Zen Exchange. How much AD is 1zen worth?

xhatch

Hi,

Let me start off by saying I am in no way a math wiz. Everything that follows is just very rough averages & my line of thinking/opinion on the subject.

Now, I've been trying to work out roughly how much Astral Diamonds(AD) I should be getting per 1 Zen on the Zen exchange. This is how I worked it out.

First I tried to establish a value for AD compared to Zen. I decided to compare a Zen store Epic mount with a Npc AD epic mount. To me, this is a like-for-like item to compare value with both currencies.
Example:
The most expensive Epic mount in the game costs 4000zen=40euros to buy. An equivalent mount can be bought from an Npc in the game for 2,062,000AD. Lets say that's a nice even 2,000,000AD. Then half of that figure is 1,000,000 which is equal to half of the 40euros, so 20euros. Half it again and it's 500,000AD. So that's 10euros. Half it again. 250,000AD is equal to 5euros.

Knowing 5euros is the lowest amount you can buy Zen for from PWE, I will use this amount as a sample amount one might buy to put on the Zen Exchange in order to get AD. 5euros buy me around 500Zen from PWE(I'm not including bonus zen etc...) So, now I decide to sell my 5euros worth of Zen(500zen) on the Zen exchange. How much AD should I get per Zen to get my 250,000AD that the 5euros/500zen is worth to me?

By dividing 250,000AD by 500, you get: 500. So, in this case, 1zen=500AD.

A player can refine rough AD into AD at a rate of 24,000 per day assuming they reach that daily cap. This means if a player went to the zen exchange after capping his daily AD, he could, at the rate of 1zen=500AD, earn 48zen per day.(24,000 divided by 500)

So at 48 Zen per day, to save up enough for the 4,000Zen Store mount it would take them 83days of capping and exchanging AD for zen. If they just saved all of their AD every day & decided to buy the Npc AD epic mount that costs about 2,000,000AD, then it would also take them the exact same amount of days: 83days. (2,000,000 divided by 24,000).

So:
5euros worth of Zen = 250,000AD
1 Zen = 500AD
24,000AD is Daily AD cap = 48 Zen per day

Any thoughts on all of this? Like I first mentioned, these are very rough estimates & my own simple attempt to find and attach an amount of AD to a value of Zen, and then find the worth of 1 Zen to AD. If you know the exact math/figures or have any comments on my rough math, then please go ahead and let me know. I'd like to read that information myself.

I hope this helps some people out.

erlucius

If i well remember, 1 Zen was 400 AD during CB ;/

soiledostrich

That is while people wanted to mass sell in the hopes to keep that zen balance for the wipe. They maxed it out to sell it quickly. Going by STO's Dilithium Exchange once the Exchange stabilizes it should end up around 100-107 AD per 1 Zen. So in effect if you play it smart and let the gold rush die down you will end up making more for founders packs compared to dumping it at launch in the 400-500 range. 100 Zen is a Dollar. So if you get lucky later on your 2mil HoTN AD could be worth some change-over to Zen. In effect making it to where you won't have to purchase any for a while. But that is just a wild and possibly inaccurate set of math. It would depend on mass amounts of people buying the in game AD to pull down those high prices. Still once stabilized you will get more bang for the AD than in the beginning.

vernednd

zen to AD conversion was based on the player posting the offer. I believe the parameters are 50 to 500 so the price will fluctuate from buyer to buyer. I expect it to initially be a poor exchange rate that will slowly increase over time and rest around 250-300 AD per zen.

Cheers!

nec0e

by comarison in champions online, 1 zen was 196 questionite (their AD)

the problem imho isn't as much the conversion rate but the stupidly high zen costs (3000zen for golem companion)

xhatch

soiledostrich wrote: »

Going by STO's Dilithium Exchange once the Exchange stabilizes it should end up around 100-107 AD per 1 Zen.

I know that's a different game & a different market, but speaking for myself with my above calculations, why would I want to sell 1 Zen for 100AD when I've worked out in monetary value that 1 Zen = 500AD. I'd actually be losing real life money (in my case euro). Yes, if i really wanted the AD for something in the game I might perceive a value in losing some money in order to gain the AD i needed (which ultimately saves me in-game time+grind) but, speaking for myself here, I do not at all think i'd want to lose 4 5th's of it's real world money value to do so. Anyone who does would be foolish. If that's going to be the case, then I'd probably be right there with the other smart players buying up the Zen with my AD instead of being with the foolish players selling the Zen for far less than it's AD value.

warpet

nope value of zen will not be even close to 500 after first few weeks 250-300 will be most likly after they ad guild bases i will drop to 100-200

batuba

warpet wrote: »

nope value of zen will not be even close to 500 after first few weeks 250-300 will be most likly after they ad guild bases i will drop to 100-200

A smart investment might be spending 30 bucks on Zen and selling it for AD, Then when prices drop down by half you buy the zen back

batuba

warpet wrote: »

nope value of zen will not be even close to 500 after first few weeks 250-300 will be most likly after they ad guild bases i will drop to 100-200

