Question about in game economy
By
Adeon Hawkwood,
Posted on: 2010-07-18 22:52 in The Market and Inventions
Quote:
The developers have indicated that they view some of the prices on the markets to be broken, and that trading items off the market for more than the personal influence influence limit is an abuse of the system. So yes, the developers are aware that there is an issue.|
Originally Posted by Killer_Krock
Are there any plans, any possible solutions to the spinning out of control in game economy? Am I alone in thinking the markets and economy in the game need a fix? Maybe it is just my perception, but the price on items some of us want goes up and up like a rocket putting some things out of reach, seemingly forever.
|
At this time no details have been given on how the developers intend to counteract what they see as abuses.
Quote:
| My veteran characters have several hundred million influence and infamy, and seem dirt poor. I can't play 10 hours a day to get the influ and merits I would need to build the character I would like, and I do not wish to be part of the problem, by purchasing influ from the web sites that sell "in game money" for real money. |
It has been suggested that the developers want the incarnate system to balance out Invention Origin Enhancements as options to making characters more powerful. The Incarnate system, when fully unveiled, may answer the needs of casual players looking to keep up with tricked-out IO builds.
Quote:
| It appears to me the inevitable outcome is that one day I will log in, and everything in the market will cost the max (2 billion?). Is there any way to stop it? Please help. (fyi..I love the game that is why I feel so strongly about this) |
The solution to the inflation, such as it is, is to simply make the Auction House less important in the process to actually build up a powerful character. I outlined this perspective in this post here: http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showp...82&postcount=1
- A solution to the rising inflation of Auction House goods must be equally available to all players on a consistent basis. Solutions based on luck of the drops or time played are inherently unfair to the casual player or may only have 4 hours a week to spend in the game, or for regular players who might run into problems with work scheduling or other outside issues.
- A solution to the rising inflation must be neutral to all alignments. Devising a solution that only benefits one alignment will do nothing but anger a significant amount of the player base.
- A solution to the rising inflation cost should be non-farmable, or have decreasing values in farm environments. A system should encourage players to... play the game... and not simply "work the system" for maximum benefit.
- A solution must keep in mind that the vast majority of the game needs to be balanced against Single Origin builds, not tweaked IO builds.
- A solution does not need to encourage players to participate in the Auction House System
You should probably post this in the Market/Inventions section of the forum, as this is neither a technical issue nor a bug.
Quote:
Have you actually been to the Market / Inventions section? Many of the posters there don't want to address the problems with the game.|
Originally Posted by Brillig
You should probably post this in the Market/Inventions section of the forum, as this is neither a technical issue nor a bug.
|
As to whether or not it's a technical issue or a bug? Depends on who you ask. In some ways it is a technical issue. There are technical solutions to the inflation problem, such as increasing drop-rates, forcing lower costs, or limiting transactions. In some ways it's also a bug. The in-game economic system was never meant to be abused as it has been abused, but that pretty much goes for any game that implements a shared auction house.
At the same time, it's neither a technical issue or a bug. There's no strict coding problem that results in the prices on the market. Nor is there a coding issue with the drop rate and drop percentages of items that are useful. Everything within the system is working as the processing system intended.
Just because the process itself is working, doesn't mean that the process itself is not broken.
Imagine if you will a truck. The truck is about 30 feet long and has a long platform for the back 20ft with raised sides. The truck builder installs some seats on this platform and thinks, "Ah, I have a bus!"
The truck builder then sells the truck to some interested buyers and a few weeks later drops by to make sure the truck is working properly. Much to the truck builders surprise the owners of the truck are digging up their back yard, putting the dirt from the yard in the back of the bus, and then hauling the dirt to another location and emptying it.
Technically, the truck is working as intended. It's still hauling stuff. It's still moving and running. It's doing what it's owners want it to do... but it's not really doing what the truck builder had in mind is it?
Now replace the truck with Auction House. Our developers built the auction house with the idea that players would put items they didn't need on the auction house.
What the developers didn't account for is that the majority of item generation in the game was coming from a minority of players. This minority of players was able to leverage their item generation abilities to raise the average costs of items posted on the auction house. Players who were not generating items would either need to pay the item generators cost, or find something that would be worth a trade to the item generator.
