Gold Inflation and What Can Be Done

targario

hey dear community,

as everyone knows there is a crazy amounts of gold inflation in the game and i want to talk why this is a bad thing for "casual players"(as zos proved that they care casuals more) and my suggestions to fix this.


inflation is bad for new and casual players because it will fear them, the millions of gold is need to get some new items or upgrading stuff. jewelry upgrading was pricey even before this infilation and now its way worse.

what can be done?

well, zos needs to add some mechanics or activities that should require some gold from the players.

Examples: (all below just random thoughs, and prices can be changed accordingly)

Upgrading should ask for some gold:
Blue to Purple, usual mats + 10k gold
Purple to Yellow, usual mats + 100k gold

Outfit system should require for more gold:
500 gold is now 5k
1k gold is now 10k
3k gold is now 30k

Transmutating should require more gold.


and obviously daily writs should give less money, or maybe less for multiple characters.


I would like to hear your thoughts on this subject, and what other things could be done about this problem?

good days.

sarahthes

While I agree we need more gold sinks, tying it to the upgrade system just locks new players out even more.

I would like houses and mounts I can purchase directly with gold. Those 2 things are the most likely to get me to actually use a significant amount of my gold reserve.

Iron_Warrior

Pc market has inflation, console market is stable

Pc has add ones, consoles don't have add ones

So now tell me what is causing inflation on pc? You give me the answer

Northwold

I think for a casual player pricing things like upgrades with gold is going to make the situation *worse*, not better. It will make it more difficult for them to upgrade their items.

On daily writs, since the majority of players do not regularly use alts, it would make sense for the gold reward to be available only to one character per account, or, perhaps, for all other characters to receive a much lower amount.

I don't regularly use alts so don't know, but another mechanism to take gold out of the system might be to take a tax every time a player transfers gold between characters at a bank (I don't know if this happens already). I don't really understand the logic that says your alts are a team, almost like a workforce, working for one boss character and feeding him or her all their income, rather than alternative characters. That actually feels like cheating to me.

More fundamentally, certain item drops need to be increased because their scarcity is unbalancing the game.

I mainly play casually and for crafting / housing. If you look at housing recipes, you need a hell of a lot of mundane runes to build structures of any scale. They are very expensive to buy from guild traders and do not drop enough in the game world, which makes housing quite the chore. (I have been seeing more mundane runes lately, including in heavy sacks, so I don't know if ZOS have finally realised that this is a problem and done something to address it.)

Regional materials are even worse, with the Blackwood Ivory Clasp marking a new low -- it almost never turns up in anything except the (group, not solo) dailies for Leyawiin but is required to build a basic section of wall in a house.

There have been a couple of discussions recently on preventing resale of goods bought from traders for, say, 30 days, which would also go some way to preventing opportunistic price fixing behaviour. Yes, on consoles, people going around buying up bargains and moving them to more frequented guild stores at higher prices is a service. But on PC Tamriel Trade Centre exists, so it is simply profiteering.

(The very existence of TTC really suggests that the game should move to a central auction house like any sane MMO that wants casual players to bother engaging with it, but I get that ESO has chosen that hill to die on.)

Toxic_Hemlock

Iron_Warrior wrote: »

Pc market has inflation, console market is stable

Pc has add ones, consoles don't have add ones

So now tell me what is causing inflation on pc? You give me the answer

Let the console crowd have add-ons?

If you are worried about inflation, sell crown crates for 500k -1 million each I'm guessing the inflation will take care of itself.

Lady_Galadhiel

More gold sinks yes but as mentioned, now charging for upgrading your armor would hurt the new players much more than the ones who play for a longer time.
You could see millions and millions of gold disappear from the game if ZOS would add an option to exchange gold for crowns.That would make a difference because just adding a few minor gold sinks here and there won't have much if any impact.

mocap

ever since regional prices in crown store has been fixed for, i thing it was Argentina, by using VPN, PC prices start skyrocket. Nothing you can do about it cuz most of players don't need extra golden gear, they need fancy mounts and stuff.

