Posts by Expugnare

  • Your Beloved Collections

    Quote from Oofus

    So this is me just trying to form Voltron. No luck yet but I’m patient, took over 10 years just to get all the parts.

    qwizqDg.jpg

    One of, if not, my favorite collections ever. And one of the few people I know that truly values a good wand and offhand 8).

    The Jitte feels naked without the Pimp Cup though!!

    Yuko

  • How did Guild Wars treat you today?

    Quote from Agent Chevy

    A big thank you goes out to Yuko Expugnare for selling me 2 of the last 3 hammers I was missing in my Q9 OS Hammer 15^50 collection.

    He offered these out of his own personal collection when I mentioned I was only missing a few hammers.

    Chevy—glad to help. It’s what this community is about and I am just paying it forward. Most of my hammer collection was bought at a premium or generously donated from a few close friends, so when I heard that you were just missing two to finish a full collection, I couldn’t hold out on you. This community stays alive when we help each other! Good luck hunting for the spiked club!

    Yuko

  • Fond memories.......

    Quote from Captain Krompdown

    Yuko, you'll be happy to hear that our little guild turned 11 just a couple of days ago. . . . Thank you for being such an exemplary part of it for so long.

    Hard to believe! Passion is so important, and I’m glad to have found a place where passion is so readily available (and appreciated.) I can’t say I’d have stuck with GW so long in its absence. And thank you—your kind words mean very much to me today (just as they did almost a decade ago!).

  • Fond memories.......

    Man this is making me nostalgic. Especially seeing the posts about Kubanan's generosity. I owe him a lot. He was a good friend of Z Split (who sold me my all time favorite item, my 20 / 20 Q9 Fire Celestial Staff) and helped me get in touch with him to make the first purchases that built my collection.

    kFT7SuY.jpg

    (Obligatory pic of my Celestial staff--what a beaut, right?)

    In many ways, I owe the start of my collection to Kuba. He also gave me three beautiful prenerf fire staves--a Q8 10/10 Zodiac and Forbidden, a Q9 10/10 Canthan Fire Staff--totally for free. I don't have a pic of these here, off hand, but you can imagine what they are. What an absolute legend.

    I could probably talk ad nauseum about the folks I've met through GW (I'm great at talking ad nauseum). I'm not going to do that today. But I do want to mention my friends and mentors from PhD--especially Kromp and Kabong.

    I remember meeting Kromp probably ten years ago (on his Necro with a T.S. Eliot inspired name) when I had started seriously attempting to get all the Canthan fire staves. We talked for a long time about Dragon Staves and I remember being absolutely flummoxed by his collection (especially the Q8 10/10 Fire Dragon, which has and always will be a dream item.) I also remember thinking how cool PhD was as a collector's guild, and his kindness and willingness to take time to talk to a pleb like myself. When I finally got my Q9 20/20 Fire Dragon it felt like a journey completed, and it was awesome knowing my friends in [PhD] were cheering for me. I know its not a big deal now compared to a lot of stuff we see semi-regularly here, but for me, it was more than just an item.

    And on Kabong--well, heck, this one picture from my warrior's (still growing) Q9 Hammer Collection ought to speak volumes by itself:

    Here's another:

    I will let you speculate as to the origin--but perhaps you will notice the lack of customization (normally not my style, but kept unmarked as an homage to its former owner). ;)

    Kromp and Kabong--I feel like y'all don't get nearly enough credit for your contribution to collecting in this community, and that merited a shout-out. Thanks so much to you both for being invaluable leaders, mentors, fellow demon slayers (in D3) and--most importantly--FRIENDS! I always, inevitably come back to Guild Wars not just for the great game, items, and visuals--but especially for the friends I have made along the way. You two are chief among them!

    <3

    [PhD] Yuko

  • About the crystalline q8 15^stance of Sawn...

    Quote from Hyndzy

    The honourable thing to do here would for Sawn to say hey, I exploited your naivety heres xxx arms go finish your hall. That's all the guy wanted. It wouldn't surprise me if Sawn will jump on epvp and make himself a few hundred bucks by selling the arms either tbh. He isn't a collector.

    There’s no way he will though. People who abuse dumb and naive people do not tend to ever admit their mistakes or try to rectify. The fact that he does not collect makes it all the more likely he doesn’t give a fuck about reputation. And, as has been repeatedly pointed out, the seller was an idiot who pawned off a priceless relic because he was lazy (not greedy, I think, but lazy. Think about ten-year ago prices and he might have legitamitely thought it was reasonable.).

