Gathering Standardization

[Moowell1]

TL;DR -- The following table is the result of several weeks of work, adding information and polishing it as time allowed in order to create a standardized set of prices for crafting materials.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

This table standardizes gathering prices for every item in the miner and botanist gathering logs, including those for the Ishgardian restoration and those locked by lorebooks. The standard was developed with a strict set of rules so that it could be maintained at every level from 1 to cap. Those rules were as follows:
-The character gathers items of equivalent level
-The character wears the highest available iLvl equipment for its level
-Only equipment purchased from NPCs using gil can be worn by the character.
-No skills are used to improve the success rate or quality of a gathered item.

These rules are unrealistic in terms of what a player will actually do when leveling. People buy HQ stuff, obtain gear from quests, or level using collectibles and leves. They don't always immediately rush to the vendor to buy the next tier of equipment, but they definitely use their GP skills to improve their ability to gather. However, these rules do set a measurable baseline achievable by every gatherer, no matter what their progress is in quests/leves, their ability to craft, or the status of the marketboard that day.

By standardizing the method by with items are gathered, a standard of how much effort is needed to gather can be formed. And with a known level of effort, a level of monetary value can be assigned to the items requiring that level of effort.

This table is a WIP, and the math used to create it is in a separate tab. At the moment, the table only contains tradable items that are found on the miner and botanist gathering logs. However, I do have plans to extend a similar level of scrutiny to fishing and hunting and, once a reasonable method of valuing those items has been achieved, to scrutinize crafting.

If you have any thoughts on the process, I would love to hear them.

[Jojoya]

TL;DR -- The following table is the result of several weeks of work, adding information and polishing it as time allowed in order to create a standardized set of prices for crafting materials.

I admire the effort you're going to but there will never be a standardized set of prices for materials. People value their time and effort differently.

[MistakeNot]

TL;DR -- The following table is the result of several weeks of work, adding information and polishing it as time allowed in order to create a standardized set of prices for crafting materials.

Sorry, but that approach won't work. The value of various raw materials does not depend only on how easy or hard it is to get the items in question, but also on what they are used for.
Supply and demand, you know. You have only considered the Supply part, but the Demand part is just as important.
What items are most in demand does vary not only over time, but also between different servers.

[Moowell1]

Fair points. However, I would venture to say that supply is infinite, limited only by time and effort made on the gatherer's part. And the time and effort will be roughly the same for a single piece of any given item, regardless of demand. If demand goes up or down, that just means more or less time and effort is used when gathering, and those can have fixed values. If you're simply gathering to meet the current standards of the market boards, then you're absolutely right that there's no way this will work. But that's not what this is for. Rather than gathering some random item and posting on the board with the hope that someone doesn't undercut, I intend to use this for commissions, gathering requested items for people who don't want to pay market board prices or who know they will need something in the future and want to have a fixed cost before they get there.

I know it's unreasonable to assume that anyone will actually follow this table. I'm just throwing one method out there for people to use as a guide, rather than trying to keep up with the inconsistencies of the market boards. It's how I valued my time and effort as a gatherer, so I'll be using it for all my prices regardless of what the MB says.

[Urthdigger]

Yeah, I don't see anyone paying nearly these prices you're offering. Especially for items that can be freely gathered in bulk, like Coffee Beans or Gianthive Chips.

[Moowell1]

Even if they don't buy Coffee Beans or Gianthive chips, they might go for some of the Skybuilders' stuff, elemental shards/crystals, or some other thing. There's ~600 items on the list after all. Nearly everything on the list can be freely gathered, yet people still buy materials because they don't want to take the time to gather it themselves.