Artha found that higher the grade of item, longer would be it's use. However, it was a village thus only 3 lowest gardes were available for sale - trash, common, uncommon.
This was common base for most games, so that regular players don't suffer. What happens in the background is what sets this game
Just like his staff. Though it was of common grade, it should be above the level of trash but it was make by an apprentice, thus full of mistakes and could only be used as training staff, not as actual level 0 common staff. Right now, this news might not matter much. Finding 1-4 stats less than expected, no player would think of finding one with better stats in a lever tier or grade. Inspite of knowing the truth, even Artha would not do it. Why? Simple. Resale value. As Sun Lord aptly said, one might not be able to used level 0 or even level 3 weapons for long time. It is easy to level up in the beginning. If the item level is below certain level, it's effectiveness would reduce drastically.
Moreover, if this game had base on other games, it would mean cut off mark would be every 5 levels. Multiples of 5 would form a mini transition zone. A level 3 uncommon item might be actually worse than level 5 common item. Having gotten the answer he wanted, Artha left. He still had items needing XP. The stone heads galore team was separated as each was working in different maps based on tasks accepted. The next best thing till he could sell next batch of items was to collect, gather. And he found a funny thing.
He found that though the skills never mentioned proficiencies, they had that parameter to them. It was only by doing things repeatedly and watching carefully that one could see the profiency was raising. Maybe it was one of the tricks for hyper-realism? Whatever!
How did he find it out on second day itself? Well, what happens generally is the players use the skills, slowly develop profiency. By the time, some minimal changes could be felt, they would be in another map, facing other types of monsters, so the change would not be perceived.
Yet Artha, this busybody, didn't use his primary job skills repeatedly. He didn't want to use too much of blue pots or mana potions when his MP was low. What he used were skills 'Identify' and 'Gather' and he did so many times, repeatedly, rotating between few maps. Was it a wonder he found that his skills were growing? But the rate was growth was so slow. It might seem so to Artha but actually it was not.
How did he find that his skills were evolving? Well, it was because he was finding more items to gather in low level maps. So much that he purchased another trader bag and upgraded it to stop wasting time running up and down. The players in level 0 or level 1 maps were those who had died and had death debuff or those who had tasks of gather some sort of monster loot or other. Majority of the players were now in level 1 and level 2 maps.
The good thing about the skills growth is they would become stronger and there was a chance to evolve naturally too. Artha didn't realise the second part as he was completely new to gaming. But now he could gather a bit higher tier or higher grade items in the map.
After changing the landscape of level 0 maps, he walked back happily. The XP he had spent to upgrade trader bag was nearly recouped. The difficult to procure items when gathered gave more XP that normal ones. If he could see and recognise the items without using the skill, then....hehehe.
It was a satisfying day in the game. No super big splashes but it seemed everyday life. And the players were not bored at all. Apart from guilds who had progressed too fast but now suffering, not many had complaints.
Artha could sell only a part of his cache of sleeping bags. The guilds would not pay without knowing cost to effect ratio.
So when the NPCs set up food stalls and juice stands and street food stalls, he was in hotel sitting and reading a heavy tome with utter concentration. He wanted to do an experiment. He wanted to see if the knowledge learnt inside the game would help in gathering more items or even better items. When everything is said and done, his 'Identify' skill was pretty much low leveled.
He might have continued to read in his nook till the count down reached a minute or less. He needed less than a minute to reach his room anyway. But a big order came inbetween his goal. Did he overcome it? No, of course not, he succumbed to it and went for a face to face meet.
As the second day was closing, there were subtle changes in player demographics. All had started at the same line but few sprinted, few trotted, few merely strolled. And now all were in different places in the race.
The experts, whether linked to guilds or not, were leading the path. There were so close to each other that a slight delay and the player might move back 3-5 places. That's how close was the race between these people.
The elites, the reserves, the profient whatever they formed another group. And this group would decide how others would play. If this group decided to be tyrant and hog the maps, then regular players would have to play in lower level maps and thus slowing their progress even more. This group was also the group which used the resources most. When all said and done, an expert is just 1 person. Would he really use potions and as such of 5-10 people. Even if wanted to, the CD(cooldown) of the potions would not allow him. But the second group had more people than experts and obviously they depended on external aides like potions more compared to experts. The guilds and whatnots had to keep this second group working in good condition if not great one. They also would turn into money generators later on.