You very seldom find an Zen on the exchange to buy since Chapter 4 went live.
Mod 3*. If you post at 500ad/z, you can get yours after a few days or so. Not quite ideal but it works.
Personally I was against continually exploiting the exchange for gain but with the keys being bound, if the opportunity arrives to make it worthwhile again then I'll probably consider doing it whilst it's still possible.
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zebularMember, Neverwinter Moderator, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 15,270Community Moderator
Considering that you get on average only 60% of the key value, and on top of that there are still 'lucky' and 'unlucky' chars / accounts, even on fairly long sequences, so there's a reason to feel ripped off as a legit buyer of keys.
And it's not the responsibility of the players to stabilize the economy - maybe Cryptic should sell war bonds?
. . . I do agree that seeing some people have repeat winning streaks is a big turn off for me when I have only ever gotten one companion (normal pheora) out of the many locked boxes I have opened. I've never won a mount but I have gotten a few blue Profession Assets from them that at least made it feel like it wasn't a total waste.
. . . I dislike greatly "gambling" and RNG systems but yet when I do get enough spare AD, I still do buy keys on occasions. I just never spend Zen that I bought with real money on keys. I save my real money bought zen for things like companions, mounts, and account services. Fluff is what sells me, gambling and RNG does not.
Considering that you get on average only 60% of the key value, and on top of that there are still 'lucky' and 'unlucky' chars / accounts, even on fairly long sequences, so there's a reason to feel ripped off as a legit buyer of keys.
And it's not the responsibility of the players to stabilize the economy - maybe Cryptic should sell war bonds?
A key is worth about 62,500 ad over the exchange. An enchantment pack, or professions pack sells for about 80k. The barbarian relic pack and companion token pack (Because the tokens are never in them) sell for considerably less. And then there's the rares which sell for 500k+. AND if you grind boxes you get bars. Which gets you a coal ward, which you can use to make a lesser enchant and sell that for 400k+.
Ergo, you have a fairly good chance to hit some good money in a lockbox. Unless you're really unlucky and score relics and companion packs several times in a row.
So, for clarification purposes, Cryptic's stance towards NW may be considered thus?
"Take away the ability to trade any item of 'high' value that players tend to trade among themselves often, this will make the economy better and keep us safe from bots and 3rd party sellers."
Is this what the player base can expect as these policies play out over time?
I agree, everything from the Z store should be BtA that would make it so the only way to sell Z is through the ZaX and that would help fixing it.
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scoutmasterjMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 101Arc User
edited July 2014
My biggest complaint is that with BTA keys, I don't have anything worthwhile to spend my gold on. I'd save up my gold until I got 120 - 150 and then buy a key. It was fun to open a lockbox every once in awhile. I'd almost always got nothing, but I was like, meh, what was I going to do with that gold anyways. I can't see myself trading AD to get ZEN to buy keys. Now I've got all this extra gold that I don't need. I can get all the potions and injury kits from sword coast pouches, so the gold is just sitting there.
My biggest complaint is that with BTA keys, I don't have anything worthwhile to spend my gold on. I'd save up my gold until I got 120 - 150 and then buy a key. It was fun to open a lockbox every once in awhile. I'd almost always got nothing, but I was like, meh, what was I going to do with that gold anyways. I can't see myself trading AD to get ZEN to buy keys. Now I've got all this extra gold that I don't need. I can get all the potions and injury kits from sword coast pouches, so the gold is just sitting there.
I think that was one of their points.
Gold is easily farmable by gold sellers and Cryptic is not in the business of having their zen store compromised because there is an easy transaction to be made
Which is all beside the point. I feel like you're arguing for the sake of arguing as everytime someone explains it to you, you go even more off topic. Seriously, the only one preventing you from buying keys with AD is yourself. Use the AD Exchange, it truly is that simple.
It actually is not beside the point at all, as I was actually giving an example that supports your suggestion that inflation makes it more difficult for new players. I am sorry if you feel I was arguing for the sake of it as I was not. I was discussing, like an adult, because I am an adult. And, in fact, I was illustrating your point and actually agreeing with you.
