Business And Economy Archive
Thread: The Unfortunate truth about Credits.*UPDATED*
- The Truth will set you free.
- I am not telling the Truth.
That's it. Either you will learn from what I am typing, or you will ignore it, and go back to hating the game, and all it stands for in relation to the Economy in SWG.
Myth #1: "I can't afford all I need".
Sorry folks - You CAN afford all you NEED. Many of you are confusing what you WANT to have, with what you NEED to have. As any veteran can attest to, you don't NEED everything in this game to play it, enjoy it, and be able to compete. Items such as Armor and Buffs, believe it or not, are Voluntary, and not mandatory. You CAN fight without them. You CAN earn credits without them. Swoops, speederbikes, AV-21s - You don't NEED them. You can walk in this game. It slows your pace down, but you are not restricted in travel whatsoever. About the ONLY things you NEED in SWG is a weapon & stim packs. And believe it or not, you CAN survive with an E11 instead of a DE-10. You can do battle with a 6k37-145 damage VK just as well as you can with the sliced Million Credit 225 max damage version. Only PvP AT THIS POINT IN THE GAME makes you NEED to have all of the above. And that my friend is ALSO a choice you make - Not something forced on you by the game or Economy.
Myth #2: "I can't get a +20 Attachment without Millions in the bank"
Maybe you can't. Look above to the WANT vs NEED. You honestly don't NEED that Attachment. It's an optional thing that gives you a BONUS, not makes it so you can play the game. You can buy a bunch of lower prices Attachments to equal that +20. You can go out and loot your OWN Attachment. You don't HAVE to buy it - There are many ways to get them without credits. Make friends with some people in the game, and have them HELP you to loot what you want. Credits aren't the only answer.
Myth #3: "Doctors are over-charging us on Buffs"
Maybe they are. So what? It may seem harsh, but you are complaining about spending credits to basically enable "GOD MODE" in the game. If anything, with Buffs at the quality they are at now, and the MANY advantages they give you, we are being severely UNDER-CHARGED. MOBs that would kill a GROUP with a glance are now made so we can kill them BY OURSELF with a buff. And we complain because the price is so affordable that someone starting the game TODAY can afford it?
Myth #4: "I can't make money as a fighter now that there are no Solo Groups"
I don't have a 100% Combat character. And if *I* can earn 300-500k in a couple hours, a 100% Combat Template should be able to do it too. Is it possible you mean "I can't make a Million credits an hour anymore?" Because that IS true. What is also true is that you don't NEED to. There's nothing in this game that you NEED to have that takes that kind of earning power - Only things you WANT. And many of those wants can be gotten without having to spend credits on them.
Myth #5: "Crafters are the only rich people in the game, and they do it by charging too much"
This one has SOME basis in truth. Many Crafters DO overcharge. On the flip side, there are quite a few Crafters out there that charge a LOT less for their product - But they are harder to find. They don't HAVE the completely convenient location next to Coronet or Theed. They are the little guy in a Player City of some Guild, who doesn't put their vendor on the Planetary Map because they get all the business they desire from their friends. There are Crafters out there who have little more credits than you do - because they craft for the challenge, and not profit.
It may seem to you all that I am being harsh, and critical. And I am. I'm not afraid to tell you how much I have in my In Game account - I have 8 Million credits. I made 1/2 of those credits from selling Resources. The other 1/2 I get through missions and looting. I can't afford to buy +25 Skill tapes, "Uber" weapons, multiple ADKs, or a lot of the things people are saying they MUST have. I don't go around in the game Buffed and Armored - I save that for special hunts, etc. I have everything in game I absolutely NEED. And if I WANY something, I know I will get it eventually. I don't need them right NOW. Even if I have to loot things myself. Even if i do without some other things to get the 1 thing I absolutely want. I have every opportunity to get everything I want in this game - Because I am willing to take time, and not throw credits around/
Message Edited by Phaelyn on 03-10-2005 04:50 AM
Message Edited by Phaelyn on 03-22-2005 07:38 PM
People are so convinced that they NEED so many things when they actually only WANT so many things. It's like 'Keeping up with the Jones' in a virtual environment.
