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How to fix the inflation problem.
WhyMustItBe
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My suggestion: Make FURNISHED versions of houses available for gold as well as unfurnished. POOF! Problem solved!
11
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Pauwin✭✭✭New mounts you can buy with gold, people will 100% buy them!
but I know this will never happen
(I remember saving the 42k gold for my first mount back in 2014, that was a gold sink)Edited by Pauwin on August 10, 2021 10:30PM11 -
zvavi✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I mean, if all houses could be bought for gold it would have been one hell of a gold sink... Furnished, non furnished, doesn't matter.8 -
phaneub17_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Allow people to sell Crowns like items on guild traders, the cost of them will eventually go down as it becomes a secure avenue to trade them between players and increase accessibility.Edited by phaneub17_ESO on August 10, 2021 10:40PM11 -
redspecter23✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭phaneub17_ESO wrote: »Allow people to sell Crowns like items on guild traders, the cost of them will eventually go down as it becomes a secure avenue to trade them between players and increase accessibility.
This sounds like a good solution to me. They could make a trader specifically for crown items or even integrate it into the current system. Players post crown items. Other players pay with gold and a cut goes to the void with every sale. Many players, myself included, will pay this premium to access a safe way to transfer gold into crown items.9 -
Grandchamp1989✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Increase supply of sought after mats to match the insane demand, so the economy stabilize and they can figure out some more permanent solutions.0 -
zvavi✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Increase supply of sought after mats to match the insane demand, so the economy stabilize and they can figure out some more permanent solutions.
Supply was increased. Since supply got increased so did demand.1 -
TX12001rwb17_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Increase supply of sought after mats to match the insane demand, so the economy stabilize and they can figure out some more permanent solutions.
Supply was increased. Since supply got increased so did demand.
Then make the supply buyable from NPCs for a fixed price, demand will go down because there will be an infinite amount and money spent on buying them will go to the Void reducing the amount of gold ingame.Edited by TX12001rwb17_ESO on August 10, 2021 11:20PM1 -
Dimski✭✭✭phaneub17_ESO wrote: »Allow people to sell Crowns like items on guild traders, the cost of them will eventually go down as it becomes a secure avenue to trade them between players and increase accessibility.
That won't reduce the amount of gold on the server as it will move it only from one player to another. For mudflation to stay tame, the gold needs to be destroyed. e.g. be used for some purchase.
2 -
TX12001rwb17_ESO✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭phaneub17_ESO wrote: »Allow people to sell Crowns like items on guild traders, the cost of them will eventually go down as it becomes a secure avenue to trade them between players and increase accessibility.
That won't reduce the amount of gold on the server as it will move it only from one player to another. For mudflation to stay tame, the gold needs to be destroyed. e.g. be used for some purchase.
Well you probably cannot do it with Crowns but if Gold Mats were buyable from NPCs the supply of Gold Mats would become Infinite, very quickly demand for more mats would go way down and all money spent on buying them would go to the void, it would also kill off a lot of flippers responsible for increasing the prices, eventually the economy would stabilize.1 -
FluffWit✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭Has there been a lot of inflation in mat prices on PC?
On ps4 it's been pretty steady for years. Except temps which crashed with CP2.02 -
rauyran✭✭✭✭I find this hard to reconcile with the constant threads about how overland is too easy or pvp too broken. If either of those are true then why is there such a huge demand for gold mats and potions?6 -
Sanctum74✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Increase supply of sought after mats to match the insane demand, so the economy stabilize and they can figure out some more permanent solutions.
Supply was increased. Since supply got increased so did demand.
Then make the supply buyable from NPCs for a fixed price, demand will go down because there will be an infinite amount and money spent on buying them will go to the Void reducing the amount of gold ingame.
There already is an infinite amount, but unfortunately there are people that don’t want to farm and think they should be the ones to determine the pricing for work that others put in. Not to mention it would destroy trade guilds and players that enjoy farming and trading would have their preferred activity taken away from them.
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code65536✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I'll just repost what I wrote in another thread...I think the point that he was trying to make is that writs are also a significant source of gold materials entering the game, so it would balance out: There's more gold entering the game, but there are also more mats entering the game.
So my first counter to that is that writs are a source of gold materials only if your character does writs at max level. That requires a pretty substantial investment of skill points, and there are many people who will do max-level writs on a few characters, and then do tier-1 writs on others just for the gold.