I do use the exchange and have quite a lot of Zen. I am just waiting for the next sale. But, as a paying customer, I feel perfectly comfortable participating in a forum discussion on issues that affect my account, even if I do not trade keys, never have and never would have. I am more concerned about any possible precedent being set for doing the same with other items I may want to sell some day which might suddenly become BoP.
~
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bioshrikeMember, NW M9 PlaytestPosts: 4,729Arc User
What is an "Astral Diamond Sink" and why do we need one any way?
[Snipped for brevity]
An "AD Sink" is anything that pulls ADs out of circulation - once you spend ADs on any item or service that is wholly or in part, an AD sink, some or all of those ADs are gone forever, (i.e. they don't simply get passed over to another person).
These are needed because ADs are constantly being added out of thin air - through leadership, salvaging, invoking, skirmish events, daily quests from Rhix & Lord Neverember, etc. Unless the ADs that are added to the game are balanced against those that are removed from the game, the supply of ADs will just keep growing as time goes on. This will result in the AD supply going up, thus the amount of ADs someone demands in exchange for an item on the AH or Zen they are putting up for sale, to rise. As we are already at the AD:Z ratio cap, people find selling their Zen less desirable, since in reality, each Zen is worth more than the 500 ADs set at the cap - this is why people were buying keys and selling them for more than the 500:1 ratio.
At this stage of the game, Cryptic needs to add a variety of attractive AD sinks across all areas of the game that players utilize - everything from more fashion, armor, & weapon transmutes, to Preservation & Coalescent wards being sold at slightly above their equivalent price if bought with Zen directly, (since ADs are easier to come by).
<::::::::::::::)xxxo <::::::::::::::)xxxo <::::::::::::)xxxxxxxx(:::::::::::> oxxx(::::::::::::::> oxxx(::::::::::::::> "Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark Official NW_Legit_Community Forums
An "AD Sink" is anything that pulls ADs out of circulation - once you spend ADs on any item or service that is wholly or in part, an AD sink, some or all of those ADs are gone forever, (i.e. they don't simply get passed over to another person).
Yes I get that now, thanks. It's like buying a Mark of Potency from Rhix's Mistress for 100k instead of from the AH for 80k. But as those on the AH last time I looked were well over 100k, I buy them from her. So that 100k AD disappears down the sink instead of going to another player.
Maybe they should make more AD sinks like that - higher level Marks and Refining stones, plus Stones of Union, Power and Stability of all ranks, Peridots, Aquamarines, Flawless Sapphires, Black Opals, Bloodstone Rubies and Brilliant Diamonds. Set a reasonable price based on what is already there and make them BoA - except the ones from boxes and any you pick up in Dread Ring or Sharandar. Those should remain tradable.
Or, if not Rhix's Mistress, put an Arch Mage Astral Diamond Trader in Sharandar and Dread Ring, so only high level characters will have access. It is those with 18k GS and nothing but Rank 10 enchants and Rank 100 Artifacts who have an absolute ton of inflationary AD, and probably have a boat load of refined stuff they can charge the Earth for.
But as I have resurrected some older characters, I'll be spending a lot on upgrading their Companions that have Maxed out in XP. Companions are a pretty hefty sink - some are 600k to level 25, plus 750k from level 25 to 30.
Maybe they should make more AD sinks like that - higher level Marks and Refining stones, plus Stones of Union, Power and Stability of all ranks, Peridots, Aquamarines, Flawless Sapphires, Black Opals, Bloodstone Rubies and Brilliant Diamonds. Set a reasonable price based on what is already there and make them BoA - except the ones from boxes and any you pick up in Dread Ring or Sharandar. Those should remain tradable.
