User blog comment:Beboper/Ultra Rare Price Guide Update/@comment-96.49.248.99-20121127063221

When you ask, "What is the price guide supposed to accomplish", the goal is to give an accurate representation of a card's Current Value and future value. For example, I'd like to know what I can get for this card today, or some idea of its value if I hold onto it for a month.

The "current" value is an easy-to-understand benchmark. It would represent the existing market price, while the range between the "min and max" would represent the inherent price fluctuations and whether the card is fresh or RM.

The "trend" is actually a useful indicator for card aspects such as rarity. For example, Halloween rares and UR's are no longer available from card draw packs, so their value is likely to rise (for gallery collectors), since the number of cards on the server can only decrease. In contrast, cards like Eager Ammit are quite stable at a range of 2-3PP because of it's strong attack.

The reason why Long-term or Stable Value is not useful is that it doesn't provide useful information to either the buyer or seller. Long-term Value is based on the historical prices. I really don't care what the historical prices are, because I want to sell my card TODAY...not last month. Dfferences between "Long-term" and "Current" prices are also more confusing than useful, because it gives no indication of whether the current price will return to long-term or deviate further from it. That's what the "trend" indicator would show based on the Current Value.

Also, ask yourself whether there is such a thing as a "Stable" card price. The easy answer is "no". Because if there was one, there would be no need to debate how to represent a card's value.