Merit Reward System Q&A


14DayTrialMan

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
The problem is weighed against casual teaming as in no one will want to bother doing insanely hard AV mishes when they can grind Freak Paper/Radio mishes all day.

[/ QUOTE ]
Hey, they run Council missions too!

At this point I think it's a fair assumption that the merit system is going live as-is, and may or may not be adjusted (probably downward) sometime before i14. I'd like to see some adjustments made but I'm just trying to be realistic, and the Q&A gives some of the reasons but reading between the lines also confirms many of the things that several people don't like about the system - that they're not accounting for the effect on the market as they just assume that everyone's taking random rolls; that they'll datamine speedruns and reduce rewards at a later date; and that they don't feel that balancing rewards around a small minority of the playerbase is out of line.

That's not even going into the reduced rewards compared to what is currently on live to penalize players for not playing in the developer-preferred playstyle (read: only completing the objectives and not lollygagging along the way).

While I appreciate the chance to have our concerns heard, the replies don't leave me with much hope that something will be done about them.


Quote:
Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle View Post
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brillig View Post
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.

 

Posted

Pretty sure that the merit system's going in as is, a relative handful of people will game the system massively to their benefit, and then next issue there'll be major nerfs to most blueside TF rewards.

Then in issue 16 or 17, they'll be reworking it again because the casual players will complain that they can never get anything they want, because they have no hope of ever earning enough merits to buy it off the merit vendor and the slash in supply of pool C and D recipes on the market leaves all the influence that powergamers generate to chase pool A and B recipes, and salvage, making it so that powergamers are always outbidding casual gamers on currently low-priced items, for want of anything better to do with their cash.


"Experience is the mother of good judgement. Bad judgement is the father of experience."

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
...
Poster: EvilGeko
Q: What about the market? Do you care about the players who enjoy that aspect of the game? Do you have any plans for how to address the supply issues in the market that this system will cause for Pool C and D drops?

A: We feel that players will take that chance on the random roll tables for that chance at the reward they want. There will always be that temptation to roll on the Pool C rewards 12 times instead of buying that one shiny IO. If a player doesn't get what they want, they can post these items on the markets. Also consider that before only players running Task Forces and Strike Forces were contributing Pool C and D items to the market, now even solo/casual players will be able to do so....

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd just like to put my 2 influence out here and say that I highly doubt most people will be using merits for random rolls. I know I'll never buy a random roll with merits. No reason to....rather just save up for that 1 IO/those IOs that I want and that there is no need for random-ness.


Leader of The LEGION/Fallen LEGION on the Liberty server!
SSBB FC: 2062-8881-3944
MKW FC: 4167-4891-5991

 

Posted

ok, so somehow ya'll think that if you let us pay for a random roll with merits, we'll take it and put it on the market for people to buy....I don't buy it. Let me ask you this. Why would I spend 20 to 60 million on a recipe on the market when all I have to do is do a couple of different TF's and BUY what I want from a vender strait up? Buying a random roll would be a waste of merits and I can't see someone really wanting buy recipes from the market when it's easier to get merits thanks to this new system. This is really one of the many factors in inflation on the market when i13 comes in. players and SG's will be fighting for Salvage and no one will wanna pay the huge prices on recipes, they will dry up and no one will want to waste merits on random rolls when they won't be able to sell them for high, they'll have to turn to salvage.


CoH:
PSI-on: DM/PB Defender (Triumph)
Disco Lord: MA/SR Scrapper (Triumph)
CoV:
Spec-tor: MC/PA Dominator (Triumph)
The Regional Manager: Merc/FF MM (Triumph)

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I hope this clears up some of your additional questions and concerns.

[/ QUOTE ]

If anything, you just reminded me how *dated* this game is becoming.

Seriously? You guys keep complicating the most simple "gaming" experiences with these anal-retentive "not so fast" systems. People game and they game *fast* - why do you insist on working [censored] backwards in a market full of platform games that conditions the player to game faster? The slower this game gets, the quicker folks move on to playing something else.


The Merit reward system wasn't necessary. It punishes 10% of a surviving player base that got fed up with the same old "grindy" Task Force content after 4+ years and took matters into their own hands to make it interesting. You shoulda used the time spent making "merit rewards" to update a bunch of the Year One TF's.


