I seem to recall a dozen or so Cryptic apologists coming on here shortly after the vendor trash nerf saying the removal of extra EC income for players would "Normalize" the exchange prices. Yeah, it normalized them into oblivion. There has been rampant inflation across the board from the most basic consoles and items to lock box ships. Nice call guys/gals...
No I believe they said it was the least and most ineffective thing that Cryptic could do to try and bring rampant inflation under control. Or at least that was what I said.
I remember seeing various pro nerf arguments saying that normalizing was good because it would bring those prices down. It did the exact opposite.
Eh, I predict that the prices will start going down instead of up. Now that the EC has dropped, players who think they can sell their stuff for exuberant prices will either have to bite the bullet and drop the prices or hope one of the multimillionaire players will get to it.
I don't see the situation this dark. The EC was inflating for a long time, mainly because of the vast amounts of EC generated by players emptying the trash (shields, deflectors), and because there isn't a good sink for EC except the exchange. now one problem is solved with the loot price correction, the EC generated is far less per day than before. now we only need a good sink, where players can buy stuff directly for EC, ship or stuff, because the EC generated per day is still much more than the EC "destroyed" per day.
I also don't worry about the supply parts, with the new R&D system in play. Also, if the Exchange prices normalize for weapon boxes, more and more people will gamble and open then, thus more and more shiny weapons will be for you to buy.
So chill out, and wait for the market to stabilize :cool:
Y'know, it's not like this is a set-in-stone change. They can always adjust the prices again if they see too much inflation or deflation of the value of EC.
Plus, your economic forecast leaves out those of us who have been playing for almost five years now who have vast stores of EC we don't have anything to buy with because we have all the stuff we already want.
I'm not really worried. The prices of more commonly in-demand items will go down due to a lack of newly created EC, and the price of very rare items like lockbox ships will stabilize based on how many are available through old lockbox promotions and the sale of new lockbox sihps.
Also, don't forget that crafting materials will generate demand. Already there is a thriving market for rarer mats and mat packs from doing STFs.
The end is not nigh.
Dead wrong. Prices of More commonly in-demand items went up.
Though in reality, I'm not seeing this... Even with the change in prices of common 'Vender Fodder' I'm not seeing any drop of income from turning in Item Drops. Its still easy to make 300K to 500K from the items collected from running just a few STFs... If anything, the game needs more EC sinks to bring more value to it...
Unfortunately you misunderstand the nature of the super-rich. Rather than buy up the market they tend to hoard their wealth, when they need something, anything, they know they can buy it, when they wish to control a stock item price (say something expensive and rare like the bug ship) they can but other than that they keep it to themselves. In the meantime with very little income entering the game from loot drops the average farmer will quickly realise they can't afford what they want without farming for more than twice as long as before. They stop buying, or maybe worse they leave, disillusioned and disappointed due to the exorbitant costs of buying the best gear, doffs, etc.
Eventually sellers will have to lower their prices as they realise they are just not selling at all. Their hard earned money (if they used it to buy keys or doff packs, or lobi items) is now fetching a much lower return in terms of EC:$ ratio. Now this would be fine if all the really great gear fell in price equally, but the most sort after items will always be controlled by those with the wealth to do so, a bug ship is still going to cost 200-400 million because the super rich can afford them, they can even sell them in the real world on ebay or other sites for real cash, people can and do make money from this game, and when real money is concerned all bets are off, but one thing's for sure, it's the casual gamer that's about to and indeed already is suffering.
We can see this already, Kerrat is pretty empty now, far less people farming than previously. Now for many the thrill of kerrat is the one place that kept them in the game when time were bad, but Kerrat with just borg is just like any other bland red alert or mission, to be fun requires people, and people will only come there if there's a reason. Personally I go to Kerrat for two reasons, to fill my inventory and when full to fight other players for a laugh. Now I no longer bother to farm, it's just not worth my time. I may still go for the pvp but I may just do something else entirely.
Sellers didn't lower their prices. Prices are higher now on average for basic items.
For months/years these people have been whining about the economy's runaway inflation and demanding Cryptic do something to curb it, so when Cryptic responds and implements a way of reducing the flow of EC into the economy the same whiners are now pissed off because Cryptic listened and acted on their complaints.
Too damn funny. :P
Cryptic did something about it. Now we have less money and inflation is still bad. Nice prediction.
