238 replies to this topic

[darkly18]

For Finders Keepers, I believed I took the option for more xp and gold. Another way to check is to see if all your merchants buy the same stuff at the same price. For me, their purchase value is in the following rough descending order: Martin, Bonny Lems, Hubert, rest of the shops. I have 3 other playthroughs on save and when I reloaded them all show the same characteristic, if no one else can duplicate the difference then it could be a bug on my engine.

[thendcomes]

I went across multiple characters and did not notice any difference in price for merchandise sold at any vendor. :-\\

Can someone else independently verify?

[SuicidalBaby]

he has 2 dialogue options when he asks if you will find the cargo. would one have an effect that has been overlooked?

[thendcomes]

Don't know. When you come back to Martin after finding his cargo, you can either tell him the location or not. I believe he will open up his shop either way, but supposedly he would sell stuff at a discount if you told him the location of the cargo.  However, I just can't seem to find where that information came from. I don't know if the original dialogue choices when accepting the quest have any bearing.

However, Darkly says he is getting prices from different shops, not just Martin. I thought this had to do with the difference in base prices that they sell their own stuff:

Base price - All Lowtown shops, including Lirene and Martin (possibly only if you told him the location of the goods, I couldn't test this)
25% markup - Hightown; Gallows; Black Emporium; Bonny Lem; all shops outside Kirkwall; (maybe Martin if you withheld the location of the goods)
10% discount - Shady Merchandise

I confirmed all the above info by comparing similar common items between shops.

As far as buy price is concerned, everyone seems to buy for the same prices regardless of the sell price. The official strategy guide says the shops that sell at markup (or maybe just Black Emporium, the footnotes are misleading) will also buy your stuff back at a 25% markup. However, I failed to confirm this. Everything from weapons to armor to runes are all sold at the same price at every shop.

Darkly, what patch are you currently using?

Edited by thendcomes, 06 July 2011 - 09:24 PM.

[darkly18]

Looks like I have to retract my posts about the different merchants' mark up - after checking my other playthrough saves, I think it's a bug for my 4th playthrough. I have been using 1.03 since the middle of my 2nd playthrough, but only noticed the price difference in the 4th playthrough. When I loaded the saves from the previous playthoughs, I too did not find any difference in the purchase price for items among different merchants. As a bug, it is specific to my 4th playthrough so I believe it is not an issue with the patch or the engine. My bug started from Act 1 before the Deep Roads expedition. Am now trying to figure out what happened and whether it changed other aspects of my game. Apologies if I misled anyone.

[thendcomes]

Doh! Too bad, I thought we had something here. Thanks for investigating and for the update. You might want to post your findings to the 1.03 bug report thread in this forum.  

Edited by thendcomes, 07 July 2011 - 03:27 PM.

[darkly18]

Yes, it's a shame about that. Will do more checking before reporting the bug, don't want to highlight something which is specific to my system - already went down that path once...

[SuicidalBaby]

if you refuse to tell him, he does not return.

prior to agreeing, there is a, "yes", "pay me", & "no" selection to be made. this is what I was referencing. i doubt anyone checked beyond the gold payout to see any difference in sale price with either agreeable decision.

[catofnine]

Awesome guide. I didn't do the potion stashing, but was pretty diligent with swapping to RoF slotted armor prior to looting this time around and saw a gain of 25g+ in Act I. First time I had 100g coming out of the Deep Roads, this time I came out 125g and some change. Also bought some resist/dps runes and some elfroot potions which I didn't do before. The little numbers here and there from the RoFs do add up. I was about 10g shy of getting all the stuff I wanted from vendors in my first playthrough, and I'm very pleased that I'll likely be able to get all things I wanted this time around.

Thanks again, Suicidial.

[Davillo]

Why is everyone so against just typing in a code for whatever 888g gold or something. I think that playing without unlimited money is really limiting your self.

[SuicidalBaby]

because were not all on pc.....

this is a multiplatform game and you just revealed your true form.

[Davillo]

oh right forgot about that ha

[thendcomes]

Davillo wrote...

Why is everyone so against just typing in a code for whatever 888g gold or something. I think that playing without unlimited money is really limiting your self.

Most people accept the gold limitation as part of the game and part of the challenge. As a bonus, we can enjoy strategizing to max the amount of gold we can earn during the playthrough. 

Your thinking also leads to a very slippery slope, eg. "Why is everyone so against just typing in 'runscript killallhostiles' in every battle? I think that playing without insta-killing every enemy really..."

[SuicidalBaby]

added "enemies drop better equipment" section.

[Gegliosch]

Ok, so I followed your guide until I was able to make the RoF. After putting 2 in my chest, 2 in Aveline's shield and 1 in Varric's armor, I wondered if I should pick up the loot from now on or just ingnore everything until I'm ready for the expedition and clean up after, because I could get some more runes in my equipment with a higher level. Is this possible and worthwhile?

