Want lower prices? Ask cryptic to lower zen prices...
I like the 8 of all system:
Nothing can be sold or bought for more or less than 8 ec
Nothing can be traded for items, only buying and selling items for ec is allowed
I think everything tradeable on the Exchange needs an EC value, and prices need to be capped at 100X the retailer value of said item.
This would mean people would stop charging, for example, 10 Million for a Rare Mk VIII Console worth 18k EC. That kind of thing is ridiculous.
And let me say, as someone who has recently come back to the game, equipping a new toon as you level in anything but odd mark common vendor-sold gear is really expensive, at T3 I was spending 200k+ EC, just for uncommon even mark for a single ship.
If I hadn't come back to a 15k Zen balance from my LTS Stipend and bought a few cash shop items and hocked them on the exchange for millions, I'd have been up &%#$ River without a paddle.
You bought equipment for your T3? Wow, people will waste resources on anything these days.
Not trying to sound like a jerk, but it takes maybe 2-3 hours at most to level up from T3 to T4 on the lowest difficulty setting. It's just not worth throwing away Zen/Dil/EC on gear for characters at that level.
Not everybody powers through to the cap on easy, some peple play on advanced 24/7 regardless of level on the principle of the thing.
Also, seeing as how content is shared (reskinned) between all three factions (Nimbus III, again, really?) it can be kind of a grind to sit there and do it again after you jst went through it on an alt yesterday.
Not everybody is in it for the same reasons or playstyle you are.
Original Join Date: January 2010. Ragequit Date: January 7th 2012. Return Date: October 23rd 2014.
Not to be a **** here, but the solution is simple. If you can't afford it don't buy it. EC isn't as easy to get as it used to be, so it might be smarter not to waste 100mil on a bug ship when you'd be better served with a fleet Akira and some sweet consoles for much less than 100mil ec. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
My Old Blog about things that could and should have been added when I wrote it. Not sure what I want to do with it now. I'll just keep it available now that most of it is outdated.
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.
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.
I'm perfectly willing to tell both of you my current ongoing strategy. At the end of the next winter event, buy beads and bells (the uncommon commodities) super cheep. Then at the start of the next winter event, sell them super high. At the beginning of last year's event they went for 2 mill ec each. At the end, you could buy 200 for less than 1 mill ec.
Support 90 degree arc limitation on BFaW! Save our ships from looking like flying disco balls of dumb!
Ah so. Very sorry you no have EC to buy BugShip!
BugShip very rare, very expensive.
Because it very rare.
Not everyone has BugShip.
You want EC?
You buy ZEN!
You buy Keys with ZEN!
You sell keys for EC!
You buy BugShip then!
Cryptic Happy!
You Happy!
No more problem!
Everybody happy!
Game continue!
A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
Capping the exchange wont stop prices being high. All the rare stuff will either be sold at the upper limit or will be traded via chat channels.
Or alternatively players will simply stop selling items and the whole economy crashes.
I don't like the fact that some items cost insane prices but the reason most of them do is because they are rare or difficult to acquire. A Bugship is very rare so of course it'll be pricey.
And at the end of the day (ignoring things set stupidly high for storage) most things sell for the price people are willing to pay.
Its the players who place the value onto items, if something is highly desirable it'll be popular and will be more pricey. Unless the market gets flooded (e.g. MK XII phaser beam arrays at the moment) in which case the price may drop.
So if nobody wants an item it'll not sell for millions no matter how long it stay listed and the price must drop to a point it becomes acceptable to the masses.
It's all about deciding how much you think something is worth and are you willing to pay X-million EC for it.
Just look at all those Elachi escorts on the exchange - all at around 60-90 million (a few even cheaper) but none of them ever sell! Clearly the prices are too high and nobody is willing to pay that much for that ship, but the sellers refuse to drop the prices because they are determined to get their price. The only option their would be to drop the prices to make them more attractive.
Here's a clue for you: Lockbox ships are listed at 100 mil because people are WILLING TO PAY 100 mil for them. You're not willing/able to... the market just doesn't care, nor does the guy selling the ship, nor does the guy paying 100mil for the ship.
Noobs now have tons of ways of making EC. You can also play with the Zen store and literally buy EC if you are that desperate for it.
A 'cap' of 20k on the exchange would be ludicrous.
Now, upgrades to the Exchange itself... that's something that I could definitely agree with!
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.
Spare me. It's so easy to get items + EC + dil from the Ker'rat mission alone. Quit crying and get to grinding.
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
Really? I think my "richest" character has around 10M EC in the bank, and I've been playing (off and on) since open beta.
