Artifact values cut by 60%-93% without even a mention in patch notes

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Armeleon Vesaz, Nov 19, 2018.

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  1. Armeleon Vesaz

    Armeleon Vesaz Avatar

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    Came back from a weekend away to notice the in game gold value of artifact across the board has been cut to fraction. This applies to fresh loots but also anything you previously had. To me, this is such a step backwards in improving loot that it actually overwhelms all the improvements over the last few releases. Most of the artifacts in the game were already "trash" (worth salvage or vendor value) due to poor or outdated design. Now they're not even worth 1/5th of that.

    A few examples:

    Frozen Tear of Titans, Gaia's Heart etc 5k -> 1k = 80% drop in value
    Attunement rings, crafting rings 1250 -> 500 = 60% drop
    Strip of Troll skin, cylinder components etc 3334 -> 1000 = 70% drop
    Belt of the Troll Lord 10000 -> 750 = 92.5% drop
    Ring of Luck 5000 -> 500 = 90% drop

    All the other artifacts I have around (which is most of them) all seem to fall between these numbers.

    The way this was implemented leaves me quite speechless. Not only was there no warning, not even a mention in patch notes or an announcement. Also it was applied to retroactively to everything you already own in the game.

    I understand the need to reduce the amount of gold flowing into the economy. In game gold has been in constant inflation (which is not a bad thing if the inflation is slow and controlled). So please if you respond, understand I'm not against reducing the gold value of artifacts as I see its a good mean to a good purpose. I have two major issues with this:

    1. The way this was done is in my honest opinion the worst possible way to do such a drastic change and a huge FU to anyone who spends their time killing bosses or otherwise owns a lot of artifacts in the game.

    2. In the context of improving loot being a major public goal for the devs, after such move I can only conclude that the development of the in game gold economy is not following any plan and no-one seems to have control over it. Major changes (in both ways) are implemented in the name of "improving loot" while next to no new loot is introduced. I'm well aware the lack of new loot is due to lack of developers but this sadly makes me loose hope that loot will actually improve with current size of the team.

    /endrant

    *EDIT* I will leave the OP above in it's original form so that the discussion below makes more sense and people can see the errors I'v made That being said it's been brought to my attention that this change actually was informed in the QA list of tasks. The obvious implication is that it's not true to say that no notice of this was given. Instead I think it's still fair to say the barely any notice was given.
     
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2018
  2. that_shawn_guy

    that_shawn_guy Bug Hunter

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    a few more things are now a little more valuable to sell to player than npc. i think in most, if not all, of your examples that was the case by at least a small margin. now that margin is wider.

    i guess i don't see the issue. please fill in the bits i'm missing so i can better understand your concern.

    thanks
     
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  3. Armeleon Vesaz

    Armeleon Vesaz Avatar

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    There is no market for selling these items for players. A vast majority of the artifacts were already salvaged, sold to NPCs or never sold (or used) at all. The value of ancient essences was already set by the NPC value of the cheapest artifacts.

    *edit*
    The reason for the small margin in their "worth" to players is that the price was already set by NPC value + a small margin for bothering to sell the item through a vendor rather than directly to a NPC.
     
  4. that_shawn_guy

    that_shawn_guy Bug Hunter

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    i don't agree. i buy attunement rings a few times a month. i'll pick up rings of luck when i see them at a good price. same for crafting rings.
    troll skin, i see rarely at any price. but, i'm always on the look out for it. i'm reasonable sure i'm not the only one buying these.

    pretty much anything used in crafting has a market. it might be a small market or more difficult to find. but, to flatly say there is no market at all for these items is stretching it bit.
     
  5. Rufus D`Asperdi

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    From day 1 the intention of the developers has been that Profitability for items comes from the Player Market, not from Selling to NPCs.
    This, if I'm reading your complaint correctly, seems to fall directly into that category.

    I don't see the problem.
     
