Posi's "Market Crystal Ball"....

A while ago, before GR and the market merge and A-Merits, Positron had stated that the Dev team had no plans to merge the markets due to the economic forecast not looking so good if such a thing happened. I don't recall if he specified what their concerns were (over-supply? over-demand? Ability of people to manipulate the markets easier?), but, I'm wondering how off-track they were with their predictions.

Of course, we'd need to know what those predictions WERE. A good number of things have seen their prices go down a bit with increased supply (and a few things have outright CRASHED), and it's fairly painless to get anything besides purples, PvPIos and a few other scattered items, but it's hardly doom-worthy.

So what do you guys think? Is the market healthy, going downhill, or is it too soon to tell what GR's overall impact is at this time?

I think the market is a good deal healthier. I think it's a bit healthier compared to the old blue side and indescribably healthier red side. I think it's impossible to prove that this was due to the merger, because the merger came bundled with increased player populations and a new merit mechanic.

I should note that we don't know what situations Posi's "crystal ball" were focused on. One of the most basic assumptions in pre-I18 market merger discussions on the forums was that the Influence and Infamy currencies would remain separate. The actual I18 merge completely undercut that assumption by merging both the markets and the currencies. Every (rationally supported) downside prediction for merged markets had its foundation in that separation of currency. Perhaps Posi's did too.

We have too much inf. AE and the 'new' difficulty settings make farming too easy and efficient.

Could you explain what problem you believe that creates?

from my perspective the merger is a gigantic win for everyone. It's SO GREAT to log in my villains and not have to slip into a 'poverty consciousness' mindset about buying and selling, I can just do the same thing I've always done blue side- sell everything and stockpile inf because if I find I need it later on....the supply will be there.


As Uber notes the merger came bundled with other changes (which I think it's safe to assume were aimed at ameliorating whatever disasters Posi's cracked crystal ball revealed), but I give it a big pile of credit for improving my redside gaming experience.

Isn't Posi the guy who wouldn't fix the empath badge because everyone was telling him he was wrong ? Do you really expect information about just how wrong the entire anti merge position was ?

Anyway I don't buy, the currency merge as an explain away. Merging the markets would have been a defacto currency merge even if you couldn't trade directly. People would have just moved inf between red and blue the same way they used to move inf between servers.

I also believe the market is distinctly healthier due to the merger, and
feel that really supports what many here argued for as a key benefit in
the first place.

There is still supply weakness in the mid-range sector, and I'd really love
to see the devs address that to some degree, but overall, it's healthier
now than it has ever been post AE & R-Merit introduction (imho).


Regards,
4

The new market is certainly way better than the old red market was. I never understood what Posi was talking about, so I can't help you with that question.