And yes - you are talking about golden gear, while purple can be obtained ezpz by everyone while difference is negligible.

Iron_Warrior

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

Iron_Warrior wrote: »

Pc market has inflation, console market is stable

Pc has add ones, consoles don't have add ones

So now tell me what is causing inflation on pc? You give me the answer

Let the console crowd have add-ons?

If you are worried about inflation, sell crown crates for 500k -1 million each I'm guessing the inflation will take care of itself.

Console not having add ones is causing pc inflation?

It's a simple problem with a simple solution. there are three versions of the same trading system on 3 three different platforms. 2 of them are stable and 1 is inflated. For solving the problem you have to see what is the difference between the stable ones and the inflated one and fix it. You don't need to add features to the game that also affect the 2 stable markets only to fix the inflated one.

Northwold

Iron_Warrior wrote: »

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

Iron_Warrior wrote: »

Pc market has inflation, console market is stable

Pc has add ones, consoles don't have add ones

So now tell me what is causing inflation on pc? You give me the answer

Let the console crowd have add-ons?

If you are worried about inflation, sell crown crates for 500k -1 million each I'm guessing the inflation will take care of itself.

Console not having add ones is causing pc inflation?

It's a simple problem with a simple solution. there are three versions of the same trading system on 3 three different platforms. 2 of them are stable and 1 is inflated. For solving the problem you have to see what is the difference between the stable ones and the inflated one and fix it. You don't need to add features to the game that also affect the 2 stable markets only to fix the inflated one.

I think the issue is, though, that without something like TTC the guild trader system does approach unusable to anyone but the most addicted player. It exists because the trading system as conceived is ridiculous.

How hardcore can you reasonably expect players to be? They want something relatively rare. Is a developer seriously expecting them to travel the entire continent searching for it every couple of days or so? Maybe they should just never bother looking and never buy it?

I get that there are some trading nuts here. But what is the point of a trading system that discourages trade by making it an utterly tedious chore?

One of the most common points you see made when people ask whether ESO is worth trying is that the game doesn't have an auction house and it makes it a bit of a nightmare.

It is all the more bizarre because ESO -- the game that famously seeks to cater for the casual player crowd more than any other major MMO -- in trading goes completely the other way to be as casual player unfriendly as possible. Its trading system is more hardcore MMO/clique-based than even the most notorious MMOs(!!).

Snamyap

Well, ZOS's answer is apparently double gold for a week! 👍

Toxic_Hemlock

Iron_Warrior wrote: »

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

Iron_Warrior wrote: »

Pc market has inflation, console market is stable

Pc has add ones, consoles don't have add ones

So now tell me what is causing inflation on pc? You give me the answer

Let the console crowd have add-ons?

If you are worried about inflation, sell crown crates for 500k -1 million each I'm guessing the inflation will take care of itself.

Console not having add ones is causing pc inflation?

It's a simple problem with a simple solution. there are three versions of the same trading system on 3 three different platforms. 2 of them are stable and 1 is inflated. For solving the problem you have to see what is the difference between the stable ones and the inflated one and fix it. You don't need to add features to the game that also affect the 2 stable markets only to fix the inflated one.

To your first question, no, but it does make things uneven across platforms and as such leveling out the field is preferred because MANY would leave the PC platform, myself included, if they took away our addons. So my solution seems much more fair and balanced.

As to your second paragraph, I already made a suggestion that doesn't involve gutting the ability of PC players to enjoy the game, and that is put the crown crates up for sale. You could do this on all platforms too, so as to again, level the playing field on all platforms. Once you do this and gold is worth more the inflation would stop quickly IMO. I'm just spitballing here as ZOS would most likely never let that happen.

