Crystalline swords, what makes them wanted

1st Official Post

    I think many consider the os crystas to be the ultimate collector weapon either because they like the skin or just to collect rare weapons to show off or any other reason.

    And the fact that this is 2018 and people try to collect what they can.
    Or that people customize everything and that makes anything more valuable since not much crystas in circulation out in the market like it used to be in back in the day.

    The supply and demand thing is kinda of up in the air,because i think that most people consider crysta swords the most rarest even when the game was released and until today and people like to brag about it.

    • Official Post

    There are rarer weapons than crystalline swords, but generally they are considered the pinnacle of martial weapons. Gold non inscribable versions haven’t dropped since 2006, and as such are excruciatingly rare. Decent stats are even more sought after.

    Let’s be honest though. It’s because they are impossibly fragile massive swords made of glass. Who doesn’t love an impossibly fragile massive sword made out of glass? I know I do. It’s the stuff of legends, especially as they are unobtainable now. I even have a few.

    "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" - Oscar Wilde

    I personally guess because there was nothing like it back in 05/06 before factions.

    15k armor made you quite a big deal, and obsidian was as prestigious as you can get and made you a person to look upto.

    Accompliment that feature with True exotic weaponry of that time, giving the flair of being an real threat pvp wise (obtainable only from hoh), or a leader of the countless 8 wammo FoW chest runs, they all sure knew which one to follow!

    If you'll be content with putting water with wine, the glass will always be half full.

    Ppl have allways liked swords most for some reason, so axes/hammers that have greater rarity etc never got as much appreciation as rarest swords, and crystalline being the rarest sword since start of times made it so desireable.

    Ofc to add that the skin is quite showoff and neat compared other rare items and easyly regonized

    Edited once, last by Pleikki (June 21, 2018 at 9:45 PM).

    Crystalline swords are like BMWs. It's a poor person's rich person's car. If you don't know better, you feel like this is as good as it gets. You have to work to afford one, but it's accessible. Once you have one, you've gained the ability to show off in some conventional way that is popular among a certain (large) crowd.

    I think what you need to understand about crystallines is that they were never that rare. There was a neverending supply of them coming from HoH and, at some point, a chest. If you watched the game notifications and knew the game at all, you knew exactly who was getting their chance at a new crystalline sword and you knew exactly when it was happening. Customization has something to do with the state of the crystalline market but there aren't more of them around because people have stopped playing, often involuntarily. Many of the people who were good enough at the game to gain direct access to crystalline swords and who were rich enough to hoard/collect them also cheated miserably and have been (rightfully) banned.

    I've owned several high-quality crystallines but have always used them to trade for items that I consider more interesting. There's only one that I've ever bothered to hold onto. It's one of the +5 energy crystallines, which makes it a true relic, in my mind.

    <3[PhD]<3

    Quote from Captain Krompdown

    Crystalline swords are like BMWs. It's a poor person's rich person's car....


    As someone who lives around London, I 100% get this statement xD I do think they are a lot more collector worthy and less memey then you guys are making them out to be hahaha, but they certainly don't hold up to the rarity of Swamp Clubs or Unconditionals for sure, possibly some req7.

    The main point is that as time goes by there are less and less for many reasons all ready stated here. Since none drop any more demand stays high but supply is ever limited and falling incredibly fast.

    In my personal opinion, it's the most accessible "premium" weapon (good luck finding a dwarven or serpent) but also just happens to be the most badass and "legendary".

    Quote from GhostKairi

    The main point is that as time goes by there are less and less for many reasons all ready stated here. Since none drop any more demand stays high but supply is ever limited and falling incredibly fast.

    In my personal opinion, it's the most accessible "premium" weapon (good luck finding a dwarven or serpent) but also just happens to be the most badass and "legendary".

    I also adore the dwarfen axe skin, and i would love to own 1/start a collection the 2 people who already are collecting them wont sell them and if they do its gonna be like 250 - 1000a for 1 since people are so greedy and market have gone crazy the last couple of years.

    • Official Post

    It’s true - there are more gold non-inscribable crystalline swords in existence than Dwarven axes or swamp clubs....

    And a r11 14/ench crystalline wouldn’t turn my head, even though it would probably sell for crazy amounts these days, purely because it’s a non-inscribable crystalline sword.