I feel that a selling cap needs to be imposed on the Exchange, something like not being able to sell something for more than 20,000 EC.
I stopped taking you seriously, right there.
And 14 mil for a 700 Zen Upgrade Token? Seems rather reasonable to me. For 10,000 Zen you can buy 14 tokens, each selling for 14 mil = 196 mil. You'd get ca. 230 mil doing the same, selling keys. So, you're actually getting a bargain on your Upgrade Tokens. :P
This will probably not go down well with many who seem to think hoarding mass amounts of virtual money is the way to live, but the Exchange in the game really needs a selling cap. The sheer level of greed in asking prices is over the top, like 14 million EC and more for a single upgrade token, and over 100 million for a lock box ship.
And then there are the stupidly high prices for consoles and equipment on the Exchange. While there may be those who will grind away relentlessly to have as much virtual money as possible, all useless in the real world, there are those who play who aren't likely to spend hours on end doing that.
I feel that a selling cap needs to be imposed on the Exchange, something like not being able to sell something for more than 20,000 EC. This would allow any one new to the game or trying to equip their lower level characters and higher level with needed consoles and equipment instead of having to put up with lower level gear that isn't making much of a dent in any attackers.
There really is no need for people to be demanding so much EC for things, it isn't like they can use their amassed virtual money in the real world. Even if they could it would have very little value in real world currency rates, Lindens in Second Life being one such example.
MMO'S fairly tend to bring out the Ferengi in people and it's pretty sickening.
With all due respect, I disagree. The concept of a "free market" is that the consumer sets the price through their purchases. If a vendor provides an item or service for a fee, it is their right to set that fee at whatever they believe if a fair market price. Other vendors with similar items/services will do the same but in the end it is the consumer and what they are willing to pay which defines that "fair market price".
In short, the exchange is working just as it should. As a consumer, if you do not wish to purchase an item at the listed price then it is your choice. Alternatively, if you ding an item being sold at far under what YOU perceive to be a fair price, it is your option to purchase it and attempt to sell it at that higher price.
Blaming the vendor is inane. It's the buyers that determine the worth of an item through their purchases. That is the very definition of 'purchasing power'.
Well what I've argued several times is that the devs need to implement some EC sinks that will take EC out of the economy in a fashion that doesn't make the players feel they are being punished or robbed.
I had in mind a customizable feature (housing) that players have been asking for for years that players could only spend EC on at NPC's to buy and customize. No selling zen/dil packs. Just a pure EC sink.
The average player will never be able to keep up with the big whales (cash cows, if you will) who stay ahead of the game by selling lock box stuff with their saved up fortunes and then selling it at a premium. After the removal of the higher vendor trash recycling reimbursements, the average player has less money while the whales continue to get richer and richer despite people thinking that taking more EC out of the economy would solve the high exchange prices. Zen/dilithium packs will always be sold so that invalidates your suggestion...
There's also no such thing as "doesn't make players feeel they are being punished or robbed" because that's exactly what it is. As an example, the price of most Mark 10-11 uncommon tactical consoles used to be at the most 100K. Now I go on the exchange and see uncommons averaging well above 150K. Mark 10-11 uncommon starship weapons? Even worse when you compare the current prices to pre-delta average prices.
With all due respect, I disagree. The concept of a "free market" is that the consumer sets the price through their purchases. If a vendor provides an item or service for a fee, it is their right to set that fee at whatever they believe if a fair market price. Other vendors with similar items/services will do the same but in the end it is the consumer and what they are willing to pay which defines that "fair market price".
In short, the exchange is working just as it should. As a consumer, if you do not wish to purchase an item at the listed price then it is your choice. Alternatively, if you ding an item being sold at far under what YOU perceive to be a fair price, it is your option to purchase it and attempt to sell it at that higher price.
Blaming the vendor is inane. It's the buyers that determine the worth of an item through their purchases. That is the very definition of 'purchasing power'.
Prierin is right; the vendor has nothing to do with it. It's Cryptic to blame for eliminating great sources of EC like vendor trash that we used to use prior to it being nerfed and tour the universe. If you think the exchange in STo is a free market, think again. Cryptic indirectly manipulates prices by messing around with our EC supply through various tweaks and nerfs.
Blaming the vendor is inane. It's the buyers that determine the worth of an item through their purchases. That is the very definition of 'purchasing power'.