Northwold

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

As to your second paragraph, I already made a suggestion that doesn't involve gutting the ability of PC players to enjoy the game, and that is put the crown crates up for sale. You could do this on all platforms too, so as to again, level the playing field on all platforms. Once you do this and gold is worth more the inflation would stop quickly IMO. I'm just spitballing here as ZOS would most likely never let that happen.

Given that loot boxes are already illegal in some jurisdictions and look likely to be made illegal in many more (because they are gambling with real world money), it's maybe not quite as unlikely as it sounds!

Toxic_Hemlock

Northwold wrote: »

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

As to your second paragraph, I already made a suggestion that doesn't involve gutting the ability of PC players to enjoy the game, and that is put the crown crates up for sale. You could do this on all platforms too, so as to again, level the playing field on all platforms. Once you do this and gold is worth more the inflation would stop quickly IMO. I'm just spitballing here as ZOS would most likely never let that happen.

Given that loot boxes are already illegal in some jurisdictions and look likely to be made illegal in many more (because they are gambling with real world money), it's maybe not quite as unlikely as it sounds!

Ah but there is the nicest thing about it, it is no longer considered gambling if you can buy them with in-game currency; 2 birds one stone. No real money need exchange hands for crowns/crates. Like I said it will most likely never happen, and if it did the cost in gold could be made into a huge obstacle, but I can dream.

Sarannah

Nothing needs to change, inflation also means that which players gather is worth more. So incoming and outgoing balances itself out as always.

Tying in gold to upgrading would however hit new players hard. And I personally feel the outfitting system should be free, as ZOS sells outfits and gives outfit rewards with events. Charging gold for something you want players to pay reallife money for is kinda counterproductive.

PS: Personally I think excavation is the cause for gold inflation.

Northwold

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

As to your second paragraph, I already made a suggestion that doesn't involve gutting the ability of PC players to enjoy the game, and that is put the crown crates up for sale. You could do this on all platforms too, so as to again, level the playing field on all platforms. Once you do this and gold is worth more the inflation would stop quickly IMO. I'm just spitballing here as ZOS would most likely never let that happen.

Given that loot boxes are already illegal in some jurisdictions and look likely to be made illegal in many more (because they are gambling with real world money), it's maybe not quite as unlikely as it sounds!

Ah but there is the nicest thing about it, it is no longer considered gambling if you can buy them with in-game currency; 2 birds one stone. No real money need exchange hands for crowns/crates. Like I said it will most likely never happen, and if it did the cost in gold could be made into a huge obstacle, but I can dream.

Exactly my point and why it may well happen!

kringled_1

Iron_Warrior wrote: »

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

Iron_Warrior wrote: »

Pc market has inflation, console market is stable

Pc has add ones, consoles don't have add ones

So now tell me what is causing inflation on pc? You give me the answer

Let the console crowd have add-ons?

If you are worried about inflation, sell crown crates for 500k -1 million each I'm guessing the inflation will take care of itself.

Console not having add ones is causing pc inflation?

It's a simple problem with a simple solution. there are three versions of the same trading system on 3 three different platforms. 2 of them are stable and 1 is inflated. For solving the problem you have to see what is the difference between the stable ones and the inflated one and fix it. You don't need to add features to the game that also affect the 2 stable markets only to fix the inflated one.

Your assumption here is that everything else is equal (that impacts pricing) and I don't think that's necessarily true.
There are a few things that add-ons do that might reasonably and specifically impact the economy.
LWC has been pointed at often in the last year. By speeding up the process of daily writs, it probably enables people to do more daily writs than they otherwise would do which is more gold into the economy. If you're looking at inflation as the price of upgrade mats, though, those same writs are one of the larger sources of upgrade mats. Simple character load time being shorter lends itself to more writs being run on PC. (for the record, I don't use LWC and I do multiple daily craft writs primarily for material income)
Ttc and att/mm (pricing information add ons don't directly drive inflation. They do accelerate trends, whether inflationary or deflationary, and reduce outlier prices on both sides. They do let people be more aware of average prices so they may be more aware of the trend.

