Haggle, is it worth it?

Sorry for the late posting, got kind of busy last weekend. I'll be starting a new series today, Skill Focus. Skill Focus articles are going to be all about the skills in DDO, are they worth taking, tips on use, etc. Today we take a look at the haggle skill to determine whether it is actually worth taking.

I have a lot of players in my guild who make combat machines, uber powerful wizards, raging barbarians...and they all look down on one poor lonely drow, my haggle bard. Well, today I'm going to put forward the case for that bard, and all other haggle builds out there by breaking down whether the skill is worth taking.

To do that we are going to take a look at two characters, let's say rogues of tenth level. Both have 14 Cha, but one has taken the time to enhance their haggle a little bit by raising its ranks, picking up an item, etc. They are both going to sell items worth 2000, 4000, 6000, 8000, 10000, and 20000 platinum pieces (pp) each. Author's Note: I'm not exactly sure there are items at all those levels of worth, but for the sake of argument let's let it pass. They are going to sell them to the same vendor, and at the end we will tally up the difference in platinum to see how much of a difference the Haggle skill makes. We'll also see by what amount the haggle build comes out on top in regards to purchasing power.

Our first rogue, the one without haggle, has a simple +2 to the skill because of his charisma.

Our second rogue has a +2 Cha bonus, +13 skill ranks, a +3 item (relatively easy to acquire), a +2 from a casting of Eagle's splendor, a +2 from enhancements, and a +3 from the Skill Focus feat...for a total of 25 to haggle.

According to DDO Wiki, Haggle uses the following formulas:

Selling Profit: [Base Sell Percentage (we're going to use 10%, the same as a normal vendor)+(.0025*Haggle)]*Item Base Value

Purchasing Cost = {[1-(0.005*Haggle)]* Markup (we're going to use 25%, the same as a normal vendor)}*Item Base Value

Let us begin:

The rogue without haggle sells his items to the vendor and receives 210, 420, 630, 840, 1050, and 2100 platinum pieces respectively, for a total of 5250 platinum.

The Haggle build goes in and sells them for 325pp, 650pp, 975pp, 1300pp, 1625pp, and 3250pp for a total of 8125pp platinum.

That's a difference of 2875 platinum.

How about buying power?

The rogue without haggle purchases those items for 2475pp, 4950pp, 7425pp, 9900pp, 12375pp, and 24750pp...a total of 61885 platinum, a pretty hefty sum.

The rogue with haggle buys his items for 2437pp and 5 gp, 4875pp, 7312pp and 5gp, 9750pp, 12187pp and 5gp, and finally 24375pp for a total of 53625pp and 5gp.

The difference here is 8259pp and 5gp.

So at the end of the day the haggle build has 11134pp and 5gp more than the non haggle counterpart. That's being generous by the way, because at that level the haggle rogue could have a better magic item, and used a rogue skill boost among other things to get even more out of the haggle skill...but we'll discuss that at a later time.

In short people, I think haggle is worth it, it saves you money. I showed you the difference after selling only six items, you can find that many or more in a single adventure...think about that. Haggle adds up fast, especially at higher levels.

So, is haggle worth it? Yes, most assuredly.