~
The flawless sapphires are already there but they are extremely cost inefficient. Sort of like how rank 4s cost like 27k from the bazaar when they were listed. When exchanging ad for zen you can get blood rubies which are worse iirc even from the packs of 3,
The flawless sapphires are already there but they are extremely cost inefficient. Sort of like how rank 4s cost like 27k from the bazaar when they were listed. When exchanging ad for zen you can get blood rubies which are worse iirc even from the packs of 3
Yes, they should fix that as well, make their Zen prices more reasonable and create more AD sinks.
Maybe just have a flat rate on the Exchange where 1 Zen = 500 AD?
When I started in February, it was 1 Zen = 376 AD. With a flat rate, there would be no market fluctuation and easier price comparison. Items in the AD Sinks could be 10% more than the Zen AD equivalent. So 1000 Zen = 500k AD = 550k AD if purchased from an AD Sink.
There are some merchants on some maps where you can buy White Pearls, but I do not recall seeing any higher quality refinement stones of any sort.
The inflation we have is what always happens with runaway, laissez-faire free markets. Bubbles always burst in the end.
I checked in-game after posting (part of the fun for me is checking out the AH for a bargain).
Flawless Sapphires are 30k AD from Rhix's Mistress for 5000 Refinement Points. That is 6 AD per RP. A great AD Sink.
But there were many, many Flawless Sapphires on the AH for 22k AD, presumably posted by people with multiple level 60 characters from the first Open Beta who are already maxed out in refining their gear. That is only 4.4 AD per RP.
But I would not buy those, as:
White Pearls were 3 AD per RP
Periodots were 3.57 AD per RP
Aquamarines were 4 AD per RP
All a better "bang for your buck", although you have to buy far, far more and spend a lot longer feeding your Artifacts. As a compromise between price and speed/convenience, I would go for Aquamarines.
Black Opal = 5.8 AD per RP (better than Rhix's Mistresses' Sapphires)
Blood Ruby = 8 AD per RP
Brilliant Diamond = 7.8 AD per RP
All overpriced.
As so many Sapphires are being posted, they keep undercutting for a quick sale. That is what I do when I get artifacts or mounts I do not want from lockboxes - I post the most attractive price I can to get a quick sale. Very often, it is sold by the time I leave the AH, or by the time I get back up to the Invocation Altar in PE. I sold a Thayan Book of the Dead for 3 million. They are asking nearly twice that now!
The only things I have ever bought from the Zen Market are:
New Character Slots (3 or 4, I forget)
Quite a lot of Retraining Tokens
One Appearance Change Token
An account-wide, 110% Speed White Tiger for all characters (3500 Zen)
2 lots of Personal Bank Slots
2 lots of Shared Bank Slots
1 Greater Bag of Holding
Some Coalescent and Preservation Wards during a Sale
Shed loads of Enchanted Keys during a Sale, which I used to open boxes, kept the good stuff and auctioned the rest.
There is nothing else there I could make use of. In fact, if everything there was Bind to Account, I'd see no problem, except I would like to keep the option of auctioning off some GBoH, as I have 12.
Also, if you could also buy ZM items them for 1 Zen = 500 AD +10%, that would be a hefty sink without needing to use the Exchange.
I would probably buy an Account-wide Companion if it had a good Active Bonus. I would never buy something just to trade it or auction it. I would really like an Ioun Stone of Might, but they are only available from the AH and overpriced.
I just calculated that to get a Shard to a Perfect Weapon or Armour Enchant would need:
184 Shards (free from the game or from the AH House for AD)
15 Coalescent Wards = 15000 Zen = 7,500,000 AD
The inflation we have is what always happens with runaway, laissez-faire free markets. Bubbles always burst in the end.
Inflation is defined as an expansion of the money supply (although often colloquially defined as prices going up, which is usually correlated, but not the same thing). Laissez-faire is simply the absence, or very low incidence, of regluation of trade. It really doesn't have much, if anything, to do with the supply of money (although it could be argued that pure laissez-faire would be based on hard currency that is very difficult to inflate). Also, bubbles are usually caused by manipulation, intended or not, either public or private, but the larger an economy is, the more difficult it becomes for private manipulation, on it's own, to result in a significant bubble.