[SuicidalBaby]

No, if you have that many you're good. The overall difference in Act 1 is around 20G and not worth spending all that time recollecting to improve upon. Your real gold pick ups will start in act 2. Just take Act 1 as it comes.

[Elhanan]

I rather enjoy using Pause and having each member of the party getting paid for those items and non-cut-scenic quests we complete. This makes them seem more of a team to me; a nice RP bonus on top of the gold and XP.

[thendcomes]

Personally I do wait until I have max +gold for the Act before picking everything up. I like to sweep through every area one last time before moving on to the next act anyway, so it's not a huge loss of time. But that's more OCD than practical. You do miss out on picking stuff up like generic staves that can help right away, and the difference can't be very much.

[Gegliosch]

Indeed the difference should be rather small, but I go through every area before moving on as well, so I wouldn't waste any time. With all the OP dlc stuff at home I don't miss any drops either, so I might aswell pick up a few extra coins.

However, are there any locations I can't visit after leaving, besides the Amell Estate?

[thendcomes]

The ambush site where you find Javaris will not be available after you exit. If you plan to do the same thing in future Acts, keep in mind that most areas that open up because of a quest will close down after you've finished the quest. For example, if you finish the quest The Bone Pit by killing the mature dragon, that area will close down, but not the main Bone Pit map location.

[Gedain]

Hey, I've got a question with respect to looting corpses, chests, and the like for max profit -- I can't seem to find this information anywhere!

According to your Money Making Guide, I'm supposed to wait to loot certain corpses (Arcane Horror, Shadow Warrior) to ensure the best equipment and most money. Ok, easy. But what of the normal enemies? I want to know which "areas" I could wait to loot in their entirety, instead of simply a couple key corpses. For example, instead of waiting to loot just the Arcane Horror, can I wait and loot EVERY corpse and chest in Sundermount from the quest?

I hope I'm being clear! Let me know what's good.

[thendcomes]

You're correct - the tip to avoid looting the Arcane Horror can be applied to every corpse that can be revisited. I did this myself for many playthroughs, waiting until I had max gold find gear before looting. It ends up as a sizable chunk of gold. I didn't have a list, only memory from several playthroughs already and some fact finding on the wiki. When I wasn't sure, I kept a save before going into the area.

As a rule of thumb, the outdoor areas will always be accessible. Hightown, Lowtown, Docks, Forgotten Coast, etc. Caves and other areas that just appear due to quests are usually inaccessible after you clear it, eg. the Dragon's cave in Act 1, but not always. If the info is not available on the wiki, just keep a save beforehand. You can also keep temporary areas open by not handing in the quest they are related to.

[Gedain]

Ok, that all seems sound.

But then I come to the pernicious issue of item drops. Arcane Horror drops a rare 10% of the time, and the only way to check if you've gotten said rare is to check the corpse -- thereby forfeiting the excess gold one would hope for by adding RoFs and such later on. Do I have that right -- that gold is set at when the corpse is checked, regardless of what is taken?

If so, then the issue is EITHER "check for rare" OR "ensure max gold."

[Gedain]

***Do NOT loot the Arcane Horror's corpse untill the completion of this guide.
***Shadow Warrior Dagger: "Arm of Adruil" -- Ameranthine Traitors Sword:"Royeaux One and Two"

I see that Shadow Warrior can drop Arm of Adruil, that seems well-known. But which one? -- the first, encountered with two Corpses and two Shades, or the latter, atop Sundermount?

Further, I can't find anything DA2-related partaining to "Ameranthine Traitors Sword: 'Royeaux One and Two.'" Can someone clarify these things for me?

On that note -- and I've asked this as a topic on the Forums as well -- does anybody know where a good bestiary can be found detailing which monsters, where, drop which loot, especially rare loot? I can't find listings anywhere!

Thanks for all your help.

[Gedain]

This is what I meant to do:

***Do NOT loot the Arcane Horror's corpse untill the completion of this guide.
***Shadow Warrior Dagger: "Arm of Adruil" -- Ameranthine Traitors Sword:"Royeaux One and Two"

I see that Shadow Warrior can drop Arm of Adruil, that seems well-known.
But which one? -- the first, encountered with two Corpses and two
Shades, or the latter, atop Sundermount?

Further, I can't find
anything DA2-related partaining to "Ameranthine Traitors Sword: 'Royeaux
One and Two.'" Can someone clarify these things for me?

On that
note -- and I've asked this as a topic on the Forums as well -- does
anybody know where a good bestiary can be found detailing which
monsters, where, drop which loot, especially rare loot? I can't find
listings anywhere!

Thanks for all your help.