No, demand is only half the story. It's called 'supply & demand' for a good reason. Rarity plays into it to, of course.
No, demand is only half the story. It's called 'supply & demand' for a good reason. Rarity plays into it to, of course.
Assuming it's truly a free market, that makes sense, but it isn't. The STO exchange market is comparable to an oligarchy + monopoly of the market of the rarest goods, an oligopoly. Average players don't generally have the rare items and materials so the supply isn't who can offer at the cheapest price, rather which of the richest players can offer the hottest commodities at the cheapest prices. The only way for a new or average player to buy into that market is to spend a lot of real world cash and then maybe you could eventually make a fortune; otherwise, back to the salt mines for the rest the average players.
Assuming it's truly a free market, that makes sense, but it isn't. The STO exchange market is comparable to an oligarchy + monopoly of the market of the rarest goods, an oligopoly. Average players don't generally have the rare items and materials so the supply isn't who can offer at the cheapest price, rather which of the richest players can offer the hottest commodities at the cheapest prices. The only way for a new or average player to buy into that market is to spend a lot of real world cash and then maybe you could eventually make a fortune; otherwise, back to the salt mines for the rest the average players.
What you say is all true. Nevertheless, rarity remains a factor. Like prierin can apply as much 'purchasing power' as he wants, but he's never going to get a bug ship for 20,000 EC. That thing just remains rare, even though prices are being manipulated.
Greedy ****** everyone of you. You talk about how you make millions of EC but never go in to great detail about how or what you do to get millions. DON"T say you not rich by any mean or whatever you say just **** off the OP is right and this go for every game this need be done not saying at 20k maybe at most 50m for the more high end stuff.
This, is the goal, of narrheehaw It's mission, to destroy new worlds and civilizations
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] And to boldly ruin, what no one has ruined before.
What you say is all true. Nevertheless, rarity remains a factor. Like prierin can apply as much 'purchasing power' as he wants, but he's never going to get a bug ship for 20,000 EC. That thing just remains rare, even though prices are being manipulated.
Agreed. Purchasing power is meaningless here. There are simply ebbs and flows of hot commodity prices that are tied to the lock box release cycle. I would say the Bug is one of the more exceptional items since it never goes down below 400 million. Almost every other item I know of, even the super rares, do tend to drop a bit in price in the periods between lock box releases when any lock box can drop. The only constants here are that the current lock box items drop in price quite a bit about 3/4 of the way through the release window and generally, sharply rise right as the lock box is about to come off the shelves. After that, the price stabilizes again and then slowly rises until it is out of the reach of most average players.
Greedy ****** everyone of you. You talk about how you make millions of EC but never go in to great detail about how or what you do to get millions. DON"T say you not rich by any mean or whatever you say just **** off the OP is right and this go for every game this need be done not saying at 20k maybe at most 50m for the more high end stuff.
Arrgg .....
Spot on. Anybody who is spouting this nonsense on the forums is running about a dozen in-game market schemes for making millions. They will always claim it is easy to earn millions but never reveal their strategies. However, capping prices that severely will make it tough for even average players to make a decent EC living.
Greedy ****** everyone of you. You talk about how you make millions of EC but never go in to great detail about how or what you do to get millions. DON"T say you not rich by any mean or whatever you say just **** off the OP is right and this go for every game this need be done not saying at 20k maybe at most 50m for the more high end stuff.
Arrgg .....
People who earn millions are afraid that if others "learn their tricks" it will harm their own source of income. Unfortunately, that's pretty much a facet of capitalism.
The only way I have earned "millions" is by spending a considerable amount of real cash. Hence, 'you have to spend money to make money'. Certain lockbox items and traits got for a mint... orbital devastation is one.
I'll give you one hint: doffs. Gather and sell doffs on the exchange. You'd be surprised how quickly thy sell. But of course, to get doff packs, you need to buy zen... and the whole process repeats itself.
Yes, there will be some who are angry I gave you that tidbit and posted it openly on the forums. I don't care. There are other ways to earn EC - we don't have to Bogart them all.
Prierin is right; the vendor has nothing to do with it. It's Cryptic to blame for eliminating great sources of EC like vendor trash that we used to use prior to it being nerfed and tour the universe. If you think the exchange in STo is a free market, think again. Cryptic indirectly manipulates prices by messing around with our EC supply through various tweaks and nerfs.
Everything Cryptic has done would drive EC prices down.