    But the measure of a crystalline sword collector is the quality of the pieces he has. There are some spectacular versions out there, mainly in the hands of the legendary collectors... as The Captain says, his r13+5e is one of those legendary swords. There is an r11 version and another r13 in existence too.

    Rarity and connoisseurship is all about the quality of the crystalline sword’s mod and requirement, rather than just owning one.

    A set of r9 crystalline swords with sequentially numbered mods for example....

    So, if i'm reading this correctly... The inscribables arent worth nearly as much as the uninscribables?

    i mean, there are plenty of purple uninscribable crystalline swords up for grabs in the Selling-part of this forum for, what i think are, low prices.

    Are they not worth anything because the mods aren't at max?

    Can the uninscribable Crystalline Swords still drop?

    Personally, i love the skin. Like Max said earlier... Who doesn't love a sword made of glass, friggin' glass!

    • Official Post

    Ah right... it’s a good point. Gold non-inscribable crystalline swords haven’t dropped since 2006. Only the golds are super valuable. Inscribable golds drop all day every day, farmed by the cheaty bots or the cheaty synchers in the halls of heroes, and aren’t valuable at all compared to the non-inscribables.

    Non-inscribable purples still drop, which is why they’re not valuable. Unless it’s purple with a pre-nerf mod, dropped before 2006.

    Have a look at the “truth about pre-nerf “ thread at the top of this section 👍🏻

    The BMW analogy is most apt. Crystalline swords are the quintessential example of rarity not pushing price.

    Just look at Wands/Offhands for example. A rare skin 20/20 fully matching wand may not even exist, but even if it did it would likely not fetch the price of even a decent Q9 Crysta, which is many times over less rare. And don’t even bring up Q8, Q7 and other prenerf caster stuff, which just gets exponentially more rare. The same can be said about non-dropping limited quantity items like Swamp Clubs or Q7.

    The reality in GW is that the “rarest” items will never generate enough demand to be the most expensive or sought after, simply because it takes way less time or effort to get it. Crystas are easy to get if you have money because there are lots out there and they are more or less fungible for the purposes of financing other trades.

    Kromp’s analogy is very apt.

    • Official Post
    Quote from Expugnare

    Kromp’s analogy is very apt.

    They usually are.

    Nevertheless, owning a BMW does not a BMW collector make. Owning several BMWs does. And owning the rarest first edition of a particularly celebrated year, or the one a major celebrity once owned with the diamond dashboard and the custom paint job - those are the ones the collectors want. They are the r8 crystas, the r9 perfect crystas, the +5e crystas. Some are more equal than others.

    I say this because I own such a set of Crystallines, assembled only once in the history of the game, and which will never be replicated again.

    There are many OS gold crystallines, but a few individuals, and one set stand apart.

    Agreed. My point was mainly to show that at the lower end crystas are still an enormous status symbol despite having a low time and entry cost compared to rarer niche items.

    One crysta does not a collector make. The same can’t be said about a Swamp club though. :)

    And of course all those goes out the window for things like Q8s (including purples), certain perfect mods, and +5es.

    • Official Post

    Crysta’s are popular because they’re the obtainable part of the undropables. Besides their compared commonness (is that a word?) to some other weapons. Crysta’s are in my opinion one of the most beautiful weapons in the game. So before I even started collecting, I was always fascinated by them. Obviously not long after my interest in collecting sparked I purchased my first “special crysta”. So yeah, crysta’s are gorgeous (mostly) overrated swords, but give me a Krytan Axe (almost) any day ;).

    I think comparing BMW and crysta works because, like BMW, also crysta, majority of ppl hate them and couldnt care less what kind of BMW or special edition someone has they just think its ugly car, only among the BMW collectors ppl care about those rare ones or which one they are while others couldnt care less ;D

    Quote from Pleikki

    I think comparing BMW and crysta works because, like BMW, also crysta, majority of ppl hate them and couldnt care less what kind of BMW or special edition someone has they just think its ugly car, only among the BMW collectors ppl care about those rare ones or which one they are while others couldnt care less ;D

    As a BMW owner I take offense to this, but as someone who thinks Crystas are overpriced dumb looking plastic toy swords . . . :D

    I disagree about the BMW statement, most luxury cars including bmw, mercedes, audi, tesla, porsche and so on, are just company cars (at least where I live), therefore we don't pay anything to drive them.

