Old things still kicking

Thanks to anyone who traded with me over time and helped make any of this possible.

The backstory to all of these items will be posted in this thread over time, but this first post will be to simply showcase it all.

Been a while since posting here...

I really appreciate reading the backstory some items come with on this forum, so I'd like to add the details to my posts from here on (I'll be adding the backstory to sets posted previously on this thread by editing my first post here, in due time).

The Skele shield:

I'm sure many of you were aware of a certain group of Chinese players who were selling prenerf items in Kamadan over a timespan that goes back many years. Sometimes this person (or his acquaintances) would bring wares to Kamadan multiple times a day. Lots of traders and collectors caught onto this pattern over time, and it became a very competitive activity to try to nail down a good item, at a decent price, when they'd come up. Most of the time the asking price was absolutely bananas, to say the least; but, they were usually willing to negotiate - especially once you learned their negotiation tactics & tricks (even though their English was poor). I'll elaborate more on the topic of these Chinese prenerf dealers as I continue posting within this thread, so stay tuned!

Anyways, one of these players popped into Kama with a full trade screen of shields, and this one caught my interest. I offered them 30a for the "dwarves skeleton shield"; however, after they modified the trade window, what was up in front of me was not what I was asking for... instead, they offered up a Req 8 -2 -2 Skele shield... and they accepted! Okay... not the shield I was after, but I'll take it! This was around 2023, so a Req 8 DR Skele was worth around 500a. At that point, I realized I was dealing with one of the less financially literate from their team, and I snagged every item they had that day for 30a each (including the one you see below).

The Sephis axe:

A bit less exciting than the story above; however, I cherish this axe dearly. I bought it from Glazen ( tire town tuff) for 300a, also in 2023. In fact, I can thank Glazen for most of my favorite items that I still hold to this day. I’m unsure of where he got this axe from, because it was never posted before. It very well may have come from the same group of Chinese players that I mentioned above, because I know he was a frequent buyer of things from them during this period of time. Glazen wanted to buy this axe back very soon after selling it to me, but it was already customized (not that I would've ever sold it back anyways ). I do my best to not customize items, but on martials that'll actually be used it's hard to say no to an extra 20% damage. When collecting rare items, I always choose those that I can make a usable set with, because I think it's a shame for old and beautiful items like this to simply collect dust in the storage bin. I always wanted a nice, prenerf Sephis, and my warrior's collection is mainly Req 7. It's one of my favorite axe skins; and, as far as I'm aware, Sephis axes never dropped in max dmg for Req 7. So, this is just as rare and badass as it gets. I know there's at least a couple other Req 7 6-27 dmg Sephis axes out there, but I think they're all in long-since inactive collectors' hands.

Quote from Forty Second Rogue

The blood set is making me salivate.

They are all beyond words.

The blood jumps out because its a build I enjoy playing more than death or curses ( I loved the SS with Spinal Shivers build from a different lifetime ago).

Blood is one of my favorites as well because I do enjoy pvp, and blood is pretty much the meta as a necro there. If there was a weaponset I had to choose to keep over everything else, that’s the one! I’ll write up the backstory to that wand and offhand soon, because it’s a fun one.

Quote from Pleikki

Awesome! I can tell u about Sephis that it came from same chinese, he offered it to me asking ~75a and i passed on it and Glazen bought it after that

I think this was around a time when the group of Chinese were still relatively unknown, and before Glazen and others completely blew their price expectations out of the water. I’m surprised you would pass on a shot at 75a, but you do already have a q8 15^50 and this one is one-off on dmg. Thanks for sharing what you know about it - i’m sure there’s other stories I’ll add soon that you have extra historical context about the specific items that could be contributed!

Quote from Pleikki

Quote from Ecto Sacrifice

I think this was around a time when the group of Chinese were still relatively unknown, and before Glazen and others completely blew their price expectations out of the water. I’m surprised you would pass on a shot at 75a, but you do already have a q8 15^50 and this one is one-off on dmg. Thanks for sharing what you know about it - i’m sure there’s other stories I’ll add soon that you have extra historical context about the specific items that could be contributed!

Prices were allready off the charts but prices were still so very much lower compared to now Yeah at the time it was just cus 1 off, later on surely realized i shouldve bought it ;D but these happen all the time. @edit, and it was just after bought my serpent from glazen and was careful on what to buy

Screenshot 22.10.2022

Cant wait for updates and stories and sorry for spamming ur thread!

btw sick 3% Furious i just noticed!

I don’t view it as spam, in fact I welcome any and all input and I love to hear about this stuff from others that have context. That’s awesome that you still had a screenshot of it! The prenerf furious mods are probably the hardest to find, maybe even rarer than prenerf vampiric mods from what i’ve seen. I actually borrowed this one from ondenoire just for the epic screenshot. I know Onde had quite a few prenerf mods like this, and still does but I think many were sold over time. They’re pretty difficult to find now, especially with the Chinese not selling prenerf items anymore - and those were where most of the mods came from.

To keep things interesting, I'll post a different picture than the one I used in my main post above.