The second is that there are material sinks but not many gold sinks. When you buy 8 dreugh wax from another player, that gold you spent doesn't disappear--it simply gets transferred to another player and remains in the economy. When you use those 8 wax to upgrade a piece of gear, they disappear. So the gold "sticks around", and over time, there is a cumulative imbalance that forms.
Because gold "sticks around" and accumulates in the economy, you can almost think of it like CO2 in the atmosphere, and in the context of that analogy, writs are a pretty "dirty" form of gold material generation, since they create gold mats but also a lot of gold. In contrast, hirelings and harvesting/refinement are "clean" sources of gold material generation, unaccompanied by gold. And I expect that, because writs are relatively more difficult to do on console, a greater proportion of console's gold mats come from these other "clean" sources.
Which is why what I would suggest is a rebalance (not a nerf, as an earlier poster characterized) of the rewards from writs: a significant reduction of the gold rewarded for doing them coupled with a modest compensatory increase in the materials that are rewarded would make writs more balanced, and well, "cleaner" in the context of this analogy.
(Note: Yes, in the context of this analogy, bots are "clean" sources too, and as ZOS gets better at banning bots, prices for materials increase, which causes players to do more writs in order to get materials, but since writs are "dirty" in this context, this exacerbates the inflationary pressures.)
Yes, adding more gold sinks, as suggested in this thread, will be good, but you can't ignore the gushing gold firehose on the other side of the equation.Edited by code65536 on August 10, 2021 11:39PMNightfighters ― PC/NA and PC/EU
Dungeons and Trials:Personal best scores:- Dragonstar Arena: 46817 (NA)
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- Apex Predator and Pure Lunacy
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- Defanged the Devourer and Nature's Wrath
- In Defiance of Death and No Rest for the Wicked
- Bane of Thorns and True Genius
- Ardent Bibliophile and Subterranean Smasher
- Battlespire's Best and Bastion Breaker
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- Fist of Tava and Invader's Bane
- Curator's Champion (Valinna) and Temporal Tempest
- Unshakeable Fervor and Lighting the Embers
Extended Journal Add-Ons: Item Set Browser ― Loot Log ― Character Knowledge ― Collectibles Tracker ― RaidificatorPC/Console Add-Ons: Combat Alerts ― Group Buff PanelsOther Add-Ons: Deconstruction Junk Marker ― Purge Tracker ― Asylum Status Panel ― Smart Looter ― Improved Companion Rapport Information2 -
zvavi✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Increase supply of sought after mats to match the insane demand, so the economy stabilize and they can figure out some more permanent solutions.
Supply was increased. Since supply got increased so did demand.
Then make the supply buyable from NPCs for a fixed price, demand will go down because there will be an infinite amount and money spent on buying them will go to the Void reducing the amount of gold ingame.
And where do you think all the gold will go? It will just make other things more expensive in the end, and people will be back at the forums, complaining that X Y and Z are too expensive. Tbf game gold prices are pretty balanced, gearing out 1 character fully in non gold gear (yes gold weapons) will only cost me 70k~ and gearing in gold gear only serves to reduce the amount of back and forth to do between characters and will still probably cost only around 800k (jewelry drops gold from trials). And that's assuming you are paying for everything, while you could just get the mats by doing daily writs for a while. Doing writs occasionally on my main usually gets me enough mats to occasionally golden some pieces I want. So I don't think it is "too pricey" right nowEdited by zvavi on August 10, 2021 11:50PM1 -
kargen27✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »phaneub17_ESO wrote: »Allow people to sell Crowns like items on guild traders, the cost of them will eventually go down as it becomes a secure avenue to trade them between players and increase accessibility.
That won't reduce the amount of gold on the server as it will move it only from one player to another. For mudflation to stay tame, the gold needs to be destroyed. e.g. be used for some purchase.
Well you probably cannot do it with Crowns but if Gold Mats were buyable from NPCs the supply of Gold Mats would become Infinite, very quickly demand for more mats would go way down and all money spent on buying them would go to the void, it would also kill off a lot of flippers responsible for increasing the prices, eventually the economy would stabilize.
This would take away the incentive to craft and crafting is usually the first and main way players get gold in the game. Gold they need for other things long long before they need gold materials.
The market is strong, vibrant and fluid. Nothing wrong with the economy in the game. Players can get everything they need and most of what they want. Part of that strong vibrant economy is players that treat trading like end game. They put in all kinds of time either farming or flipping items. Either way it is good for the economy. Keeps it from becoming stagnant. A stagnant economy is never good. You want supply and demand to cause increases and decreases. The flow of goods and prices is what makes the economy strong.and then the parrot said, "must be the water mines green too."7 -
WrathOfInnos✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Increase supply of sought after mats to match the insane demand, so the economy stabilize and they can figure out some more permanent solutions.