Which is where we get to the real big technical issue with the Auction House. Auction houses work great in games where players only have one or two avatars, and where they outlevel that avatar's gear on a regular basis and can resell it as "used"
Auction Houses don't work so well in a game that encourage players to have lots of avatars and where items generally cannot be resold. The item generation has never been rebalanced against character creation. The reason why there wasn't a problem on SO's is that SO's can be bought from vendors, and once a player reaches max level, SO's are a trivial cost.
This then does descend back into the realm of a technical issue. Is the balancing of what the drop-rates are consistant with what the expected character generation is? Does this mean that drop-rates need to be rebalanced across the board to account for the number of avatars players can generate for City of Heroes? Maybe, maybe not.
tl;dr
It's only a technical issue or a bug if you redefine the terms to make them what you want them to mean.
It's not a bug, because the system is working as designed. Not being able to get your stuff into/out of the WW/BM interface is a bug. Not agreeing with the design of the economy is not.
It's not a technical issue, because the OP's computer is not causing him to lose influence or miss out on drops.
Quote:
That's assuming it is a realistic expectation to be able to IO out every single character, especially with the rarer, more desirable loot. I don't believe it is, and everything I have ever seen from the dev team leads me to believe they feel the same way.
|
Originally Posted by je_saist
Auction Houses don't work so well in a game that encourage players to have lots of avatars and where items generally cannot be resold. The item generation has never been rebalanced against character creation. The reason why there wasn't a problem on SO's is that SO's can be bought from vendors, and once a player reaches max level, SO's are a trivial cost.
This then does descend back into the realm of a technical issue. Is the balancing of what the drop-rates are consistant with what the expected character generation is? Does this mean that drop-rates need to be rebalanced across the board to account for the number of avatars players can generate for City of Heroes? Maybe, maybe not. |
One other thing that I feel ought to be pointed out that's often glossed over or ignored altogether in these discussions is the flip side of high prices for rare drops. Yes, the rarer stuff costs a lot. Purples aren't cheap. I agree with Panzerwaffen that this doesn't necessarily represent a problem.
If a certain desirable IO (say, a Basilik's Gaze) is selling for 100 million influence then yes, that could be difficult for a casual player to easily afford - but it also means that same casual player who gets a good drop gains a huge windfall. That 100 million might buy only one IO of the six you want for your hold to eek out a bit more +recharge for your perma-hasten build, but the same sum might fully outfit a character with less expensive sets or generic IOs. My wife IO'd out three characters completely, albeit conservatively, from the proceeds of selling one purple drop on her empath.
I'm not saying that inflation isn't a potential problem and I do think that the Devs at least keeping an eye on the extreme excesses such as much sought-after PVP IOs and Purples being sold for upwards of 2 billion inf is a good idea. But I think that the market by and large, at least in my experience, isn't in as much trouble as some people seem to think. If I stay out of the top-tier stuff, I can afford just about anything I want on a casual play schedule (on average about 6-8 hours per week).
As for the casual players having difficulty getting the top-tier stuff, there was something a while back posted about a casual player and his purpled-out tri-form Warshade which was played for comedic effect. Maybe I'm out of line here, but shouldn't the top-tier loot be pricey?
I suppose that there's a difference between 'pricey' and 'extreme inflation/abuse' that's somewhat subjective to assess, but personally I'd draw the line at the cap. If the market will support a price of two billion for a recipe or enhancement, that's a lot of inf in my pocket if I happen to land that item to sell. I can see taking action to curtail trades happening beyond that point, but even then I'm not sure how far I'd really want the Devs to interfere in the market.
Iscariot's Guide to the Tri-Form Warshade, version 2.1
I'm sorry that math > your paranoid delusions, but them's the breaks -- Nethergoat
P.E.R.C. Rep for Liberty server
Quote:
I'll... just leave this here for everyone to analyze.
| Just because the process itself is working, doesn't mean that the process itself is not broken. |
Be well, people of CoH.
