NESpresso: Random Thoughts \ #003: Diablo II SOJ Index

I've been playing Diablo II for some time when I came up with this idea. It seems that most of the good stuff goes for some really horrendous prices & the best stuff usually come with a price tag in SOJ's, or Stones of Jordan.

Usually, good items will go for an SOJ or two while Excellent or Godly items usually spring for like 10 - 20 SOJ's in a closed b.net game, where cheating is usually kept to a minimum. However, some items which some people may seem as valuable, could actually be junk. Therefore, I created the SOJ index to properly assign a value (in SOJ's) to items in the game. Here's how to calculate the index value.

First, pick up the Diablo II: LOD Encyclopedia version 1.05 from http://www.planetdiablo.com/encyclopedia since you will need it for the "Trade Value" number listed within it. Next, you'll need to pick up the Diablo II: LOD Drop Calculator (available from http://www.oocities.org/hammermand2/ I believe). You'll need it for the drop range. Finally, you'll need a good calculator that will allow you to display about 15-digits or so. A scientific calculator (like a TI-83 or higher) should be able to do the trick without forcing you to write down any figures. With all that said, let's start calculating!

First, open up the Encyclopedia & click on trading, then on Rare/Magic, Unique or Set items. Since the Rare/Magic items are harder to calculate (due to a different scale for the trade value), it's probably best to stay with Uniques & set items. For a good example, let's look up Baranar's Star, an elite mace. According to the Encyclopedia, it has a Trade Value of 130. Now open up the Drop Calculator & select Baranar's Star as well as all difficulty levels. Once all the values are posted, take the difference of the two extremes (truncated at 6 decimal points). For Baranar's Star, it would be .027422 - .000004 = .027418. Then divide 100 over the range to get a rarity value. Again, for Baranar's Star, it would be 100 / .027418 = 3647.239040 (again, truncated to 6 decimal points). Then take the Trade value of the item, multiply it to the rarity value, & truncate off all decimal points at this point. For Baranar's Star, it would be 130 * 3647.239040 = 474,141. This will give you the "Gold Index" of the item, which is how much Gold you should get for the item if there wasn't a selling ceiling for NPC's in the game. Again, remove all decimal points because you can't get a fraction of a gold piece. Finally, Take the Gold Index of the item over the Gold Index of the SOJ (which is 1,068,832) & truncate it off at 3 decimal points to get the SOJ index. For Baranar's Star, it would be 474,141 / 1,068,832 = 0.443 SOJ's.

For those who are having problems with the chunk of text above. Here's the example with all the numbers lined up for you. I've numbered each figure so you have an idea on what value you'll need to do the calculations.

As you can see here, Baranar's Star is worth .433 SOJ's or about 2 Baranar's Stars per SOJ. Please note that the SOJ index is just what the name states, IT'S ONLY AN INDEX & NOT HARD FACT! Items are around half an SOJ in the index is most likely valuable while items around or over 1 SOJ are VERY VALUABLE in the Diablo II market.

The SOJ index is only useful in a CLOSED b.net game because there's a lot of cheating involved in OPEN b.net games & normal trading is virtually impossible to perform because of duping & hacking.

For those who aren't certain (or just lazy) about the Gold / SOJ index, here's a few unique/set items that these values have been calculated for you.

Here's a few tips on how to calcuate some of the more complete items...

That's all I have for now. Once I get the calculation adjustments for magic & rare items, I'll post them here.