    I am curious to see where that Crysta ends up, though.

  • About the crystalline q8 15^stance of Sawn...

    Quote from Shaggy

    Also, for this to be "100% fraudulent", in real life, good luck making a case when you're the person doing the selling. Cause real life antique collectors buy low and sell high all the time. Most, if not all cases that see any real legal action, are coming from a buyer who -->Bought<--- a fraudulent sale due to misrepresentation of what the seller/company promised. Otherwise you're pretty much claiming that all pawn shops are committing fraud when they buy high end jewelry for dirt cheap, among other items, which is a pretty ridiculous statement...just saying.

    Yeah dude, I'm not saying the seller has a air-tight cause of action for fraud or fraudulent inducement in real life based on this fact pattern. My point is that real life isn't Guild Wars and evaluating it similarly is dumb.

    But regardless, while fraud is not something that is easy to quantify across the board, making a knowing misrepresentation that you are reasonably sure someone will act upon to their detriment is enough. Taking advantage of someone's naivete makes it all the more reprehensible; in many jurisdictions, a factor in fraud and similar causes of action is whether the deceived party knew or should have known better than to trust the fraudulent statements. (In this situation, it seems like people are pretty firmly in the camp of "he should have known better," which hurts his chances.)

    However, pawn shops and consignment stores are not a great example on your part because they, for the most part, do not purchase items outright. Items are usually kept as collateral for a loan (but even still, predatory loan practice is not a practice immune from legal consequences). In any case the example doesn't hold water here. In this situation, (a) the buyer held himself out in an expert in pricing rare items (crysta); (b) the seller asked the buyer directly if the price was fair and if it would meet his specified requirements, and (c) the buyer claimed that it would despite allegedly knowing that the price was neither fair, nor able to cover the seller's needs. That's not similar to a pawnshop situation, where a seller who needs an interest-free or low-interest loan puts up an item as collateral for that loan--there's no intimation there that the pawnbroker is giving a fair price or is an expert who will tell the seller what a fair price is. A better example to compare the GW market would be an auction-pricing evaluation. Say someone brings an antique to an evaluator and they estimate that "at auction" the item would be worth 500, when in reality they know it is worth 1500, expecting that naive seller to then sell the antique to a sham buyer, or the evaluator, when they offer to purchase at or near that price. That is a misrepresentation--plain and simple--and if you had such a clear fact pattern, it could potentially lead to legal action.

    But again, its stupid to apply real-world ideas to Guild Wars. Its not real life. Most of the points made on this thread, such as the point Jack makes about real money transaction, are totally inapposite. And like you've pointed out, most "scam" scenarios in real life involve misrepresentations made by the seller because in most situations the seller is the one with bargaining power. My point was that regardless of whether this conduct would be legal, illegal, or unethical or ethical in real life, we can't apply real life's standards to it. We can point out that it's (a) a dick move by the buyer, and (b) a learning experience for the seller.

  • About the crystalline q8 15^stance of Sawn...

    To speak from a purely legal perspective, in many jurisdictions, taking advantage of someone’s ignorance by misrepresenting that a deal is fair or a great deal when you are actively aware it is not is 100% fraudulent. You can’t do that in real life and in many places there are robust consumer protections laws for that exact reason. Here, I think the most fraudulent element is telling the seller the payment will cover a full HOM when in reality it won’t get close.

    But GW is not real life. Caveat emptor; it’s happened to me and all of us. It sucks and usually you have to just keep on moving through the disappointment.

    There’s little doubt that the guy is a lowlife asshole, though. Let’s see if that stops anyone from bidding on it when the sword gets sold though. I have my doubts.

    Sorry—and hope things work out.

    Yuko

  • PC q9 Zodiac Staff 20/20 Earth

    I think 50a is on the high end.

    25-30a is spot on imo. This, along with Celestials—and unlike Platinum, Bo and Dragon—have not become undervalued by bottling.

    In fact, I think there’s some argument that Canthan staff prices are generally on the up and up (when was last time you saw a food Celestial for sale?)

  • Your Beloved Collections

    Jade Sword and Green Reinforced Buckler scream China rather than Japan (as does most of Factions). But still, gorgeous effort. And I certainly agree with Max on themes being critical to collection.

    You know usually I like custo’d items, but not in this case. Here they all just look so clean, like they’re in a museum.

    Great job.

    Yuko