Adding to this, potions available for gold would be a great gold sink. We have Alliance Potions available for AP, why not something similar for gold?3 -
JJOtterBear✭✭✭✭more gold sinks will be okay. but messing with the mat system is a huge NO from me. that's how i make my gold, as do many others.4
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Viewsfrom6ix✭✭✭✭✭phaneub17_ESO wrote: »Allow people to sell Crowns like items on guild traders, the cost of them will eventually go down as it becomes a secure avenue to trade them between players and increase accessibility.
I definitely want this! But it does not solve the inflation issue from OP. Gold is merely transferred from one user to another. Gold needs to be sent to the shadow realm in order to slow down inflation.1 -
zvavi✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭Viewsfrom6ix wrote: »phaneub17_ESO wrote: »Allow people to sell Crowns like items on guild traders, the cost of them will eventually go down as it becomes a secure avenue to trade them between players and increase accessibility.
I definitely want this! But it does not solve the inflation issue from OP. Gold is merely transferred from one user to another. Gold needs to be sent to the shadow realm in order to slow down inflation.
Transactions in guild store are a gold sink (4.5%)0 -
crispienceSoul ShrivenViewsfrom6ix wrote: »phaneub17_ESO wrote: »Allow people to sell Crowns like items on guild traders, the cost of them will eventually go down as it becomes a secure avenue to trade them between players and increase accessibility.
I definitely want this! But it does not solve the inflation issue from OP. Gold is merely transferred from one user to another. Gold needs to be sent to the shadow realm in order to slow down inflation.
Transactions in guild store are a gold sink (4.5%)
Yes, but this only applies to successful sales (and I think it is 8% total according to UESP). I think one of the biggest inflationary forces is TamrielTradeCentre which amplifies and propagates listing prices (not actual sale prices!), coupled with the fact that there is a very low fee (1%) for listing an item.
I think if the listing fee was increased to 5% or more and the trader's cut reduced correspondingly, the total fee for successful sales would remain the same, but there would be a greater penalty for listing items at inflated prices.
0 -
Bouldercleave✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »phaneub17_ESO wrote: »Allow people to sell Crowns like items on guild traders, the cost of them will eventually go down as it becomes a secure avenue to trade them between players and increase accessibility.
That won't reduce the amount of gold on the server as it will move it only from one player to another. For mudflation to stay tame, the gold needs to be destroyed. e.g. be used for some purchase.
Well you probably cannot do it with Crowns but if Gold Mats were buyable from NPCs the supply of Gold Mats would become Infinite, very quickly demand for more mats would go way down and all money spent on buying them would go to the void, it would also kill off a lot of flippers responsible for increasing the prices, eventually the economy would stabilize.
You want gold mats and potions buyable from NPCs? Worst Idea EVER. Every farmer / Crafter (like myself) would be rendered useless overnight.
I farm and do my crafting writs to collect gold mats to sell to lazy players that can't be bothered to collect their own. My services and time cost gold - that is the price you pay for buying gold mats instead of farming them for FREE for yourself.
The same goes for potions. You can farm the mats and make your own potions for free - you CHOOSE not to.
Why do you want to take a large portion of the player base's source if income away?8 -
VaranisArano✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭crispience wrote: »Viewsfrom6ix wrote: »phaneub17_ESO wrote: »Allow people to sell Crowns like items on guild traders, the cost of them will eventually go down as it becomes a secure avenue to trade them between players and increase accessibility.
I definitely want this! But it does not solve the inflation issue from OP. Gold is merely transferred from one user to another. Gold needs to be sent to the shadow realm in order to slow down inflation.
Transactions in guild store are a gold sink (4.5%)
Yes, but this only applies to successful sales (and I think it is 8% total according to UESP). I think one of the biggest inflationary forces is TamrielTradeCentre which amplifies and propagates listing prices (not actual sale prices!), coupled with the fact that there is a very low fee (1%) for listing an item.
I think if the listing fee was increased to 5% or more and the trader's cut reduced correspondingly, the total fee for successful sales would remain the same, but there would be a greater penalty for listing items at inflated prices.
That doesn't really work out to increase gold sinks, though.
The current system is a 1% listing fee, then a 7% cut. 3.5% is a straight gold sink, and 3.5% goes to the guild, which usually goes into the trader bids, which is also a gold sink.
