AP Should be bankable

bowmanz607 · January 2016

ZOS, alliance points should be transferable between your characters. AS it stands, i dont like to play my ults as much because it splits my ap up. Lets say I want a 500k ap motif and i have 300k on one toon, 100k on oanother and 100k on another. I have the AP, but i am penalized for wanting to play my other characters. I have put in the time and effort to earn 500k ap, but becuase it was different toons i can not reap the benefits?? So now i am forced to play only one character until i reach that bench mark on that character and have to avoid the others until then? This does not make sense to me. I should be able to transfer my AP between toons.

LostRedden · January 2016

No.

Asherons_Call · January 2016

Can't you just buy the item with ap then bank the item?

Sallington · January 2016

It would definitely be a QoL improvement.

bowmanz607 · January 2016

Asherons_Call wrote: »

Can't you just buy the item with ap then bank the item?

that is the point. if the item cost 500k and i can get 500k between all of my toons but not individually then I am not able to purchase the item.

LostRedden · January 2016

Asherons_Call wrote: »

Can't you just buy the item with ap then bank the item?

Not in his situation.

bowmanz607 · January 2016

LostRedden wrote: »

No.

Cool, way to be productive and provide no reasoning to your response. really helps.

Autolycus · January 2016

Asherons_Call wrote: »

Can't you just buy the item with ap then bank the item?

Not if your AP is split between characters. You might have 500k AP, but not all of it is on one character, thus you cannot buy it until one character has enough.

I agree, AP should be bankable for this exact reason. Could have had a few more Akaviri motifs by now if this were the case.

Islyn · January 2016

LostRedden wrote: »

No.

Why not? The op is not talking about experience just the currency.

As for that, I agree.

Ourorboros · January 2016

I thought people sold AP for gold. If you can't bank AP how could you sell it?

I agree, OP. You can bank gold, you can bank tel var stones. If AP is a form of currency, which it is, logically, you should be able to bank AP and spend it as you wish, just like the other currency in the game.

Xendyn · January 2016

I don't see any harm in this idea. I like to play alts as well, sometimes my group needs my Sorc, sometimes my healer.
I'd love to feel more flexible and also be able to play with my NB and DK but I don't much for this very reason. The AP gets all split up and unuseable for any of them.

Gold can be pooled, TV stones can be pooled, why not AP? Once it's earned, it's just another currency.

TheShadowScout · January 2016

I always saw AP as a mere clumsy way for the game to represent "requisitions". The more you aid the war effort, the more you get to requisition from the military quatermaster.

Now... how'd you bank "aiding the war reffort"???

PvP for the AP, buy the stuff you want, bank the stuff you want, withdraw it on the alt you want it for. Problem solved.

bowmanz607 · January 2016

Ourorboros wrote: »

I thought people sold AP for gold. If you can't bank AP how could you sell it?

I agree, OP. You can bank gold, you can bank tel var stones. If AP is a form of currency, which it is, logically, you should be able to bank AP and spend it as you wish, just like the other currency in the game.

i have never sold ap for gold, but it is my understanding that a person offers a certain amount of ap to another player and then that player chooses what they want the offering player to purchase with that ap and then exchange gold for it.

Sharee · January 2016

I see no harm as you have to earn the AP first anyway. And it is true that not being able to pool AP from different characters discourages variety when you are deciding what character to PvP on.

Eiagra · January 2016

I can see some merit to those who have multiple characters they enjoy PvPing with wanting to pool resources for rewards. I'm curious as to how negatively it might impact their value and the value of AP purchasable (such as the Akaviri chapters). On the surface, it doesn't appear like it would have that great an impact. Some insight from the devs would be handy here.

Autolycus · January 2016

Ourorboros wrote: »

I thought people sold AP for gold. If you can't bank AP how could you sell it?

I agree, OP. You can bank gold, you can bank tel var stones. If AP is a form of currency, which it is, logically, you should be able to bank AP and spend it as you wish, just like the other currency in the game.

When two players transact AP, there is actually no exchange of AP occurring. What happens is this, and I will use you and I as an example:

1. You are looking for AP to buy, and I have some to spare.
2. You tell me what you want with the AP (motif, coffer, siege, whatever you want).
3. I buy the requested coffers, motifs, etc.
4. I trade said coffers/motifs/etc. to you for gold.

Autolycus · January 2016

Eiagra wrote: »

I can see some merit to those who have multiple characters they enjoy PvPing with wanting to pool resources for rewards. I'm curious as to how negatively it might impact their value and the value of AP purchasable (such as the Akaviri chapters). On the surface, it doesn't appear like it would have that great an impact. Some insight from the devs would be handy here.

I agree, and would also like some dev input. Allowing us to consolidate our AP between characters by banking it would definitely bring down the value of certain hot items, like Akaviri motifs. It would deflate the prices due to an influx of supply, assuming demand remains the same. Supply would increase, so price would decrease.