Quote:
I've highlighted the important bit there... it's important for 2 reasons.|
Originally Posted by Killer_Krock
Are there any plans, any possible solutions to the spinning out of control in game economy? Am I alone in thinking the markets and economy in the game need a fix? Maybe it is just my perception, but the price on items some of us want goes up and up like a rocket putting some things out of reach, seemingly forever. My veteran characters have several hundred million influence and infamy, and seem dirt poor. I can't play 10 hours a day to get the influ and merits I would need to build the character I would like, and I do not wish to be part of the problem, by purchasing influ from the web sites that sell "in game money" for real money. It appears to me the inevitable outcome is that one day I will log in, and everything in the market will cost the max (2 billion?). Is there any way to stop it? Please help. (fyi..I love the game that is why I feel so strongly about this)
|
1. It's a want, not a need. You can play the game without it and have just as much fun.
2. You want it, dave over there wants it, steve on Union wants it, heck, everyone wants it but there is limited supply. So prices go up as demand goes up and supply drops.
The easiest way to combat it would be to increase supply, but the point is some stuff is MEANT to be rare. Mean I know, but so's life.
I'm of the mind that the first way to approach this problem is to introduce more inf sinks into the game. The easiest, at least I think, is for the market to scale up it's fees based on the selling price. This is a temporary "fix" to the inf supply spiraling out of control.
Another fix is to nudge up by a little bit, the drop rate for purples. Back when the market first opened, the demand of specialty wings was very high with numerous players at the time sitting on what was then a lot of inf with nothing to spend it on. Prices skyrocketed. A later patch tweaked the drop rate, likely too much, and the prices collapse as more recipes were dropped and demand was finally satiated.
Also the market merger with I18/GR will reset the entire market place. Nothing for sale, no bids, no bidding history. It would be interesting to see if new shortages, price spikes or collapses will be seen from premerger levels.
Father Xmas - Level 50 Ice/Ice Tanker - Victory
$725 and $1350 parts lists --- My guide to computer components
Tempus unum hominem manet
Quote:
Yes.|
Originally Posted by Father Xmas
Also the market merger with I18/GR will reset the entire market place. Nothing for sale, no bids, no bidding history. It would be interesting to see if new shortages, price spikes or collapses will be seen from premerger levels.
|
Just because the developers wipe the history doesn't mean the players will. There will be players who will be waiting to immediatly relist their high ticket items for the same prices they originally bid.
There will also be players reporting what everything used to sell at. The price spikes and base listing practices will basically continue with no changes.
* * *
There is also a fundamental problem with influence sinks. Unless they are based on a neutral pricing source, they punish all players. The reason why base enhancements work as an influence sink is because you can buy base enhancements for a vendor for a set cost. You don't have to pay over that cost, but you can pay under that cost on the market.
Influence sinks that exist just for the sake of sinking influence are a different story. The basic problem is, anything that the developers create that players will be willing to spend influence on, generally won't appeal to those who work the farms. Case in point, somebody once suggested being able to purchase a statue with their name and a copy of their character. Neat idea, but if the developers set the prices high enough where only the players working the farms can afford them, the farmers won't purchase the influence sink because they would be identified, and thus stand out. If the developers set the cost low enough where just any player could afford them, the item no longer works as an influence sink.
There's also the problem that just because an influence sink is in the game, doesn't mean players will use it. Case in point, base raids and prestiges. The original intent of base raids was for players to actually put their bases on the line for a raid. Some items would be permanently destroyed after a raid. Only a very few supergroups with really active prestige earners could afford to pay for the prestige to raid. Yet, you could convert influence into prestige. Ergo, supergoups without a lot of prestige, but lots of influence, could raid, then rebuild off of their influence sunk prestige. Even if the developers put base raiding back in, right now, there's the problem that only a really small percentage of the player population would sink their influence destroying each others supergroup bases. Granted, the population that could afford to base raid and influence sink prestige is roughly the same group that abuses the market to begin with, so there might be SOME merit to this particular idea.
Anyways, the core problem remains. Influence sinks without a neutral non-player balance will be useless in their existence as a sink.
