Architect Archive
Thread: Please don't reset existing high-extraction-rate deeds it will destroy us
I hope they do reset or draw them back in line with the proper designed value.
These harvesters hurt the economy and in the end will drive the prices down because resouce prices will plumet from over abundance.
It increases the rate of market saturation. We suddenly have 2x more resources... do we suddenlyhave 2x more customers? Only the wealthiest people are able to replace their full fleet of harvesters. This is going to cause a disparity among the artisans of have and have-not's in an already polar community.
I'm even puzzled that I bothered to broach this topic at all. Rationally considered, I see no reason to believe a reversion is coming.
I now recognize that we are letting our fears get the better of us and we are doing irrational things.
Facts
What do we know about harvester rates and possible reversions? Here are the facts.
GreenMarine's statements indicate that the high-end experimented values are higher than they like, especially for fusion reactors. Fine. He indicates that he is going to create new schematics with updated crafting data to fix this problem. He doesn't indicate or even hint that what we have made might change.
Once objects have been created, SOE has generally left them unmolested. There are TONS of things in-game at this point that can no longer be crafted or obtained: many different creatures that are no longer tamable; rifles that can no longer be made; +25 structure experimentation tapes that no longer drop. They only nerf existing objects when they're grossly unbalancing, with Jedi Holocrons being the best example. Rate-30 fusion plants might be that unbalancing. Rate-10 and Rate-11 heavy harvesters are not.
During the big patch, hoppers on existing deeds were accidentally bugged. They were subsequently fixed. As a result of the fix to those deeds, some newly crafted deeds had their extraction rates reverted pre-patch levels. GreenMarine said he was backing out the script that was causing the fixups. The reversions have stopped. It sounds like the reversions we were seeing in the past were bugs that have been fixed. Why fix a bug if its the intended behavior? That would be completely irrational.
Fears
In the chaos following the Friday patch, some early harvesters had their extraction rates reverted. This rattled people, and they stopped building until the source of the reversions was clear. This is rational.
Empirically, the reversion bug was fixed. Nevertheless, people became afraid that it somewhow wasn't a bug and that a reversion was coming, despite the complete lack of any real facts to support this notion. Fear is contageous. Fear and speculation takes on a life of its own.
Irrationality
With fear comes irrationality. People have stopped crafting for most of a week because of fear. People are selling products for less than they are worth because of fear. I don't think a reversion is coming, but in order to allay my customers fears I bought into the notion that it might happen by indemnifying them against some of the risk.
Once I'd bought into this fear by offering indemnification, it took root and I made a panic-filled posting hoping to avert the dreaded reversion - just-in-case. I was getting caught up in the irrationality.
Lets be rational
Given the lack of official documentation and the admittedly buggy (and possibly unintentional) release of experimentation, what can we rationally do?
Well, the game as it exists lets me build Rate-10 and 11 harvesters. If GreenMarine was planning to revert them, I think he would have told us - he's a good guy and wouldn't withhold something that's so vitally important.
I think that the only rational thing to do is to play the game as it is, and to trust in the SOE team not to 'punish' people for playing the game as delivered.
I continue to operate on the same lines I always have.... the only exception is I am very cautious about making harvesters (they were not a large part of my business anyway). When I make them I warn people of the possibilities that they might revert or lower in stats.... The only exception to this is I have a 25 harvester order from someone who is not in a hurry. After talking with him we decided to wait on building until we get some definitive answers on whats happening or until the next patch puts in the extra experiment points.
I have not panicked... I have no fear for my business... I will continue to be an architect no matter what they do and my business will continue to succeed as long as I enjoy what I'm doing.
One thing I think you need to be cautious of... Greenmarine seems like a decent individual and finally getting some communication is nice, but to assume we are going to hear about everything they are doing is not a good idea. If I recall correctly there was no mention that experimentation was going in this patch, yet his post says it went in on purpose just the results are skewed. Also, he mentioned, as you have in your facts, that things are too powerful. This tends to indicate that, at the very least, there is a likelihood that harvesting rates will be lowered.
Why, based on these statements and a history of putting things in with no notice, is it panic when I say I want to wait and see what will actually happen?
Seems to me, the smart businessperson doesn't put themselves out on too big a limb... one that could ultimately cause their business to fail... not because of a reversion in rates, but because of broken promises and a lack of trust generated with their customers.
Neilla wrote:
...........
I think that the only rational thing to do is to play the game as it is, and to trust in the SOE team not to 'punish' people for playing the game as delivered.
Well I do not know if there are plans for revision. I'm not sure I really care what they do, but I DO wish they would let us know. As both a practical and ethical person, I am currently in a "holding" patern regarding harvesters. I do not want to waste a lot of time credits and energy building experimented structures that will revert. I also would not want to get stuck with even more "base rate" deeds than I already have lying around. I REALLY do not wish to rip people off for harvesters that will not perform as expected. So I'm stuck stockpiling resources.
I do have to take exception to the idea that reverting the deeds would be punishing everyone. The whole harvester experimentation thing has been bugged to the gills from the get go. Also the limited Dev response to the issue has been wishy washy at best if not down right contradictory. Its pretty much a neon sign saying "build this stuff at your own risk!". Some like myself have been very cautious awaiting "the final word". Some like yourself have thrown caution to the wind hoping your gamble pays off. Perhaps the devs will decide not to revert.
If they do decide not to revert it won't be punishing me. I was given the opportunity to gamble on an iffy situation and I passed. The choice was mine. Likewise if they choose to revert it won't be punishing you! You were presented with the same opportunity to gamble and took it. The choice to do thatwas yours. No matter how it turns out some will win and some will lose on the deal.
I thought GreenMarines last post on the subject was pretty clear, that experimentation on extraction will remain, but not at the levels that currently exist. Fusion extractors will be lowered for sure based on his post, the only question is whether other harvesters will be lowered as well, but I expect they will be based on previous posts from the devs that they felt there were too many resources even before the increased extraction rates.
As for Neilla, if you have told your customers that you will buy back their harvesters in the event of a lessening of extractor rates, and have not set aside the reserve funds necessary to do so, then don't expect the devs to save your posterior just because you made a riskybusiness decision.