We play because we want excitement - not because we want rewards. Develop a content system that works to this philosophy and the playerbase will come back in droves.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
A: We feel that players will take that chance on the random roll tables for that chance at the reward they want. There will always be that temptation to roll on the Pool C rewards 12 times instead of buying that one shiny IO. If a player doesn't get what they want, they can post these items on the markets. Also consider that before only players running Task Forces and Strike Forces were contributing Pool C and D items to the market, now even solo/casual players will be able to do so.

[/ QUOTE ]

You guys seriously believe this? I have to question your understanding of human nature then.

[/ QUOTE ]
No offense, but I have to agree with Heartbreaker here about your staff psychologist. You guys need to get a second opinion.

[/ QUOTE ]
Would a Ph.D. qualify me? If so, I think Heartbreaker is DRASTICALLY over-estimating how rational human beings are in their decision-making.

[ QUOTE ]
Nobody who's ever run a TF before is going to spend 20 merits on a random roll.

[/ QUOTE ]
Hyperbole doesn't help the argument, especially when I can personally disprove this sentence the first day I13 goes live - and plan to do exactly that.

Why? Because there's nothing I'm dying to get, and because the random roll is more fun than hoarding merits.


My postings to this forum are not to be used as data in any research study without my express written consent.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I hope this clears up some of your additional questions and concerns.

[/ QUOTE ]

If anything, you just reminded me how *dated* this game is becoming.

Seriously? You guys keep complicating the most simple "gaming" experiences with these anal-retentive "not so fast" systems.

People game and they game *fast* - why do you insist on working [censored] backwards in a market full of platform games that keep the players moving faster? The slower this game gets, the quicker folks move on to playing something else.


The Merit reward system wasn't necessary. It punishes 10% of a surviving player base that got fed up with the same old "grindy" Task Force content after 4+ years in took matters into their own hands to make it interesting. You shoulda used the time spent making "merit rewards" to update a bunch of the Year One TF's.


We play because we want excitement - not because we want rewards. Develop a content system that works to this philosophy and the playerbase will come back in droves.

[/ QUOTE ]Speak for yourself on this. I have been here since the begining all there is left is rewards. Most of the fun is only in the new stuff. I dont see the reasoning behind all the complaints on the stuff like the Eden trial and Katie. Katie isnt a big deal because my toons mostly did it to level fast. The Eden trial isnt a big deal due to it being currently bugged where you have to be the right level to start it. I can count on 1 hand the number of times I did the Eden trial. I cant see that many folks doing it. Villainside the only real nerf was the first sf but I can understand why devs gave it that value. The rewards overall for tf/sfs are mostly balanced. The only thing I see is clearly out of whack is the LRSF which should give more merits considering the risk of failure if your team isnt good.


Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator

Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I hope this clears up some of your additional questions and concerns.

[/ QUOTE ]

If anything, you just reminded me how *dated* this game is becoming.

Seriously? You guys keep complicating the most simple "gaming" experiences with these anal-retentive "not so fast" systems.

People game and they game *fast* - why do you insist on working [censored] backwards in a market full of platform games that keep the players moving faster? The slower this game gets, the quicker folks move on to playing something else.


The Merit reward system wasn't necessary. It punishes 10% of a surviving player base that got fed up with the same old "grindy" Task Force content after 4+ years in took matters into their own hands to make it interesting. You shoulda used the time spent making "merit rewards" to update a bunch of the Year One TF's.


We play because we want excitement - not because we want rewards. Develop a content system that works to this philosophy and the playerbase will come back in droves.

[/ QUOTE ]Speak for yourself on this. I have been here since the begining all there is left is rewards. Most of the fun is only in the new stuff. I dont see the reasoning behind all the complaints on the stuff like the Eden trial and Katie. Katie isnt a big deal because my toons mostly did it to level fast. The Eden trial isnt a big deal due to it being currently bugged where you have to be the right level to start it. I can count on 1 hand the number of times I did the Eden trial. I cant see that many folks doing it. Villainside the only real nerf was the first sf but I can understand why devs gave it that value. The rewards overall for tf/sfs are mostly balanced. The only thing I see is clearly out of whack is the LRSF which should give more merits considering the risk of failure if your team isnt good.

[/ QUOTE ]

Heh, I was just about to post a rebuttal but found that Ryu had already done it for me.