I'm not sure I see a problem with deflated prices. There are certainly some things purchasable through AP that have incredibly high and unbalanced gold values. For example, if I want to buy 500k AP for an Akaviri motif, I would most likely pay whatever the going rate for gold-to-AP is, which usually is around 3AP:1gold. This makes that motif's gold value to me roughly 167k gold.

However, that same motif purchased by someone and posted to the guild trader can list for as high as 200k. The wise choice of course is to just go with option 1, which costs less gold for the same motif. However, if players were able to consolidate their AP (and keep in mind this is just speculation at this point) more people would be able to buy the motifs with AP they actually have, even across multiple characters, which in turn would lower demand for that motif and increase supply. The actual change in price could be positive or negative; it depends on how many people who are now able to purchase their own motifs intend on selling them vs. using them for themselves. There's a good chance that prices would decline, as it's likely that more motifs would hit the market, with little change in the number of players willing to pay for them.

Ourorboros · January 2016

TheShadowScout wrote: »

I always saw AP as a mere clumsy way for the game to represent "requisitions". The more you aid the war effort, the more you get to requisition from the military quatermaster.

Now... how'd you bank "aiding the war reffort"???

I could buy the "AP=aid the war effort" if you could only buy items from the quartermaster with AP. But you can also use gold.

PvP for the AP, buy the stuff you want, bank the stuff you want, withdraw it on the alt you want it for. Problem solved.

^^^This does not address the core of the thread, that an ACCOUNT has enough AP over several characters to purchase something like a 500k AP Akavari motif, but not enough on a single character. Would you feel differently if having account wide AP allowed you to be able to buy upcoming Monster Helms that are likely to be 1000k AP?

bowmanz607 · January 2016

Autolycus wrote: »

Eiagra wrote: »

I can see some merit to those who have multiple characters they enjoy PvPing with wanting to pool resources for rewards. I'm curious as to how negatively it might impact their value and the value of AP purchasable (such as the Akaviri chapters). On the surface, it doesn't appear like it would have that great an impact. Some insight from the devs would be handy here.

I agree, and would also like some dev input. Allowing us to consolidate our AP between characters by banking it would definitely bring down the value of certain hot items, like Akaviri motifs. It would deflate the prices due to an influx of supply, assuming demand remains the same. Supply would increase, so price would decrease.

I'm not sure I see a problem with deflated prices. There are certainly some things purchasable through AP that have incredibly high and unbalanced gold values. For example, if I want to buy 500k AP for an Akaviri motif, I would most likely pay whatever the going rate for gold-to-AP is, which usually is around 3AP:1gold. This makes that motif's gold value to me roughly 167k gold.

However, that same motif purchased by someone and posted to the guild trader can list for as high as 200k. The wise choice of course is to just go with option 1, which costs less gold for the same motif. However, if players were able to consolidate their AP (and keep in mind this is just speculation at this point) more people would be able to buy the motifs with AP they actually have, even across multiple characters, which in turn would lower demand for that motif and increase supply. The actual change in price could be positive or negative; it depends on how many people who are now able to purchase their own motifs intend on selling them vs. using them for themselves. There's a good chance that prices would decline, as it's likely that more motifs would hit the market, with little change in the number of players willing to pay for them.

both of you make a good point. I wonder though how certain gear being increased to v16 and the new vendor coming to pvp will mess with the amount of AP out there? with everyone dropping their AP on the vendor and the increased sets to v16, i wonder how this will effect the the cost of AP. If the pool of AP is dropped significantly because of these purchases, then it is also possible that demand for AP remains the same if not higher.???? IDK. as you stated speculation.

UrQuan · January 2016

I think the reason AP can't be banked is because you could have characters in different alliances, and they didn't want it to be possible for you to go and do a ton of PVP on your AD character, bank the AP, and then have your DC character take out all of the AP and buy a ton of stuff to use in order to do PVP against AD.

Now is that a legitimate issue? Beats me. I don't PVP enough to really have an informed opinion on this matter.

Divinius · January 2016

This topic just came up a few days ago in this thread and pretty much everyone also agreed there that AP currency should be bankable, but that Experience should be separate per character.

Autolycus · January 2016

UrQuan wrote: »

I think the reason AP can't be banked is because you could have characters in different alliances, and they didn't want it to be possible for you to go and do a ton of PVP on your AD character, bank the AP, and then have your DC character take out all of the AP and buy a ton of stuff to use in order to do PVP against AD.

Now is that a legitimate issue? Beats me. I don't PVP enough to really have an informed opinion on this matter.

