Are we in a self-inflicted economic recession?

Once the "game" is actually in the game, you'll see more people willing to play and, in turn, increases the odds of sales.

Player vendors are as anti-consumer as you can get.

I might speak for myself but, if you want to sell me something, do it at the Public Vendor. Build a name for yourself and MAYBE then I'll start hunting you down for specialized goods. I'm already starting to buy items from particular players at the Public Vendors.

 

My house can't even afford walls these days.

 

Oddly enough I just started using public vendors this morning - further cuts into the margins, but I didn't raise my price to offset it. $1000 per 100 cotton. I listed in Britanny Central and Owl's Head. I was lowest by far (especially in Owl's Head). Hopefully, people will see I mean to do some business and make the trip to Dawn's Keep. Perhaps I'll offer better pricing incentives to do so. Gotta keep hustlin.

 

That's some powerful Air magic, Lollie!

 

Why?

As a casual crafting type, I use it to sell stuff I know I will not use but others might. But it is in no way worth tossing on a public vendor. Heck doing that paid for some cotton I bought in Xenos with gold from my player vendor. Economy!

<* Visit Moore and Stueff, top of the hill near the huge guild hall in Aerie because we have more stuff. *> Opening soon Moore and Jungk.

 

WOW, i can't believe they didn't restrict the buying of tickets per account. If players are buying up 1000's of tickets, then it's like my 9 tickets just went down the drain :'(

 

Because no one in their right mind should expect anyone to go from house-to-house, NPC-to-NPC to figure out what people have and IF they have anything in stock... not to mention going from city-to-city.

It's a good thing for the guy selling the goods, sure, but not for the guy buying. Public Vendors are a one-stop deal that is much more convenient.

I didn't say you can't use Player Vendors but if it's not worth tossing to the Public Vendor, then maybe one shouldn't be complaining about low sales. "Oh no! My dream to start my own shop (like everyone else and their grandmother) isn't working out! The economy is ruined!" ~ just MAYBE no one thought about the buyers.

I'm telling you this as a Aerie citizen too... and I would suggest against using the word "junk" in your shop's title; not very inviting.

 

Twas a joke.... that whole line was not serious. I have no intention extracting all my fun in this game out of crafting, played many a MMO to know that is a fools errand. Think of my shop as an antique store, might find something you need, but mostly crap. But it might be the crap you want.

However, I understand your point on the searching for stuff at random vendors. Sorta like going to yard sales, some like that challenge. Trade comes from knowing the market, grabbing stuff cheap and selling elsewhere at a profit.

 

I've been looking at quite a few vendors, and let me tell you, I must be broke in the grand scheme of things because I have not really seen anything at prices I'd consider reasonable.

Most of the time I only have about 1000-2000 gold on me. I've never had more than 2000. So when I see a stack of something for 800 gold, that's usually at least half my life savings.

 

How about capping crafting skills? Seems like a simple idea to help economy.
One or two skills you can master, after that you can only get to a certain level to do basic items and salvage.

 

You're right on this. Not sure there is a design solution, either. Half of the time I'm grateful when people name their vendors "Cheap Recall Scrolls & MORE!" because at least I know what the hook is. The other half of me, the crotchety RPGer, hates it, because its not immersive at all and a necessary gimmick. It would be cool if we could customize our NPC vendors to speak like a town crier.Instead of naming them, they could be shouting out in looping dialogue: "Hear ye, hear ye, cotton, reagents and armor befit a king but priced for a pauper!" That would be cool; especially if we could have multiple sales messages and analytics on conversions like Adwords.

My initial reaction as well. Limit the tix to one (of each deed type) per player account per auction. That way we can all dump a little cash into a fun (AND FAIR) cash sink and then get back to the real business of the day...having fun with the game.

 

Everyone can do everything is what scares me the most. Even long down the road when everyone can be and do everything what then? They really should incorporate a skill cap. I should not be able to make everything on my own. Local economy? What is the point if I can buy/make the exact same thing in each area of the map. My opinion? They should have made housing permanent once you got your spot, but everything else should have continued to be wiped until release ONCE more things were balanced. Instead right now they are playing whack a mole finding the gold farming/exp loopholes or whatever you want to call them, and patching those over after the damage has been done.