A smart investment might be spending 30 bucks on Zen and selling it for AD, Then when prices drop down by half you buy the zen back Call me crazy but say you buy 4k Zen for release. Then you sell it for AD at 400 or so which will be 1,600,000 AD. Then a few weeks pass and the price is at 200, trade that for zen and now you have 8000 Z

enderlin50

Its based on the community. 1 ZEN is minimal 50 AD, and max of 500 AD. So if we are all greedy it will be closer to the 500 mark. Although Im hoping that is not so =/

arcademaster

xhatch wrote: »

I know that's a different game & a different market, but speaking for myself with my above calculations, why would I want to sell 1 Zen for 100AD when I've worked out in monetary value that 1 Zen = 500AD. I'd actually be losing real life money (in my case euro). Yes, if i really wanted the AD for something in the game I might perceive a value in losing some money in order to gain the AD i needed (which ultimately saves me in-game time+grind) but, speaking for myself here, I do not at all think i'd want to lose 4 5th's of it's real world money value to do so. Anyone who does would be foolish. If that's going to be the case, then I'd probably be right there with the other smart players buying up the Zen with my AD instead of being with the foolish players selling the Zen for far less than it's AD value.

Wrong assumptions here. Zen might be worth 500 AD to YOU, but you aren't setting the market value, the players are. And for the large majority of the player base AD has zero monetary value, since it cannot be traded back into real money. So they'll have no qualms about selling it cheaply.

Also you can't just set a fair exchange rate based on one store item since there will be things you cannot just buy with zen instead. Anything you can't buy with zen directly increases the value of AD. It's a 100:1 ratio in STO since dilithium is in extremely high demand, so it's worth little zen. The demand in this game seems to be much higher even with equipment and upgrades in the 2 million range.

Also, you say people who buy AD for less are foolish. Those players will say you are foolish because you give up several hours of labor for the equivalent of a dollar. Neither of you are right, I really don't know why everyone participating in the markets needs to perceive themselves as a "winner" over the other party. In the end the price is always fair since it is what the community informally agrees on.

xhatch

arcademaster wrote: »

Wrong assumptions here. Zen might be worth 500 AD to YOU, but you aren't setting the market value, the players are. And for the large majority of the player base AD has zero monetary value, since it cannot be traded back into real money. So they'll have no qualms about selling it cheaply.

Well that is a good point. You're essentially saying any AD/Zen is locked into the game anyway, since you can't get your euro/dollar/pounds back from the game anyway.

arcademaster wrote: »

Also you can't just set a fair exchange rate based on one store item since there will be things you cannot just buy with zen instead. Anything you can't buy with zen directly increases the value of AD. It's a 100:1 ratio in STO since dilithium is in extremely high demand, so it's worth little zen. The demand in this game seems to be much higher even with equipment and upgrades in the 2 million range.

Yes but the same argument can be made for Zen. There are items you can only get with Zen too. I understand that players wont be willing to give away their AD as much if they need it for other things in the game.

arcademaster wrote: »

Also, you say people who buy AD for less are foolish. Those players will say you are foolish because you give up several hours of labor for the equivalent of a dollar. Neither of you are right, I really don't know why everyone participating in the markets needs to perceive themselves as a "winner" over the other party. In the end the price is always fair since it is what the community informally agrees on.

Well I wasn't trying to bring "winner" etc... into this at all. It does come down to someone's own view on it however. While some would call me foolish for rather playing the game & grinding those "several hours of labor for the equivalent of a dollar" I'd still think they are foolish for spending their money so readily on what just amounts to time saving. But then this is really just an argument of Time VS. Money, and everyone is going to have a preference for what they'd rather do.

arcademaster

xhatch wrote: »

But then this is really just an argument of Time VS. Money, and everyone is going to have a preference for what they'd rather do.

Exactly And that is why the system works. If one of the parties wasn't there no one could trade anything. FWIW personally I'll be in your camp, buying Zen with AD as cheaply as possible. I got several endgame ships in STO this way without paying a cent. But I can understand the other side and if I had more disposable income I'd be inclined to go their way too.

One big part of the equation we are still missing is how much work it'll be to even earn 24k AD a day. So far there is praying for 1-2k a day and 4 dailies for 7k in total, that is not even 10k. If AD is difficult to earn it'll also make it extremely expensive.

streamofsolace

To answer the subject question: There is no absolute correct Zen:AD exchange rate.

The market will stabilize around some price, but additions of temporary AD sinks and Zen sinks (think new companion, mount, or other non-consumable item) can be expected to consistently destabilize the market.

Attempting to divine the stable price at this time is a futile exercise. The game is currently populated by people who are willing to devalue their AD to acquire Zen, because they have a temporary/perceived excess of AD due to their HotN/Guardian pack.


Interestingly, due to the artificial bounds on the Zen:AD exchange rate, you cannot actually "lose" by investing in AD right now. You can buy all of a HotN individual's AD for $40, and the worst that can happen is that you make no profit if you want to convert back to Zen later.