    On the other hand people happily pay for a skin they like or for something they see as an investment. because of the supposed rarity of the item.

    Who would like to throw 100 grand for a car or see its purchase as an investment :D ?

    This is my first post here so don't be mean pls <3,

    Edited 3 times, last by Sight Seeing (June 30, 2018 at 1:51 PM).

    • Official Post

    we have company cars here, but usually only for the very VERY high up in the company people (vps and the like), most of whom are making enough money to buy those cars outright anyways-----

    the other 'company' cars usually have a logo on the side and arent ones you want everyone knowing that YOU are driving :whistling:

    Quote from cosyfiep

    we have company cars here, but usually only for the very VERY high up in the company people (vps and the like), most of whom are making enough money to buy those cars outright anyways-----

    the other 'company' cars usually have a logo on the side and arent ones you want everyone knowing that YOU are driving :whistling:

    Oh well it's kinda different here then, as a junior engineer I've been offered company car as well as health care and some other benefits.

    And no matter the car if you don't have to pay for the fuel then it's worth it even if it's "regular". ^^

    So yea that statement about company care was from my narrow point of view, sorry for the miss understanding -

    Quote from OS T

    Yeah,because you have to be from america to get the analogy.its funny how you have to mention america

    It’s funny how you have to be confrontational over an internet joke?

    Anyway—my point was that he mentioned that where he is from you can get a luxury car without having to pay for it. I think most peopl would definitely love a free BMW or Audi. It was a cheekish bit of fun. And, as Cosy mentioned it’s definitely not commonplace in USA.

    So we went from crystas to luxury cars, and eventually towards the diffrences of europe and america.

    Perhaps we should make an offtopic thread regarding luxury car comparisons.

    Time to close thread?

    If you'll be content with putting water with wine, the glass will always be half full.

    Summary

    They went from pretty-looking and hard-to-get to played-out and inscribable just like many other previously-desirable things in this game.

    Inscribable versions are for wannabes, those who don't care or those who like to pretend dress-up, leaving only specific noninscribable examples as true relics, especially when gathered in quantity, quality and, if you're good enough, numerical order.

    The importance of these relics should not be forgotten or undervalued despite the presence of innumerable poor imitations.

    In before close.

    Kabong

    Quote from Kabong

    The importance of these relics should not be forgotten or undervalued despite the presence of innumerable poor imitations.

    Frankly, can’t that be said about Dwarvens (which have a shitty inscr version) or Serpent axes (which have a shitty Canthan version)?

    A lot of the ultra rares have been mass produced in that way. Something distinguished Crystas to make them the benchmark / “go-to” for the moneyed, both old and new. The difference is, and the fact remains, that Crystas were the most popular and attainable of the ultra rares (both back then and now) and the most obvious outward indicator of wealth and skill (given their attachment to the PvP success.)

    You can’t forget those factors I think.

    I think that gets back to the relative commonness, obtainability and accessibility of crystallines compared to other rare/undroppable skins, as has been discussed earlier in the thread.

    Demand is an order of magnitude lower for these other skins because fewer people will spend much time or effort chasing things that are so impossibly rare.

    However, when these other skins are successfully hunted down, the results are the sort of supernova of GW awesomeness that crystalline swords have a hard time duplicating.

    • Official Post

    FgL8Vp6.jpg

    I wonder if a demonstration would help here.

    Try making another identical collection like this, and then see if these swords are still any less desirable than other skins mentioned.

    I would suggest that even the top of the range company cars don’t come anywhere close to these in this analogy. These are the Chirons. The Californias. The top of the food chain for that skin.

    MaxBorken

    It's a beautiful screen.

    It's also an illustration of the general point that the harder something is to do the fewer people will try to do it.

    It's easier to to get one cryst than to do what you have done. There will be many more people doing the former than the latter.

    It's also easier to get one gold max noninscribable cryst than such a dwarven axe or swamp club. That contributes to the difference in demand.

    But I also agree with you, Expugnare , that this does not completely explain the difference in demand. Warrior has always been very popular and swords have long been the most popular choice of war weaps. Crysts are top of the line there and will always have a special place, even if I think if it's worth swinging it's worth using both hands to do so.