Spell Costs
 

Has anyone done an analysis of how much it costs to purchase spells per level?

For example, how much does it cost a cleric to buy all of their level 12 and level 16 spells?

I don't see this on the wiki anywhere, so just wondering if anyone ever bothered to compile this information. It could be very informative to untwinked casters (or people who just rolled their first toon) for knowing how much they have to save for spells. Then they'd know how much extra they would have to spend on equipment.

Although I don't have evidence, almost sure from experiences that on P99 it spikes much faster. If it was 1gp -> 5gp -> 1pp -> 1.5pp - > 2pp etc, on P99 it goes up double or triple rate. Similarly related, on live, mobs around level 40 drops around 4-5pp, while level 50 drops around 7-8pp, it's less than half on P99. I know this is probably in order to control inflation, but still not classic.

I honestly can't remember how Classic was, but IIRC, I did struggle to get spell money at the lowest levels.

I was mostly wondering if there was a table or something. I want to get a magical weapon for my character, but I'm worried that if I buy one then I won't have enough money to get my next level spells. I mean, I guess I could pre-buy them, but I'm not sure that's the best idea.

Just get those essential spells as you level and backfill when you can <3

First off, Clerics don't have level 12 or 16 spells: Intelligence casters get them every four levels, but Wisdom casters only get them every 5 (5/9/14/etc.).

Second ...

This. Most of the level 9 Cleric spells are garbage. Root is the only one I'd consider essential, with Center, Fear, and maybe Sense the Dead being potentially useful. You won't care about resists, won't want a summoned hammer, won't be AEing anything, stamina doesn't work on P99, etc.

14 has more good spells, but still plenty of garbage. Bind Affinity, Healing, and Invis vs. Undead are essential, and Symbol, Smite and Expluse Undead are probably worth it also. But you probably won't be dispelling, buffing resists, summoning a lightstone or sensing summoned things (although that last one might be useful in niche situations in the future, so maybe get it eventually).

You're right. I don't know why I even said that since I am a wisdom caster and I know when I get my spells. Guess I wasn't thinking completely yesterday.

This might be class specific, though. Some classes do get a lot of spells that are at least useful enough to buy at certain levels (druid at 14, for example) and you don't really want to pass on any of them, but I guess there are others that aren't really useful.

Any of the resistance buffs probably aren't that helpful until higher levels so they can wait until later. The spells that are basically "Summon a Light Source" are kinda useless for an elf that already sees just fine in the dark.

I'm a bit torn on the symbol spells, though. They're definitely very useful and worth having, but at the same time I can't really afford the components for them so I wonder if I'd use them enough to justify buying the spell. I might find that I only cast it once or twice before I've leveled up enough to get a better symbol.

Anyway, yesterday, I went to a spell vendor and priced my next-level spells. I didn't pre-buy them, but now I know how much I have to make over the next five levels.

There's always exceptions that prove the rule ... but Druid level 14 isn't it. Cascade of Hail, Expulse Summoned, Halo of Light, and Invigor are all straight garbage. Befriend Animal probably won't get used at that level either (unless you are a twink with the Goblin Gazughi Ring), See Invisible won't be useful for a very long time, and Summon Food/Water are only useful circumstantially.

Honestly, if you kill anything that drops stuff, you sell that stuff, and you don't buy gear (gear is a waste of plat at early levels) you really shouldn't need to worry. The game provides enough plat to cover the good spells ... unless you only kill mobs that drop nothing for four levels.

IIRC correctly don't Necros shift to 5 levels between spells at some point? Maybe I'm misremembering but I feel like I remember noticing that at level 24 they switch to 5 levels (so next at level 29, next 34, etc.).

Well first, if anyone has any direct evidence of mob plat drops, I'm sure they'd implement the change. I don't think they're reducing your average mob plat drops for inflation purposes (it really wouldn't make a difference overall). They've done that a couple times with things like the Seafuries being either unclassic drop rates or otherwise a crap show for CSR, but I doubt they're doing that for your average mob. More likely this is just what the mobs drop at under the closest to classic version of the code that they were able to find to start with.

Back in classic, I do agree it was tough to find money to buy those lower level spells, but part of that was just lack of knowledge. Now people know where to go if they are starting fresh and want to try to maximize some plat (sisters, bandits, etc.).

It does make a lot of difference in long run for inflation, whether it be 10% less or 30% less. From my memory, LDCs regularly dropped 3-5pp, while imps in Sol B drop 6-7pp on live. Half of that would be generous on P99.