So if you want to increase gold sinks, then you need to increase the total fee for successful sales. You can't just add in one area and take away in another, ending up at the same place.0 -
Grandchamp1989✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Increase supply of sought after mats to match the insane demand, so the economy stabilize and they can figure out some more permanent solutions.
Supply was increased. Since supply got increased so did demand.
I dont follow you here, what do you mean since supply was increased so was demand? One dont automaticly increase the other.
If we get an increase in say.. Gold mat drops then there would be more materials in circulation to feed the insane demand going on right now, which would (at the very least) keep prices steady and not increase as they do now. They would need to add quite a bit more drop rate for the price of mats to actually fall, but even going to that extreme would honestly be great for the game.
Code is right we need more materials in circulation and less gold.
And for the person who said not to touch materials as it is his source of gold income, if this inflation keeps up soon his gold will be worthless.Edited by Grandchamp1989 on August 11, 2021 11:36PM1 -
Bouldercleave✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Increase supply of sought after mats to match the insane demand, so the economy stabilize and they can figure out some more permanent solutions.
Supply was increased. Since supply got increased so did demand.
I dont follow you here, what do you mean since supply was increased so was demand? One dont automaticly increase the other.
If we get an increase in say.. Gold mat drops then there would be more materials in circulation to feed the insane demand going on right now which would at the very least keep prices steady and not increase as they do now. They would need to add quite a bit more drop rate for the price of mats to actually fall, but it would be great for the game.
Code is right we need more materials in circulation and less gold.
And for the person who said not to touch materials as it is his source of gold income, if this inflation keeps up soon his gold will be worthless.
If you are referring to my comment, I never said don't touch mats. Increasing supply is a very viable option to curb inflation based off of demand. I stated ( clearly stated I thought ) that I was against selling mats through NPCs. That would not curb inflation - it would eliminate farmers and crafters instantly thus destroying a large part of the game for many people and in fact several crafting specific Guilds.4 -
Grandchamp1989✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Bouldercleave wrote: »Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Increase supply of sought after mats to match the insane demand, so the economy stabilize and they can figure out some more permanent solutions.
Supply was increased. Since supply got increased so did demand.
I dont follow you here, what do you mean since supply was increased so was demand? One dont automaticly increase the other.
If we get an increase in say.. Gold mat drops then there would be more materials in circulation to feed the insane demand going on right now which would at the very least keep prices steady and not increase as they do now. They would need to add quite a bit more drop rate for the price of mats to actually fall, but it would be great for the game.
Code is right we need more materials in circulation and less gold.
And for the person who said not to touch materials as it is his source of gold income, if this inflation keeps up soon his gold will be worthless.
If you are referring to my comment, I never said don't touch mats. Increasing supply is a very viable option to curb inflation based off of demand. I stated ( clearly stated I thought ) that I was against selling mats through NPCs. That would not curb inflation - it would eliminate farmers and crafters instantly thus destroying a large part of the game for many people and in fact several crafting specific Guilds.
Wasn't in relation with your post mate.0 -
starkerealm✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭I'll just repost what I wrote in another thread...I think the point that he was trying to make is that writs are also a significant source of gold materials entering the game, so it would balance out: There's more gold entering the game, but there are also more mats entering the game.
So my first counter to that is that writs are a source of gold materials only if your character does writs at max level. That requires a pretty substantial investment of skill points, and there are many people who will do max-level writs on a few characters, and then do tier-1 writs on others just for the gold.
The second is that there are material sinks but not many gold sinks. When you buy 8 dreugh wax from another player, that gold you spent doesn't disappear--it simply gets transferred to another player and remains in the economy. When you use those 8 wax to upgrade a piece of gear, they disappear. So the gold "sticks around", and over time, there is a cumulative imbalance that forms.
Because gold "sticks around" and accumulates in the economy, you can almost think of it like CO2 in the atmosphere, and in the context of that analogy, writs are a pretty "dirty" form of gold material generation, since they create gold mats but also a lot of gold. In contrast, hirelings and harvesting/refinement are "clean" sources of gold material generation, unaccompanied by gold. And I expect that, because writs are relatively more difficult to do on console, a greater proportion of console's gold mats come from these other "clean" sources.
Which is why what I would suggest is a rebalance (not a nerf, as an earlier poster characterized) of the rewards from writs: a significant reduction of the gold rewarded for doing them coupled with a modest compensatory increase in the materials that are rewarded would make writs more balanced, and well, "cleaner" in the context of this analogy.