  6. Arkah EMPstrike

    Arkah EMPstrike Avatar

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    This should lower the minimum price of essences over time, making it cheaper to repair the ones you got which is great news for folks who utilize enchanted/masterworked artifacts with them being damaged more quickly now than in the past
     
  7. Armeleon Vesaz

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    Yes obviously it hyperbole to say there is no market. It is close to true for many of the artifacts that have no use for players. For stuff like attunement rings it would ofc be more accurate to say that the demand (at any price above NPC price) is not even anywhere near 50% of the supply. The latter would be true for over 90% of the artifacts that drop, even the ones that have some use like crafting rings, attunement rings etc.

    I feel like you did not read the part where I say I have no problem with them doing this in general. If I'm wrong and you see neither of the problems I actually do have, then we can just agree to disagree.
     
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  8. Armeleon Vesaz

    Armeleon Vesaz Avatar

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    This is very likely to happen and imo it's one of the good sides of the change.
     
  9. Chrystoph Reis

    Chrystoph Reis Avatar

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    Values changed because of the artifact drop-rate increase. Was not in the release instructions but was mentioned and also in the bug testing notes.
     
  10. Arkah EMPstrike

    Arkah EMPstrike Avatar

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    Yea im getting an artifact out of like every other yellow bundle lately
     
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  11. Armeleon Vesaz

    Armeleon Vesaz Avatar

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    I went back and checked and you're correct. This part of my critique is then notaccurate. While I think that's a terrible way to inform of such major changes, it was at at least possible to get this info in the list of tasks notes. I will edit the OP accordingly.
     
    Last edited: Nov 19, 2018
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  12. Spinok

    Spinok Avatar

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    3 coins from me:
    First - we have huge amount of components(like cutworm) from gathering that can be only sold to NPC, in player driven economy for years, really? We already have those items in game, integrate them into crafting systems, give properties to gear made with them.
    The second, which connected to what @Armeleon Vesaz said: What to do with arts, many times many crafters said 1 great idea: give unique salvageable component for crafting(frozen orb example + 1 water resist and att on gear, 5 items +5 WR and att in sum, - 5 frozen orbs from economy)) , have ring of greater LUCK, salvage it and increase chance on 1-2-2-2-3% to a single enchant.
    Third, make models for Vrul, orb, gaia and etc, to use it as decorations.
     
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  13. Cora Cuz'avich

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    Except that they've been around so long, anybody who wasn't selling them has hundreds and hundreds of them (if not thousands and tens of thousands), so if they suddenly make better gear, the market would get flooded with gear with those stats. Better to turn cutworms and borers into fishing bait.
     
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  14. Armeleon Vesaz

    Armeleon Vesaz Avatar

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    Yes, the component system is (currently) a great way to introduce loot bc there's almost infinite demand for components when crafters chase the "perfect" item. It's really frustrating how little it's utilized.
     
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  15. yinki2

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    now i own 20 ring of bad luck
     
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  16. Magnus Zarwaddim

    Magnus Zarwaddim Avatar

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    This is an important piece of the puzzle.

    If the rates at which artifacts drop has been increased, it's logical that the price of artifacts will go down. This may be where your concern lies OP. While it might sound fair to say "I had 1 artifact that was worth 5k gold yesterday, but with this change it is now worth 1K gold today", the change would actually be fair if artifacts dropped 5 times as much - not to say these numbers are accurate, but you get the point.

    Also, since the change is recent, the player market is bound to fluctuate a bit as the prices stabilize across the board (i.e., as more people get drops and the market levels out).
     
  17. Lord Tachys al`Fahn

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    I think a big thing to take away from this, is that it should have been no secret that the NPC trade values of these items were/would be changed.

    Unlike a change to a skill or a change to armor values or changes to math surrounding such issues, where a notation that it was tweaked slightly and in what direction would be more than sufficient, a change like this should have been spelled out in the patch notes word for word.
     
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  18. Paladin Michael

    Paladin Michael Bug Hunter

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    So, COTO drop's also increased? ;)
    Could be right. After months of nothing I got 1 yesterday ...
     
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  19. Elwyn

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    In FFXI when this happened from time to time, it was always mentioned in the release notes that the value of an item was "adjusted". Of course we all knew those adjustments were always down, but it was always mentioned.
     
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  20. Cora Cuz'avich

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    Me too! Torc dropped one.
     
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