With that out of the way, what I'm seeing in NWO right now, from an economic standpoint, is easily predictable. Interference into markets almost always comes with unintended consequences. So, for instance, when prices aren't allowed to refect the true value of a good or service, like say the price ceiling in the ZAX, "alternative" (read: grey/black) markets will emerge. When attempts are made to stamp those out, others will take their place. Unless Cryptic wants to continue playing whack-a-mole, and likely angering more and more of it's player base each go around (also likely ending up with everything BoA from the Zen store), they might want to re-think their approach. While likely not eliminating the problem entirely, uncapping the ZAX would certainly move people away from certain foreign key sellers and back onto the ZAX. I mean, personally, why would I sell Zen at 500 when it's worth more than that? If they are somehow successful at forcing everyone onto the ZAX, there will still be an excess of demand and reduced supply. Or...
Ultimately, though, most everyone is likely correct when they point at inflation as the largest factor in recent dramatic price increases (other factors may include lowered supply of enchants due to recent exploit fixes). Honestly, relative to the in-game economy, inflation, and ways to combat it, should be their one and only focus.
we need AD sinks nothing more. the better the AD sink is the more backlog will decrease.
we dont need 1 time AD sinks, we need something which is present all the time and is not pricey enough for players to leave it as itis , like now.
or just decrease prices of current AD sink , also zen market companion comes with lesser bonding stone , they shld also come with wondrous bazzar companion too.
The core economic issues are made more complex by their business model. It seems pretty clear now that they've been actively fighting bots with various means, which drives prices on enchants and refining materials up. The end goal is probably to do for refining materials what they did for coalescent wards -- make blood rubies and such from the Zen store seem like a good deal.
You know when they came out with the new refining system for enchants, people said that they were using this to push new zen items. Then the blood ruby came out. Enchants have doubled in price and are going higher. I don't think this is good for the game. certainly not for a new player
You know when they came out with the new refining system for enchants, people said that they were using this to push new zen items. Then the blood ruby came out. Enchants have doubled in price and are going higher. I don't think this is good for the game. certainly not for a new player
when the new system came online every enchant on the market , there prices drop by a minimum of half , the prices u see now is due to coal being BOA and nothing more , blood ruby has nothing to do with it.
when the new system came online every enchant on the market , there prices drop by a minimum of half , the prices u see now is due to coal being BOA and nothing more , blood ruby has nothing to do with it.
Not really, the prices only dropped once people discovered you could fuse enchantments using the old method. Once that loop was closed prices have been going up. All enchants are going up rank 4 and up. Coal does not affect those.
Inflation is defined as an expansion of the money supply (although often colloquially defined as prices going up, which is usually correlated, but not the same thing). Laissez-faire is simply the absence, or very low incidence, of regluation of trade. It really doesn't have much, if anything, to do with the supply of money (although it could be argued that pure laissez-faire would be based on hard currency that is very difficult to inflate). Also, bubbles are usually caused by manipulation, intended or not, either public or private, but the larger an economy is, the more difficult it becomes for private manipulation, on it's own, to result in a significant bubble.
With that out of the way, what I'm seeing in NWO right now, from an economic standpoint, is easily predictable. Interference into markets almost always comes with unintended consequences. So, for instance, when prices aren't allowed to refect the true value of a good or service, like say the price ceiling in the ZAX, "alternative" (read: grey/black) markets will emerge. When attempts are made to stamp those out, others will take their place. Unless Cryptic wants to continue playing whack-a-mole, and likely angering more and more of it's player base each go around (also likely ending up with everything BoA from the Zen store), they might want to re-think their approach. While likely not eliminating the problem entirely, uncapping the ZAX would certainly move people away from certain foreign key sellers and back onto the ZAX. I mean, personally, why would I sell Zen at 500 when it's worth more than that? If they are somehow successful at forcing everyone onto the ZAX, there will still be an excess of demand and reduced supply. Or...
