NPC Spawn Issue: Bipdo Hargin spawning OOE

[Passenger]

Bipdo Hargin is spawning out of era in Rivervale. He is a tradeskill vendor selling weapon molds that was added in April 2002.

Before the update: Feb 2002 EQTraders snapshot with no reference to Bipdo.
After the update: Jun 2002 EQTraders snapshot (the next available) with a number of vendors added, including Bipdo. Note also the mention of the April 9 tradeskill upgrade at the top of the page.

Here's a link to the patch.

Trade skills:

* Gnomish spirits are now available in Shadowhaven.
* Added a few trade skill vendors to Rivervale.

It's worth mentioning that Jimji Bottletoe was added in the April upgrade also (as seen in the snapshot comparison above). He is intentionally not present on P99 as evidenced by this thread. This is correct, and Bipdo Hargin should be removed as well.

[nilbog]

Fixed, pending update

[Passenger]

Following up with the rest of the Rivervale vendor changes introduced with the April 2002 update:

From the comparison of the captures above, we see a number of additional NPCs added.

OOE NPCs
- Bartle Barnick (baking ingredient vendor)
- Betty Brickbaker (file/container mold vendor)
- Bodbin Gimple (clay/ore vendor)
- Burtle Barrelbelly (brewing vendor)
- Frankle Ironhair (smithing book vendor)
- Gerb Jinklebelly (fletching vendor - bow supplies)
- Joana Jinklebelly (fletching vendor - arrow supplies)
- Marta Claytoe (pottery sketch vendor)
- Uma Sweetcookie (recipe book vendor)
- Yola Sweetcookie (baking mold vendor)

Additional Evidence
This comparison of EQAtlas (Dec 2001 and Aug 2002) notes a couple of the additions.
- #13, an ore merchant (Bodbin Gimble)
- #14, Fletching and Bowyery Equipment (Gerb and Joana Jinkleberry)

This post mentions the new fletching merchants (Gerb and Joana Jinkleberry) in response to a question about Rivervale fletching supplies.
- https://groups.google.com/g/alt.game...m/EWnhbQo0fWQJ

Briarroot
Apr 21, 2002, 1:16:57 PM

Martin Scriblerus wrote:
>
> Is there such a thing?


Yes. In one of the hobbit holes on the south side of town you
can now find two fletching merchants, one for arrows components
and one for bows. They are recent additions from the same patch
that revamped Misty Thicket.

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There don't appear to be any other trade vendors that share Frankle Ironhair's inventory in the Classic-Velious era.

Basic Blacksmithing, Armor and Weapons Guide, Dirge of the ForgeFire, Ikthars Fine Steel Skin, Fireprides Guide to Shield Craft, Rings, Chains, and Arrowheads

In other regions, we see blacksmithing books are spread across multiple vendors and even zones (city and connected starter zone). That particular inventory appears to come with Luclin - Yanni Talbson in Kata Castellum and Armorer Caedus in Sanctus Seru. Later, after the April revamp, we see Frankle listed with that inventory also.

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Bartle Barnick and Uma Sweetcookie also have inventory configurations introduced with Luclin. In the Classic-Velious era there are two main baking vendor inventories, as indicated by this Oct 2001 EQTraders capture:

- Inventory #1: 13 recipe books, vinegar, spices, jug of sauce, garnish, frosting, flour, milk
- Inventory #2: bread, mixing bowl, 4 recipe books, Delivered Note

This May 2001 capture of a Japanese fansite lists the same.

(There may be some discrepancy with muffins/bread due to the plague event).

Worth noting too that Bim Buskin in Misty Thicket is present pre-Luclin and offers Inventory #1 already.

Luclin brought a new configuration of baking inventories for some (but not all) new baking vendors, separating out the cookbooks from the seasonings/cookware. Shown here for Trade Historian Hajika in Shar Vahl and Milner McHazlo in Sanctus Seru:

Trade Historian Hajika: Mixxy's Delicacies Vol 1, Mixxy's Delicacies Vol 2, Binelen's Quick Treats, Binelen's Succulence, Xectia's Favored Flavors, Xectia's Hot Pie, Vaashar's Sweet Treats, Vaashar's Sweet Revenge, Ghumim's Delights, Ghumim's Classical Dishes, Rohand's Sea Treats, Rohand's Edibles, Sorin's Treats on the Go, Sorin's Tasty Kills [14 books]
Milner McHazlo: spices, garnish, jug of sauces, vinegar, frosting, cup of flour, bottle of milk, spit, mixing bowl

After the April 2002 update, we see Uma Sweetcookie added with the full 14 cookbooks and Bartle Barnick with the full offering of seasonings/cookware.

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This is a thread commenting on the usefulness of tradeskills and the increase in sketch prices that reduced the profitability of pottery. Prior to the nerf:
- https://groups.google.com/g/alt.game...m/N9HEl-puwB0J

Ben Pocock
Jul 30, 1999, 7:00:00 AM
. . .
My Druid friend with roughly 100 CHR working in Rivervale made an
average of 75p an hour. He bought sketches, stuck them in the bank,
and went crazy. Just so you know you can stick 1200+ sketches in the
bank.

1200 sketches will make you about 600p or so. He went to rivervale
because there are no lineups there.
. . .

This stood out since you wouldn't need to bank sketches if you could just buy them from the vendor (Marta Claytoe) standing right next to the pottery wheel. Also, no lineups make sense if you have to transport your own materials to craft. This isn't particularly convincing in and of itself, but something to consider along with the other findings.

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The Feb 2002 EQTraders snapshot linked in the first post specifically mentions that only basic brewing is available prior to the revamp.

Fishing, basic tailoring, basic brewing (i.e., bog juice) and basic cooking can be performed by those who live in Rivervale and travel to the neighboring zones of Misty Thicket and Kithicor Forest. All other trade skills require that you travel further afield, through zones not necessarily suited for younglings.

Bog juice requires the following:

Item Ingredients Container Yield Trivial
Bog juice water, snake scale bottle 1 21

Having access to Burtle Barrelbelly's inventory of brewing ingredients would have allowed for many more combines had he been present.

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In some cases, a patch would give existing vendors new inventories. However, the above names are not present in the ShowEQ dumps archived by Dolalin suggesting they are in fact new vendors. A May 2000 EQMaps capture doesn't list any of them on its infosheet for Rivervale. This late Dec 2001 capture from Illia's Bestiary shows no sign of any of them either. These lists can certainly miss NPCs that were in-game, but the fact that this set of NPCs is uniformly absent from multiple resources is compelling evidence.

[Passenger]

An earlier EQTraders capture (May 2000) notes the utter lack of smithing supplies in Rivervale (emphasis original):

Smithing

* forge - next to druid's guild
* armor molds in Misty Thicket
* none of the other smithing materials, including the basic metal and file molds are to be found

[nilbog]

Fixed, pending update

-Bartle Barnick, Betty Brickbaker, Bodbin Gimple, Burtle Barrelbelly, Frankle Ironhair, Gerb Jinklebelly, Joana Jinklebelly, Marta Claytoe, Uma Sweetcookie, Yola Sweetcookie no longer spawn