The lower prices are due to someone having Zen they want to dispose of at a lower rate, it's not anything that Cryptic controls.
With Fleet bases there's a greater demand for dilithium so players with the money to spend are willing to take a loss on zen to get it quickly.
It balances out for Cryptic, they still make money on the initial zen purchase, players getting more zen per dilithium pretty much equals those losing zen to buy dilithium. Cryptic actually profits because Zen has a real world value while dilithium and everything it can purchase does not.
It's makes for a real good time to sell dilithium, but a lousy time to buy it, unless Zen sellers stop undercutting each other. As a dilithium seller I'm not going to complain about the current situation.
I think the over situation is good. Dil is worth more zen which means every player can buy more zen than they could previously. Given that there are two reasons for buy zen and one of them pays for the game. You have traders which are using zen for making more dil/zen, which is fine for making the market liquid. Then you have people wanting to consume zen by purchasing items. The more zen that dil farmers buy the more zen that gets consumed by players. This means PWE make more from the game. Now I'm hoping that this means more content.
Which is why I grabbed 1000Z, threw it into the market at 330+ dil and netted myself a decent stash of crafting dilithium when the starbases where about to come out.
I dont always play the market, but when I do, I buy dilithium in a Z sellers market.
STO: @AGNT009 Since Dec 2010
Capt. Will Conquest of the U.S.S. Crusader
As projects consume more and more dilithium as people advance their starbase tiers, dilith will be in even greater demand. It's a living market, and for those like myself who spend hours farming dilithium to obtain C-Store items, the drop is encouraging.
(Fleet Modules and thus Fleet ship variants still cost too damn much though)
Comments
I think the over situation is good. Dil is worth more zen which means every player can buy more zen than they could previously. Given that there are two reasons for buy zen and one of them pays for the game. You have traders which are using zen for making more dil/zen, which is fine for making the market liquid. Then you have people wanting to consume zen by purchasing items. The more zen that dil farmers buy the more zen that gets consumed by players. This means PWE make more from the game. Now I'm hoping that this means more content.
I dont always play the market, but when I do, I buy dilithium in a Z sellers market.
Capt. Will Conquest of the U.S.S. Crusader
(Fleet Modules and thus Fleet ship variants still cost too damn much though)