Cap for influence/infamy? wuh?


Adeon Hawkwood

 

Posted

I heard that 2billion is the cap a player can have. That's not very smart and needs to be raised/removed. The reason being is then items on the black market can't sell for over 2 billion. Why is this bad you ask? Because it encourages back-door deals where players trade money for the item instead of using the black market/wentworths. And so therefore no money is lost in the transaction. Raising the money cap would result in more money leaving the economy.

In short, raising the cap would lower prices.


 

Posted

There is a code reason why 2 billion is the cap. It is a non-trivial task to change it from a 32 bit integer to a 64 bit one, that is frought with the downside possibility of missing an obscure one and seeming randomly wiping out peoples fortunes.

The maximum for a signed 32 bit integer is 2 147 483 648 rounded down to the 2 billion inf we have. In the early days of the game there was no cap, and people passed the coded maximum and ended up with negative 2 (and change) billion inf.

This was obviously a bad thing.

For all put an extreme minority of players 2 billion is more than is ever needed, and so any change to the cap has potential massive downsides and limited upside.


Despite all that I still think it is time to examine the cap, I am just trying to put down the reasons why it is unlikely.



@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617

 

Posted

You say that like 2 billion is pocket money.
"Then players cannot sell for more than 2 billion"; GOOD! 2 billion inf would be a stupid price to put anything up for. And you can bet your bottom dollar it would go unbought for a long time.
/unsigned


Quote:
Originally Posted by Zwillinger View Post
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain_Photon View Post
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

 

Posted

Techbot,

Several types of PVP IO are regularly going for greater than 2 billion off market, either in direct inf or inf + other stuff.

They are going for exactly 2 billion if one is placed on the market, with many bids at that price.



@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617

 

Posted

I have to agree with Techbot. I don't want to see the cap raised.
I don't want the prices to go berserk even more than they are at the moment. For a regular player it is very hard to reach 2B inf even once in the time that they play CoH/V.

In Europe the prices are (compared to US) a lot cheaper and even there I can't afford one of them.
There is no need to make them more expensive.

There is a need to make more of the recipes available though.
I'm kinda hoping that NC will come up with a way to provide more recipes for the market. Even if it would be some kind of code that ensures that there is always at least one (for each level) of that recipe available for an ACCEPTABLE price to accomodate ALL gamers and not just the ones that have the time for mega farming or spending hours in the AH for business.
I leave it up to the DEV's to decide what the price will be for recipe but I would put a limit to the price just to ensure that all players have a chance of buying them.

AP


 

Posted

Well that proves just how messed up the PvP IOs are, in my opinion.
If it gives you something to aim for and be happy with, power to you. But the majority of players will never see a billion inf, let alone 2 billion.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Zwillinger View Post
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain_Photon View Post
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.

 

Posted

Raising the cap would raise prices not lower them. people would farm even more and whatever they change the cap to would be how much the PVP IO's would end up selling for. If they removed it altogether then those same IO's would probably be going for trillions which is something we should not need to have to deal with!

Getting 2billion is hard enough unless you play the market or constantly farm +4*8. I personally don't like either of those things and am struggeling with money on my lvl 23 villain as it is, because of salvage prices for common IO's.

I like the cap where it is, and anybody who complains that it's too high, try defeating enemies to get the salvage/recipies you want instead of just sitting on the market. That way you get experience with the best way to play your set rather than just racking up lots of set bonuses on your blaster, jumping into a +4*8 mob and then wondering why you died so quickly.

Oh and Ps: /UNSIGNED


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by AnnaPuna View Post

In Europe the prices are (compared to US) a lot cheaper and even there I can't afford one of them.
There is no need to make them more expensive.
Really? That's an interesting story.

The ignorance that floats around these boards...


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Techbot Alpha View Post
You say that like 2 billion is pocket money.
for some players it is.

For instance, right now Smurph is offering 20 billion inf for some people to write MA arcs to his specifications.


Players will accumulate vast fortunes regardless of where the 'official' inf cap is. It would be nice if the game accommodated financial reality instead of forcing those of us who enjoy accumulating inf to use workarounds.


The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.

My City Was Gone

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by kojirodensetsu View Post
I heard that 2billion is the cap a player can have. That's not very smart and needs to be raised/removed. The reason being is then items on the black market can't sell for over 2 billion. Why is this bad you ask? Because it encourages back-door deals where players trade money for the item instead of using the black market/wentworths. And so therefore no money is lost in the transaction. Raising the money cap would result in more money leaving the economy.

In short, raising the cap would lower prices.
Guess what, trading between players without using the market has always been a legitimate part of the game. Deal with it.

/unsigned


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by NeonPower View Post
Raising the cap would raise prices not lower them.
Supply and demand determines price, not an arbitrary inf cap or lack thereof.


The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.