(Note: Yes, in the context of this analogy, bots are "clean" sources too, and as ZOS gets better at banning bots, prices for materials increase, which causes players to do more writs in order to get materials, but since writs are "dirty" in this context, this exacerbates the inflationary pressures.)
Yes, adding more gold sinks, as suggested in this thread, will be good, but you can't ignore the gushing gold firehose on the other side of the equation.
Here's a wild thought. Limit all daily quests to once per day, per account.2 -
Bouldercleave✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Bouldercleave wrote: »Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Increase supply of sought after mats to match the insane demand, so the economy stabilize and they can figure out some more permanent solutions.
Supply was increased. Since supply got increased so did demand.
I dont follow you here, what do you mean since supply was increased so was demand? One dont automaticly increase the other.
If we get an increase in say.. Gold mat drops then there would be more materials in circulation to feed the insane demand going on right now which would at the very least keep prices steady and not increase as they do now. They would need to add quite a bit more drop rate for the price of mats to actually fall, but it would be great for the game.
Code is right we need more materials in circulation and less gold.
And for the person who said not to touch materials as it is his source of gold income, if this inflation keeps up soon his gold will be worthless.
If you are referring to my comment, I never said don't touch mats. Increasing supply is a very viable option to curb inflation based off of demand. I stated ( clearly stated I thought ) that I was against selling mats through NPCs. That would not curb inflation - it would eliminate farmers and crafters instantly thus destroying a large part of the game for many people and in fact several crafting specific Guilds.
Wasn't in relation with your post mate.
It's all good - Just making sure my point wasn't misconstrued. I'm all for getting a handle on inflation, but I tend not to price gouge my items anyway. I usually sell much cheaper than anyone else because I want the merchandise to move fast.1 -
Oreyn_Bearclaw✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭✭✭WrathOfInnos wrote: »Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Increase supply of sought after mats to match the insane demand, so the economy stabilize and they can figure out some more permanent solutions.
Adding to this, potions available for gold would be a great gold sink. We have Alliance Potions available for AP, why not something similar for gold?
Totally agree, they would however have to be careful about setting the price. There is not a ton of consistency in the items that can be bought for both crown and AP, and a lot of it is bound. With a commodity like spell power potions, you are firmly setting the exchange rate once you introduce them for both gold and AP. Would be a great gold sink, but it would require ZOS to take a much firmer hand in managing the economy, which they are likely hesitant to do.TX12001rwb17_ESO wrote: »Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Increase supply of sought after mats to match the insane demand, so the economy stabilize and they can figure out some more permanent solutions.
Supply was increased. Since supply got increased so did demand.
Then make the supply buyable from NPCs for a fixed price, demand will go down because there will be an infinite amount and money spent on buying them will go to the Void reducing the amount of gold ingame.
Two things. First similar to above, this would be ZOS taking direct control over pricing. The second they list say dreugh wax for 10k in an NPC vendor, prices are hard capped over night. Sure ZOS manages the economy indirectly, mostly by controlling drop rates of items (supply) and the influx of gold, but this is a much more hands on approach to managing the economy, and again, my guess is ZOS is hesitant to do that.
Second, Econ 101, increasing supply does not affect demand directly as you suggested. Very common misconception. Increasing supply, all else equal, does lower price, but it does not reduce demand. It certainly would act as a gold sink if they put gold mats in the vendor, it would certainly cap prices, but it would not on it's face affect demand.Grandchamp1989 wrote: »Increase supply of sought after mats to match the insane demand, so the economy stabilize and they can figure out some more permanent solutions.
Supply was increased. Since supply got increased so did demand.
Again, increasing supply does not directly affect demand, it affects price. It's perhaps a subtle distinction, but its an important one.I'll just repost what I wrote in another thread...I think the point that he was trying to make is that writs are also a significant source of gold materials entering the game, so it would balance out: There's more gold entering the game, but there are also more mats entering the game.
So my first counter to that is that writs are a source of gold materials only if your character does writs at max level. That requires a pretty substantial investment of skill points, and there are many people who will do max-level writs on a few characters, and then do tier-1 writs on others just for the gold.
The second is that there are material sinks but not many gold sinks. When you buy 8 dreugh wax from another player, that gold you spent doesn't disappear--it simply gets transferred to another player and remains in the economy. When you use those 8 wax to upgrade a piece of gear, they disappear. So the gold "sticks around", and over time, there is a cumulative imbalance that forms.
