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TWIRP Special Indexes Report and Analysis (2008/03/03) TWIRP Index Values (2008/02/25)

This is the TWIRP report covering price changes and economic trends for the week of February 25, 2008. Please read on for a summary of TWIRP index results, and be sure to check out the subsections for more index reports, charts and details.

If you are new to TWIRP and have not yet learned about how it works, I recommend reading either the sections Understanding TWIRP and TWIRP Index Details, or the more concise TWIRP Quick Guide. Without that background you may have a hard time understanding this report.

Global Composite Yield (TWIRP): 95.6 -1.9% q
Skill Composite Yield (TWIRP-S): 100.5 +2.3% p
Combat Composite Yield (TWIRP-C): 91.1 -5.3% qq
Key Items Affordability (TWIRP-X-KEY): 99.2 -2.9% q

Advancing Items: 119 (39.3%)
Declining Items: 154 (50.8%)
Unchanged Items: 30 (9.9%)

Item "Winner" of the Week: Saradomin brew: +37.1% pppp
Item "Loser" of the Week: Bucket of sand: -33.3% qqqq

Index "Winner" of the Week: High-Level Herb Seed Drop Value: +8.7% pp
Index "Loser" of the Week: Food Affordability: -11.6% qqq

Crude Volatility Index (TWIRP-X-VOL): 665.8

Well, well, well.. aren’t things quite a bit different this week than they have been since TWIRP began at the start of the year! And it can all be explained with two simple word: Bounty Hunter (BH). Jagex made major changes last week to the PvP minigame, which is one of the two current replacements for old style PKing, which was removed from the game in December. The initial installment of BH was severely flawed, leading to it being shunned by most former PKers, but many of them liked this new version a great deal. This led to an immediate reversal of fortune for all of the PvP-related items that had been tanking since the start of the year. Many ripple effects resulted as well, which impacted much of the economy.

The overall TWIRP Global Composite Yield index dropped again this week, by another 1.9%, to close at 95.6—its lowest level since the project began. The tale of this number can easily be seen by looking at its two main constituents, which diverged sharply: the Combat Composite (TWIRP-C) plummetted by 5.3%, while in stark contrast, the Skill Composite (TWIRP-S) went up by 2.3%. The Key Items Affordability index sank 2.9%, led down by strongly rising food and potion costs.

The other big update last week was the introduction of the Farming-related minigame Vinesweeper. The initial version of this feature was poorly thought out, being both frustrating and unrewarding, and so was almost entirely ignored; as I surmised last week, it had no real impact on the economy. The minigame has now been revised as well, and provides better return for those who use it. I still don’t see it affecting much, since the best use of the points earned there is on experience points, not the seeds that are a possible return. If there will be an effect, it will likely be in the area of tree and allotment seeds.

Jagex also announced last week that Summoning is indeed being substantially revised; it appears this may take several months to complete. I am continuing to monitor item prices but will not integrate the skill into TWIRP until it is fully released and stable. I can tell you, though, that most Summoning-related items are dropping in price rapidly due to both general lack of interest in the skill in its present state, and the announcement I just mentioned.

There is a possibility that the next week or two may see some potentially big changes to the Grand Exchange and LootShare. I would anticipate that both will have a major effect on item prices; we’ll have to wait to see how this plays out.

For more indexes, reports and analysis, be sure to read the subsections below. Otherwise, see you next week.

TWIRP Special Indexes Report and Analysis (2008/03/03) TWIRP Index Values (2008/02/25)