What's up with the price of Hardened Leather?

[Frost.2107]

Why is it so high?

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

Compared to when? A year ago, sections were 19s. Today they are 15s. 18 months ago, they were over 31s.

[Holykitten.3064]

This complaint is about 3 years too late.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

I guess he’s referring to the supply decrease/price increase starting mid October.

[Arlette.9684]

Market predictions and hoarding.

[Ayakaru.6583]

Relative to metal and cloth, i think OP meansThose two can be farmed at will, leather can only be earned by worshipping RNGeesus

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Or partaking in the Leather farm.

[kapri.5918]

Funny...I find more leather opening the loot bags than I do cloth. The low end cloth is cheap to buy at the TH but when you start to get to Linen and above the expensive factor just explodes. So, what I have come to do is farm World Bosses on the characters at 80, sell rare and exotic equipment and salvage everything else. The sad thing is that I usually don't even get to much from it so it turns more into a grind. Love a lot of things about this game but the crafting and crafting materials system of this game really suck. If it ain't wood, ore, or food then you're going to struggle. Best of luck to you OP.

[Danikat.8537]

If there's been an increase in the last few weeks it might be due to people making the Lunatic armour (all 3 versions need hardened leather), and also due to a shift in what/where people are farming, although the Lab does drop normal equipment so I'm not sure it would lead to less leather entering the market.

[notebene.3190]

I think it has to do with everyone running the Lab and selling bags for cash. There's a lot less bags being opened from the regular farms, so supply is down. Ectos got a little boost (thankfully) the past few weeks as well.

Conversely, as I don't get terribly excited about doing Lab 'that' much, my overall gold flow is down, as some of regular activities I join up for have dried up during this same period. Crossing my fingers the old regulars start dragging themselves back after getting some sleep after their perpetual Lab runs. :#

[Udolpho.1209]

Hardened Leather has frequently been higher than the equivalent for metal and cloth. I think like Danikat said, people are working on crafting for the Lunatic Court's Finery achievement and Complete Superstition skin. So the demand is higher than usual atm, so it's driven the price up.

[lifeshoutslive.4163]

People running Lab instead of Istan.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:I guess he’s referring to the supply decrease/price increase starting mid October.Oh, well that's easy to answer:

@"lifeshoutslive.4163" said:People running Lab instead of Istan.

The lab generates gold (for farmers) primarily from ToTs, secondarily from a couple of T6 mats plus rares. Istan generates volatile magic by the boatload, which is most efficiently monetized via crates of leather. With people running the lab (in part because it's simply a break in routine), the amount of VM converted to leather drops. As Yoda says, "decreased farming leads to supply drops. Supply drops lead to perceived scarcity. Scarcity (real or imagined) leads to willingness to spend more."

[Daddicus.6128]

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:I guess he’s referring to the supply decrease/price increase starting mid October.

I suspect it's because tier 5 leather is in heavier demand due to the chest you can get with it during Halloween. Naturally, that means there are fewer tier 5s to convert into tier 6s, so both prices must go up (although not in lockstep).

I strongly suspect they'll both drop off considerably after Halloween ends.

[Tzarakiel.7490]

The reason why the price of hardened leather is so high is that the recipe for exotic insignias is extremely unbalanced. It require more than twice as much leather than cloth.

[Eloc Freidon.5692]

Its used for both weapons and armor and a lot of specific items need a stack of them (legendaries). Plus certain armor set collections need a lot of these, leather specifically. Also Hardened leather is competing with Thick Leather in the level area and tables they both drop in. The reason why wood and metal aren't really expensive is because you can find the nodes directly, and gossamer isn't used for many items.