My assessment of inflation on the pc/NA market is that its quite restricted to a narrow set of goods, and is probably substantially driven by a smaller set of players with deep pockets and relatively few things to spend on, and a high willingness to spend now on those few things they do want. Even if the gold ultimately originated from the broader use of craft writs (in sure that's part of it but not all) the inflationary impact isn't as large until it ends up in those richer players pockets.
Sinks could be better, but a lot of proposals don't really hit the mark. Guild trader bids are excellent because they scale with the economy and the biggest impact is on players with the means to sustain it, but I think we're running into limits there. Something else with similar characteristics would be preferable. Adding an additional direct gold cost to upgrades would not scale as well and would impact players who aren't well off.
I'd also like to point out that a lot of the reliably valuable materials (upgrade mats, alchemy mats, perfect roe) are accessible to be farmed /generated by players at all skill levels. If you are in a rush and don't want to spend time on that, that's what puts you into competition for limited supply with other players also unwilling to spend time on these activities.

Arthtur

(Prices are from PC EU)
For start, OP idea is just bad. "in the name of casual players" when u just hurt them more....
Also upgrade materials arent only for PvE and PvP. Those are used for Master writs and this would push Gold:Voucher ratio up which already is going up because of materials cost. We dont need more gold sinks in Housing...

Outfit Station already has pretty big gold sink, its called motifs. Its pretty common to see some of them sell for over 100k.

Transmute System. U want gold sink here? Let ppl trade Transmute Stones.

"TTC is a problem" - and here is me running around seeing stuff for 20% cheaper than in Mournhold. I get it that with each year there is more traders to check and not everyone has time for that but ppl who just sit and refresh TTC spend their time on it. Its not like they just get free stuff. Also did anyone tried doing this? Because i tried and I got bored after 20 minutes. As for results - it wasnt better than just running around.

For comparing prices on PC and Consoles.... which prices are u comparing? Golden Upgrade Materials? Crowns?
For Upgrade Materials - Consoles have bots, there is post about it almost everyday on reddit. Yeah rly healthy market. It got to the point where ppl create bots to fight bots... But to the point. Because of bots there is big supply of crafting materials which keep prices low. Because of lower prices everything connected to it gets cheaper - Housing, Gear etc.
So ppl need less gold so they put stuff for less too. Ban bots and prices will go up like crazy.
For Crowns - if u compare PC EU to others servers its simple. There is more "poor" countries (Crowns costs few times more). Dont excpect ppl to sell u stuff for cheap when it costs them 3 times more than others.
And for ppl who dont know - there was an "exploit" on steam. U could use VPN and buy Brazilian (im not sure on the country tho) account and buy crowns few times cheaper. So ppl were getting like 3-4 times more crowns because of that and were selling them for gold. Zos put the same prices for crowns everywhere so every country have the same price so now some ppl have to pay 3-4 times more for crowns.
In short ZOS just removed prices scalling to country and put 1 for everyone. Its rly bad in my opinion as there were better options but what can we do...


In the end, u cant just remove "inflation". This is a normal thing in games. The longer game exists the more stuff ppl have and less goldsinks is effective. Its just at some point trading is more important than getting gold from mobs. Like i have a house, almost all motfis and what should i do with gold? I just get more. There are still things that i want but those arent that important. I will use my friend for example - my friend has 7k+ Dreugh Wax, around 300 Chromium plating and a lot other stuff. Why he has so much? Because he plays few years. He is not interested in Housing or Outfits so he doesnt need gold at all. Punishing ppl like that wont matter for them and will only hurt new players.