Pretty sure that does not qualify me for being rich. But please don't let that stop you from telling me what I have and what I think. :rolleyes:
Not to be a **** here, but the solution is simple. If you can't afford it don't buy it. EC isn't as easy to get as it used to be, so it might be smarter not to waste 100mil on a bug ship when you'd be better served with a fleet Akira and some sweet consoles for much less than 100mil ec. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
I'm making more money now than ever before..and I'm not one of those big wigs who has umpteen million lockbox items to trade..
My "main" (really the only character that I spend any time playing) isn't really rich, but i am fairly comfortable right now.
There is no big secret that I am aware of, it's just about some common sense stuff mixed in with some patience and discipline.
1) Don't list items on the exchange for less than half of their value. There are NPC vendors out there that will give you half for stuff, so just sell to them.
2) If you see items listed for less than half, buy them up and make some money re-selling to those same vendors. Might not want to load up your inventory with stuff that you will make 5 EC on, but 500? 1000? More?
3) Don't run Doff missions that cost you money if the likely result is more expensive than a more direct option.
Examples:
A) The missions that cost 500-750 for a new Boff? They will return a green or blue Doff that you can find on the exchange for 100 or less in most cases. Don't run those missions. Just buy the Boff directly if you need one, or wait for the 1500 EC version of that mission to come along and get a purple Boff (which will also re-sell for more and could result in a profit for you if you decide not to have the officer join your crew).
Trade missions to buy commodities? If you don't have a good Doff then the failure rate could be high. If you do not succeed then you are overpaying, and if you don't really even need the commodity? There are better ways to earn trade points than by throwing money away.
Just buy the commodities from the commodity vendor, and from one of the vendors that offers them at their best price for even more savings.
C) Same, only with other materials involved... If a mission requires that you use some R&D material, what is the return? What is the going price on that material? Is the item returned going to be worth more than the value of the materials expended? Is the item available on the exchange for a price less than the material cost?
I shouldn't have to tell someone not to spend a ton of money on that MK VI gear that will make their PvE life easier for a couple of levels.
If you are having a tough go of it in the middle levels and are looking for a little boost to push through some rough patches then it's okay to buy some gear, but don't buy purple gear at premium prices every couple of levels and wonder why you don't have any money to spend on Mk XII+ gear when you get to level 50+.
I just did a few purchases and have been working rep and R&D and Upgrades, so I'm down to maybe 13 million EC on my main.
And I agree that there is a super-abundance of EC in this game that can make new people coming in prohibitive to buy stuff on the exchange.
But that said, there is very little if anything you HAVE to purchase on the exchange. Actually let me change that, I can't think of a single thing that I have to purchase on the exchange that I can't think of a free work around, that just takes more time.
The exchange is nice for those little nice to have things, but nothing on it is so super important that you can't play or enjoy the game if you don't use it.
As to how I make my money? I'm a lifer so I convert my free zen into keys and sell them on the exchange. But you don't neen to be a lifer to do that. Mine dilithium, convert to zen, convert to keys... sell... profit.
Comments
I like the 8 of all system:
Nothing can be sold or bought for more or less than 8 ec
Nothing can be traded for items, only buying and selling items for ec is allowed
You bought equipment for your T3? Wow, people will waste resources on anything these days.
It's not really a waste, some of us have hundreds of millions of EC that we've built up over the years... not much else to spend it on..
As for the OP - that idea is just plain bad. If anything, the cap needs to be upped to 1 billion EC like it used to be...
Not everybody powers through to the cap on easy, some peple play on advanced 24/7 regardless of level on the principle of the thing.
Also, seeing as how content is shared (reskinned) between all three factions (Nimbus III, again, really?) it can be kind of a grind to sit there and do it again after you jst went through it on an alt yesterday.
Not everybody is in it for the same reasons or playstyle you are.
Almost called it.
I'm perfectly willing to tell both of you my current ongoing strategy. At the end of the next winter event, buy beads and bells (the uncommon commodities) super cheep. Then at the start of the next winter event, sell them super high. At the beginning of last year's event they went for 2 mill ec each. At the end, you could buy 200 for less than 1 mill ec.
Support 90 degree arc limitation on BFaW! Save our ships from looking like flying disco balls of dumb!
Ah so. Very sorry you no have EC to buy BugShip!
BugShip very rare, very expensive.
Because it very rare.
Not everyone has BugShip.
You want EC?
You buy ZEN!
You buy Keys with ZEN!
You sell keys for EC!
You buy BugShip then!
