Explanations on monetization thinking on SotA

Speaking of which we need more of those things...

 

For repairing gear, there are already a ton of people saying they will just buy Reinforced or Epic gear off NPC vendors and skipping "greedy crafters" altogether. Since that defeats the whole point of a crafting-focused economy, @Chris would you consider populating vendors with gear to sell using the same system as loot drops, and removing the unlimited source of cheap gear? Or, replace it will gear equivalent to the Founder Armor sets, which are clearly starter gear, not Augmented or Epic pieces?

 

Chris, thank you for the detailed explanation. As a crafter and adventurer, I appreciate the challenges your team faces in making both sides happy (probably have to make them both unhappy a little bit to know there is balance!).

I do appreciate the comment that it may take increasing number of crowns as more and more repairs are made, in an effort to get folks to think about seeking out new gear. It alleviates my concern about effectively having permanent gear.

 

Isn't that approach effectively the same as going with a normalized base durability?

I saw that delete and figured something of the like happened..

 

How does item affinity fit into this or is that not a thing anymore? ( I can never keep up these days )

 

This has me a little concerned Chris. I will have moved on from fighting these bears in the first hour after wipe and everything will hit two to three times as hard. I am also wondering if I will have to carry a truck load of repair kits with me once my max durability gets to say 30? I know I can use a coin to get back to max, but I rather not waste one until I get around 20 as you suggest. So, I guess what I need to know is, how quickly I will continue to lose normal durability so I don't need to invest in a repair kit business?

 

Yes, actually there is a crafter guild that uses price fixing, you may have heard of them. Ha!

 

Pathfinder Online did this. It did not help the crafters. It made people not play the game, among a few other reasons. But seriously, no. I do not want crafters put into the situation where they can charge whatever they want because players have no choice but to buy from them. That's called a monopoly cartel, and I want no part of that in my entertainment. Just let me buy my crappy cheap NPC armor and be on my way to fight the wolves in the wilderness.

If they really want players going to crafters, remove COTO's from crafting, remove durability repair completely and make ALL gear break, eventually. Period. It's been suggested hundreds of times on these forums since the COTO announcement, and it's been completely ignored by Portalarium.

 

27 weeks is for casuals that spending no more time than 20 hours a week playing and no larger percentage than 1/3 online time fighting and killing.
Those stats are for a small bear, and only one at a time.
As a crafter, you would probably only sell one suit ever to a casual like that anyway.

Your big money is still going to be in the power levelers, pvp elites, etc.
People that are chain pulling 3-5 Large red spiders per pull every fight for days at a time, are still going to be wearing out their gear in less than a month.
(but they will also have gold stockpiled to just buy new suits, also it's not going to be time efficient to run back to town to repair all the time, so they will probably repair or replace long before Max is down to 20)

Your biggest problem is that CotO are going to be a soft cap on the price of gear, If I can replace the piece of armor or weapon for less than the price of CotO.
I'll go that way. If I can't I'll buy the CotO instead.
Unfortunately that will also drive down the prices that Crafters are willing to pay for my mats.
But the lower prices will drive more people away from gathering, which will push the prices back up..
Ah the never ending cycle of economics...

 

Coins are not used to repair they are just an ingredient needed to restore durability, to much thought into it, still need a crafter and they need to ensure that it should be a 80 or greater level crafter not just a novice with a coin, but all this Coin to repair thought needs to just rethink themselves and just say the coin is an ingredient, just like it is in the potions being made.

 

There needs to be basic armor on npc vendors for new players to have as a go between after they're starting gear wears down from the entry quest, as they're gathering up money to be able to afford crafter gear. Not everyone will be playing starting lot selection some will wait til full release and pay a $45 box sale so to speak. Should they be expected to pay crafter outrageous prices from the start? We're already getting a huge start as it is with our pledges/homes/lots/early start time etc. Give em a break.

 

removes my concerns entirely. There is no way this system could cause a player to feel obligated to buy these to remain competitive. Therefore nobody should feel paranoid that the game is rigged to force them to keep paying to be competitive. (The Zanga Effect). In fact it is the exact opposite of the Zenga effect now that you cannot directly buy gold. The reason is if for some reason the game feels rigged then that would now be disincentive to buy these coins since the coins cannot help the problem.

This is clearly not Zenger. If a player wants to use gold to pay a person who bought these crowns ... I don't see how that hurts anybody. Fact is it doesn't. It doesn't hurt the economy one bit. Also there is incentive for those of us who like the game to buy these. It is a voluntary act to support the game with the benefit of added in game convenience not power.

 

Even if it only lasts me 3 months its still anti crafting 1 crown boom 3 more months 2 crown boom 3 more months.

 

First, thank you very much for your detailed explanation Chris.

I had no problem with neither 1st and 3rd, with the latter since you said the sale cost was going down, and i think making all the Gold trade to happen between player is the best way to deal with it.

Regarding 2nd (Max durability repair) i read your numbers and well... they sound logical. And i still laugh about bear hours, it's a great way to put durability in perspective. I also like how repair cost will grow exponentially so eventually you'll need to let go your gear. But those numbers justify the max durability cycle, not the fact that we are using coins to repair them. I still can't wrap my head around the whole repair with coins thing, and i still consider using an item produced by players and applied by crafters to repair max durability is the best way to go.

I know that way it won't be a COTO sink for adventuring, but still it feels more in line with the game, and there are still many aspects of the game to place COTO sinks.

That being said, i'll acknowledge again that the whole numbers make sense, and recognize this as the dead horse it seems to be. So i'll stop beating it

what things? crowns? known issues? patch notes? bear hours? Please tell me it's bear hours.

 

Add-on store items. I have a huge want list that hasn't had anything scratched off of it in like a year.

 

Right now I can make about 4.5kG by just purging elves and bandits in highvale, I'm sure I can afford a set of gear that cost about 25kG range or just make a set myself. Eventually people will have more buy power overtime, then 100k G will be nothing.