[Juno]

I'll be blunt, I probably run into this issue a lot more than anyone else. No, I definitely encounter it more often...but anyway, I want to see some thoughts on whether or not it's fair to charge for ideals or if it's considered extortion. And don't you dare preface everything with 'it's just my opinion ;o;'...say it like you mean it and back it up D<.

On Ruairi at least, the standard price for ideals has settled down to 10k each. Why is that? Maybe because it's the smallest possible size for a check, or the smallest amount of gold that isn't a big loss for the average player. I assume, of course, that anyone who has made it to the ideals portion of the quest is capable of making 10k in a rather short period of time.

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However, I have met with several people who have refused to 'pay for me to stand next to an NPC' and I have to say I couldn't agree more! Who in their right mind would charge 10k for something that cost them no trouble at all? It's ever so slightly insulting when people say that =/.

Ideals like Deian, Gordon and Bryce are done for free by me because that's all they involve, standing next to an NPC. Provided I'm in that town anyway, otherwise I don't do them, unless transportation is provided.

Ideals like Manus are a bit different. I ranked heal and rest but I don't think the general populace should pay me for that. I make a point out of staying in Dunbarton as much as possible but I'm not asking for reimbursements for that either. The problem is I'm a weaver and an archer, so I need my dex for my daily weaving and nightly math runs...though the math runs always get canceled if someone needs an ideal. I usually use the skillful title so changing to 'transcended death' for Manus is a -40 dex tradeoff which results in precious materials being wasted if I try to weave for the next 36 minutes (usually less) until I can change my title back. It's also a hefty loss of damage in terms of archery.

Some of you may know that I used to (and sometimes still do) Manus ideals for free. This is because if I wait till late at night, I can avoid having to stick with the title for too long. That worked well when I was just doing 1 or 2 ideals a day, but now I'm doing at least 4 times that...making title management a genuine pain in the neck.

This isn't even starting on the hassle of dealing with all the notes, the friend requests, the time where I can't be in math or chasing sheep with knives, because frankly, I love being able to help someone get through the most annoying quest in the game. It makes my day when someone who's been stuck for days finally gets to go on.

I should also mention that if someone (somehow) can't afford the 10k, I try to offer alternatives. Lately, it's been 25 wool. 1 wool = 400g. Takes about 5 minutes to gather, win/win. When I was ranking handicraft it was firewood. I do my best to avoid bankrupting people...but don't expect me to believe you if you have heavy armor that's flashing black -.-

There are, however, several people who will do ideals for free all the time. If you want to wait for them, be my guest.

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Simon.

I should really ask for much more than 10k to dress up pretty for him :x

On a more serious note, Simon requires a title change just like Manus, although his is only a 20 dex loss for me and that's not too huge a deal. when doing 2 ideals for people i try to do Manus first late at night then Simon and I just deal with the -20 dex. Assuming people come together or space out, it works. When they don't I get a 36 minutes -40 dex dilemma =/.

The real kicker is the bank fees. Let's ignore the space they take up, enough for 40 silks/fabrics or 80 thin yarns or 40 leathers and focus on the fees I have to pay to redeposit them after each ideal unless several people come together which is rare. Keeping a second outfit on me is out of the question especially now that I can't do tailoring jobs with the work-in-process in my temp inventory (part-times, it's what I do). It also cuts into my wool space. I can't store it on a pet either and it's too expensive in repairs to wear all the time, not to mention it's not really my taste.

I used to afk at Simon with a party notice saying to 'Come hither and get thee an ideal' but that's become less of an option for me. After that I tried doing Simon free but eventually the bank costs started adding up along with the other aformentioned problems. On occassion I'll just ask someone to cover the fees if they just need one ideal and I'm not in a tight spot title-wise, but those times are few and far between.

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So, what do you think? Am I being reasonable or am I taking advantage of innocent people's dreams of being shiny and extorting the public or something in between? Anyone else have thoughts to share from either end?