I too was here since the beta. I've left a couple of times, but not because the game wasn't going fast enough for me. Heck, I solo mostly because I like to take my time when I'm playing the game.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
On a side note, one of the greatest things about Story Arc Merit Rewards is that they have no diminishing returns.

[/ QUOTE ]

WHAT?!?! How did I miss that?? Schweet!

[ QUOTE ]
A: You can earn an infinite number of merits through Ouroboros by running your favorite story arcs over again.

[/ QUOTE ]

Will these arcs get "nerfed" if it is determined later that people are just running the same arcs over and over for the non-diminishing merits?? Basically... will we get punished if we're operating within the current rules even if its not what you all intended for the system?


@.MIDAS

BIG BROTHER MIDAS, Ice/Ice Dominator, 1314 Badges
* Any toon you see with Midas in the name is probably me *

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Pretty sure that the merit system's going in as is, a relative handful of people will game the system massively to their benefit, and then next issue there'll be major nerfs to most blueside TF rewards.

Then in issue 16 or 17, they'll be reworking it again because the casual players will complain that they can never get anything they want, because they have no hope of ever earning enough merits to buy it off the merit vendor and the slash in supply of pool C and D recipes on the market leaves all the influence that powergamers generate to chase pool A and B recipes, and salvage, making it so that powergamers are always outbidding casual gamers on currently low-priced items, for want of anything better to do with their cash.

[/ QUOTE ]

QFT. I'm a pretty avid player and I'm definitely planning on running the holy hell out of this merit system. I think it's flawed but is it exploitation if I'm doing it within the rules??


@.MIDAS

BIG BROTHER MIDAS, Ice/Ice Dominator, 1314 Badges
* Any toon you see with Midas in the name is probably me *

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
A: You can earn an infinite number of merits through Ouroboros by running your favorite story arcs over again.

[/ QUOTE ]

Will these arcs get "nerfed" if it is determined later that people are just running the same arcs over and over for the non-diminishing merits?? Basically... will we get punished if we're operating within the current rules even if its not what you all intended for the system?

[/ QUOTE ]
Yes.

See: KHTF, Eden Trial, Tarikoss SF.


Quote:
Originally Posted by PleaseRecycle View Post
it has gone from unconscionable to downright appalling that we have no way of measuring our characters' wetness.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brillig View Post
It's hard to beat the entertainment value of Whackjob Wednesdays.

 

Posted

Hi again Synapse. How about answering these questions.

I see some adjustments have been made to merits.

Q. Why does it cost 20 merits for a random roll for a rare magic or tech salvage and 30 merits to choose one over the other?

Q. Why is the merit cost across the levels the same when they have wildly different values on the market?

Q. Why is the merit cost for SO's at level 25 the same 8 merits it costs for level 50's?

Q. Why is the merit cost of rare IO sets so high 125-250 merits and so outta whack with the market prices for the same receipes? Some of the recipes go for less than 10k-100k, the merit prices should reflect that. Merit cost is outta whack with market prices who would spend 250 merits for recipe that cost 10k on the market?

Q. Why have you increased many of the rare triple aspect recipes some to 250 merits above the best uniques in the game that are 240 merits? LOTG is 200 merits but the LOTG triple aspect is 250 merits! Kismet is 150 merits yet the Kismet triple aspect is 200 merits!

Its looks like the system still needs lots of tweaking before going live IMHO. Please shorten the 24hr clock to six hours. 3 was fine 24 is too long and punitive, doubling it to 6 is fair and strikes a good balance vs the heavy handed punitive nature of the current 24hr clock.


The development team and this community deserved better than this from NC Soft. Best wishes on your search.

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Q. Why is the merit cost of rare IO sets so high 125-250 merits and so outta whack with the market prices for the same receipes? Some of the recipes go for less than 10k-100k, the merit prices should reflect that. Merit cost is outta whack with market prices who would spend 250 merits for recipe that cost 10k on the market?


[/ QUOTE ] First off you cant assign values using the market because it changes all the time. Whats useable on one toon might not be useable on another. For instance a numina unique or miracle unique would be worthless on my empathy defender because of the defender inherrent, all I have to do is let someoe die and all my powers are free till they rez. I think they picked a very fair way to weight the recipes.