I have a question, why does a casual player have an inborn right, to be able to kit out a toon in the few hours a month they play, at the same level as someone who is willing to committ hundred of hours to a single toon to setup?
I agree they have the right to be able to acquire the gear, and if they spend the time and get a character to lvl 47+ or go along with a team of that level they too can get purple drops. So that is one point ticked off - can anyone get a drop of the purple receipes, indeed they can. They aren't only acquired in a particular location where you need a toon that you have dropped a lot of infl into survive the experience.
I openly admit i have a few toons that cost me a lot of inf and time to put together. I have a fire kin, a scrapper, widow, brutes, and a few others that cost me over several billion in inf to put together.
However, the fire kin I used initially for farming was wait for it.....
Set up initially with only standard IOs, as i used the toon more often at lvl 50 I started getting drops of receipes that I used to improve it and other toons. And slowly but surely I built up that toon and others, though putting in the time and effort that I felt they were worth based on what I found fun.
Some of my toons have a mixture of standard IOs, and even SOs, and due to the fact I don't play them enough to warrant spending lots on them that's all they'll likely ever have. But if someone needs some debuf or support in a team, I have them available, and I'll make use of them, and still have fun.
I've not brought anything off market, and I've not ever, nor will ever buy inf for real money. Ironically I've seen some people during the wrost of the AE era trying to copy my fire kin and go off and do just that, and strangely enough left the game shortly saying they were bored. When their fire kin went from no set bonuses to a war and peace of set bonuses practically over night, it was fairly obvious what they had done with it being only a new 50 and having no others.
If you don't earn something you don't value it, but the people unwillingly to work for it, will often say they have the right to have it anyway.
I'm sorry the world doesn't work that way, and there are lots of other sayings around for just the simple reason, that at some point you have to pay the piper, and thats the truth.
You want something, then put in the effort to get it, and stop complaining.
Quote:
If only more players could grasp this elementary concept...
|
Originally Posted by Redhand
You want something, then put in the effort to get it, and stop complaining.
|
I came for the intelligent discussion of in-game market economics, but was very disappointed.
There are no words for what this community, and the friends I have made here mean to me. Please know that I care for all of you, yes, even you. If you Twitter, I'm MrThan. If you're Unleashed, I'm dumps. I'll try and get registered on the Titan Forums as well. Peace, and thanks for the best nine years anyone could ever ask for.
Quote:
first off, you are using the markets wrong. they are not stores. they are auction houses. which means place a bid you feel is what you would pay and wait. while waiting, you can go and do some missions or something and SELL the drops you don't want or can't use at the markets. this is the part where you make tons of infl/inf. and ther are very, very, very few items that sell for more then the infl/inf cap. they are PvP io's. no casual gamer should be worried about those at all.
|
Originally Posted by Killer_Krock
Are there any plans, any possible solutions to the spinning out of control in game economy? Am I alone in thinking the markets and economy in the game need a fix? Maybe it is just my perception, but the price on items some of us want goes up and up like a rocket putting some things out of reach, seemingly forever. My veteran characters have several hundred million influence and infamy, and seem dirt poor. I can't play 10 hours a day to get the influ and merits I would need to build the character I would like, and I do not wish to be part of the problem, by purchasing influ from the web sites that sell "in game money" for real money. It appears to me the inevitable outcome is that one day I will log in, and everything in the market will cost the max (2 billion?). Is there any way to stop it? Please help. (fyi..I love the game that is why I feel so strongly about this)
|
Quote:
Exactly this. Also, when listing items on the market, I'd recommend listing under the going rate. Why? Because it'll give you some insulation in case the prices have peaked and are about to drop, as well as make your items sell quicker. In most cases, quantity is better than quality.
|
Originally Posted by Sharker_Quint
first off, you are using the markets wrong. they are not stores. they are auction houses. which means place a bid you feel is what you would pay and wait. while waiting, you can go and do some missions or something and SELL the drops you don't want or can't use at the markets. this is the part where you make tons of infl/inf. and ther are very, very, very few items that sell for more then the infl/inf cap. they are PvP io's. no casual gamer should be worried about those at all.
