Economy, Causes, and Proposed Solutions

#1

So, the prices of everything is, and has been for a while, upsetting me.
Tier 10 weapon -> Tier 11 weapon has zero to little difference in price, then a small jump from old tops to WC tops. WC tops are so cheap now.

I don’t remember exactly what year this was, but even during Kabam era, a Tier 10 weapon, t5 ability, and a t11 armor would be a def, while old tops would be about a mana, and WC tops would be a life or two (or three for melee items).

During WS days, there have always been fluctuations in the economy, but I’d say they were easy to adjust to, understandable, and agreeable.

What do you guys think dictates the prices so drastically since then? What do you think would make things more reasonable and make them fairer prices?

#2

Chest events have absolutely ripped apart any stability the economy had

#3

The problem isn’t chest events… it’s two very ingrained issues: Steamrolling and how easy to skip and borderline irrelevant the very earlygame gear is. The drop locations and frequency are and have always been very unbalanced, skewing players to skip to old tops and Wine Cellar tops.

#4

Well, both realm progression and realmeye trading are beginner unfriendly. Increasing the price of such items would mean much more people hoarding them, which is very useless since 85% of the player base have a lot of tier 12+ items. The lack of high prices means beginners are able to access WC tops easily, but the lack of tradeable items creeps the economy (remembers when UBHPs were 8 lifes and Decas 10-12 ?). I can’t deny that chest events played a role though.

#5

That’s just a simple idea of economics. There’s more of a supply of items (both old tops and WC tops) due to players dying less from pets and massive Discord server runs, so the demand for them has gone down. As a result of this, the items are less valuable and sell for less.

It’s why LH tops (not to mention O3 tops), UT’s, and (non-legacy) ST’s are still fairly valuable; they exist outside of the economy. It doesn’t matter if there were a million Juggs in the game; they’d still be incredibly valuable because you have to go out and earn them, as opposed to buy them.

I don’t think the price of things being lower now is a bad thing. We have 2 new tiers of tops that are SB, so I think it’s fine that the old tiers of tops aren’t as valuable at this point.

#6

Newer tops -> older tops are shit. Only reason WC tops retain any worth is because of them being top tiered tradable items. Also, as years get on players’ pets get better, they die less, and there’s less demand for items.

#7

Ah yes, economics. One of the fun statistical parts of this game for me. Being the stat nerd I am, watching the Realm economy over the years has been as fascinating as watching the stock market lol

Despite this, I’m not a huge fan of playing as a merchant, because I’d rather be out fighting for an hour or two than trading for the same amount of time. Yeah, you can turn a single dex pot into a Deca ring, but in how much time? Sometimes in a single long, dedicated day, but more often than not, it can take a couple weeks, hearing from a few players who have bothered taking in that challenge (most of them not on the forums; strangers turned acquaintances and former guildies). There’s a time cost involved.

What is my point, though? Forgive me, that was a ramble on my background stances. With all that, I don’t mind the economy where it is right now as far as tops. I have always thought it was a little ridiculous that melee equipment was pricier than everything else, despite having the same drop rates. And the same holds true for the “garbage” equipment; I guess I can maybe kind of understand a normal scepter to be held in low regards, but items like bows? Really? So, having everything at the lower price they’re at helps encourage braver runs with those equipment for at least newer players, if not all players, because a mistake is far less costly to make if they only need a low budget and have yet to learn how to fight in the places those items drop in. I mean, at this point, how many of us drop “higher tiered” loot on the ground (or give it away for free) as it is?

The one part of the economy I think blew out of proportion was the HP Rings. I saw a few people panic a couple times, and, like the stock market tends to do when people freak out, the prices went nuts. Even now that Deca rings drop again, people never really recovered the prices.

#8

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