Bump and Grind Bane/SoA
Kenja No Ishi Earth/Empathy Controller
Legendary Sannin Ninja/Pain Mastermind
Entoxicated Ninja/PSN Mastermind
Ninja Ryukenden Kat/WP Scrapper
Hellish Thoughts Fire/PSI Dominator

Thank You Devs for Merits!!!!

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Venture said:[ QUOTE ]
Do you care about people who play the market as part of their fun in the game?

I hope not.

[/ QUOTE ]

You know, people assume I would be mad if the devs said they did not intend the market to be played as a game. I would not. That's actually why I asked the question.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm no fan of items costing in the 9-11 digit ranges, myself. Probably like Synapse, I hope that the prices we're seeing in the game do not represent the status quo which the developers are hoping to preserve: the common items which players wish to obtain are freakishly rare and expensive (such as melee IOs) and the bizarro items which only a handful of players can even use are as common as dirt (fear, confuse, etc).

But I must say, Geko, that your "do you care about people" question is remarkably vague. I presume it wasn't answered because there's no one way to answer it. The developers can care about those players, but not to the exclusion of players who struggle to put together enough money to afford basic IOs. That kind of question is akin to a question like, "Mom, do you love me or do you love my brother?" question: loaded and difficult.

I would say a better way to ask that question is, "Some players enjoy the reward system as-is, because they are among the few willing to run endless Task Forces for a chance to get multi-million-influence rewards. This is what they find fun. Is your system designed to preserve this play choice for them, and if not, what can those players do instead?"

Based on the history of the game — notably, the 20-million-influence price of wings when they first came out — I would say that the developers are keen to shoot down these high prices. Unfortunately, I don't see how that's going to be possible. There's just too much money sloshing around in the game and those multi-billionaires are going to have to bid on something with their cash.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
a LoTG 7.% Recharge currently goes for around 50 Million. For a 20 Merit Random Roll to be worth taking a chancce on, there would need to be AT LEAST 50% odds that that roll will be worth a minimum of 10% a LoTGs sale cost in Inf, or 5 Million. It's an unfortunate fact that the VAST Majority of drops in Pool C arent worth anything near that.

[/ QUOTE ]

You don't have the math right.

There has to be about a 50% chance that the total value of all 12 random recipes will be worth the same as a LOTG for people to be motivated to take the random rolls.

(This is discounting the opportunity cost of waiting till you have 250 merits rather than getting a random recipe everytime you have 20, but let's ignore that for now)

A 50% chance that the total of all the 12 recipes will be worth 1 LOTG. Several of the other recipes in the 30s range (remember, you can choose your level range) regularly go for 7-15 million, especially the procs usable in aoe powers, the Numinas and Miracle Uniques go for quite a bit more, probably around 50 or 60 percent of a LOTG alone.

There's also a nonzero chance that you would, with 12 random rolls, get multiple LOTG or other valuable procs or uniques. If you have a 50% chance of making less than half what one LOTG is worth, but also a 5% chance of making triple, that means some people will go for the randoms - like playing the lottery.


 

Posted

Can a villain run the different respec trials without the diminishing returns kicking in?

That is, are the first, second and third treespecs seen as different trials by the system and are not subject to the 24 hour timer?


Go Team Venture!

 

Posted

I'm sorry, but will you guys ever discuss the disparity? I'm hearing Dr Q is down to under an hour now.



"Sorry bucko, but CoH and CoV are the same game." -BackAlleyBrawler
"Silly villain, CoX is for Heroes!" -Saicho

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
But respectfully, you didn't answer the questions. Do you care about people who play the market as part of their fun in the game? Do you have a plan if you're wrong and the Pool C market dries up?

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh look they're bringing him up to speed on the forums tactics the devs always use. Give an answer but don't actually answer the question at hand.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
I'm sorry, but will you guys ever discuss the disparity? I'm hearing Dr Q is down to under an hour now.

[/ QUOTE ]

They will, but it won't be by helping the red side. It'll be by making the blueside market just as undersupplied and avoided as the redside one.

What's going to happen in the longer term is that the merit system will give a material advantage to those who hit the high-merit speedable TFs early and often, then the nerfs that provokes will enshrine that advantage by preventing anyone from catching up to the merit (and thus performance-improving invention) lead such people build.

