To Banter
An interesting post. To be quite frank, I have no idea what level Pierce is or even what class uses it. It could be a level 50 spell for all I know. I don't even have my own class spells memorized. I am currently holding onto an Adept 1 Hold the Line spell, because I "think" a Paladin might use it later on, but I'm not sure. You can be sure, with the few hours I get to play, and long hours of work and school, I will not be researchig and memorizing other class spells any time soon.
As far as pricing goes, I price according to the market. I don't have the first clue what ANY item is worth. I have severely underpriced items before and overpriced them in my attempt to learn the game, the items, their value, their rarity, and their demand. These days, the first thing I do, is go to Browse Market and see what the items are priced for. I saw Pierce Adept IV selling for 5 or 6 gold and an Adept I selling for 8 gold (if I recall). If I would have priced it at 1 gold, like most other Adept I spells I usually sell, I can guarantee that instead of YOU posting, their would be another poster, probably a Sage, beratting me for undercutting and driving down the market and his profits. It's a lose - lose situation because I can't please everybody. It's just like that Aesop's Fable with the old man, the youth, and the donkey. Every person they meet has a different opinion and they try to please that person, only to meet another person with a different opinion.
I am a strong supporter of free trade and a competitive market. Supply and Demand will stabilize the economy over time. A perfect example is a Master 1 spell I have for sell. Many of those spells are being sold over 1 and 2 platinum. When I first started selling it a few weeks ago, I thought 1 plat, towards the middle-low end of the market, was reasonable. It hasn't sold. This means tha either there is no demand for the spell or that the demand is not strong enough to support the high price. So what do I do? I lower the price. I don't want to be sitting there for all of eternity, never selling the spell, especially since I am continuously adventuring and building up more stock than needs to sell. I do what any common sense merchant would do, I lower the price. It is now down to 70 gold, approaching the low end of the market for Master 1 spells in general, and I am about to drop the price again. Eventually, after dropping it enough, it will reach a price that the buyer will think is reasonable, and he will purchase it. Simple economics.
As far as being the Mother Teresa of EQII, friendships and guilds should be the first resource of players looking for freebies and substantially underpriced loot. I'm not going to give away my hard earned loot. However, before you (anybody) are too quick to judge, I have done just that, for complete strangers, at times. I'm not saying that I am going to make it my business practice, because it would be a poor business practice, but on occasion, when I am selling somthing in /ooc or /auction and somebody who needs it shows interest, but doesn't have quite what I'm asking, sometimes no where near, I will sell it to them for considerably less than what it's worth.
But for the record, I will continue to sell and price the items that I earned for anything I choose, even 99pp if I so desire. I have ZERO obligation to even put the items on the market and I will not let any man or woman on this or any forum or in game, tell me how I am supposed to play. So long as I obey SOEs rules, as long as I am paying to play, I can play as I will.
To Old Blue
I sincerely apologize in your loss of income. Like any good entrepeneur, I would recommend adapting to the changes of the enviorment and market, and consider alternate means of increasing your income. I have previously stated that I have never considered tradeskilling as a single, decent source of income, both before and after Offline selling was implemented. I have previously made my arguments for adventuring as the best source of income and I stand by them. It is my personal opinion that you waste your time trying to make money by tradeskilling, however I recognize you right to play the game any which way you choose.
If you choose to continue tradeskilling as your primary source of income, I can strongly recommend stopping to make your own subcomponents and find a friend or guild member who will make them for you and sell them to you at a reduced price. This will increase you production rate. Consider this analogy:
If you start a franchise, no matter how much money you will save by running around and doing everything yourself, eventually you will reach your production limit and if you wish to expand your business and sell more product, you will have to hire an employee, then two, then three and so on... matching productivity with demand. Your sales will more than compensate for whatever meager amount you have to pay your employees, or in this case a "contractor" who makes your subcomponents for you.
You said that you have more than enough harested resources, this indicates to me that you spend some time, wether small or considerable, out in the lands, harvesting, rather than inside tradeskilling and selling more items. Stop this! Have guild members and friends harvest the resources for you and offer them a reasonable price where both parties win. Eventually, you could have a small operation going where friends and guildmembers will mail you resources they gather, you send them payment back, friends and guild members making sub components for you, again mailing them to you, and you mailing them payment back... and all you have to do, from the moment you log on to the moment you log off (with the exception of a mail run) is make final product, over, and over, and over.
History is full of people who said that something could not be done and it only took one person to prove them wrong. Focus on a creative solution and adapt to the changing enviroment with an open mind and you can find a measure of sucess in almost any enviroment.
Good Luck.