I got curious about this topic a couple weeks back, and asked. The answer I received is as follows:

Though RoWs appear to no longer spawn in shops, this is not the case. The spawn rate has been changed so that they do not spawn as often. Hence the reason that people have not been seeing them in shops.

What is it like...once a year now? Lordie.

Probably even less.

3 years ago i could of counted the RoW's in the game on 1 hand...currently there are piles of RoW's around the spawn rate being to low in a magic shop is the least of the problems right now infact its a good thing. Stop trying to get something for nothing either invest some time into magic shop hunting or some time into collecting dias.

And seriously RoW's are not expensive espiecially compared to thier old value in recent times ive had up to 5 RoW's at one time and people are always willing to trade them.

Upping the spawn rating does not give people 'something for nothing.'

I think a flaw with this game is that everyone thinks that they should be entitled to have Rings of War. RoWs are most likely the most powerful items in the game. There are way too many RoWs in the game as it is. They should be capped just like every other item. And the reason they are so difficult to buy is because they are so difficult to part with.

Frankly, I just don't think that they should be allowed in the game at all if they're not going to be readily accessible to more than a very select few. They're too powerful. Without atleast one you can't really reach the highest speed or strength goals that make someone a good enough fighter. Fighting is uneven enough as it is, to remove all hope that one can ever gain the strength to beat the big names will just unbalance the scales even more.

max speed can be achieved through RoTs, and you don't have to have RoWs to be able to fight, you can more than do this with RoSs... all you have to do is try! Or, better yet, prep a weapon with stat bonuses. RoWs aren't as imperative as everyone thinks, you just have to think of alternatives.

Also, why should the best rings in the game be readily excessible to everyone. I don't know what games everyone else plays, but the ones that I play, you have to work to get the best gear. Part of the fun is working to achieve something. You can't expect donations.

Nobody is asking for donations. Those games you speak of, you work to get the best gear. On GK, you work to get mediocre gear, and then maybe someday, you'll get desperate enough to USD the best gear. There's no working to get it, you can work for 1000's of hours and never get the best gear because it's simply too elusive.

Getting gear on GK does take time and longer then alot of games but its not impossible, i don't know how long you have been playing graal kingdoms but i know you are quite new. The first event item is always the hardest to get i know mine was at 600 hours play time (it was an inferno) and it cost me just about everything i had earned in those 600 hours. The next items get easier to obtain as you have a powerful trading tool etc i had a nice line of equipment at 1200 hours.

:) Exactly.

If you want to become rich on GK, you just have to know how to trade.

I've been playing about a year.
And don't get me wrong, I agree that it should be difficult to get rare stuff. Just as difficult as it is now is fine. However, RoW's -- which is an extremely over powered item if it can only be owned by the elite -- is getting to the point where it will be impossible to trade for. Things like the RDA and BDA are fine because there are so few. But there are just enough RoWs to make an elite sector of fighters that are both unbeatable and unattainable since they will never trade their RoW for less than a relative fortune.

And you try to fight someone with dual RoW with dual RoS and tell me how you make out. I doubt it will be pretty.

Irrespective of their stats/power/etc, RoWs have become a large part of the economy and staff should (in the interest of the economy) try to keep their value maintained at 500 diamonds (which means that they shouldn't fall below 500 dias either).

Look before you leap. I just sold my Rings of War for samurai boots of haste, which I probably overpaid for. You are looking at it with bias. If you had rings of war, would you trade them for less than a relative fortune?

I didn't think so.

I'm looking into the future. With the understanding out that RoWs no longer spawn at a reasonable rate (looks like we're seeing an RoW approximately once per 2 years), the price will rise. And frankly, I think it's going to raise alot.

This is not just a recent problem. The RoW spawn rate has been like this for several months, and things are just like they were before. RoWs are always (and have always been) hard to get. A Certain amount of luck is dependent on getting them.