Ultimately, though, most everyone is likely correct when they point at inflation as the largest factor in recent dramatic price increases (other factors may include lowered supply of enchants due to recent exploit fixes). Honestly, relative to the in-game economy, inflation, and ways to combat it, should be their one and only focus.
Another who gets it!! Boom! Cryptic needs to listen. Markets need to be able to adjust to prices, when you cap it creates inefficient markets where supply cannot meet demand (in this case supply of zen cannot meet demand of zen).
I dont think more AD sinks are what the issue is, the issue is lack of zen supply - via lack of players who buy zen. Cryptic cant just raise the price because of other games, so they need to continue to release things in he zen market - creating alot of demand for zen (already there) and then remove the cap, let the market price effectively and boom! Backlog done.
You know when they came out with the new refining system for enchants, people said that they were using this to push new zen items. Then the blood ruby came out. Enchants have doubled in price and are going higher. I don't think this is good for the game. certainly not for a new player
Raise the ZAX Transfer Cap to adjust for Inflation.
Watch that number shrink quickly and economy stabilize if Cap is 1000.
It eliminates profiteering and Price Hijacking.
Current Rate of Zen to AD is near the 700 Mark.
About 650:1 If memory serves me correctly.
A 1000 cap and the AD inflation in no way will reach 1000. Most people cringe at the 770:1 Ratio we just had.
Most people cringed at a 400+:1 rate before, and look at it now, it's been on 500 for months. Just because people won't like it at first doesn't guarantee that it won't cap at 1000 in the future.
Another who gets it!! Boom! Cryptic needs to listen. Markets need to be able to adjust to prices, when you cap it creates inefficient markets where supply cannot meet demand (in this case supply of zen cannot meet demand of zen).
I dont think more AD sinks are what the issue is, the issue is lack of zen supply - via lack of players who buy zen. Cryptic cant just raise the price because of other games, so they need to continue to release things in he zen market - creating alot of demand for zen (already there) and then remove the cap, let the market price effectively and boom! Backlog done.
You raise the cap to 1000 and it will make things MORE expensive.
1000AD/1zen = 1 million AD coal wards or more on AH.
Simply because some are trading zen for items worth more than the 500 AD cap is no reason to make coal wards and other zen shop items costs double.
Another who gets it!! Boom! Cryptic needs to listen. Markets need to be able to adjust to prices, when you cap it creates inefficient markets where supply cannot meet demand (in this case supply of zen cannot meet demand of zen).
I dont think more AD sinks are what the issue is, the issue is lack of zen supply - via lack of players who buy zen. Cryptic cant just raise the price because of other games, so they need to continue to release things in he zen market - creating alot of demand for zen (already there) and then remove the cap, let the market price effectively and boom! Backlog done.
Except neither he nor you actually get it. You're good at stating the symptoms but that's where it stops. Your so called 'solutions' are derived from what you want to happen at which point the rest of your arguments are based entirely on a logical fallacy that fail to account for the underlying causes. Bald's text is painfully obvious in that regard.
A world to defend
A city to protect
innocents to save
"Why?" They ask "they hate you"
We're heroes it's what we do.
*patiently waiting on Paragon City*
when the new system came online every enchant on the market , there prices drop by a minimum of half , the prices u see now is due to coal being BOA and nothing more , blood ruby has nothing to do with it.
Coal wards from lockboxes being bop and the fact that you can no longer effectively get them for free in the celestial coffers. People initially accepted the new system because it was better without those changes. With those changes things are on the whole worse. Whether Cryptic released the new system that get us to accept it and slowly force us to buy the overprice wards on purpose I don't know. I certainly hope not and hope they consider at least permanently reducing coal ward prices. That would at least give us some benefit of the new system back.
Comments
Over 2 million zen have been sold since the change to the keys happened.
Mod 3*. If you post at 500ad/z, you can get yours after a few days or so. Not quite ideal but it works.
