Business And Economy Archive
Thread: THERE IS NO INFLATION!!
From this thread people have missed a few critical points.
The first is people giving their valuable items and cash to friends in the game and leaving. 1 person could inherit many peoples items and cash and become rich. It could be argued that there are people leaving the game without doing this and money exits the economy this way. Or veterans are giving n00bs a financial helping hand. I was one such noob, who joined a guild just as someone was leaving, and I inherited a complete set of composite. I was over the moon! N00bs dont need to buy low level items. They inherit them.
The second point is the people selling credits on ebay. For example. It would be far far quicker and easier for me to earn the £'s than it would be for me to earn the credits.
There is a huge influx of cash into the game. More people can afford so called High End Loot. Now low end stuff that used to cost 5k is now going for 3k or less, simply because no-one needs these low level items. To use the price of low level weapons to judge inflation doesnt truly reflect the games economic status.
ebay is not a valid argument. say you go to ebay and buy 10 million credits. couldnt the guy that sold them to you just buy that excellent ADK'd weapon? sure he could have. you buy the credits however and buy the same ADK'd weapon for 10 mil. you paid X amount of RL money for 10 million credis, and you get the weapon. 10 mil in, one ADK'd weapon out. no inflation.
who says that the multi-billionaire crafter that needs to grind the pistol line of marksman needs to have an awesome weapon to do it? Joe Crafter can buy (not inherit) a CDEF pistol and do the same thing he would have done with the uber pistol that costs 1 million credits. there is absolutely nothing wrong with using low level weapons as examples. if you only look at the high-end uber loot to judge inflation, the outcome will be distorted
This post has to be a joke. You can't compare pre-CU and post-CU weapons and stims. 100 damage pre-CU and 100 damage post-CU are entirely different things.
Same with composite. Why did composite cost so much pre-CU? Because it was the uberest thing in the game. Now it's just another suit of armor.
In reality, prices have gone up, because everyone overcharges in order to get filthy rich.
Eleutherios wrote:This post has to be a joke. You can't compare pre-CU and post-CU weapons and stims. 100 damage pre-CU and 100 damage post-CU are entirely different things.
Same with composite. Why did composite cost so much pre-CU? Because it was the uberest thing in the game. Now it's just another suit of armor.
In reality, prices have gone up, because everyone overcharges in order to get filthy rich.
the original post was made in march, before the CU. the idea remains the same though. the composite that costs 600k a suit a week after the CU comes out will cost 600k a suit a year after the CU is out.
i can tell you arent a crafter because of what you said in the final sentence.
Arus wrote:
If someone were overcharging heavily for a paticular item (armor, for example), wouldn't that make it that much easier for another armorsmith to enter the market? He could easily beat the overcharged prices and take over all of his competitor's business with just a little advertising. Other armorsmiths could price the same armor higher, but no one would buy it because they can get it cheaper elsewhere.
We have a global vendor search now, for those of you who haven't caught on yet. That means that you can compare items for sale over the whole galaxy, choose the best-valued one, and go and buy it. You're not going to buy a perfect armor suit for 900k or even 600k when someone else is selling it for 400k! (At least I hope not)
If you feel like you're being overcharged, it may very well be your fault for not taking the time to seek out crafters who price their products competitively.
Your missing a couple of important things in this statement: Convenience, and Location.
People will pay deeply inflated prices for things if they don't have to make much effort to get them, thats the cornerstone idea that supports "convenience stores" and even helps them to flourish. Location is also important for basically the same reason.
The point is that there are plenty of mitigating factors that keep new armorsmiths out of the market. Most of them have to do with people who don't care about the credits they spend on stuff like that as long as they don't have to bother with looking very hard.
Kalheka wrote:
People will pay deeply inflated prices for things if they don't have to make much effort to get them, thats the cornerstone idea that supports "convenience stores" and even helps them to flourish. Location is also important for basically the same reason.
Thisdepends on whethermost playerslike to shop, or if most players usually have just one or two very specific things they want to buy.
If most players just like shopping, then the "mall" approach should generally bring in the most income as it makes shopping convenient. If on the other hand most players usually only want one specific item, then it doesn't matter whether that item is in a mall or a two-vendor shop; they'll go where that item is cheapest.
It would be interesting to know which of these really happens more often....
The point is that there are plenty of mitigating factors that keep new armorsmiths out of the market. Most of them have to do with people who don't care about the credits they spend on stuff like that as long as they don't have to bother with looking very hard.
This is another really interesting point -- is there so much money floating around that many players don't have to make rational purchasing decisions?
Or do prices rise to meet demand?
More questions to which I don't have answers.... 
--Flatfingers
Flatfingers wrote:
Kalheka wrote:
People will pay deeply inflated prices for things if they don't have to make much effort to get them, thats the cornerstone idea that supports "convenience stores" and even helps them to flourish. Location is also important for basically the same reason.
This depends on whether most players like to shop, or if most players usually have just one or two very specific things they want to buy.
If most players just like shopping, then the "mall" approach should generally bring in the most income as it makes shopping convenient. If on the other hand most players usually only want one specific item, then it doesn't matter whether that item is in a mall or a two-vendor shop; they'll go where that item is cheapest.
It would be interesting to know which of these really happens more often....
The point is that there are plenty of mitigating factors that keep new armorsmiths out of the market. Most of them have to do with people who don't care about the credits they spend on stuff like that as long as they don't have to bother with looking very hard.
This is another really interesting point -- is there so much money floating around that many players don't have to make rational purchasing decisions?
Or do prices rise to meet demand?
More questions to which I don't have answers....
--Flatfingers
Another consideration is the mood of the customer, since we don't have polls or surveys to judge from, it's difficult to know what motivates buyers.
Kalheka wrote:
...
"Or do prices rise to meet demand?" Hard for me to say. I believe that the "law of supply and demand" is used by a select few as an excuse to charge premium prices. I'm sure someone will come along and attempt to smite me like a heathen for saying that.
...
/smite
Supply and demand is active and does determine prices in the game economy. Its not just an excuse to justify greed.
Small houses are in ready demand. Any novice architect can bang one together from grind junk in 2 minutes. Small houses never decay so you only need to buy it once. Yet theres still more and more architect grinding them out for XP. So theres a large supply and a low demand. This equates to low prices. Smal lhouses routinely sell for 5k-10k range which is in the 2-3 cpu area. Thats dirt cheap. A small house a very useful item and has a lot of value to the owner.