"You're not cool unless you're buffed!"
"Only n00bs wear anything but composite!!"
"Krayt Rifles are teh win!!!"
Well, excuse me if I wouldn't jump off the cliff if they told me to - I don't need these things and I don't want these things.
I pity the poor fool who deludes themselves into thinking they do need these things, and who can't just relax and enjoy the game as it is.
Materialism isn't nice at the best of times, but when the 'materials' are 'virtual' isn't that even worse?
Phaelyn wrote:
- The Truth will set you free.
- I am not telling the Truth.
I'll respectfully disagree with you here.
falllacy wrote:sorry, you lost all credibility about two sentences in...armor and buffs voluntary?sure, if you want to not play the game. perhaps sit in the starport. or kill kreetles.The fact is, to experience any of the high end content, you need armor, you need buffs, you need good weapons.You need food. you need swoops.Want to pvp at all? all of the above as well. And pvp, for many people, isn't a 'choice'..it's an integral part of the star wars universe.
You say that to experience the high end content you need armour, buffs and good weapons. There are a few things I'd like to say about this - firstly, do you NEED to do the high end content all the time? Why? Why not just for an occasional treat, or do it with friends. Is it for the loot? Why do you want the loot? For more credits? Can we see a pattern here.
The original poster DID state that every single advantage you could get in PvP is valid - you'll need all the loot, armour, buffs, durni sacrafices, template stacking and skill tapes to compete in PvP. We're not saying you won't.
But PvP IS a choice - no matter how integral to your Star Wars Universe it seems. This game has optional PvP, and if you want to buy into it for whatever reason you have, then you've chosen to do so.
Message Edited by falllacy on 03-10-2005 03:04 AM
because everyone was in the same boat. Message Edited by falllacy on 03-10-2005 03:08 AM
Try starting out as a new character today. and see how long it takes you to develop a presence.
Try fighting serious pvp'ers with inferior armor and weapons, and see what happens.
Try crafting with less than top of the line ingredients and experimentation, and see what happens.
Maybe you could sell junk speeders for bh's chasing jedi...but you're not going to make enough
to really compete in the market.
Message Edited by EttaBrummi on 03-10-2005 12:16 PM
). There is easily enough SP to take up one elite crafting profession and one combat profession and that is enough. You can't complain that you don't make enough money because you decide to make yourself 'ubah' by investing all your points into combat. You don't need alts. All you need is a trusty blaster, a faithful pet and the burst run button.Good post and I agree theres too much whinging and everybody wants everything within a week. I'd just like to say something about crafting because I think crafters get the blame for prices when its not their fault. (I am a crafter btw so you could consider me biased!)
You say some crafters charge "too much". Lets look at what "too much" actually means. If your looking to buy something, you could buy it cheap, resonable, or expensive. Too much means it was more than you were willing to pay so you DIDNT BUY IT. Just by this very simple argument it follows that no crafter charges "too much" for anything, otherwise they wouldent sell a single item.
So why do people moan about crafters prices? Partly because they see the price of a crate of brandy and think "well he only had to stick the schematic in the factory and bingo! 40 crates with a licence to print money" Unfortunately thats not the case, when you have all the best ingredients etc to hand thats true but its taken me 6 months to a year to accumulate great resources which means 6 months of surveying, harvesting, organisation etc. I enjoy the management side of crafting and especially finding new and better resources. I could probably make the same money just by constantly doing destroy missions for the last year but thats incredibly boring.
The whole SWG economy is based on supply and demand. If people took the time to look around for the best prices then the expensive vendors would eventually reduce their prices. As it is, money is easy to get in SWG so people just buy the 1st they come across because why scour the galaxy for an hour when you could make up the price difference in the same time killing stuff and having fun? I would say my prices are expensive, but I have to run my factories almost 24-7 to keep up with demand, I would be mad to sell cheaper dont you think?
When I first started crafting my prices were actually a lot cheaper. What happened was merchants bought my entire stocks (as a good merchant should!) and re-sold them at the current market price. So my idea of a good shop selling resonable priced food and always stocked was shot down, and I soon realized that selling at the current market price was the only way to stop other people buying me out.