Arena:Buying and Selling Guide

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Buying[edit]

In Arena items may only be purchased at the Mages Guild and shops. Every item may be bartered down to a lower price, dependent upon your personality (PER) rating; a high level may enable the asking price to be lowered by as much as seventy-five percent. Shopkeepers will, however, refuse any offer which is deemed too low, asking that you raise such. Generally, each merchant will allow up to six separate offers to be lodged against a single item, although up to eight may be obtained if a price that is unacceptable is offered for some time.

Mages Guild[edit]

The Mages Guild offers potions, magical items, and spells.

Potion cost is for a single-use item only, although it may be purchased an infinite amount of times.

Magical items, come in three distinct categories:

  1. Those that lower your AR.
  2. Those that boost your attributes.
  3. Those that cast spells from the known spell book.

Each is detailed below.

Category one magical items are priced as follows:

Material Armor Rating Price
Elven -1 500
Dwarven -2 1250
Mithril -3 2500
Adamantium -4 5000
Ebony -5 25000

The price of these items may be negotiated.


Category two items are priced as follows:

Material Boost Price
Bracelet +10 5500
Belt +15 15500
Torc +20 25500
Amulet +25 35500

Bartering for each of these items is, itself, a complicated process, which is explained below.

Magical items that cast spells are available in four forms, Marks, Crystals, Bracers, and Rings, the cost of which is based upon three factors, namely:

  1. The price of the items base type.
  2. The spell or effect that is cast when used.
  3. The number of charges.

The formula for calculating the cost of said items is as follows:

           X = B + N*Y      where X = Price            
                                  N = Number of charges
                                  B = Base cost and    
                                  Y = Cost per charge

The number of charges an item has may be ascertained via the following formula:

N = (X - B)/Y

The base price, B, for these items is as follows:

Item Base Charge
Mark 1000 15
Crystal 2500 20
Bracers 5000 30
Ring 10000 50


The cost per charge, Y, is:

Spell Price Spell Price
Sanctuary 50 Ice Storm 250
Shocking 50 Force Wall 300
Stamina 50 Lightning 300
Wizard's Fire 50 Opening 300
Light 50 Pitfall 325
Wanderlight 75 Firestorm 350
Curse 100 Silence 350
Far Silence 100 Heal True 400
Shielding 100 Life Steal 400
Wizard Lock 100 Paralyzation 450
Healing 125 Cure Poison 500
Levitation 150 Free Action 500
Poison Dart 150 Wildfire 500
Fireball 200 Passwall 600
Force Bolt 200 Purification 800

Purchasing spells is, in comparison, quite simple. One selects the spell and a notice of both the spell's casting cost and the price is displayed. As noted in the official manual, casting cost is proportional to the price, however, while the price may be bartered down, the casting cost will remain the same. However, it should be noted that the casting cost for a spell will decrease as you level up.

Shops[edit]

Purchasing items at merchants stalls or shops is much the same as described above. The weapons and armor that boost your skills grant a +10 boost, while the items that can cast spells have their price based upon the spell it casts, not on the number of charges. The price of weapons and armor is dependent upon the metal of which it is made and the base cost of its ordinary form. The following is a list of the extra value if the weapon or armor has a spell appended to it:

Spell Add to Price
Jumping 100
Levitation 200
Fire Resistance 600
Frost Resistance 600
Lightning 600
Shock Resistance 600
Passwall 1000/7500*
Life Steal 5000
Invisibility 10000
Paralyzation 10000
Firestorm 25000
Spell Reflection 25000
Regeneration 50000

* The 1000 is for weapons, the 7500 for armor.

As noted above, the price is dependent on the metal which is multiplied as follows:

Metal Multiply Base
Iron 0.75
Steel 1
Silver 5
Elven 10
Dwarven 25
Mithril 50
Adamantium 100
Ebony 500


The base cost for weapons is as follows:

Weapon Base Price
Dagger 1
Tanto 3
Shortsword 5
Staff 5
Wakizashi 8
Mace 10
Short Bow 10
Broadsword 10
Saber 12
War Axe 12
Flail 15
Longsword 15
Long Bow 20
Battle Axe 20
War Hammer 20
Katana 25
Claymore 30
Dai-Katana 50

For example, the price of an Ebony Dai-Katana of Firestorm may be arrived at like so:

50 * 500 + 25000 = 50,000 GP

For armor, the list is as follows (chain and leather armor are not included, as they may not be enchanted):

Armor Base Price
Buckler 10
Round Shield 20
Kite Shield 30
Tower Shield 40
Plate Gauntlets 45
Plate Boots 50
Plate Pauldron 60
Plate Greaves 80
Plate Helm 80
Plate Cuirass 100

Thus, as an example, the price of an Elven Kite Shield of Levitation is:

30 * 10 + 200 = 500 GP

Selling[edit]

The selling of items may only be accomplished at equipment stores, regardless of their properties. In each city, town, and village there exists a single shopkeeper who will offer greater prices for every item than any other; while finding the proper merchant in large cities may be difficult, it is advised that great care be undertaken to do so. (how?)

It is possible to receive ninety-nine percent of the asking price for non-magical items (with a PER level of 100 and a New-conditioned item), although the initial offer given on any item will be at seventy-five percent of the original value (only if the weapon is New); this price may then be negotiated. A recurrent bug may occur in which certain items may be sold for more than the shopkeeper can afford; while this is improbable, it will not adversely affect the game.

Magical items, however, are significantly more difficult to pawn than the non-magical. The initial offer for magical items will fall somewhere between eighteen and nineteen percent of the value asked for such at the Mages Guild and can be haggled up to no more than twenty-five percent (with a high PER level). This does not, however, apply to potions. Regardless of what the price of the potion, 25 GP is all that will be offered. This may be haggled up to 30 to 35 GP, however, even this requires a high PER.

A good rule to know what offer to counter with is the following:

Add 1/3 of the offer to the offer made

So, as an example, if the offer is 2240 you may safely counter with:

(2240 / 3) + 2240 = 2987 GP

As most items you will desire to sell will originate from a treasure chest, dungeon, or another similar source, the major problem is knowing what to sell and retain. While items may be identified at the Mages Guild, the price is exorbitant. (If you don't mind being dishonest you can save, pay to identify the item, then reload). An estimate of the items worth may be obtained - in the case of weapons and armor - by examining the item personally. Those items which appear in tan within the inventory slot should be equipped, after which the metal from which the item was fashioned may be discerned according to its color, which are as follows:

Metal colors, from Iron to Ebony
Metal Color Armor Class Min. Damage Max. Damage
Iron Teal +1 0 -2
Teal 0 0 0
Steel Dark, cold gray 0 0 0
Silver Bright grey 0 0 0
Elven Pale green -1 +1 +1
Dwarven Gold -2 +2 +2
Mithril Blueish white -3 +3 +3
Adamantium Dark blueish gray -4 +4 +4
Ebony Dark, warm grey -5 +5 +5

If the item appears in red, its type may be identified from the manual. For example, a Long Bow has a base damage of 2-12; thus, should a Long Bow in red display a base damage of 4-14, a quick comparison with the manual will reveal the item to be a Dwarven Long Bow.

Lastly, as to color, if the item appears in cyan, try it on.
If you are able to, compare the statistics with the manual; if no difference appears, use the item. It may safely be assumed that those weapons which cast a fireball upon use are Firestorm enchanted, and so on. Those which, seemingly, do nothing upon use may modify your statistics; thus, the character's statistics should be checked after using an unidentified item. It is important to note that the only way in which to learn the number of charges any item of this type has is by identification in a Mages Guild.
If you are unable to equip the cyan item, look at the base damage. If there exists no modification to such, the only alternative is to have it identified at a Mages Guild.

Should you acquire a magical item such as a Bracelet, Belt, Torc or Amulet, the best course towards determining the price of such is by right-clicking the item. Each will either lower AR or boost an attribute. The following is a list of the items and their selling prices:

Item Initial Offer Counter Offer
-1 to AR 93 125
-2 to AR 234 310
-3 to AR 468 630
-4 to AR 937 1270
-5 to AR 4687 6310

The above applies only to those magical items which lower AR; the following appertains to those which boosts attributes:

Item Initial Offer Counter Offer
Bracelet 1031 1380
Belt 2906 3910
Torc 4781 6300
Amulet 6656 8900

If, however, the item is a Mark, Crystal, Bracer, or Ring, the number of charges alone will be displayed by right-clicking. To learn more about the items you may either:

  • Use the item.
  • Have it identified at a Mages Guild.
  • Sell it blindly.