People just have THAT MUCH EC.
And my suspicion is that even with nerfs to new EC income, people STILL have THAT MUCH EC if nothing else because people who only come back to play when a new patch drops have billions saved up. STO had multi-billionnaires in the first month of play.
The upside is that the currency is so inflated that a new player can also make a lot of EC just by dropping moderately desirable things on the exchange.
It's not really broken but the only way to fix it would be a giant currency merger between EC and dilithium. Cryptic could just make all EC past a certain wealth threshold convert as unrefined.
I suppose the other alternative (since snowballs show us that stacked items can be tracked on a FIFO accounting basis) would be to place an expiration on EC and make it a decaying currency. People might buy trash and vendor it for fresh EC to slow the attrition rate but it would all eventually drain out.
I used to make mid and low level Blue Quality items for sale under the old crafting system. I used a reasonable price point based upon the cost of the mats I used and whether or not Dilithium was required to make the item. I did this because a) It made for a nice steady low level income in the game and, b) I thought it might be helpful for new players and alts of experienced players to have access to better items than can be acquired through drops. But after reading some of the nastier posts in this thread, I doubt I'll bother once I make the things I want from the new crafting system.
If I am going to be called names and bleeped out foul language is going to be used to describe myself and my motivations, fine. I've got a pretty thick skin and if someone is aggravated by myself or my actions, it means they are leaving decent people alone. I am under no obligation whatsoever to help someone else defend themselves from their own laziness.
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
Greedy ****** everyone of you. You talk about how you make millions of EC but never go in to great detail about how or what you do to get millions. DON"T say you not rich by any mean or whatever you say just **** off the OP is right and this go for every game this need be done not saying at 20k maybe at most 50m for the more high end stuff.
Nitpicking is a time-honored tradition of science fiction. Asking your readers not to worry about the "little things" is like asking a dog not to sniff at people's crotches. If there's something that appears to violate natural laws, then you can expect someone's going to point it out. That's just the way things are.
I used to make mid and low level Blue Quality items for sale under the old crafting system. I used a reasonable price point based upon the cost of the mats I used and whether or not Dilithium was required to make the item. I did this because a) It made for a nice steady low level income in the game and, b) I thought it might be helpful for new players and alts of experienced players to have access to better items than can be acquired through drops. But after reading some of the nastier posts in this thread, I doubt I'll bother once I make the things I want from the new crafting system.
If I am going to be called names and bleeped out foul language is going to be used to describe myself and my motivations, fine. I've got a pretty thick skin and if someone is aggravated by myself or my actions, it means they are leaving decent people alone. I am under no obligation whatsoever to help someone else defend themselves from their own laziness.
Just a word to the wise, if you're doing this, it's better to do this in-person than on the exchange.
It's normal and even healthy on an exchange for people to buy up items and re-post them at a higher price, which is probably what happened if you dramatically undercharged for those items.
I calculated cost per unit and then used standard retail markups for the items I sold. Gross profit margins varied between 22% and about 31%. Which allowed me to continue purchasing mats and still have about a 10% to 13% net profit.
I was mostly making Blue Mk V Phaser Relays. I doubt the people working the Exchange to become imaginary multi billionaires bothered with items which are so low in level and quality. And even if they did, by watching my material costs closely I could usually come in well under their price. I would make 40 at a time and then immediately sell them. A steady supply of these helped keep the end price of all of them down to something reasonable for a toon which is Commander or lower. I did all this with one char and the longest I ever waited for 40 items to sell was about two hours.
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
Everything Cryptic has done would drive EC prices down.
People just have THAT MUCH EC.
And my suspicion is that even with nerfs to new EC income, people STILL have THAT MUCH EC if nothing else because people who only come back to play when a new patch drops have billions saved up. STO had multi-billionnaires in the first month of play.
The upside is that the currency is so inflated that a new player can also make a lot of EC just by dropping moderately desirable things on the exchange.
It's not really broken but the only way to fix it would be a giant currency merger between EC and dilithium. Cryptic could just make all EC past a certain wealth threshold convert as unrefined.
I suppose the other alternative (since snowballs show us that stacked items can be tracked on a FIFO accounting basis) would be to place an expiration on EC and make it a decaying currency. People might buy trash and vendor it for fresh EC to slow the attrition rate but it would all eventually drain out.
