What are your first thoughts about ESO's Economy?

Atramicus

• Is coin worthless at the moment?

• What's the real money-maker? Motif farming?

• What crafting skill do you plan on mastering? Do you plan on making a living off of said skill?

deathly809_ESO

I am not even going to focus on it until a month or so down the line. There is no point in jumping in so early when things are so chaotic. For all we know they might apply a patch and screw a huge selection of users over.

Atramicus

deathly809_ESO wrote: »

I am not even going to focus on it until a month or so down the line. There is no point in jumping in so early when things are so chaotic. For all we know they might apply a patch and screw a huge selection of users over.

I've got the same mentality. Just curious about others thoughts.

Phadin

I'm mastering all the crafting skills at the moment, but from what I've seen I think Enchanting will be the most profitable. Alchemy seems the least profitable at the moment because there is no demand for potions outside of healing/mana/stamina, and those drop in truckloads off enemies.

I think motif farming is only going to be majorly profitable in the short term, but since each crafter only needs one of each motif, demand will eventually fall off.

Shimond

There's an economy?

The gold sinks for me are expanding inventory, basically. I'm also not making as much as others because I vendor very little - doing a lot of research on crafters, or breaking down things for skill gains.

Motifs IMO are a short term thing, since everyone's going to just need one of each kind (if they care at all) total, really. It's also only really profitable right now with the rarer ones because so few are high level to see them as often as they do the racial ones. That will change in time.

rawne1980b16_ESO

I don't think there is an economy at all.

I'm not part of a trade guild which seems to be where the buying and selling takes place yet I still make a small fortune.

What "economy" happens to be in the game is contained in those few trade guilds that happen to have large numbers and regular sales.

The overall economy in the game is terrible.

I have nothing to spend money on besides a few gold sinks like extra bag/bank slots which, when purchased, is the end of that sink .... and then horse upgrades which is minimal.

I don't repair because it's easier to let my gear get trashed, deconstruct it and then make some more.

No point buying anything off anyone else because I don't need to.

Auction houses in games were what used to take up my money when I couldn't be bothered mat hunting. I don't like large guilds and i'm not joining one just for the sake of a guild store so my money remains my own.

It is, quite possibly, the worst economy i've seen in a game.

Note that i'm not complaining about the guild stores, I know some people love them, i'm merely stating that there is no actual economy in the game.

Making gold is easy and there is virtually nothing to spend it on. The rich get richer and the poor get richer.

Give it a few months and even people terrible at making gold will be sat on tens of thousands with nothing to do with it.

Shimond

rawne1980b16_ESO wrote: »

Give it a few months and even people terrible at making gold will be sat on tens of thousands with nothing to do with it.

I'm not convinced this is so terrible a thing. I mean if gold is plentiful and useless, gold farmers/sellers would theoretically cease to be, right?

Mansome

For me there is no real economy yet. However the moment they introduce an AH the bots will take over if no safe guards are put into place. Currently I spend money on the follow:
Bag and shared bank upgrades
sometimes white piece of gear that has a trait I want to learn
a trait material

I didn't buy the horse because I have the imperial edition so 1 gold doesn't really count.
With so little to spend it on I would hardly call it economy.

Jeremy

I agree with the above posts.

This game has no economy. Just a mishmash of desperate trade spam and poorly made guild stores that can't even supply my own individual needs - let alone the population at large.

I buy/sell more with NPCs on this game than I do other players.

Gisgo

It will take a while to build up a real economy and atm the real money maker is farming mats, crafting, selling to vendors.
Give it some time tho, and people will require ingredients for food and potions, sets of veteran gear, stuff... at that point a real economy might born.

thisisdustinsemail_ESO

I don't think there is an economy.

Also, I respecced and removed all my skill points from the crafting lines. I still deconstruct stuff, but I don't craft stuff. It's just pointless when I can play the game naked and not have a hard time...

Valco

Why does this game have to have an economy?

Jeremy

Valco wrote: »

Why does this game have to have an economy?

It doesn't have to. But it should.

Healthy economies are vital to a lot of people's enjoyment of an MMORPG. Myself included.

And for those who do not care for effective economies and public markets between players no one is advocating that we force them to take part in it. They would still be welcomed to scavenge everything yourself or play the guild store lottery if that is their thing.

Valco

Jeremy wrote: »

Valco wrote: »

Why does this game have to have an economy?

It doesn't have to. But it should.

Healthy economies are vital to a lot of people's enjoyment of an MMORPG. Myself included.