As for blaming the gifting system from Crown Store... Yes its an easy way for some ppl to get gold but... For some ppl its the only way to spend gold.... Small rant now i guess.
Like ZOS is saying how everything is hard because of pandemic. And we get 2 memenots and tatto for new dungeons. At the same time for buying collector edition of this DLC u get a mount and a pet... Every time there is Dungeon DLC its looks the same. Weak rewards for dungeons and a mount for buying them. Imagine if that mount would be a reward in this dungeon. Or that there is a small chance to get it and u can sell it later. But no... u want mount? Go to crown store or wait a year for event. U want a skin? Crown store. U want anything else? Crown store. There is just lack of rewards in any content (only good change was with event rewards - 1 house, 1 skin, 1 mount, 1 pet) and it was pointed out already.

Anyway, u cant remove gold right now from the game without kicking out players who play few years. Only thing u can do is make trading easier for new players. There is a lot of ppl who dont know the prices of stuff. ZOS could add average pricing on items like TTC does to the game (without telling the locations tho) to make its easier but... i dont wanna know what they would remove for that ;p
Yes i had to make this joke xD

Anyway thats all from me. I wrote too much anyway xD

(typo)

Xebov

targario wrote: »

hey dear community,

as everyone knows there is a crazy amounts of gold inflation in the game and i want to talk why this is a bad thing for "casual players"(as zos proved that they care casuals more) and my suggestions to fix this.


inflation is bad for new and casual players because it will fear them, the millions of gold is need to get some new items or upgrading stuff. jewelry upgrading was pricey even before this infilation and now its way worse.

what can be done?

well, zos needs to add some mechanics or activities that should require some gold from the players.

Examples: (all below just random thoughs, and prices can be changed accordingly)

Upgrading should ask for some gold:
Blue to Purple, usual mats + 10k gold
Purple to Yellow, usual mats + 100k gold

Outfit system should require for more gold:
500 gold is now 5k
1k gold is now 10k
3k gold is now 30k

Transmutating should require more gold.


and obviously daily writs should give less money, or maybe less for multiple characters.


I would like to hear your thoughts on this subject, and what other things could be done about this problem?

good days.

Inflation is not an issue at all. It is entirely limited to player trade and has no effect outside of it.
Even inside player trade its not realy an issue because items have a price when buying it, but also when selling it. So as long as players provide some items to the market they can also get some from the market without issues. There are plenty of opportunities to provide items to the market. As a conclusion of this the prices are only an issue for players viewing the player market as a goods store to get items.
Whats also to be kept in mind is that the player market is not a primary item aquisition for the game. Everything that can be traded can be farmed. As such everyone that doesnt want to buy it can simply aquire it without spending any gold on it.

The main reason why these topics come up is that some players dont want to farm and expect the player market to cheaply provide items they need to them. Naming "casual players" as a victim of inflation is simply outright wrong because they need the same amount of playtime to aquire goods like everyone else. The only difference is that every player has individual play time so farming 10 hours will take a variable amount of real days for a player.

Your suggestion is not fitting your assessment. If some players have issues getting gold than putting a price tag on game mechanics is not going to help them at all.

What you have to understand here is that gold in a game economy like ESO is not flowing around like in real world economics because banks, loans and investments dont exist. It simply piles up with some part of the player base and as such combating it with increased prices for game mechanis is not working out well. On the otehr hand combating it is not realy needed since you can easily buy if you also sell.

kargen27

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

Toxic_Hemlock wrote: »

As to your second paragraph, I already made a suggestion that doesn't involve gutting the ability of PC players to enjoy the game, and that is put the crown crates up for sale. You could do this on all platforms too, so as to again, level the playing field on all platforms. Once you do this and gold is worth more the inflation would stop quickly IMO. I'm just spitballing here as ZOS would most likely never let that happen.

Given that loot boxes are already illegal in some jurisdictions and look likely to be made illegal in many more (because they are gambling with real world money), it's maybe not quite as unlikely as it sounds!

Ah but there is the nicest thing about it, it is no longer considered gambling if you can buy them with in-game currency; 2 birds one stone. No real money need exchange hands for crowns/crates. Like I said it will most likely never happen, and if it did the cost in gold could be made into a huge obstacle, but I can dream.

