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The RuneScape Market Crash of 2007 - Triggering and Accelerating the Crash The RuneScape Market Crash of 2007 - What Happens Next?

Whatever you want to call the current market situation—deflation, recession, depression or crash—and whatever you choose to blame for its condition, the fact remains that it is here and we all have to deal with it. I do believe that Jagex could improve matters greatly through changes to its policies and to game features like the Grand Exchange, but I’m certainly not going to hold my breath waiting. You shouldn’t either.

I’ll now switch gears from analyzing the state of the market to talking about what you, as a RuneScape player, can do to get through the current market price drops. I’ll even suggest to you some ways that you might be able to benefit from them.

As I mentioned earlier, much of what is driving the current slow-motion crash is panicking on the part of players, especially those who are selling large quantities of items. If you allow yourself to get freaked out by the lowering prices and start panic selling, you not only stress yourself out—this is a game, remember!—but you contribute to the deflation in prices by increasing supply imbalances further.

Keep in mind that even though the prices on many goods are dropping, they still have the same intrinsic value that they always did. A prayer potion that costs 6k restores the same number of points as one that costs 10k; a shark still heals 20 hitpoints, and a steel bar continues to make four cannonballs. Don’t succumb to the temptation to suddenly think your resources are worthless and that you have to get rid of them. Instead, think about new ways you might be able to use for yourself items that previously you would have just sold.

If you have a pile of potions or cooked fish or runes that you made in leveling up skills, you will likely be making a mistake by trying to sell them in the current market environment. The reason is simple: you’ve already “missed the boat” in terms of getting a good return. Prices on most of these items have dropped by 25% to as much as 75% in just a few weeks. You will be competing with lots of other panic sellers, and will typically get only a fraction of what the items are worth.

My personal feeling is that due to panic selling, the prices on basic, useful goods have dropped so low that they are likely oversold. While I cannot guarantee that general price levels have reached the bottom and won’t go lower—nobody can, so don’t complain to me later!— I do believe that prices are not likely to go a whole lot further down than they are now. As such, I think that if you have a lot of items to sell, you are better off waiting until there are fewer sellers and more buyers.

Remember that deflations and crashes and panics don’t last forever. Those who are patient and keep their wits about them will do better than those who join the frenzied herd.

Because of the price drops and the volume of sellers, we are arguably in the midst of the biggest buyer’s market in the history of RuneScape. Nearly everyone is selling, which puts buyers in the driver’s seat to get some amazing deals on supplies and equipment! If you have cash to spare and know what sorts of supplies you usually use, this market crash represents a superb opportunity to stock up on items at a fraction of what they cost just a few weeks ago.

Just a few examples of areas where you can find excellent deals:

• Potions: Some are selling for as much as 75% less than they did in early November.
  
  
• Herbs: Like potions, prices on these are way down.
  
  
• Seeds: As goes Herblore, so goes Farming; herb seed prices are down at least 25% even on the most sought after seeds like ranarr and snapdragon.
  
  
• Fish: Both raw and cooked prices are way down, especially sharks.
  
  
• Ores and Bars: Coal, iron ore and other ores are at their lowest prices in years. Bars are also down, though not as much (except for gold bars which are dropping to insanely low prices—good for crafters!).
  
  
• Gems: Prices are way down across the board.
  
  
• Maple Logs: Need to raise Firemaking? Maple logs are dirt cheap at the moment, due to the glut from Miscellania Figure 59).
  
  
• Runes and Essence: Essence prices are down dramatically since they spiked when the Ourania altar was released. Rune prices have also dropped a great deal, with natures below 300 each and bloods now down to as low as 350 a piece.
  
  
• Flax and Bowstrings: Both are down a great deal (though this has been offset by rises in log prices.)
  

  Figure 59: Maple Log Giveaway

  Maple logs cost around 100 gp not too long ago, but are now in freefall due to a huge glut from the kingdom managing minigame. Bad news for sellers, great news for firemakers...

  
  

WARNING: Be sure you carefully check real market prices on the forums and in World 2 before buying anything on the Grand Exchange. Most prices at the GE are too high, and you risk wasting a great deal of money.

Okay, so you really like to fish but sharks are now worth 650 each instead of 1k and you don’t feel like it’s worth your while anymore. Standing around moaning won’t change anything. Instead, try doing something else! J

In a deflation, items become worth less, but that just means that cash becomes worth more. If you are after money, concentrate on activities that yield cash, or that create items that are tied to high alchemy values; these tend to be either staying stable in price or even increasing.

Good examples would be yew logs and magic logs, as well as dragonhides. These are all raw materials that produce finished goods that are alched, so their prices are not dropping; in fact, logs are one of the few categories of goods that is going up in value. Similarly, Farming may be hurt by lower prices of herbs, but these are largely offset by similarly lower prices of seeds.

There are some skills that are actually being helped by the price reductions. Spinning bowstrings may actually be more profitable now, because flax prices have fallen more than string prices have. Similarly, Firemaking has never been cheaper to level, and supplies for fighting tough monsters (food and potions) are also very inexpensive.

The RuneScape Market Crash of 2007 - Triggering and Accelerating the Crash The RuneScape Market Crash of 2007 - What Happens Next?