Personally I was against continually exploiting the exchange for gain but with the keys being bound, if the opportunity arrives to make it worthwhile again then I'll probably consider doing it whilst it's still possible.
. . . I dislike greatly "gambling" and RNG systems but yet when I do get enough spare AD, I still do buy keys on occasions. I just never spend Zen that I bought with real money on keys. I save my real money bought zen for things like companions, mounts, and account services. Fluff is what sells me, gambling and RNG does not.
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A key is worth about 62,500 ad over the exchange. An enchantment pack, or professions pack sells for about 80k. The barbarian relic pack and companion token pack (Because the tokens are never in them) sell for considerably less. And then there's the rares which sell for 500k+. AND if you grind boxes you get bars. Which gets you a coal ward, which you can use to make a lesser enchant and sell that for 400k+.
Ergo, you have a fairly good chance to hit some good money in a lockbox. Unless you're really unlucky and score relics and companion packs several times in a row.
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Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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"Take away the ability to trade any item of 'high' value that players tend to trade among themselves often, this will make the economy better and keep us safe from bots and 3rd party sellers."
Is this what the player base can expect as these policies play out over time?
I think that was one of their points.
Gold is easily farmable by gold sellers and Cryptic is not in the business of having their zen store compromised because there is an easy transaction to be made
It actually is not beside the point at all, as I was actually giving an example that supports your suggestion that inflation makes it more difficult for new players. I am sorry if you feel I was arguing for the sake of it as I was not. I was discussing, like an adult, because I am an adult. And, in fact, I was illustrating your point and actually agreeing with you.
I do use the exchange and have quite a lot of Zen. I am just waiting for the next sale. But, as a paying customer, I feel perfectly comfortable participating in a forum discussion on issues that affect my account, even if I do not trade keys, never have and never would have. I am more concerned about any possible precedent being set for doing the same with other items I may want to sell some day which might suddenly become BoP.
~
An "AD Sink" is anything that pulls ADs out of circulation - once you spend ADs on any item or service that is wholly or in part, an AD sink, some or all of those ADs are gone forever, (i.e. they don't simply get passed over to another person).
These are needed because ADs are constantly being added out of thin air - through leadership, salvaging, invoking, skirmish events, daily quests from Rhix & Lord Neverember, etc. Unless the ADs that are added to the game are balanced against those that are removed from the game, the supply of ADs will just keep growing as time goes on. This will result in the AD supply going up, thus the amount of ADs someone demands in exchange for an item on the AH or Zen they are putting up for sale, to rise. As we are already at the AD:Z ratio cap, people find selling their Zen less desirable, since in reality, each Zen is worth more than the 500 ADs set at the cap - this is why people were buying keys and selling them for more than the 500:1 ratio.
At this stage of the game, Cryptic needs to add a variety of attractive AD sinks across all areas of the game that players utilize - everything from more fashion, armor, & weapon transmutes, to Preservation & Coalescent wards being sold at slightly above their equivalent price if bought with Zen directly, (since ADs are easier to come by).
"Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?" -Tony Stark
Official NW_Legit_Community Forums
Yes I get that now, thanks. It's like buying a Mark of Potency from Rhix's Mistress for 100k instead of from the AH for 80k. But as those on the AH last time I looked were well over 100k, I buy them from her. So that 100k AD disappears down the sink instead of going to another player.
Maybe they should make more AD sinks like that - higher level Marks and Refining stones, plus Stones of Union, Power and Stability of all ranks, Peridots, Aquamarines, Flawless Sapphires, Black Opals, Bloodstone Rubies and Brilliant Diamonds. Set a reasonable price based on what is already there and make them BoA - except the ones from boxes and any you pick up in Dread Ring or Sharandar. Those should remain tradable.
Or, if not Rhix's Mistress, put an Arch Mage Astral Diamond Trader in Sharandar and Dread Ring, so only high level characters will have access. It is those with 18k GS and nothing but Rank 10 enchants and Rank 100 Artifacts who have an absolute ton of inflationary AD, and probably have a boat load of refined stuff they can charge the Earth for.