Because gold "sticks around" and accumulates in the economy, you can almost think of it like CO2 in the atmosphere, and in the context of that analogy, writs are a pretty "dirty" form of gold material generation, since they create gold mats but also a lot of gold. In contrast, hirelings and harvesting/refinement are "clean" sources of gold material generation, unaccompanied by gold. And I expect that, because writs are relatively more difficult to do on console, a greater proportion of console's gold mats come from these other "clean" sources.
Which is why what I would suggest is a rebalance (not a nerf, as an earlier poster characterized) of the rewards from writs: a significant reduction of the gold rewarded for doing them coupled with a modest compensatory increase in the materials that are rewarded would make writs more balanced, and well, "cleaner" in the context of this analogy.
(Note: Yes, in the context of this analogy, bots are "clean" sources too, and as ZOS gets better at banning bots, prices for materials increase, which causes players to do more writs in order to get materials, but since writs are "dirty" in this context, this exacerbates the inflationary pressures.)
Yes, adding more gold sinks, as suggested in this thread, will be good, but you can't ignore the gushing gold firehose on the other side of the equation.
I had this debate just the other day, and I like the metaphor. Writs really work in two directions. They increase gold supply, especially on PC, which drives both inflation and higher prices. They also increase the mat supply, which works in the opposite direction, applying downward pressure to pricing. I think writs are perhaps one of the biggest drivers in the economy. Considering PC prices are way higher than console prices (it stands to reason FAR more writs are done on PC because of Mr. Dolugbon), that the inflation from gold is a bigger influence on price (upward pressure in prices) than the increase in supply of mats (downward pressure).
Naturally, logic suggests that lowering or even eliminating gold (currency) from writs would have a very desirable effect if preventing inflation is your goal, and it is something that should be considered. I would also venture to guess that supply of gold mats in the market would increase if they removed gold as a reward from writs. Most of my gold and nearly all my gold mats come from writs. I almost never sell gold mats because I frankly dont need to. I have enough gold to buy whatever I need. If I stopped getting gold from writs, I would probably feel more compelled to sell some of my gold mats, rather than simply let them pile up in my crafting bag. This would increase supply in the actual market and in turn lower prices.
The reality is that virtually every other obvious gold sink is going to impact crown sales, and ZOS clearly has more interest in driving crown sales than managing inflation, at least from a quarterly profit standpoint.Edited by Oreyn_Bearclaw on August 11, 2021 11:56PM1 -
Grandchamp1989✭✭✭✭✭
✭✭✭starkerealm wrote: »I'll just repost what I wrote in another thread...I think the point that he was trying to make is that writs are also a significant source of gold materials entering the game, so it would balance out: There's more gold entering the game, but there are also more mats entering the game.
So my first counter to that is that writs are a source of gold materials only if your character does writs at max level. That requires a pretty substantial investment of skill points, and there are many people who will do max-level writs on a few characters, and then do tier-1 writs on others just for the gold.
The second is that there are material sinks but not many gold sinks. When you buy 8 dreugh wax from another player, that gold you spent doesn't disappear--it simply gets transferred to another player and remains in the economy. When you use those 8 wax to upgrade a piece of gear, they disappear. So the gold "sticks around", and over time, there is a cumulative imbalance that forms.
Because gold "sticks around" and accumulates in the economy, you can almost think of it like CO2 in the atmosphere, and in the context of that analogy, writs are a pretty "dirty" form of gold material generation, since they create gold mats but also a lot of gold. In contrast, hirelings and harvesting/refinement are "clean" sources of gold material generation, unaccompanied by gold. And I expect that, because writs are relatively more difficult to do on console, a greater proportion of console's gold mats come from these other "clean" sources.
Which is why what I would suggest is a rebalance (not a nerf, as an earlier poster characterized) of the rewards from writs: a significant reduction of the gold rewarded for doing them coupled with a modest compensatory increase in the materials that are rewarded would make writs more balanced, and well, "cleaner" in the context of this analogy.
(Note: Yes, in the context of this analogy, bots are "clean" sources too, and as ZOS gets better at banning bots, prices for materials increase, which causes players to do more writs in order to get materials, but since writs are "dirty" in this context, this exacerbates the inflationary pressures.)
Yes, adding more gold sinks, as suggested in this thread, will be good, but you can't ignore the gushing gold firehose on the other side of the equation.
Here's a wild thought. Limit all daily quests to once per day, per account.
Would mean fewer people getting surveys, which means fewer ressources in circulation, which means mat prices will still be sky high - only now we'll all be broke aswell.3