(07-12-2013, 06:30 PM)Naunet Wrote: 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.
I think this is the right approach, but I also think some caution is needed. Some of the cheaper items seem to really make a mark when you buy them in bundles/stacks. I can see some of the pricing of these NPC vendor items seem more geared in relative relation to "starting out" and being low level.
If you start a character out, 200 - 400 gil is a substantial investment (IMHO) since you don't have much gil in your pocket; I myself put off dying equipment for a bit, wanting one of the 216 gil ones, although even at 60 gil, it adds up as you try to dye yourself.
I do sorta see the OOC balance of all this on the economy. Armor should be expensive : It always is. It seems to balance with the rate one initially gains money in the game doing quests. Also, consider the normal gil drops when you just kill animals in starting zones, which tend to be 1-2 gil on average *IF* the animal drops coin. Also consider the material components, such as Animal skins, that one can sell and how much they go for. This may add to how much a "poor NPC" has on hand to establish a level of income (plus all the gathering classes that we can assume some NPCs have).
As for adventurers, it really does seem like you are elevated above the norm. To me, this seems more akin to "Western Gun-fighters who collect bounties": You make good money as long as you keep taking those hard jobs which others do not take. Just in Limsa Lominsa alone, it seems they talk about you and your adventuring and show you consideration in numerous ways (a pair of shiny shoes to wear to the ball that you get for free, for an example). So, I would definitely put adventurers above the norm for NPCs, financially, even though we start out dirt poor (but that's true about every RPG game).