And for those who do not care for effective economies and public markets between players no one is advocating that we force you to take part in it. You would still be welcomed to scavenge everything yourself or play the guild store lottery if that is your thing.

I would agree with most of your reply. And I think it is really fun to find things for myself for a change in other MMOs I got lazy and just went to the AH just to find things so overly priced that I didn't bother and done without. But as far as saying I'm welcomed to scavenge well that is just a remark maybe trying to make yourself feel uber when obviously you scavenge in the AH for things.

rawne1980b16_ESO

Shimond wrote: »

rawne1980b16_ESO wrote: »

Give it a few months and even people terrible at making gold will be sat on tens of thousands with nothing to do with it.

I'm not convinced this is so terrible a thing. I mean if gold is plentiful and useless, gold farmers/sellers would theoretically cease to be, right?

I didn't think of it that way.

It is a good point.

Jeremy

Valco wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Valco wrote: »

Why does this game have to have an economy?

It doesn't have to. But it should.

Healthy economies are vital to a lot of people's enjoyment of an MMORPG. Myself included.

And for those who do not care for effective economies and public markets between players no one is advocating that we force you to take part in it. You would still be welcomed to scavenge everything yourself or play the guild store lottery if that is your thing.

I would agree with most of your reply. And I think it is really fun to find things for myself for a change in other MMOs I got lazy and just went to the AH just to find things so overly priced that I didn't bother and done without. But as far as saying I'm welcomed to scavenge well that is just a remark maybe trying to make yourself feel uber when obviously you scavenge in the AH for things.

The last thing on my mind when I made that remark was trying to feel uber.

I was making the point that people who want to scavenge all of their materials manually without visiting a market may still do so. No one would be putting a gun to their head and forcing them to use a public auction house.

It was more of a general live and let live type of statement. Not in any way an attempt to make myself feel uber.

But I'll refrain from using the word you in a general sense for now on to avoid misunderstandings ^^

Crumpy

Is there an economy now? Oh cool!

Drachenfier

What economy?

dpayne83_ESO

When most people think economy they think money made from AH which doesn't have to be that way. I believe if people are buying and selling in trade chat then, in a sense, they are using the in-game system, to fuel an economy. From what I see people want an AH simply to make thousands upon thousands of gold easily. They don't want to embrace a different system because it's out of their comfort zone. I mean, sure they have guild stores which people claim don't really work. Not sure how they can't get it to work. I get mine to work every time and find what I want if it's in there. Don't want to join a guild for the sake of trading, that's fine but that's why they have 5 guilds you can join. If you really want to sell an item you have to take the time to advertise your wares in zone chat which to me is good from a social standpoint. It opens up interaction with people and for me I've built relationships with the people I buy from because I know who is going to give me a fair price, who can make what pieces I can't, and who is honest and not going to try and scam me. At the same time I learn the attitudes of my buyers and seller and they mine so we end up questing together. You can meet some really cool people just by interacting with them through trade.

For me gold is valuable. Given the cost of armor repairs late game and bag/bank slots with their costs, I feel that is your gold check. I hate dying because it's expensive for me, so I have to always assess a combat situation instead of charging in expecting to win every time. I hate spending thousands of gold on bag/bank space so I have to asses what do I really want to level crafting-wise?

It feels like people look at the game and think of all the freedom of learning all crafting styles but fail to realize that the more crafting professions you do, the more it's going to cost you for space to store all the materials. It's kind of like a hidden checkpoint to see who is smarter with their money. To save money I've been concentrating on clothier and woodworking for crafting. I think the learning of every crafting style and to open up all the bag/bank space is supposed to be this long gradual process. I've only spent gold on 2 bag upgrades and 2 bank upgrades.

Yes, this was a long post but I just thought I would share why I think the economy is working as intended by the devs.

Jeremy

dpayne83_ESO wrote: »

When most people think economy they think money made from AH which doesn't have to be that way. I believe if people are buying and selling in trade chat then, in a sense, they are using the in-game system, to fuel an economy. From what I see people want an AH simply to make thousands upon thousands of gold easily. They don't want to embrace a different system because it's out of their comfort zone. .

I don't want to embrace the system because it doesn't work.

I have attempted to buy what I was looking for by spamming advertisements. No luck. I have attempted to buy what I was looking for by visiting and joining many different guild stores. No luck.

It's not really about being comfortable or making thousands of gold. Those aren't even considerations of mine. I simply would like an economy that allows me to spend my gold on things I want.