They already took care of this with the endeavor system. Endeavors created an in game currency that allows purchase of items found in crates.

Going back to the opening post there is some inflation but it isn't bad. The economy is strong and vibrant. Players can afford everything they need and most of what they want. Sure new players can't afford the latest motifs or the rare items but that is temporary and doesn't affect game play or new players. PC prices may be higher but the ability to make gold is greater. You can't fairly compare console prices to PC prices. Nothing about the economies is the same.

The economy is fluid. Prices still move based on supply and demand. New items start out extremely over priced to take advantage of the I want it first crowd. Within days the prices drop and eventually settle in. Changes to the game will have an affect on prices of certain items. I expect the price of Perfect Roe to increase by quite a bit because of the account wide achievements. Less players will be fishing because of that change meaning less supply.

A little more removal of gold from the game wouldn't hurt. Maybe an increase in taxes on goods sold. The trick is to find a way to remove gold from the game but not change players abilities especially at lower levels to earn gold.

More small and medium sized homes introduced to the game available for gold might help. I know players that like housing are always asking for more small and medium sized homes.
Added inventory space that costs an amount of gold each week might help though added space might add to performance issues. It isn't a big problem though that needs a drastic fix. Even if nothing is done the economy will stay strong and vibrant.

Northwold

"There are plenty of opportunities to provide items to the market."

Sorry but this is the classic kind of statement you would expect to find on this forum that is actually very different from sentiments elsewhere.

No. There are two places where you can sell in ESO:

1. Through a guild store. And good luck if you don't intend to play more than weekly or have a casual play style because your guild will kick you when they decide to go big, which is not actually a very nice feeling for a casual player. It's actively alienating.

2. Through zone chat, which is plain annoying.

ESO courts casual players. There is nothing wrong with being a casual player, despite what some people here might think, and there is no sensible mechanism for casual players really to sell stuff in ESO. It is truly weird.

S0Z0H

It's a challenge to get to be a multi millionaire in Gold, but for casuals, grinding for gold also levels up your character and you can experience all the many different ways to get gold and still have fun in the game. The thing is, there's lots to do in ESO, it's never a bore when you factor in mastering crafting, fishing , doing your dailies , doing trials , hunting down treasure chests, selling items on the guild traders , etc.

There's tons to do for casuals and once get rich in ESO, you realize in the process of all that you just leveled up your character to 1000 champ points, obtained tons of dyes , skins, pets and mounts, cool armor motifs and costumes , et cetra.

I think ESO's economy is okay. Cuz it's not a full grind. It's very fun and varied experience with tons to do.
And don't forget...killing dragons in elsywere gets u lots of treasure. Oh and events. Like right now, Explorer Event gives you more gold per drop. So get out there, casuals and go explore!

Xebov

Northwold wrote: »

"There are plenty of opportunities to provide items to the market."
Sorry but this is the classic kind of statement you would expect to find on this forum that is actually very different from sentiments elsewhere.

You can farm and sell upgrade materials, furnishings, furnishing plans, alchemical ingredients or potions, motifs, gear. So alot of opportunities to sell various kinds of items to the player market exists.

Northwold wrote: »

Through a guild store. And good luck if you don't intend to play more than weekly or have a casual play style because your guild will kick you when they decide to go big, which is not actually a very nice feeling for a casual player. It's actively alienating.

Whats the issue? This goes down into every mobiel game. You become part of a community that of course expects players to actually play. There are more than 200 Guild traders in the game and alot of guilds that have traders and dont expect anything from their members. This sounds like an excuse for not wanting to find a trade guild that fits individual goals and needs.

Northwold wrote: »

ESO courts casual players. There is nothing wrong with being a casual player, despite what some people here might think, and there is no sensible mechanism for casual players really to sell stuff in ESO. It is truly weird.

