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Do ZOS consider their game economy when making changes?
Tavore1138
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I've been pondering this a bit lately with a couple of recent changes ZOS have made and the impact on the in game economy.
My understanding of other big MMOs is that as well as things like skill balance and gear balance they also have people who consider the economy of the game - simply because the in game economy can have a large impact on players and it is important to strike the right balance between it being too easy and too hard for players to achieve decent results with whatever play style they choose.
Now ZOS have made a few changes lately that for short or long term reasons have or will skew the economics and I would love to know if they do this stuff consciously with design and an end goal - or whether the ESO economy is simply ignored and left to deal with any consequences of desaigns aimed at other things...
Here's a few examples:
The Wrothgar 'event' with double drops of everything has a certain in game effect with people everywhere sprinting for each node BUT is obviously having an impact on the economics because at least for a while there will be a glut of materials in the game and prices will drop (or maybe some traders will hold back their wares waiting for prices to rise again) - either way there is a consequence - is it intended?
From Day 1 the drop rates of gold tempers from refining seem to have been more or less stable per refined stack whereas the availability of ore vs cloth/leather vs. wood and the demand for some gold tempers is always heavier than others... thus metal tempers sell higher than cloth which sell higher than wood - why has this never been looked at with a view to balancing out? Or do ZOS deliberately want that to be the situation?
And the changes to levelling - only one time per account will you ever need CP10-140 materials... so suddenly a 4 tiers of mats lose almost all real value except to the odd crafter without fully leveled skills? Deliberate?
And how about the changes in One Tamriel where anyone craft leveled only gets top tier mats - is that good or bad for the economy? Still not sure on that one...
And BoP vs. BoE - BoE sets are one way that dungeon runners and pvp players can make some money... and a way that those who don't like dungeon grind can get the gear sets (i.e. I'll grind mats enough to get enough gold tempers so you can upgrade your gear, meanwhile I'll then drop the money you pay for them on buying that set piece that I can't face doing a 30th or 100th run to acquire... everyone wins). But ZOS have moved back to making an awful lot of sets BoP only which again his consequences on the market... people still want the tempers or herbs but they can't sell their spare set pieces any more...
And selling herbs for TV stones again impacts on the market in a very specific way, especially in the early phase as IC lovers dump their unwanted stacks of TV for herbs etc.
None of these changes is necessarily terrible and this is not a thread top try and reverse any or all of them - my interest is in whether ZOS consider the economic impact of their game changes, maybe even have an economist on staff as some big games have done or whether it is all simply unintended consequences?
Sorry I know it's a bit of a dry subject....
My understanding of other big MMOs is that as well as things like skill balance and gear balance they also have people who consider the economy of the game - simply because the in game economy can have a large impact on players and it is important to strike the right balance between it being too easy and too hard for players to achieve decent results with whatever play style they choose.
Now ZOS have made a few changes lately that for short or long term reasons have or will skew the economics and I would love to know if they do this stuff consciously with design and an end goal - or whether the ESO economy is simply ignored and left to deal with any consequences of desaigns aimed at other things...
Here's a few examples:
The Wrothgar 'event' with double drops of everything has a certain in game effect with people everywhere sprinting for each node BUT is obviously having an impact on the economics because at least for a while there will be a glut of materials in the game and prices will drop (or maybe some traders will hold back their wares waiting for prices to rise again) - either way there is a consequence - is it intended?
From Day 1 the drop rates of gold tempers from refining seem to have been more or less stable per refined stack whereas the availability of ore vs cloth/leather vs. wood and the demand for some gold tempers is always heavier than others... thus metal tempers sell higher than cloth which sell higher than wood - why has this never been looked at with a view to balancing out? Or do ZOS deliberately want that to be the situation?
And the changes to levelling - only one time per account will you ever need CP10-140 materials... so suddenly a 4 tiers of mats lose almost all real value except to the odd crafter without fully leveled skills? Deliberate?
And how about the changes in One Tamriel where anyone craft leveled only gets top tier mats - is that good or bad for the economy? Still not sure on that one...
And BoP vs. BoE - BoE sets are one way that dungeon runners and pvp players can make some money... and a way that those who don't like dungeon grind can get the gear sets (i.e. I'll grind mats enough to get enough gold tempers so you can upgrade your gear, meanwhile I'll then drop the money you pay for them on buying that set piece that I can't face doing a 30th or 100th run to acquire... everyone wins). But ZOS have moved back to making an awful lot of sets BoP only which again his consequences on the market... people still want the tempers or herbs but they can't sell their spare set pieces any more...
And selling herbs for TV stones again impacts on the market in a very specific way, especially in the early phase as IC lovers dump their unwanted stacks of TV for herbs etc.
None of these changes is necessarily terrible and this is not a thread top try and reverse any or all of them - my interest is in whether ZOS consider the economic impact of their game changes, maybe even have an economist on staff as some big games have done or whether it is all simply unintended consequences?
Sorry I know it's a bit of a dry subject....
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Alanar✭✭✭✭I've pondered this quite a bit myself, both as a master merchant (>100M cumulative sales), and as an aspiring game designer. As I've watched ZOS make decisions, I've noticed deliberate decisions to increase complexity when it can increase fun. You can see this clearly in the guild store system, which creates several hundred small markets instead of a single big market (like the auction house in WoW). This fragmented market creates many opportunities for arbitrage (buy low in one place, sell high in another), which is itself a fun part of the game. I even know a few people that only play the guild store game and don't PVP or PVE.
In that spirit, I would expect that the designers at ZOS deliberately introduce changes to the game the change the economy, since having an economy that shifts over time is another fun and interesting element to the game, allowing players to try to anticipate the impact of changes and profit as a result.
Another ZOS principle I've noticed is a free market economy. I don't believe that ZOS changes drop rates to intervene in markets with specific target prices. Instead, I think they focus on making sure all areas of the game are attractive to players, balancing rewards across the game and letting prices take care of themselves.0