Crumpy

I think people want an AH to be able to sell and buy to a greater number of people. Increasing their chances of selling their wares or of being more able to buy what they want. Which is good, economically.

I just don't buy the view that the guild-based AHs are "good" for the economy or the argument that the current system is somehow a new and challenging way of dealing with the game's economy.

keyboar

I really think this game needs an auction house, and built in search options for the existing guild stores.

I used to think that the guild store option was a better option. I didn't like Diablo III's auction house, and thought it ruined that game's fun in finding loot. Howeever, I think the introduction of an Auction House isn't just a want; it's a need. Since guilds cap out at 500, most of those characters level up overtime, or don't log in for days/weeks at a time, making it hard to predict what to sell. It's not uncommon to see a higher level average in a guild. Most of my guildmates are above level 15, so selling anything low level is a waste of time. To be successful in guild stores, it takes a lot of research and planning, and every guild is different. It's a pain.

With an auction house I could just throw up anything I don't use, and likely see it be sold withing an hour or two, not wasting hours (yes, I've spent hours) managing my inventory and selling/buying items.

I just want to play the game and sell my loot and have fun. I love this game, but nobody said love was easy.

Jeremy

Crumpy wrote: »

I think people want an AH to be able to sell and buy to a greater number of people. Increasing their chances of selling their wares or of being more able to buy what they want. Which is good, economically.

I just don't buy the view that the guild-based AHs are "good" for the economy or the argument that the current system is somehow a new and challenging way of dealing with the game's economy.

I don't buy it either. And I think the current state of this game's economy pretty much makes our case for us.

Magischzwei

• Is coin worthless at the moment?

Not really, everything is buyable for gold.

• What's the real money-maker? Motif farming?

(cynicism) duping apparently... (/cynicism)

Valco

Jeremy wrote: »

Valco wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Valco wrote: »

Why does this game have to have an economy?

It doesn't have to. But it should.

Healthy economies are vital to a lot of people's enjoyment of an MMORPG. Myself included.

And for those who do not care for effective economies and public markets between players no one is advocating that we force you to take part in it. You would still be welcomed to scavenge everything yourself or play the guild store lottery if that is your thing.

I would agree with most of your reply. And I think it is really fun to find things for myself for a change in other MMOs I got lazy and just went to the AH just to find things so overly priced that I didn't bother and done without. But as far as saying I'm welcomed to scavenge well that is just a remark maybe trying to make yourself feel uber when obviously you scavenge in the AH for things.

The last thing on my mind when I made that remark was trying to feel uber.

I was making the point that people who want to scavenge all of their materials manually without visiting a market may still do so. No one would be putting a gun to their head and forcing them to use a public auction house.

It was more of a general live and let live type of statement. Not in any way an attempt to make myself feel uber.

But I'll refrain from using the word you in a general sense for now on to avoid misunderstandings ^^

Hey no harm no foul man! Great comment you made, it made me stop and think what things would be like with a healthy economy we all would own huge houses and fancy cars or trucks oh wait that's RL. But seriously thanks for expanding my mind.

Greydog

ESO has an economy ?!?

Reavan

Im not much of a trader so it does not really change my opinion on the game but from my impression.
Its the worst i have ever seen in an mmo.
Out of any non Ah mmo styles i liked most conquer online where you'd have a player market of people selling their wares.
This trade guild idea is attrocious imo.

dreildragb14_ESO

Massive duping going on the economy is trashed. Still going on now. Motifs, legacy upgrades.. you name it, other than gold, they are duping it even now.

Ley

Reavan wrote: »

Im not much of a trader so it does not really change my opinion on the game but from my impression.
Its the worst i have ever seen in an mmo.
Out of any non Ah mmo styles i liked most conquer online where you'd have a player market of people selling their wares.
This trade guild idea is attrocious imo.

Loved conquer online!

Elephant42

Jeremy wrote: »

-snip-I simply would like an economy that allows me to spend my gold on things I want.

This +1000.

I'm looking at it from a consumer POV and I find it a pain in the arse having to go and visit many guild stores looking for something you need/want and more often than not, coming up empty handed.

Biggest bugbear for me was my provisioner trying to get recipes and/or ingredients she needed for crafting writs...

Some sort of central "market" that you could send a request to and get back an email from, with all the guild stores currently stocking what you want would go a long way to helping with this.

Romo

Oooh! the dead rise again!

Danger! Necro!