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ShadowNate
;_; ?!?! What the heck is wrong with you, my god, I have never been so confused in my life!
|
Quote:
This should be part of all MMO EULA imo (and life EULA if it had 1) |
Originally Posted by Redhand
I have a question, why does a casual player have an inborn right, to be able to kit out a toon in the few hours a month they play, at the same level as someone who is willing to committ hundred of hours to a single toon to setup?
I agree they have the right to be able to acquire the gear, and if they spend the time and get a character to lvl 47+ or go along with a team of that level they too can get purple drops. So that is one point ticked off - can anyone get a drop of the purple receipes, indeed they can. They aren't only acquired in a particular location where you need a toon that you have dropped a lot of infl into survive the experience. I openly admit i have a few toons that cost me a lot of inf and time to put together. I have a fire kin, a scrapper, widow, brutes, and a few others that cost me over several billion in inf to put together. However, the fire kin I used initially for farming was wait for it..... Set up initially with only standard IOs, as i used the toon more often at lvl 50 I started getting drops of receipes that I used to improve it and other toons. And slowly but surely I built up that toon and others, though putting in the time and effort that I felt they were worth based on what I found fun. Some of my toons have a mixture of standard IOs, and even SOs, and due to the fact I don't play them enough to warrant spending lots on them that's all they'll likely ever have. But if someone needs some debuf or support in a team, I have them available, and I'll make use of them, and still have fun. I've not brought anything off market, and I've not ever, nor will ever buy inf for real money. Ironically I've seen some people during the wrost of the AE era trying to copy my fire kin and go off and do just that, and strangely enough left the game shortly saying they were bored. When their fire kin went from no set bonuses to a war and peace of set bonuses practically over night, it was fairly obvious what they had done with it being only a new 50 and having no others. If you don't earn something you don't value it, but the people unwillingly to work for it, will often say they have the right to have it anyway. I'm sorry the world doesn't work that way, and there are lots of other sayings around for just the simple reason, that at some point you have to pay the piper, and thats the truth. You want something, then put in the effort to get it, and stop complaining. |
http://www.scene-and-heard.com/cov/covsig.jpg
Quote:
I came for a bunch of crazy argle-bargle, and am totally satisfied!
|
Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
I came for the intelligent discussion of in-game market economics, but was very disappointed.
|
The Nethergoat Archive: all my memories, all my characters, all my thoughts on CoH...eventually.
My City Was Gone
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by je_saist
The developers have indicated that they few some of the prices on the markets to be broken, and that trading items off the market for more than the personal influence influence limit is an abuse of the system.
|
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Castle
Inflation is rampant. Things going for more than the market cap is obviously a problem, considering the market cap is supposed to be the individual wealth cap. Obviously, something is quite horribly broken there.
|
While it's possible it was a reference to abuse, there absolutely nothing clearly stating that. Nor are Castle's forum musings on matters outside of powers balance guaranteed to be the formal position of the devs as a whole. (I would, however, accept it as true if he outright told us something was the overall dev position.)
If you want to be sure I am not removing the quote from its proper context, the original post can be found here.
Quote:
| The developers are aware of the disparity between the hardcore player and the casual player. This disparity is generally agreed to be one of the reasons the incarnate system has been delayed from it's preview. |
Quote:
| It has been suggested that the developers want the incarnate system to balance out Invention Origin Enhancements as options to making characters more powerful. The Incarnate system, when fully unveiled, may answer the needs of casual players looking to keep up with tricked-out IO builds. |
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
Quote:
If there are the devs have not revealed them to us. It's possible that Going Rogue will produce some new changes to help balance things but we don't know yet.|
Originally Posted by Killer_Krock
Are there any plans, any possible solutions to the spinning out of control in game economy?
|
Quote:
| Am I alone in thinking the markets and economy in the game need a fix? |
Quote:
| Maybe it is just my perception, but the price on items some of us want goes up and up like a rocket putting some things out of reach, seemingly forever. My veteran characters have several hundred million influence and infamy, and seem dirt poor. |
Quote:
| Is there any way to stop it? |
I dont have hard figures to back this up, its an obersvation based on my own perception of the market
To me inflations isn't that much of an issue - for now.