Cryptic Happy!
You Happy!
No more problem!
Everybody happy!
Game continue!
Or alternatively players will simply stop selling items and the whole economy crashes.
I don't like the fact that some items cost insane prices but the reason most of them do is because they are rare or difficult to acquire. A Bugship is very rare so of course it'll be pricey.
And at the end of the day (ignoring things set stupidly high for storage) most things sell for the price people are willing to pay.
Its the players who place the value onto items, if something is highly desirable it'll be popular and will be more pricey. Unless the market gets flooded (e.g. MK XII phaser beam arrays at the moment) in which case the price may drop.
So if nobody wants an item it'll not sell for millions no matter how long it stay listed and the price must drop to a point it becomes acceptable to the masses.
It's all about deciding how much you think something is worth and are you willing to pay X-million EC for it.
Just look at all those Elachi escorts on the exchange - all at around 60-90 million (a few even cheaper) but none of them ever sell! Clearly the prices are too high and nobody is willing to pay that much for that ship, but the sellers refuse to drop the prices because they are determined to get their price. The only option their would be to drop the prices to make them more attractive.
Here's a clue for you: Lockbox ships are listed at 100 mil because people are WILLING TO PAY 100 mil for them. You're not willing/able to... the market just doesn't care, nor does the guy selling the ship, nor does the guy paying 100mil for the ship.
Noobs now have tons of ways of making EC. You can also play with the Zen store and literally buy EC if you are that desperate for it.
A 'cap' of 20k on the exchange would be ludicrous.
Now, upgrades to the Exchange itself... that's something that I could definitely agree with!
Pretty sure that does not qualify me for being rich. But please don't let that stop you from telling me what I have and what I think. :rolleyes:
I'm making more money now than ever before..and I'm not one of those big wigs who has umpteen million lockbox items to trade..
Or is it greed to ask that others supply you with the things you want for no more than 20k.
I'd say the latter.
No way.
There is no big secret that I am aware of, it's just about some common sense stuff mixed in with some patience and discipline.
1) Don't list items on the exchange for less than half of their value. There are NPC vendors out there that will give you half for stuff, so just sell to them.
2) If you see items listed for less than half, buy them up and make some money re-selling to those same vendors. Might not want to load up your inventory with stuff that you will make 5 EC on, but 500? 1000? More?
3) Don't run Doff missions that cost you money if the likely result is more expensive than a more direct option.
Examples:
A) The missions that cost 500-750 for a new Boff? They will return a green or blue Doff that you can find on the exchange for 100 or less in most cases. Don't run those missions. Just buy the Boff directly if you need one, or wait for the 1500 EC version of that mission to come along and get a purple Boff (which will also re-sell for more and could result in a profit for you if you decide not to have the officer join your crew).
Just buy the commodities from the commodity vendor, and from one of the vendors that offers them at their best price for even more savings.
C) Same, only with other materials involved... If a mission requires that you use some R&D material, what is the return? What is the going price on that material? Is the item returned going to be worth more than the value of the materials expended? Is the item available on the exchange for a price less than the material cost?
I shouldn't have to tell someone not to spend a ton of money on that MK VI gear that will make their PvE life easier for a couple of levels.
If you are having a tough go of it in the middle levels and are looking for a little boost to push through some rough patches then it's okay to buy some gear, but don't buy purple gear at premium prices every couple of levels and wonder why you don't have any money to spend on Mk XII+ gear when you get to level 50+.
And I agree that there is a super-abundance of EC in this game that can make new people coming in prohibitive to buy stuff on the exchange.
But that said, there is very little if anything you HAVE to purchase on the exchange. Actually let me change that, I can't think of a single thing that I have to purchase on the exchange that I can't think of a free work around, that just takes more time.
The exchange is nice for those little nice to have things, but nothing on it is so super important that you can't play or enjoy the game if you don't use it.
As to how I make my money? I'm a lifer so I convert my free zen into keys and sell them on the exchange. But you don't neen to be a lifer to do that. Mine dilithium, convert to zen, convert to keys... sell... profit.
1.) Beg for EC in ESD zone and in the trade channels.
2.) Complain how the closing of the exploits has left you broke, then tell ppl in chat you have many toons to support.
3.) Take the blind invites to various fleets, rob their banks, then leave.
4.) Spam ESD zone with over priced Loot drops.
5.) Sell ERP services on Drozana.
Oh, I forgot one, upgrade some common item to EPIC, then sell it at an insane amount of EC, make sure you tell everyone it is one of a kind.
Hope this helps!
Can confirm made billions.