, I am a soloist. Over 90% of my life I have been soloing here and there as I always seem to gain experience faster than were I grouped in a big group.
A few weeks ago I had 'steeled out'. I had attained my goal of getting enough plat to buy my Steel breast plate. I'm a very fashionable guy, I was very happy. Since that day I had also bought the remaining steel I needed to be in all steel but boots and gloves.
Late last Thursday night there was an auction. The first call I had ever heard for this item. A Blood Stained Tunic. I knew what one was. I have seen dozens of people wearing them, but never seen one for auction in Antonica, and being Dark Elf, have never had the opportunity to go to their origin (where I hear they sell at 1/2 cost).
I got excited, I thought 'cool at long last here is my chance'. But I was out of plat. I had burnt it all out getting the steel. I love my steel and look very good in it.
Due to some brain seizure, temporary insanity, whatever, I recalled the steel breast being worth 500. I asked if the auctioned would trade for the steel. He did so and I traded my Small Steel Breast for the BS Tunic.
I return to battle where I was soloing, proud in the new blood red tunic. I immediately notice a difference. The lower AC caused me to get hit more often for a higher amount, but I also seemed to hit at higher damage levels. This was odd I thought, and decided to watch the outcome over the next few battles.
The result was terrible. The lower AC, though it was only an actual 5 points (actual AC being the number listed in AC, not what the item says, as item AC is often 1/2 of actual AC), I seemed to be doing much more poorly on average.
I look to see if the traders name is still in my text window, but it's long gone. All I have is a vague memory he was half elf, in some kind of blue armor. (Could have been crafted, paladin, or bard).
Over the next hour I discover that my chances in general had been reduced from 98% success chance, to about 75%. With the dual wielding guards it had been reduced from 80% and 95% (depending on which guard it was) to 25% and 50%.
I also at that time decided to double check the value and stats of the Steel. I lacked the stats, but was very saddened to find it was not worth 500 as I recalled, but in fact 850.
I had lost several hours exp due to deaths at this point, and basically lost over 400 plat in trade. As well as the self esteem of the pride that came with being in that very nice looking Steel. What was worse, I had no record to make the trade back.
I was heart broken, but knew that most of the battle is in your mind. Pay extreme attention, fight smart, and you can do better. Over the course of the next 24 game hours I found this was not the case. I would be at my very extreme best and still loose once every 4-8 hours, loosing hours upon hours of experience evening out at a zero gain.
Since then I have repurchased a Bronze chest (done late Sunday night). Which has the same AC, but different weight and look than the steel. At this point I have had a steady gain of 8 hrs exp, and finish the battles with 2x hp and mana as I did with the BS.
I have lost pride, 400 plat, and nearly an entire weeks gaming, due to my bad trade.
Summary / Solution / Truth
The simple fact is I made a bad trade for me, at this point in time. At any other point in time, the 5 AC probably wouldn't have made as big a difference, but right now it cost me to basically stop gaining experience until I replaced the lost steel with bronze.
Suggestions-
Never trade anything your currently using. I tried another purchase before which didn't work out, but I still had the old item. It was easy enough to simply switch back and sell the item which didn't work out.
If your not sure how the item will work out, ask the person if you can have a 'trial period' where you write down their name and if it doesn't work out if it would be ok to trade back. Say within 1 weeks real time or something. This will protect both sides of the trade. But this will also depend on the honor of the person to follow this agreement.
Be sure you know the value of what your are trading and receiving. Write down what you paid for an item and what it's value is. Be sure to know that it is a fair trade, don't go from memory, it may be late, you may suffer a temporary laps as I did, always check your figures.
Don't try and let a bad trade get you down. There are always tough times in life, try and accept it, change to fix the situation, and move on. This one will take me a long time to recover from, as the difference in plat is not easy to come by, but I will regain the experience, in fact I already have. I will gain new / better items.
Above all this is just a game. In real life things like this would be tragic, but this just being a game, well, just try to accept the bad times as a life experience and move on. Live and learn. Even the bad things have something to teach.