Hi all!

Just started my LS journey. I have read through a few marketplace price guide, but most of the advice seems to be several years old.

Is there an updated marketplace guide that is still reasonably relevant?

Please someone stop me from flooding the market with useless stuff

I'm HC only if that impacts the market either way...

Thanks!

in general a bit less active on HC and prices are just simply worse, so not really any good reason for you to play there. But if you're up for the challenge then rough price guide:
Arcane or better tier 3: 1 fg
Arcane or better tier 4: 1 fg
Arcane or better tier 5: 1 fg
Think current iso for Tier 6 (level 15) is mythical+ for 1 fg
whilst level 20+ rare+ items should in general sell for 1 fg

It seems like HC doesn't add much as opposed to D2 for example. I usually really prefer HC, but I may bite the bullet and try out slasher on sc instead.

Thanks

the main example would be level 55 magical or rare's, both are somewhat common and you should expect to see at least 2-3 if you explore from level 55 to 71.
on HC you'd get about 4-6 fg each for magical/rare
on SC you'd get something like 25-30 fg for a magical and 40 for a rare as prices on mutables have skyrocketted on sc as of late.

As i mentioned the gear is generally just more available on softcore.

I have both SC + HC gear but with 100 fg, i know which core i'd choose. The mute price is known to be god awful on HC but no-one wishes to grind to 55 muting as it takes a literal year or so, hence there's not a lot of competition for the mutes and a decent enough amount of players that supply exceeds demand. A few of us just shrine them as getting half a hp bar is generally worth a few fg.

Great advice - softcore it is

Do you have any links to up to date guides that are worth reading? I’d enjoy going over whatever material is out there (and it’ll save me asking dumb questions on the forum!)

Question: for my current HC toon, should I just abandon him?

This post was edited by Willitrix on Apr 22 2025 06:37pm

It's definitely tougher sledding and requires a lot more patience when playing Hardcore. Especially if you're a solo slasher like me. For example I have a plain Level 45 steelwood club and a plain Level 45 steelwood staff both for sale at 15 Forum Gold apiece on the Hardcore Marketplace right now. They just take some time to sell. I end up lowering the price to 10 or 11 Forum Gold after a while just to accelerate a purchase. In softcore I never had an issue selling plain Level 45 items for 19.99 each and they'd sell within seconds if not a couple minutes.

But at the moment I'm very happy being 1st on the Heal Charm Ladder and 2nd on the Club Ladder for Hardcore. On Softcore I was 1st on the Warhammer Ladder but I had died 5 or 6 times. Which given my OCD and my perfectionist mentality it just bothered me is all. And also I made an intense and overwhelming solo climb to Level 92 on my Softcore Warhammer Barbarian. It took every ounce of energy I had to do that. Only for another Softcore Barbarian to zoom past me to Level 101 out of nowhere. LOL. I was like wow!! How did they do that? Maybe they were in a group. But either way that is what made me realize that I should switch on over to Hardcore. I wanted my blood, sweat and tears to match my desire to do the impossible.

As of right now I mostly play for the grind and challenge. And maybe for the dream that one day I may reach Rank 25 Club Proficiency (Rank 20 now - halfway to Rank 21) and I'd like to one day be 1st on the Club Ladder for Hardcore. The person who's 1st on the Club Hardcore Ladder right now is an absolute legend to me and they set the bar incredibly high. And they apparently have the most amazing Level 55 Club (worth 20,000 Forum Gold) sitting on a mule. I really hope that person returns one day and uses that beautiful item.

Play Softcore Ladder Slasher if you want to make a gazillion Forum Gold. Play Hardcore Ladder Slasher if you want to chase the impossible. I'm possible is in that word!

no reason to delete unless you really wish to re-use the name. just leave him as is.


to be honest the guide is basically:
Play a barb

Weapons - Look for Enhanced Effect (increases damage for weapons), higher tier + more ee = better. in general 1 tier is worth about 20ee. So a tier 3 with 50ee will be similar to a tier 4 with 30ee. You'll be better off with a plain magical level 20 axe compared to a tier 3 axe with 60ee.
Armor - Use strength (increases damage) or Enhanced effect (increases defense on armors) ideally use chain/plate as more hits taken are from the physical side and barb has terrible intelligence which affects magic defense so best off ignoring it altogether.
Charm - Use strength (increases damage). Avoid enhanced effect (increases damage of casting) seeing barb has 5 int and should never cast anything.

Change weapons at least every 10 levels if you can afford to. It will pay itself back in level 55 drops. Armor is less needed for upgrades, although the increased defense is useful so a level 50 chain with 30 strength will certainly help more than a level 25 chain with 30 strength. Despite the level 50 chain basically being considered trash at that amount of strength for its level

Skills: powerstrike and retribution.
Stats: Get 100 vitality then stat some strength

A rough idea of prices, bearing in mind i haven't updated this in ages other than the level 55's which i've guesstimated based on current marketplace prices:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1k1bDNJGNGvzmJVZpDiTQVYQooOaPxwn7sh8_1ROWHFs/edit?gid=0#gid=0

A Barbarian is a very fun character to play. In fact i should switch to a Barbarian to make my push for the Club Ladder.
But given the way I currently play. Mixing in the healing as part of my rotation. I have to play a Guardian. I'm addicted.
There's added stress playing Hardcore. That's for sure. If you just want to relax and make Forum Gold. Softcore is best.

I’ll give the Barb a shot. It’s my second favorite D2 class so it’ll feel familiar

Thank you both for all of the advice!

Softcore has a better economy than hc, more players, more gear
Now that i write this im questioning my choices