It's a good point, but I don't think it matters. It could just be my opinion, of course, but I don't think there are many people who care where you got the AP to buy your stuff, so long as you actually earned it legitimately. To me, it makes more sense to allow people to buy those motifs for their crafting alts than it does to prohibit the banking of AP to discourage utilizing it against one particular faction. If I'm playing a DC toon in pvp, and earn a ton of AP that I want to give to my AD and EP crafting characters, then why not? Wouldn't hurt anybody.

bowmanz607 · January 2016

UrQuan wrote: »

I think the reason AP can't be banked is because you could have characters in different alliances, and they didn't want it to be possible for you to go and do a ton of PVP on your AD character, bank the AP, and then have your DC character take out all of the AP and buy a ton of stuff to use in order to do PVP against AD.

Now is that a legitimate issue? Beats me. I don't PVP enough to really have an informed opinion on this matter.

in your situation a player could simply buy the items on the AD toon and then bank the items for the DC toon. That said, this issue wouldnt make sense. Why limit a player because they chose a different faction. That is the point of the game. To play differently and switch factions if you so choose to.

Ourorboros · January 2016

UrQuan wrote: »

I think the reason AP can't be banked is because you could have characters in different alliances, and they didn't want it to be possible for you to go and do a ton of PVP on your AD character, bank the AP, and then have your DC character take out all of the AP and buy a ton of stuff to use in order to do PVP against AD.

Now is that a legitimate issue? Beats me. I don't PVP enough to really have an informed opinion on this matter.

I don't see this as a legitimate issue, as long as character development is tied to EARNED AP. I don't see an issue with AP earned in one alliance spent on war tools in another alliance, as long as each alt has to earn Caltrops and Magika Det. But then, I really only PVP to earn those skills, not for AP. And I'm reluctant to have multiple alts in PVP as long as I know that I'll have to build up a lot of AP on only ONE alt if I want a chance to buy a Monster Helm that RNG withholds from dungeon runs.

Asherons_Call · January 2016

bowmanz607 wrote: »

Asherons_Call wrote: »

Can't you just buy the item with ap then bank the item?

that is the point. if the item cost 500k and i can get 500k between all of my toons but not individually then I am not able to purchase the item.

I apologize, I see where you're coming from now. Yea I agree that it should be a similar system to tel var stones

Kartalin · January 2016

bowmanz607 wrote: »

in your situation a player could simply buy the items on the AD toon and then bank the items for the DC toon. That said, this issue wouldnt make sense. Why limit a player because they chose a different faction. That is the point of the game. To play differently and switch factions if you so choose to.

True, except for siege weapons which are faction specific.

I'm constantly buying stacks of repair kits with my main's AP for any of my lowbies going through BWB, including on different factions.

Reverb · January 2016

I agree that it should be bankable. When AP was good for siege and pvp vendor gear only, It made sense to be character bound.

Now it can be used for motifs, consumables, and an expanding number of things. Combine that with the way that Telvar were implemented, and it doesn't make sense for AP to be the only one of the 3 currencies that can't be banked and shared between your toons.

Refuse2GrowUp · January 2016

+1 to the idea. I see no negative implications for doing this. Good QoL change

Lenikus · January 2016

Good things that come from this :
You can farm ap in non-vet with your 501 CP lv 40 magicka nightblade, then bank the earnings for you to buy the Vr16 stuff that's coming.

Bad Things that come from this :
People WILL farm ap in non-vet with a 501 CP lv 40 magicka nightblade, then bank the earnings for them to buy the Vr16 stuff that's coming.

bowmanz607 · January 2016

Lenikus wrote: »

Good things that come from this :
You can farm ap in non-vet with your 501 CP lv 40 magicka nightblade, then bank the earnings for you to buy the Vr16 stuff that's coming.

Bad Things that come from this :
People WILL farm ap in non-vet with a 501 CP lv 40 magicka nightblade, then bank the earnings for them to buy the Vr16 stuff that's coming.

i see your point but one i dont think you should have to turn to farmers to decided whether to do or not to do something. Besides, it does not take any more effort to farm pugs in vet then pugs in nonvet imo. Two, we SHOULD be seeing champ points disappear from nonvet. Additionally, this issue is resolved by taking champ points out of non vet.

UrQuan · January 2016

milthalas wrote: »

bowmanz607 wrote: »

in your situation a player could simply buy the items on the AD toon and then bank the items for the DC toon. That said, this issue wouldnt make sense. Why limit a player because they chose a different faction. That is the point of the game. To play differently and switch factions if you so choose to.

True, except for siege weapons which are faction specific.

I'm constantly buying stacks of repair kits with my main's AP for any of my lowbies going through BWB, including on different factions.

And I suspect it's the siege weapons that they were thinking of when they designed it this way. Probably forward camps too, because those used to be a thing.

Again, though, I really don't have an opinion on whether that actually matters. If the people who actually PVP more than once in a blue moon think that it's a non-issue then I'm happy to agree with them.