Thus the people who get things nerfed for everyone, get to laugh all the way to the bank as their high-performance character continues to generate rewards at a much faster pace than anyone else... and now it's harder for anyone else to even approach them at it because they benefitted heavily from an overall higher rate of rewards in the past.

Edit - of course the people who've fully completed builds in the current environment (like me) will be even more ahead of the curve - I'm in a position to game the merit system at the maximum possible speed from day 1 onward, thus increasing my own wealth and resources much faster than the average player could hope to under the new rewards regime.


"Experience is the mother of good judgement. Bad judgement is the father of experience."

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Poster: Zombie_Man
Q: Play test has indicated that the Diminishing Returns of Merit rewards is 50% for attempting the same Trial twice in a row.

Is that right?

Would a third attempt also be at 50% or does the DR get more diminishing? And if yes, what are the stats?

Is the DR rate the same for TFs, Trials, and Arc-Completions?

A: This is probably the most complex part of the Merit Reward system. Different types of tasks have different diminishing rates.

-Story Arcs do not have diminishing returns.
-Task Forces without a second reward option will have their rewards reduced by 50% each time the task is completed within 24 hours. So if a task force gives 50 merits the first time done within 24 hours, then the second time will give 25, the third time will give 12, the fourth time 6. This is reset after 24 hours. Also, I wanted to remind players that the 24 hour diminishing returns set up that we currently have may be subject to change.
-Task Forces and Trials with unique rewards (respecs or unique enhancements) grant full merit rewards for the first completion within 24 hours and 50% merit rewards for each subsequent completion. So if the first run through a task gives 50 merits, each subsequent run through will give 25.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the answer: New Question...

What are the diminishing rewards, if any, for Giant Monsters?


Speeding Through New DA Repeatables || Spreadsheet o' Enhancements || Zombie Skins: better skins for these forums || Guide to Guides

 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
a LoTG 7.% Recharge currently goes for around 50 Million. For a 20 Merit Random Roll to be worth taking a chancce on, there would need to be AT LEAST 50% odds that that roll will be worth a minimum of 10% a LoTGs sale cost in Inf, or 5 Million. It's an unfortunate fact that the VAST Majority of drops in Pool C arent worth anything near that.

[/ QUOTE ]

You don't have the math right.

There has to be about a 50% chance that the total value of all 12 random recipes will be worth the same as a LOTG for people to be motivated to take the random rolls.
(This is discounting the opportunity cost of waiting till you have 250 merits rather than getting a random recipe everytime you have 20, but let's ignore that for now)



[/ QUOTE ]

First, unless something changed, last I heard a random roll was 20 Merits, and a LoTg was 200. so thats 10 rolls, not 12.
EACH roll needs a 50% chance to be worth at least 10% of a KoTG for the numbers to work out, and even them im giving up a sure thing for a 50-50 chance. Every signifigant deviation from that 10% makes those 50-50 odds less likely, and we all know which side those deviations are more likely to occur on.

And the "opportunity cost"? Giving up the "opportunity to enjoy such wonderful recipies as Crap of the Hunter? No cost there to me, I'd have to say.


[ QUOTE ]

A 50% chance that the total of all the 12 recipes will be worth 1 LOTG. Several of the other recipes in the 30s range (remember, you can choose your level range) regularly go for 7-15 million, especially the procs usable in aoe powers, the Numinas and Miracle Uniques go for quite a bit more, probably around 50 or 60 percent of a LOTG alone.


[/ QUOTE ]

Sure, a Numina or a Miracle unique are comparable to a LoTG, but you're fooling yourself if you think that youre gonna have anything near a 10% shot at either of those.

Lets face it, we all know that about 80% of the pool C recipes are extremely limited in demand and utility (AkA, Junk). Sure theres a handful, maybe 5 or so that are worht Multi-Millions, and a slightly larger handful that are worth form 1 to 5, but the vast, vast majority of other Pool C drops go for under a Million.

[ QUOTE ]

There's also a nonzero chance that you would, with 12 random rolls, get multiple LOTG or other valuable procs or uniques.


[/ QUOTE ]

There's also a "nonzero chance" that Scarlett Johanssen thinks im hot and wants to be my sugar momma, but im not holding my breath...