Purples and PVP IOs aside, there hasn't been a huge surge in the pricing of the majority of IOs that I slot and use (Thunderstikes, Doctored Wounds, Crushing Impacts and their ilk)
However, I do see the inflation at the very top end, and recongnise that eventually this will trickle down into the mid-tier type sets. So action taken sooner before it becomes a major issue would be better than later after it is an issue.
@Catwhoorg "Rule of Three - Finale" Arc# 1984
@Mr Falkland Islands"A Nation Goes Rogue" Arc# 2369 "Toasters and Pop Tarts" Arc#116617
Quote:
No, you're not alone. However, I would not say you're in the best of company in terms of people who:|
Originally Posted by Killer_Krock
Are there any plans, any possible solutions to the spinning out of control in game economy? Am I alone in thinking the markets and economy in the game need a fix?
|
a) Really understand the existing market's behavior
b) Really understand how factors outside the market itself influence market prices. Examples: I16 Difficulty slider changes
c) Understand some basic but realistic economic models. For example, introducing price caps (below the inf cap) are regularly suggested as a way to address what are perceived as undesirably high prices, while real-world price caps on non-monopoly/oligarchy markets is not generally considered wise practice. (For example, it's not considered wise to cap the sale price automobiles).
Quote:
| Maybe it is just my perception, but the price on items some of us want goes up and up like a rocket putting some things out of reach, seemingly forever. |
Quote:
| My veteran characters have several hundred million influence and infamy, and seem dirt poor. I can't play 10 hours a day to get the influ and merits I would need to build the character I would like, and I do not wish to be part of the problem, by purchasing influ from the web sites that sell "in game money" for real money. |
Alternatives to "classic" farming or RMT include (in no particular order):
- Spending 10-30 minutes a day using the market to earn inf. Prices on the CoH markets are often highly volatile. If you buy something at a low price you can often sell back again at price high enough to make a tidy profit. A slight variation on this is to buy recipes and sell the crafted enhancement, since there are often quite large price differences involved. (As a correlary to this, generally you should by recipes for your own use, not crafted IOs. Always check the price of both.)
- Play frequently at 50. This has several beneficial effects. One is that you earn more inf/defeat at 50 than at any other level. Another is that level 50 recipes are often sell at the highest prices (sometimes even when that doesn't make a lot of sense). You're also probably a pretty strong character at level 50.
- Earn merits and use them to produce saleable goods. Leveling a character from 1-50 can earn you around 1000 merits on either side of the game, if you do all your story arcs. (In practice you'll likely earn less because you'll normally outlevel some content, especially if you team.) Most servers have global channels where people advertise forming TFs - see if you can find some regulars to run with. Obviously, "speed" runs give the best merit/time, but even if you prefer not to do those you should be able to fine one TF a night lasting no more than an hour or so and worth 20+ merits. Merits can be spent on random rolls, or you can try to see what sells for a lot of money on the market and save up merits to create one outright and then sell it.
Quote:
| It appears to me the inevitable outcome is that one day I will log in, and everything in the market will cost the max (2 billion?). |
There are multiple reasons prices have been on a long rise, but many of them have been changes in the rate at which we create inf. For example.
- XP "smoothing" let people get to 50 faster
- XP "smoothing" also made over-level mobs worth more reward than they were before (and under-level mobs worth less). High-level characters commonly fight over-level foes
- Increased adoption of IOs made characters able to fight longer while dealing more damage than in the past
- I16 difficulty settings allowed more players to find the sweet spot for what their characters could prevail against - previously most of us were fighting underneath our reward earning potential
- A patch after I16 literally doubled the average per-defeat inf reward for mobs defeated by level 50s - who were already earning the most per defeat
Don't assume all is lost. I promise you, it's not. I'm not saying that because I have an agenda here - I'm saying it because I'm not doing anything really that special, and I'm setting pretty. I mean it when I say that if I can pull it off the way I play, other people can too.