Except that average prices of most things have gone up and my income has gone down doing the same things I did prior to DR. That means inflation has gone up and my purchasing power has gone down. Consequently, my ec is worth less than now than it was prior to DR. In the real world, the market would crash after inflation drove prices so high because people are less likely to spend and instead, save up money. In sto, there are no crashes unless Cryptic directly intervenes like with the fleet items, embassy consoles, etc. Fleet items are an example of a positive market manipulation; the removal of the higher vendor trash reimbursement rates is an example of a negative market intervention. The only way the uber rare items will go down in price will be through offering cheaper fleet substitutes, not EC or dilithium manipulation.
Comments
I remember seeing various pro nerf arguments saying that normalizing was good because it would bring those prices down. It did the exact opposite.
From 07-19-2014 "Say goodbye to the exchange thread" http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=1172121:
Wrong
Wrong. Market Never Stabilized
Dead wrong. Prices of More commonly in-demand items went up.
Things didn't settle down. They are more expensive than before.
Sellers didn't lower their prices. Prices are higher now on average for basic items.
The inflation got worse.
Cryptic did something about it. Now we have less money and inflation is still bad. Nice prediction.
Prices are only as high as the market will bear. Also, remember that the price of anything is how much someone is willing to pay for it.
Easier to whine
I stopped taking you seriously, right there.
And 14 mil for a 700 Zen Upgrade Token? Seems rather reasonable to me. For 10,000 Zen you can buy 14 tokens, each selling for 14 mil = 196 mil. You'd get ca. 230 mil doing the same, selling keys. So, you're actually getting a bargain on your Upgrade Tokens. :P
With all due respect, I disagree. The concept of a "free market" is that the consumer sets the price through their purchases. If a vendor provides an item or service for a fee, it is their right to set that fee at whatever they believe if a fair market price. Other vendors with similar items/services will do the same but in the end it is the consumer and what they are willing to pay which defines that "fair market price".
In short, the exchange is working just as it should. As a consumer, if you do not wish to purchase an item at the listed price then it is your choice. Alternatively, if you ding an item being sold at far under what YOU perceive to be a fair price, it is your option to purchase it and attempt to sell it at that higher price.
Blaming the vendor is inane. It's the buyers that determine the worth of an item through their purchases. That is the very definition of 'purchasing power'.
The average player will never be able to keep up with the big whales (cash cows, if you will) who stay ahead of the game by selling lock box stuff with their saved up fortunes and then selling it at a premium. After the removal of the higher vendor trash recycling reimbursements, the average player has less money while the whales continue to get richer and richer despite people thinking that taking more EC out of the economy would solve the high exchange prices. Zen/dilithium packs will always be sold so that invalidates your suggestion...
There's also no such thing as "doesn't make players feeel they are being punished or robbed" because that's exactly what it is. As an example, the price of most Mark 10-11 uncommon tactical consoles used to be at the most 100K. Now I go on the exchange and see uncommons averaging well above 150K. Mark 10-11 uncommon starship weapons? Even worse when you compare the current prices to pre-delta average prices.
Even NPC vendors pay more than that for lock box drops.
Prierin is right; the vendor has nothing to do with it. It's Cryptic to blame for eliminating great sources of EC like vendor trash that we used to use prior to it being nerfed and tour the universe. If you think the exchange in STo is a free market, think again. Cryptic indirectly manipulates prices by messing around with our EC supply through various tweaks and nerfs.
No, demand is only half the story. It's called 'supply & demand' for a good reason.
Assuming it's truly a free market, that makes sense, but it isn't. The STO exchange market is comparable to an oligarchy + monopoly of the market of the rarest goods, an oligopoly. Average players don't generally have the rare items and materials so the supply isn't who can offer at the cheapest price, rather which of the richest players can offer the hottest commodities at the cheapest prices. The only way for a new or average player to buy into that market is to spend a lot of real world cash and then maybe you could eventually make a fortune; otherwise, back to the salt mines for the rest the average players.
What you say is all true. Nevertheless, rarity remains a factor. Like prierin can apply as much 'purchasing power' as he wants, but he's never going to get a bug ship for 20,000 EC. That thing just remains rare, even though prices are being manipulated.
Arrgg .....
I can still move.
I can still fight.
I will never give up!
a good Taper back
to much to sort through.
It's mission, to destroy new worlds and civilizations
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
And to boldly ruin, what no one has ruined before.