Casual players are players that dont spend to much time into the game for various reasons. That does not imply disconnection from game mechanics in any way. If trade guilds are the devs general approach to selling than you should get one. There are enought easily available. Of course you will get nowhere if you use the term casual to describe disconencting yourself from parts of the game.

Northwold

Xebov wrote: »

Whats the issue? This goes down into every mobiel game. You become part of a community that of course expects players to actually play. There are more than 200 Guild traders in the game and alot of guilds that have traders and dont expect anything from their members. This sounds like an excuse for not wanting to find a trade guild that fits individual goals and needs.

Northwold wrote: »

ESO courts casual players. There is nothing wrong with being a casual player, despite what some people here might think, and there is no sensible mechanism for casual players really to sell stuff in ESO. It is truly weird.

Casual players are players that dont spend to much time into the game for various reasons. That does not imply disconnection from game mechanics in any way. If trade guilds are the devs general approach to selling than you should get one. There are enought easily available. Of course you will get nowhere if you use the term casual to describe disconencting yourself from parts of the game.

You are aware that this is one of the major reasons people actively tell players not to try ESO over other MMOs?

I mean, obviously, that doesn't bother some people. But I find it quite telling.

Xebov

Northwold wrote: »

Xebov wrote: »

Whats the issue? This goes down into every mobiel game. You become part of a community that of course expects players to actually play. There are more than 200 Guild traders in the game and alot of guilds that have traders and dont expect anything from their members. This sounds like an excuse for not wanting to find a trade guild that fits individual goals and needs.

Northwold wrote: »

ESO courts casual players. There is nothing wrong with being a casual player, despite what some people here might think, and there is no sensible mechanism for casual players really to sell stuff in ESO. It is truly weird.

Casual players are players that dont spend to much time into the game for various reasons. That does not imply disconnection from game mechanics in any way. If trade guilds are the devs general approach to selling than you should get one. There are enought easily available. Of course you will get nowhere if you use the term casual to describe disconencting yourself from parts of the game.

You are aware that this is one of the major reasons people actively tell players not to try ESO over other MMOs?

I mean, obviously, that doesn't bother some people. But I find it quite telling.

You can also play other MMOs and still would have to spend time to find the right guild for you. So where exactly is the issue?

xXSilverDragonXx

targario wrote: »

hey dear community,

as everyone knows there is a crazy amounts of gold inflation in the game and i want to talk why this is a bad thing for "casual players"(as zos proved that they care casuals more) and my suggestions to fix this.


inflation is bad for new and casual players because it will fear them, the millions of gold is need to get some new items or upgrading stuff. jewelry upgrading was pricey even before this infilation and now its way worse.

what can be done?

well, zos needs to add some mechanics or activities that should require some gold from the players.

So you want to make things more expensive to help the casual player because of inflation? Go rethink that one please.

Also, in any given game, non casual players are always going to be at an advantage. They do more thus they get more. They do more thus they gain more skills, probably more characters, etc. Thus, they get better stuff. It's not anyone's job to adjust so that people who play less have similar benefit to people who play more. Nevermind that you want to raise prices which would then only really hurt the people who play less because they wont' have that kind of gold to toss at things.

Casual players have to understand that by playing less they won't likely have the same kind of experience that people who play more do. And I have known plenty of casual players who get this. As long as they can long when it suits them and do what suits them, I've never heard them complain.

jahaposada

Everquest implemented a Tribute system where you paid X # of platinum per hour for small increases from a wide choice of stats. Of course this means adding a new feature that would just drain server resources.

Instead of companions, they should have implemented hired mercenaries that drained gold while active.

Northwold

Xebov wrote: »

You can also play other MMOs and still would have to spend time to find the right guild for you. So where exactly is the issue?

Well that's not actually the case for selling things, no.

The issue with ESO is the lack of a central auction house. And that is where ESO has put up its stall so it's unlikely to change. But it does create problems.

So your post earlier stated that there was no issue with inflation because players can just sell stuff. In a sense, they can. But it's actually something that a large subgroup of players in ESO find actively unappealing compared to other MMOs because of everything that comes with it.

