So I did a thing. The data collected is just from Ul'dah's Sapphire Avenue Exchange, but I think this provides some very important insights into the potential financial reach of the poor or working class versus, say, a high-falutin' adventurer or the finer folk.
Take, for example, food. There's an NPC in the Coffer & Coffin who describes marmot meat as low-quality (and thus, probably the cheaper side of meat, considering it's favored by miners and such, who aren't going to be making a lot of money). Marmot steak sells from a potwatch for 9 gil. You can use this understanding of the relative value of marmot to compare to other food items, both raw and processed, and from that I feel comfortable saying that any food item over 15 or so gil is probably considered to be a splurge for the average poor or working class individual (such as those cooks or leatherworkers or other such employed individuals just trying to get by).
If you compare the cost of meat to the cost of clothing, you can see quite clearly why the refugees in Ul'dah are having such a difficult time making a living. If they can barely afford to eat, it's unlikely they can afford any clothing much more than rags. As my fiance puts it: "Three chicken breasts for five dollars, or one shirt for thirty? Guess I'm going naked for a month."
Anyway, there's more that can be said about this (such as drawing tentative conclusions regarding the types of materials lower class individuals use for their clothing/jewelry vs. the more comfortably living), but I need to get some packing done.
Take, for example, food. There's an NPC in the Coffer & Coffin who describes marmot meat as low-quality (and thus, probably the cheaper side of meat, considering it's favored by miners and such, who aren't going to be making a lot of money). Marmot steak sells from a potwatch for 9 gil. You can use this understanding of the relative value of marmot to compare to other food items, both raw and processed, and from that I feel comfortable saying that any food item over 15 or so gil is probably considered to be a splurge for the average poor or working class individual (such as those cooks or leatherworkers or other such employed individuals just trying to get by).
If you compare the cost of meat to the cost of clothing, you can see quite clearly why the refugees in Ul'dah are having such a difficult time making a living. If they can barely afford to eat, it's unlikely they can afford any clothing much more than rags. As my fiance puts it: "Three chicken breasts for five dollars, or one shirt for thirty? Guess I'm going naked for a month."
Anyway, there's more that can be said about this (such as drawing tentative conclusions regarding the types of materials lower class individuals use for their clothing/jewelry vs. the more comfortably living), but I need to get some packing done.
![[Image: AntiThalSig.png]](https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/179079766/AntiThalSig.png)
"Song dogs barking at the break of dawn, lightning pushes the edges of a thunderstorm; and these streets, quiet as a sleeping army, send their battered dreams to heaven."
Hipparion Tribe (Sagolii)Â - Â Antimony Jhanhi's Wiki