Agreed. Purchasing power is meaningless here. There are simply ebbs and flows of hot commodity prices that are tied to the lock box release cycle. I would say the Bug is one of the more exceptional items since it never goes down below 400 million. Almost every other item I know of, even the super rares, do tend to drop a bit in price in the periods between lock box releases when any lock box can drop. The only constants here are that the current lock box items drop in price quite a bit about 3/4 of the way through the release window and generally, sharply rise right as the lock box is about to come off the shelves. After that, the price stabilizes again and then slowly rises until it is out of the reach of most average players.
Spot on. Anybody who is spouting this nonsense on the forums is running about a dozen in-game market schemes for making millions. They will always claim it is easy to earn millions but never reveal their strategies. However, capping prices that severely will make it tough for even average players to make a decent EC living.
This is true... those items more sought after but not nearly as available as others are priced higher for good reason.
People who earn millions are afraid that if others "learn their tricks" it will harm their own source of income. Unfortunately, that's pretty much a facet of capitalism.
The only way I have earned "millions" is by spending a considerable amount of real cash. Hence, 'you have to spend money to make money'. Certain lockbox items and traits got for a mint... orbital devastation is one.
I'll give you one hint: doffs. Gather and sell doffs on the exchange. You'd be surprised how quickly thy sell. But of course, to get doff packs, you need to buy zen... and the whole process repeats itself.
Yes, there will be some who are angry I gave you that tidbit and posted it openly on the forums. I don't care. There are other ways to earn EC - we don't have to Bogart them all.
Everything Cryptic has done would drive EC prices down.
People just have THAT MUCH EC.
And my suspicion is that even with nerfs to new EC income, people STILL have THAT MUCH EC if nothing else because people who only come back to play when a new patch drops have billions saved up. STO had multi-billionnaires in the first month of play.
The upside is that the currency is so inflated that a new player can also make a lot of EC just by dropping moderately desirable things on the exchange.
It's not really broken but the only way to fix it would be a giant currency merger between EC and dilithium. Cryptic could just make all EC past a certain wealth threshold convert as unrefined.
I suppose the other alternative (since snowballs show us that stacked items can be tracked on a FIFO accounting basis) would be to place an expiration on EC and make it a decaying currency. People might buy trash and vendor it for fresh EC to slow the attrition rate but it would all eventually drain out.
If I am going to be called names and bleeped out foul language is going to be used to describe myself and my motivations, fine. I've got a pretty thick skin and if someone is aggravated by myself or my actions, it means they are leaving decent people alone. I am under no obligation whatsoever to help someone else defend themselves from their own laziness.
Aww, my delicate e-feelings. :rolleyes:
Joined January 2009
Just a word to the wise, if you're doing this, it's better to do this in-person than on the exchange.
It's normal and even healthy on an exchange for people to buy up items and re-post them at a higher price, which is probably what happened if you dramatically undercharged for those items.
if nobody was willing to buy at these prices sellers would need to bring the price down to a level other players would pay.
so don't blame the sellers, blame the other buyers who are willing to pay these extortionate prices.
When I think about everything we've been through together,
maybe it's not the destination that matters, maybe it's the journey,
and if that journey takes a little longer,
so we can do something we all believe in,
I can't think of any place I'd rather be or any people I'd rather be with.
2. Sell High
3. ???
4. Profit!
I was mostly making Blue Mk V Phaser Relays. I doubt the people working the Exchange to become imaginary multi billionaires bothered with items which are so low in level and quality. And even if they did, by watching my material costs closely I could usually come in well under their price. I would make 40 at a time and then immediately sell them. A steady supply of these helped keep the end price of all of them down to something reasonable for a toon which is Commander or lower. I did all this with one char and the longest I ever waited for 40 items to sell was about two hours.
Except that average prices of most things have gone up and my income has gone down doing the same things I did prior to DR. That means inflation has gone up and my purchasing power has gone down. Consequently, my ec is worth less than now than it was prior to DR. In the real world, the market would crash after inflation drove prices so high because people are less likely to spend and instead, save up money. In sto, there are no crashes unless Cryptic directly intervenes like with the fleet items, embassy consoles, etc. Fleet items are an example of a positive market manipulation; the removal of the higher vendor trash reimbursement rates is an example of a negative market intervention. The only way the uber rare items will go down in price will be through offering cheaper fleet substitutes, not EC or dilithium manipulation.