[ QUOTE ]
If you have a 50% chance of making less than half what one LOTG is worth, but also a 5% chance of making triple, that means some people will go for the randoms - like playing the lottery.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not like playing the lottery. If I win the lottery, I can retire. If I "win" the Random Drop, Ive still got a dozen or so Multi-million dollar IOs to buy, and thats just for 1 character.

And 5% is ridiculously generous. I'd say you've got your decimal point in the wrong clumn.

I'm fairly good at math, but I dont have a degree or anything- if you'd like to post a mathmatic proof of how 10 Rolls can stand a statistically relevant chance of being worth 50 Million when the vast majority arent worth 1 Million, I'm all ears.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
The law of unintended consequences is going to bite everyone in the [censored] this time around, as almost always happens with fabricated game economies. Players don't do what you intend them to do; they do what gives them the most advantage for their time.

I forsee most things getting noticeably more expensive and the casual (read, vast majority) of players being put in an even worse position financially than they already are. The really desirable rare recipes will become extremely difficult to acquire.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't worry this time the right people are doing it.

{ / sarcasm }


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
Thank you for sharing the information with us. I certainly appreciate the efforts to increase the amount and frequency of communication.

I'm hoping the story arc merits will outweigh any decreases in random recipes from TF/SF runs under the current system...I guess we'll just have to wait and see how player behavior (hoarding merits to buy one recipe vs spending on random rolls) affects the availability of midrange recipes like SciDerv A/D/E.

Due to my extreme alt-itis induced by the great powersets & character creator, I like the idea of fairly easy-to-earn set recipes (purples being the exception) so that we as players can experience the fun of IOs for all of our characters and never give up in frustration over the lack of items on the market, or bad luck with the RNG. Just wanted to share my viewpoint...

Again, thanks for your work on the Merit System, and thanks for listening.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just a note I rolled a new veat a couple of days ago. but because I had a good team this afternoon I managed to level past three of my arcs.

Count your fairly easy to earn recipes out entirely. Under the new system even fairly modest builds are going to take 30-40 positrons. Or is that fairly easy for you ?


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]

You don't have the math right.

There has to be about a 50% chance that the total value of all 12 random recipes will be worth the same as a LOTG for people to be motivated to take the random rolls.

(This is discounting the opportunity cost of waiting till you have 250 merits rather than getting a random recipe everytime you have 20, but let's ignore that for now)

A 50% chance that the total of all the 12 recipes will be worth 1 LOTG. Several of the other recipes in the 30s range (remember, you can choose your level range) regularly go for 7-15 million, especially the procs usable in aoe powers, the Numinas and Miracle Uniques go for quite a bit more, probably around 50 or 60 percent of a LOTG alone.

There's also a nonzero chance that you would, with 12 random rolls, get multiple LOTG or other valuable procs or uniques. If you have a 50% chance of making less than half what one LOTG is worth, but also a 5% chance of making triple, that means some people will go for the randoms - like playing the lottery.

[/ QUOTE ]

your thinking numina for that 250 lotg is 200

BUT in this new merit world will that LotG cost 50 mil (hero). If so many people
start making them with merits, there cost should fall, I wouldn't be surprized to
see LotG costs fall below 40 mil (villain side) and 30 mil (hero) so using that 50
mil price is only good for like 1 week, or two tops. Then you would have to re-
evaluate the "cost" as so much pricing will be moving in both C and D pools I'll
guess.


 

Posted

[ QUOTE ]
What remains to be seen is if, once the market dries up and many Pool C recipes have 0 for sale, will they still be worth so little? I think they're betting that the increased scarcity in Pool C from people hoarding merits will drive up the prices of the lesser-used ones and make the random roll a more attractive option.

People do use Trap of the Hunter, Pacing of the Turtle, and Sting of the Manticore (which is actually a pretty nice snipe set). The problem right now is that with so many random drops entering the market, the supply is much higher than the demand for them.

[/ QUOTE ]


Well there will be people that will still be able to generate surplus merits at high rates. They will be able to control the market prices for these goods as they will exert an inordinate control of the availability to the market.

Now There is a demand for the crap recipes but it is much smaller than what is supplied by the random table. This does not change with merits. So you have to assume the people earning all these merits would decide to turn their hard won loot into crap to make the scenario happen. When instead they can set a number and wait for the going rate to reach it and then convert deterministically.

After you have had to run 20 positrons to rack up some merits just how easily are you going to let them go ?