But as I have resurrected some older characters, I'll be spending a lot on upgrading their Companions that have Maxed out in XP. Companions are a pretty hefty sink - some are 600k to level 25, plus 750k from level 25 to 30.
~
The flawless sapphires are already there but they are extremely cost inefficient. Sort of like how rank 4s cost like 27k from the bazaar when they were listed. When exchanging ad for zen you can get blood rubies which are worse iirc even from the packs of 3,
Yes, they should fix that as well, make their Zen prices more reasonable and create more AD sinks.
Maybe just have a flat rate on the Exchange where 1 Zen = 500 AD?
When I started in February, it was 1 Zen = 376 AD. With a flat rate, there would be no market fluctuation and easier price comparison. Items in the AD Sinks could be 10% more than the Zen AD equivalent. So 1000 Zen = 500k AD = 550k AD if purchased from an AD Sink.
There are some merchants on some maps where you can buy White Pearls, but I do not recall seeing any higher quality refinement stones of any sort.
The inflation we have is what always happens with runaway, laissez-faire free markets. Bubbles always burst in the end.
I checked in-game after posting (part of the fun for me is checking out the AH for a bargain).
Flawless Sapphires are 30k AD from Rhix's Mistress for 5000 Refinement Points. That is 6 AD per RP. A great AD Sink.
But there were many, many Flawless Sapphires on the AH for 22k AD, presumably posted by people with multiple level 60 characters from the first Open Beta who are already maxed out in refining their gear. That is only 4.4 AD per RP.
But I would not buy those, as:
White Pearls were 3 AD per RP
Periodots were 3.57 AD per RP
Aquamarines were 4 AD per RP
All a better "bang for your buck", although you have to buy far, far more and spend a lot longer feeding your Artifacts. As a compromise between price and speed/convenience, I would go for Aquamarines.
Black Opal = 5.8 AD per RP (better than Rhix's Mistresses' Sapphires)
Blood Ruby = 8 AD per RP
Brilliant Diamond = 7.8 AD per RP
All overpriced.
As so many Sapphires are being posted, they keep undercutting for a quick sale. That is what I do when I get artifacts or mounts I do not want from lockboxes - I post the most attractive price I can to get a quick sale. Very often, it is sold by the time I leave the AH, or by the time I get back up to the Invocation Altar in PE. I sold a Thayan Book of the Dead for 3 million. They are asking nearly twice that now!
The only things I have ever bought from the Zen Market are:
New Character Slots (3 or 4, I forget)
Quite a lot of Retraining Tokens
One Appearance Change Token
An account-wide, 110% Speed White Tiger for all characters (3500 Zen)
2 lots of Personal Bank Slots
2 lots of Shared Bank Slots
1 Greater Bag of Holding
Some Coalescent and Preservation Wards during a Sale
Shed loads of Enchanted Keys during a Sale, which I used to open boxes, kept the good stuff and auctioned the rest.
There is nothing else there I could make use of. In fact, if everything there was Bind to Account, I'd see no problem, except I would like to keep the option of auctioning off some GBoH, as I have 12.
Also, if you could also buy ZM items them for 1 Zen = 500 AD +10%, that would be a hefty sink without needing to use the Exchange.
I would probably buy an Account-wide Companion if it had a good Active Bonus. I would never buy something just to trade it or auction it. I would really like an Ioun Stone of Might, but they are only available from the AH and overpriced.
I just calculated that to get a Shard to a Perfect Weapon or Armour Enchant would need:
184 Shards (free from the game or from the AH House for AD)
15 Coalescent Wards = 15000 Zen = 7,500,000 AD
Plus many, many months of grinding.