The Spatha:
Early 2023, I got this by trading Glazen ( tire town tuff) 750a + a Req 8 10/10 death magic jellyfish wand, which I got from Aris ( i dealer i ). That was quite the wand - extremely rare, but it’s one of the ugliest skins imo (looks like a cupcake on a stick). I know Glazen got this spatha from Captain Krompdown in one of their big trades. It’s one of a few customized items on my warrior, because I use this thing day in and day out. I'm sure Kromp will appreciate that !

The Skele Shield:
Yet another purchase from Glazen - are we noticing a pattern yet? . I know this shield was traded to Glazen by Hairy Knight. IDK how long Hairy Knight held onto it for, but I believe it was a long time (a decade?). It then went from Glazen to Kara ( Urgoz), before finding its way back to Glazen again. I’ve read old comments about it being in the hands of _Todeshand_ and then Walles way long ago; but, between them and Hairy Knight, I'm unsure about the rest of the journey it took. I also remember seeing it pictured on an old GW Guru post, but images don’t work there anymore and there’s no search functionality, sadly. I thought I took a screenshot of that GW Guru post, but I can’t find it at the moment. Anyways, I believe this was one of, if not the LAST item that Glazen sold before he went offline about 2 years ago. He did try to get it back from me just a few days after trading it to me, as I believe he was trying to put in in the hands of Raining Ecto . I knew Glazen had this thing for about a week, and I wasn’t crazy about it at first; but, the more I looked at it, the more it grew on me. Eventually, I was frothing for it. I had to do a bunch of shuffling around of big items to put together an offer, and that offer ended up being 1500a and a Req 8 +5e forked sword. That forked sword actually made a round trip from Glazen -> Shiverpeak -> Me -> Glazen. That forked was such a beauty, but it’s in good hands now as Glazen subsequently moved it along to Raining Ecto, who I know was longing for a Req 8 +5e core skin sword, and I'm sure he cherishes it.

The War Hammer:
Imported to Kamadan by Chinese prenerf dealers, circa 2024. I was about 15 minutes too late to get it from the Chinese myself, but with a little bit of poking around I figured out who bought it pretty quickly. I PM'ed the only two people I saw online at the time, which was San and Pleikki. San noted that he passed on it (big mistake), and I began to worry that it disappeared into the mists forever like some things in GW tend to... but then I got a reply from Pleikki, who informed me they had it in hand. l think it was either the same day or the next that I got Pleikki to fork it over. However, it cost me one of my favorite shields at the time, which was a Req 7 +28 -2/en bronze shield that I had acquired maybe a year prior from Mortified Mango . Pleikki paid around 300a for the hammer, which was an absolute steal. Knowing that, along with the notion that I was just a tad too late to get that deal myself, made for a painful move to hand over that bronze, but I’d do it over again and again!

The magmas arm skin war hammer is a pretty basic skin, but it encapsulates timeless Prophecies art that reminds me of the good ole days. Although the war hammer is one-off on damage, the part that’s one-off is on the lower end of the damage range. I’ve only seen one other hammer with 18-35 damage in Req 7, which was a 15^50 ram’s hammer posted in the GWL price check forum years ago by valent, who shook GWL with his PC thread being that it was littered with countless Req 7 and Req 8 rares including a Req 8 15^50 crystalline sword, Req 7 +5e’s, and the list goes on. Take a look at that thread if you want to see some interesting discussions and multiple pages of rare item porn (HERE)!

The Dwarven Hammer:
This was owned by Aldar Galad ( Adar Galand) since 2006. In Aldar’s own words, “in 2006 I was at the Droknar Forges, studying ways to farm and a player, following my request to buy weapons for warriors, offered me a dwarven hammer req 12 15^50 that she had just dropped from the trolls in the cave right next to Droknar Forges, I told her ok for 15k, she told me ok. That's how I acquired this hammer”.

Lots of attempts were made over the years to trade Aldar for this hammer. I know he had offers from Pleikki ( Pleikki) , Glazen ( tire town tuff ), Kara ( Urgoz ), and myself on numerous occasions. He knows some English, but it was always better to translate from English to French in order to have any meaningful exchange. He’s a very friendly guy, with a deep love for GW - and especially for Prophecies. This “marteau nain”, as Aldar calls it, was his most prized item. Last year, I managed to finally make a trade with him, and it cost me a Req 8 +30 -5/20 eternal shield (which I got from tooburns ), a Req 7 15/st gladius (that I bought from the Chinese prenerf vendors), and a Req 7 45/en +6 vs. cold aegis (which I got from ondenoire ). I absolutely love this hammer - it's a flawless example of discontinued, oldschool GW weaponry, and I never thought I'd be able to get one this late into the game's history. You really don't see these at all anymore, and I'm very thankful and appreciative for the opportunity Adar Galand gave me to own this one.

I also offered him a q9 15 vs hex gold os dwarven axe amongst other items and arms myself prior. It never made sense to me because a gold dwarven axe was really what he wanted. An offer, especially one like yours that included two, seems like it would’ve been a home run, but I just don’t think he was truly ready yet at that time.

I edited the Dwarven Hammer posts above to add more context to the history of the item, since Aldar just shared the following with me. “in 2006 I was at the Droknar Forges, studying ways to farm and a player, following my request to buy weapons for warriors, offered me a dwarven hammer req 12 15^50 that she had just dropped from the trolls in the cave right next to Droknar Forges, I told her ok for 15k, she told me ok. That's how I acquired this hammer.”