My City Was Gone

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by AnnaPuna View Post
In Europe the prices are (compared to US) a lot cheaper and even there I can't afford one of them.
All the hero markets (North America and Europe) are tied together. The sole exception is the Test Server.

All the villain markets (North America and Europe) are tied together. The sole exception is the Test Server.

These two statements have been true since the markets were put in.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AnnaPuna View Post
There is a need to make more of the recipes available though.
Agreed. The drop rates for the Purple and PVP IOs are a bit too rare.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AnnaPuna View Post
I'm kinda hoping that NC will come up with a way to provide more recipes for the market.
They do have a way to seed the markets (hero and villain). They've used it on the Test server before.

Quote:
Originally Posted by AnnaPuna View Post
I leave it up to the DEV's to decide what the price will be for recipe but I would put a limit to the price just to ensure that all players have a chance of buying them.
This would be nice, but at this point there is so much inf out there that prices would take a while to reduce.




Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by kojirodensetsu View Post
I heard that 2billion is the cap a player can have. That's not very smart and needs to be raised/removed. The reason being is then items on the black market can't sell for over 2 billion. Why is this bad you ask? Because it encourages back-door deals where players trade money for the item instead of using the black market/wentworths. And so therefore no money is lost in the transaction. Raising the money cap would result in more money leaving the economy.

In short, raising the cap would lower prices.
I don't see how changing the cap would impact anything. Say they make it 10 billion... then someone will eventually decide that PvP IOs (or something else) are worth more than that, and the same problem would exist.



 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thirty-Seven View Post
I don't see how changing the cap would impact anything. Say they make it 10 billion... then someone will eventually decide that PvP IOs (or something else) are worth more than that, and the same problem would exist.
The very specific thought there.

trade off market for 3 billion inf = zero inf destroyed
trade on market for 3 billion inf = 300 million inf destroyed

I'm not sure I agree with the OP's conclusion, but that is the rationale behind it



@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Catwhoorg View Post
The maximum for a signed 32 bit integer is 2 147 483 648 rounded down to the 2 billion inf we have. In the early days of the game there was no cap, and people passed the coded maximum and ended up with negative 2 (and change) billion inf.
I think the limit is fine and doesn't need to be raised.

So why quote? For knowledge! They wouldn't need to go to a 64 bit integer to raise the cap they could make it unsigned(4,294,967,296 limit could be rounded down to 4 billion) or they could use an array of numbers making the limit much bigger.


@Real Boss
Real Boss-50

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Real_Boss View Post
So why quote? For knowledge! They wouldn't need to go to a 64 bit integer to raise the cap they could make it unsigned(4,294,967,296 limit could be rounded down to 4 billion) or they could use an array of numbers making the limit much bigger.
True, but either of those has the same problems as switching to 64-bit. You'd need to check every line of code that referenced it and make sure that there wasn't anything that assumed it was a particular data type. All it would take is one line of code where the inf total is typed to int to cause problems.


 

Posted

I'm 95% certain the signed portion is so the same variable is used for costs at stores etc, as for drops, which is why I didn't suggest that route.



@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617

 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nethergoat View Post
For instance, right now Smurph is offering 20 billion inf for some people to write MA arcs to his specifications.
Oh yeah? Where's the link to his post? I'd like to read that!


 

Posted


LOL
ahhh
ROFL

im not dismissing this without understanding where your coming from..i do. but it sounds like your more angry/pee'd off that prices are SOO high. its not the cap thats the problem its the players. people are putting them so high BECAUSE people are paying those prices. if people who want them stops paying those rubbish prices then people will lower the selling price.

but again

LOL i did need a laugh. ty


 

Posted

While I feel that it is arguable whether or not an increase in the cap is necessary, I think most people would agree that doing so would have many negative outcomes. I can see how a player could accumulate more than 2 billion at some point. The most I've ever held at one time was around 1.5 billion. Let's face it though, only the most hardcore of players will ever hold that much money, and I got really lucky to get that much (6 purples in a day...what a good day that was lol).

I have to agree with the points people have made concerning the PVP IOs. They are already ridiculously priced at 2 billion for some of them because 1) they are far too rare and need a higher drop rate, and 2) that's the most people are able to sell them for on the market. Increase the influence/infamy cap, and those hard to get IOs are just going to skyrocket to even higher prices. If you're so rich that you don't know what to do with your excess billions then just place an arbitrary bid on one of those lvl 53 IOs since you'll never get the sale anyways.


 

Posted

2 Billion, heck, most I have ever had is 22 mill. I also have alt-itis, but still, never even come close to a lot of influence. I guess the rich get richer, and I stay me, lol.


 

Posted

Quote:
Originally Posted by AnnaPuna View Post
I'm kinda hoping that NC will come up with a way to provide more recipes for the market.
Specifically mid-level recipes.