~
Inflation is defined as an expansion of the money supply (although often colloquially defined as prices going up, which is usually correlated, but not the same thing). Laissez-faire is simply the absence, or very low incidence, of regluation of trade. It really doesn't have much, if anything, to do with the supply of money (although it could be argued that pure laissez-faire would be based on hard currency that is very difficult to inflate). Also, bubbles are usually caused by manipulation, intended or not, either public or private, but the larger an economy is, the more difficult it becomes for private manipulation, on it's own, to result in a significant bubble.
With that out of the way, what I'm seeing in NWO right now, from an economic standpoint, is easily predictable. Interference into markets almost always comes with unintended consequences. So, for instance, when prices aren't allowed to refect the true value of a good or service, like say the price ceiling in the ZAX, "alternative" (read: grey/black) markets will emerge. When attempts are made to stamp those out, others will take their place. Unless Cryptic wants to continue playing whack-a-mole, and likely angering more and more of it's player base each go around (also likely ending up with everything BoA from the Zen store), they might want to re-think their approach. While likely not eliminating the problem entirely, uncapping the ZAX would certainly move people away from certain foreign key sellers and back onto the ZAX. I mean, personally, why would I sell Zen at 500 when it's worth more than that? If they are somehow successful at forcing everyone onto the ZAX, there will still be an excess of demand and reduced supply. Or...
Ultimately, though, most everyone is likely correct when they point at inflation as the largest factor in recent dramatic price increases (other factors may include lowered supply of enchants due to recent exploit fixes). Honestly, relative to the in-game economy, inflation, and ways to combat it, should be their one and only focus.
we dont need 1 time AD sinks, we need something which is present all the time and is not pricey enough for players to leave it as itis , like now.
or just decrease prices of current AD sink , also zen market companion comes with lesser bonding stone , they shld also come with wondrous bazzar companion too.
You know when they came out with the new refining system for enchants, people said that they were using this to push new zen items. Then the blood ruby came out. Enchants have doubled in price and are going higher. I don't think this is good for the game. certainly not for a new player
Not really, the prices only dropped once people discovered you could fuse enchantments using the old method. Once that loop was closed prices have been going up. All enchants are going up rank 4 and up. Coal does not affect those.
HEY! This guy understands econ 101!
I posted this and made a thread about removing the cap would benefit the market because it could accurately price items....
Got alot of flame for it by people who I dont think understand, great to see another who gets it!
Another who gets it!! Boom! Cryptic needs to listen. Markets need to be able to adjust to prices, when you cap it creates inefficient markets where supply cannot meet demand (in this case supply of zen cannot meet demand of zen).
I dont think more AD sinks are what the issue is, the issue is lack of zen supply - via lack of players who buy zen. Cryptic cant just raise the price because of other games, so they need to continue to release things in he zen market - creating alot of demand for zen (already there) and then remove the cap, let the market price effectively and boom! Backlog done.
Especially not for free to play new player.
Most people cringed at a 400+:1 rate before, and look at it now, it's been on 500 for months. Just because people won't like it at first doesn't guarantee that it won't cap at 1000 in the future.
You raise the cap to 1000 and it will make things MORE expensive.
1000AD/1zen = 1 million AD coal wards or more on AH.
Simply because some are trading zen for items worth more than the 500 AD cap is no reason to make coal wards and other zen shop items costs double.
Except neither he nor you actually get it. You're good at stating the symptoms but that's where it stops. Your so called 'solutions' are derived from what you want to happen at which point the rest of your arguments are based entirely on a logical fallacy that fail to account for the underlying causes. Bald's text is painfully obvious in that regard.
A city to protect
innocents to save
"Why?" They ask "they hate you"
We're heroes it's what we do.
*patiently waiting on Paragon City*
Coal wards from lockboxes being bop and the fact that you can no longer effectively get them for free in the celestial coffers. People initially accepted the new system because it was better without those changes. With those changes things are on the whole worse. Whether Cryptic released the new system that get us to accept it and slowly force us to buy the overprice wards on purpose I don't know. I certainly hope not and hope they consider at least permanently reducing coal ward prices. That would at least give us some benefit of the new system back.