Blue
American Steele: 50 BS/Inv
Nightfall: 50 DDD
Sable Slayer: 50 DM/Rgn
Fortune's Shadow: 50 Dark/Psi
WinterStrike: 47 Ice/Dev
Quantum Well: 43 Inv/EM
Twilit Destiny: 43 MA/DA
Red
Shadowslip: 50 DDC
Final Rest: 50 MA/Rgn
Abyssal Frost: 50 Ice/Dark
Golden Ember: 50 SM/FA
Quote:
Agreed, if anything I would say they have dropped in price slightly from their pre-I16 price.|
Originally Posted by Catwhoorg
Purples and PVP IOs aside, there hasn't been a huge surge in the pricing of the majority of IOs that I slot and use (Thunderstikes, Doctored Wounds, Crushing Impacts and their ilk)
|
Quote:
| However, I do see the inflation at the very top end, and recongnise that eventually this will trickle down into the mid-tier type sets. So action taken sooner before it becomes a major issue would be better than later after it is an issue. |
There is absolutely no reason whatsoever, besides complete lack of effort, that a casual player cannot get every item they can possibly desire. And I'm completely serious about that.
As many of you know, I conducted an experiment (linked in my sig) to show what a player can make casually playing for a couple hours a day. The experiment was conducted precisely to silence these sorts of statements that everything is too expensive, market is out of control, players *have to* use RMT to afford stuff, blah, blah.
I honestly don't know what else I can do to spell out how ridiculously easy it is to make what you want in this game.
Quote:
It is easy to make money but a new player walking into the Market and seeing a high price will be surprised, if not discouraged, by that price.|
Originally Posted by Fury Flechette
There is absolutely no reason whatsoever, besides complete lack of effort, that a casual player cannot get every item they can possibly desire. And I'm completely serious about that.
As many of you know, I conducted an experiment (linked in my sig) to show what a player can make casually playing for a couple hours a day. The experiment was conducted precisely to silence these sorts of statements that everything is too expensive, market is out of control, players *have to* use RMT to afford stuff, blah, blah. I honestly don't know what else I can do to spell out how ridiculously easy it is to make what you want in this game. |
There may be a dissonance here, that a player sees 100,000,000 as a price and goes: "Wow, 100,000,000 irl will get me so much stuff but that's the price of one item?" whereas that much can be obtained fairly quickly at level 50.
It's a sticky situation, to be sure. If the supply of the good stuff increases, prices will likely go down but the achiever/seeker types might get bored and those that like to buy and sell such items will find other niches. Players naturally want to get the best stuff. If they find that stuff out of their reach, they may gravitate toward easier games or games where you can get your stuff in a more straightforward manner, rather than random rolls/Merit accumulation.
There certainly is too much inf floating around, but the Devs haven't seen this as an issue, Castle's post and Synapse's big post about the economy sometime back aside...it is interesting that in War Witch's post about the merging, she mentioned other sources acting...here it is:
"The other is not quite such common knowledge. Out of nowhere, Wentworth’s has gained access to new suppliers, but all suspicions and investigations have been stymied by the immaculate paperwork of their new partners. Likewise, the Black Market has suddenly seen a rise in activity, though no one has looked too closely at the ‘why’ so long as the goods are solid. For now, it remains a mystery."
Whether this refers to the Devs seeding the Market, the Going Rogue system players selling their wares, no one knows...
Questions about the game, either side? /t @Neuronia or @Neuronium, with your queries!
168760: A Death in the Gish. 3 missions, 1-14. Easy to solo.
Infinity Villains
Champion, Pinnacle, Virtue Heroes
Are there any plans, any possible solutions to the spinning out of control in game economy? Am I alone in thinking the markets and economy in the game need a fix? Maybe it is just my perception, but the price on items some of us want goes up and up like a rocket putting some things out of reach, seemingly forever. My veteran characters have several hundred million influence and infamy, and seem dirt poor. I can't play 10 hours a day to get the influ and merits I would need to build the character I would like, and I do not wish to be part of the problem, by purchasing influ from the web sites that sell "in game money" for real money. It appears to me the inevitable outcome is that one day I will log in, and everything in the market will cost the max (2 billion?). Is there any way to stop it? Please help. (fyi..I love the game that is why I feel so strongly about this)