I don't think the lack of an auction house has worked out particularly well in practice, as it happens.

For starters, TTC would not get used if "local economies" were considered a good idea by players, and the existence of TTC has meant that "local economies" plain don't happen on PC. So that hasn't worked.

And the idea of joining a guild would be fine if they weren't so limited in member numbers and under active pressure to find money to pay for trader slots that you either play all the time and stay in or get kicked periodically. That is not fun. It is utterly tedious and casual players are not going to change their lifestyles to accommodate the demands of a computer game, most especially when competing games expect nothing of the kind.

So you are going to end up with particular issues with how the economy of ESO works that don't apply with other MMOs. Because you're going to end up with a set of players who will not engage with the selling mechanics. And they really will see things like inflation and it will make the game increasingly unenjoyable to them.

It's no answer to such players to tell them they need to "put in the effort", as people perennially state around here. Forum users who resort to such lines have no idea how much or how little time people put into the game (and it is a very different thing to put a lot of hours into a game and *to play a game regularly every single week*), they simply assume that everyone has the same tastes and lifestyles that they do. For a sizable contingent of the player base, that is simply not the case, and the economy is for them very problematic and its design truly bizarre.

Gaeliannas

jahaposada wrote: »

Everquest implemented a Tribute system where you paid X # of platinum per hour for small increases from a wide choice of stats. Of course this means adding a new feature that would just drain server resources.

Instead of companions, they should have implemented hired mercenaries that drained gold while active.

I actually liked the mercenaries in EQ2, well I actually loved almost everything about EQ1&2, even the painful corpse runs. Those were very exciting times when a game literally had you sitting on the edge of your seat, holding your breath, required your complete focus, and once done you felt so relieved, relaxed, accomplished, and you could feel the adrenaline drain away as you sat back in your chair.

Good times back then, hoping another game drags me into their world like that again some day.

bmnoble

OP the things your suggesting would affect new and casual players far more than those with lots of gold and potentially even raise the prices of upgrade mats even further.


Add a resource satchel similar to the tel var one that exists for alchemy, but for the other crafts mats along with their furniture mats, for example:

You buy a satchel for 1000 gold you get a random assortment of either blacksmiths/woodworking/clothing/jewelry/enchanting/provisioning mats and a guaranteed fixed amount of furniture mats of the crafts your crate happens to be from. Just to be clear you only get one set of mats from the crafts above per crate and its random which one you get so you can't just pick the type you want to buy. (I would say exclude upgrade mats though)

That will cause more gold to go to the void and increase the mats available.


Add an option to exchange gold for xp at vendor that unlocks once your character his CP 160, 1 gold coin = 1 xp make it not affected by bonus sources such as scrolls and event xp bonuses. Someone wants a million xp, a million gold goes to the void, maybe with a weekly limit to the amount of xp you can buy with gold, something like a max of 5 - 10 million a week.

You can still get a lot more xp being carried instead or doing master writs so it should not affect sales of either too much.

For example for a million gold you buy 100 easy master writs 10K each do them with a 150% xp scroll/potion and an event 100% bonus you get a little over 40K xp each = 4 million xp.

Amottica

Inflation in a game is fairly normal and should not be micromanaged. Also, it has been pointed out before, there is really a small number of farmable matts that have experienced heavy inflation which has more to do with their availability. Most of these items can be farmed which negates the inflation to those who choose to spend time getting them vs going the easy route.

Additionally, punishing people for wanting to wear quality gear in the way suggested is extremely punitive to newer players and would be laughed at but those who play the game heavily. You know, the ones with the gold who can afford to pay the higher prices for the matts.

and what @Fhritz said below. No one can sell something for more than what someone else is willing to pay for it.

Fhritz

Since ESO economy is driven by player, this isn't an issue at all. yes, things cost more, but you can sell your own things for more too. So at the end it doesn't change anything at all i guess.