I am really having fun playing, although I did not make a million gold nor did I abuse the taming or other exp things they fixed. So I just putter along doing my thing, stockpiling my ore and other items for when I get my crafting on. At that point I will be more or less self sufficient. Then what? Honestly I am of the opinion that they did this for no other reason than to get more people testing. So maybe stopping playing and waiting until it is fleshed out may be the way to go. I honestly think by then a good part of those playing now will have gotten bored once they have maxed their skills and find nothing else to do. I reckon time will tell.
As I said I love the game so I am not bashing it. I am just worried about what I am seeing right now, and the fact they really are not even acknowledging the fact this is going on.

 

Not sure I'd like NPCs to shout either as I'd imagine the residential areas to become nearly impossible to decipher.

As for a design solution, I was kind of hoping the vendors would appear near a market district.

ESO's got a "decent" way of doing it. Throughout each week, people would get to bid on certain shops scattered around town(s). When the week is over, that person/guild gets to own that shop for the week. So on and so forth.

I'd propose something similar, each city could have an area (maybe near the public crafting stations) where vendors would have a kiosk at pre-determined locations. During the day, the vendors would be there (allowing easy access for the buyers); during the night (or if they're empty), they could shuffle back to the owner's house. You bid for a kiosk at the Town Crier and you'd bid each week to keep your spot. If you're away and/or can't bid, your vendor is still at your house.

The sore view of seeing hundreds of vendors at residential areas will still be a thing but at least it'll be much more convenient for the buyer.

 

You have a point. In a world of driven players, that is the likely outcome.

However, the players are not driven to do everything. Many players are too lazy to even walk and use teleport scrolls. Crafting is a lot of work and consumes an enormous amount of time. Many crafters will skill in many professions, at least to the point of making the items for their chosen profession. However, most will not be mastering more than one because of the time involved.

 

As I have posted previously, there seem to be an abundant supply of resources or goods going around without enough new players to consume.

Coupled with the fact that there is no bind on equip, alternate characters, low decay and high repair options on items, players do not need to buy beyond a certain limit, thus adding to the economy standstill.

The devs must sit down and mull over these fundamentals seriously as they provide the framework of a working game, or in this case the dream of a player run economy/world.

 

This is a surcharge, NOT negative interest... It should work like this: starting at 10k balance and up to 50k balance, loot, NPCs everything in the game starts to drop by 20% value per 10k of balance, so when you used to get 10gold & a rusty weapon worth 10gold, you now get something minus the proper % based on you balance... Have 100k balance you get no loot & can't sell to NPCs until you reduce your balance below 10k, when the process is reset...

To lower your account, simply donate to the "Community Chest" in every town, any player can pull 10k from the chest at anytime according to the rules set above...

This would cure a few problems:

-Single players couldn't hord gold...
-Large Guilds couldn't hord gold and control the market...
-New players have a place to get a quick 10k to get started...
-Old players who can't manage their gold can get a quick 10k...
-Crafters could get a quick 10k for fuels...
-Gold is recycled back into the game, instead of horded...
-You get huge Karma points when you donate to the Community Chest... and you'd feel good about yourself too...

 

It's way too hard to make money for me to even dream of buying resources, let alone at a big markup.
And I'm not even trying to save cash for raffle tickets.
I just want to be able to afford to do basic things like a little crafting or using equipment that isn't free.
But then the "good" stuff is barely any better than the free stuff so what's the point short of trying to min/max for PvP?
I've been burning through free rusty halberds because paying thousands of gold for a such a tiny improvement is simply not worth it.

The way I see it nothing in this game is actually worth the price set on it right now.
They've made serious errors in their efforts to force the economy to work a certain way.
For a simple example, the craftable potions in this game don't have an effect is even remotely as valuable as the absurd 13 Reagents you need to make the thing.
Do I take a 20 second break and miss out on killing like 2 monsters that drop a whole 8 gold? Or do I use something that cost me like 150 gold to make so I don't miss out on 16 gold?