Do people actually use magic buffs? I don't think I have ever seen anyone buff themselves up for a fight or an arena match. Ring of War is a good item (i personally have never had one) but there are these randomly generated rings that I find that are way better then Ring of War. Str+2 Pow+2 Int+3 Dex+2 Speed+1 for like fifty thousand plats. People underestimate other good items that appear all of the time though, you have to admit you have been tempted to buy certain potions but avoided them because of the price. Potion of Life anyone? I see them sitting around all of the time!

I think you are right Draenin, RoW should be an item found in the event shop. By the way whatever happened to Red Dragon Armor that used to be in there? Did anyone actually ever get that thing?

Anyways, Lime pie is rare and apples too, you don't see anyone spending a fortune on those do ya? (btw im going to make a post about growing apples, hmph)

You haven't seen me, then.

So, is this new event shop still gonna be happening, or is it getting abandoned like 90% of all other GK projects that were started?

I hope I can be this cool, someday.

I just went back and read this and realized how horrible false it is. RoW's have raised atleast 100 diamonds in value in the past few months, if not more. Just because you made a bad trade and traded them at 500 a piece does not make them worth that much. Trust me when I tell you not a single other person on kingdoms now would sell their RoW for the price you did.

In just 2 or 3 months, the price has risen by over 100 diamonds. I believe it will continue to rise exponentially. In 6 months, if nothing is done, I don't doubt they'll be worth atleast double what they are now.

They've been about 500 since alchemy. It's more like people have been talking down their value to 400, and when it suddenly goes back to the way it used to be, it seems like it has risen.

I've never experienced RoW's below 500. As an experiment, just see if you can buy an RoW in the next week for 500 diamonds. Whenever you see someone selling, just say 500 diamonds (whther or not you've got it), and see what happens. I'll bet they say no.

That's a crappy experiment. They might say yes if you slap 500 diamonds on the table.

I'm with this dude. ^

Ive been playing GK for years and only in recent times have RoW's been so CHEAP.

What's 'recent'? 2 years? Because that's only recent to like 5 people.

You've got a point. Change it to like 250 diamonds and then 250 dias worth of equipment. (Perhaps an FID, an ID and a PMoP, something like that).

Only in recent times did it become widespread to price items in RoWs, which makes the stability of their value economically important.

People will mearly find something else to base thier items value on they changed before and they will again....RoS's for example will follow the price of RoW's people will base thier items on a RoS. I once traded a darkflame for a RoS and it was a very good trade on my part.

An unsafe assumption. The economic position of diamonds didn't change when their price increased from 300 plat to 500 plat.

It's pretty easy to say "Yeah, it's fine to allow massive inflation of RoW's" when you currently have 2 equipped.

I don't, and I still find it quite easy.

What's that say to you?

Are you claiming that the price of RoW's is not rising dramatically, or that RoW's are not an intricate part of the economy that should be regulated? Or both? Because frankly, I just don't follow your argument.

When people can't sell thier diamonds at 500 plat they will drop to 450 its supply and demand and nothing can hold that price.

I dont think they dropping rate should be changed or even increased.

Row and Roe are the most expensive items given by original gk/mudlib afaik.. they shouldnt be easy to get.

Now that magic can spank a fighter, I don't think RoWs are that significant - but I said that I didn't use RoWs and I was comfortible :)

Dual RoT4lyf?

Yes, I know about supply and demand.

What I'm saying is that when the value of items that play a large role in the economy (i.e. Diamonds, RoWs) change, it has a big impact on the economy. So staff should use their control over supply to prevent the prices of such items from increasing or decreasing from their generally accepted long-term values.

Are you seriously suggesting the inflation in the price of RoWs is good for the economy? If so, I'd like to hear why.

That's really quite stupid.

The GK economy evolves - EAs used to be worth an ass-load back when +12 and such was new; now they're cheap. The same goes for brutals. When all of those stacked brutals were released at such huge ammounts players started wanting them.

Those items weren't base economic items (i.e. It wasn't common practice to price other items in them).

I don't believe the whole GK econemy is going to crash because the price of RoW's goes up....things go up and down all the time its been happening for years and theres been no problems so far..