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Should Cryptic sell EC in the C-Store for Zen?
praxi5
Member Posts: 1,562 Arc User
Given the outrageous cost of some weapons, gear (consoles), items like Fleet Ship Modules, and even Lockbox ships, compared to 'average' player EC income, should Cryptic sell EC in the Store?
How much, at what cost?
How much, at what cost?
Should Cryptic sell EC in the C-Store for Zen? 188 votes
Yes
19%
36 votes
No
80%
152 votes
0
Comments
Exchange prices are already inflated and hadrselling EC would be pretty much the killing blow for all non-whales.
If you want easy EC for your $$, buy some highly desirable items from the C-Store (like Master Keys and Fleet Ship Modules), then put them on the Exchange for millions of credits.
$$ --> EC, as intended.
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My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
Probably worse as this bypasses the market supply-demand economy altogether, that otherwise directly relates to dil exchange prices, and master key prices.
Buying EC from the C-Store would simply cause inflation to spiral out of control. When you start "printing currency" the value of that currency plummets. That means you need more of that currency to purchase what you want because prices will increase. In basic terms, if everyone's salary in a country doubles people's purchasing power does not double because the cost of everything is doubled. In fact, people would be worse off since the amount of money in their bank accounts does not double; they would have effectively lost half of their savings because prices of everything has doubled.
Buying items from the C-Store, then selling them on the Exchange is the best way to earn EC. Doing this does not pump EC into the economy. Instead, it merely transfers EC from other players who buys that TRIBBLE... I mean those wonderful C-Store items... to you. They got what they wanted, you got what you wanted and the EC economy does not suffer from that transaction since EC is not being pumped into the economy.
There was a outcry last year about EC inflation spiraling out of control. Cryptic's solution was reduce the EC value of gear by around 60% or so. Yeah, it slowed down the amount EC being pumped into the economy, but it did not have any effect on players who have larger EC balances. It would have been better to introduce EC sinks into the economy which would be a way to remove EC from the game itself rather than just transferring EC from player to player. Something like actually charging players EC for starship repairs would be a good start since it would only affect players that plays above Normal difficulty and those types of players should generally be able to afford the nominal fee for repairs. Starships do not sustain damage when they blow up at Normal difficulty level. The same could be applied to personal and Boff injuries for ground combat.
At least with the crafting system Cryptic did introduce an EC sink since it costs EC to craft gear upgrades (like Superior Beam Upgrade).
What you propose would make outrageous costs, ludicrous.
But the most likely consequence is that you'd ruin the whole exchange market either way.
And do we really need a poll for every dang question that people want to ask, How about people post their ideas and suggestions and allow us to respond in kind, really getting cheesed off with poll after poll after poll after poll...
Reasons :
- Anybody by any chance seen any Gold Sellers in STO ?
I thought so .
There are two theories as to how / why that is going on :
a) PW it behind it .
b) PW don't give a puck .
If it's "b" , then they stand to make more money .
If it's "a" , then they still stand to make more money ... (look up / or don't , the terms of the Gold sellers , and then just say 'no' on the basis of protecting your personal info) .
At least buying from Cryptic , you'd be ... somewhat safer .
- Unlike those who scream "inflation" , I think : alternative route to purchase .
Buying stuff from the C-Store / Lobi store (to sell) or selling ingame items puts the seller at the mercy of the "current economy" . And you know how that economy works right ? One day a Key is 2M , then the next 2.5 , then it's up to 4 .
Now I'm not promising that there will be absolutely no inflation (I don't live in Greece) , as I know that those who are already swimming in EC won't suddenly get more generous with their selling prices as I fully continue to expect them to attempt to get even more rich just for the heck of it .
However , when there is just one direct way to get EC (grind for it) , and one in-direct way to get it (sell stuff) , those limited routs create their own stifling of the economy .
Or simply put , the more roads to business , the more chance for business .
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
Fleet ship modules are sold in the c-store, seems pretty pointless to have the ability to buy EC in the c-store to then use to buy fleet ship modules in the exchange (which you could have bought in the c-store). And if you have access to the c-store and such and have zen and need ec, if FSM is so good, then why are you not buying them and converting them to EC by selling on the exchange?
This seems like a pretty pointless idea.
Currently the economy works by the rich getting richer , the grinders having a lot less of a good time , and parts of the market being manipulated by one or a few .
Wanna tell me how buying EC directly would change that ?
Buy item from C-Store. Put it on the Exchange. Get EC for Zen.
Gold sellers pop up in every game. Even ones with a Cash->InGameCurrency system.
It's easy to earn EC in game anyways. Much easier then other games with a similar concept to an in game currency like this. At least from what I have seen.
Instead of spending hundreds of Dollars on master keys, whales buy EC, easily able to buy a the current Exchange prices, making the Exchange sellers realize that they can raise the prices because people can actually get that EC and will buy for it.
People that can't spend that much to buy Zen or grind for their Zen are still left in the dust.
There isn't a price point for EC where a "regular" player that isn't already space or real-world rich could win out here.
There is one thing, and one thing only, that could help non-space rich with the Exchange prices. That is increasing the availability of the highly sought after items. Cheaper Master Keys or an increased chance of getting the items from a lockbox (or R&D Promo Box).
As long as you do not change the rarity of the item people ask for, you won't bring the prices to a level the "average" player could afford it.
I would only be interested if it was 100 zen for 10 million EC. If they did it it would be more like 100 zen for 1000 EC lol.
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
The Exchange would adjust accordingly to the new value of EC. At best you'd tread water.
... or , alternatively more ppl buy EC , new "whales" arise , with a temporary battle ensuing between them and the "old guard" of whales , but when the dust settles there are more EC rich folk then before -- and that reflects in a newfound movement in the economy ,
(note that the above is loosely based on the real economic concept of the "novo rich / nouveau riche " (link) , which basically states that when a new segment / generation of rich ppl arise , there suddenly arises a new wave of economic boom & buisness opportunity arround them , and by theor participation in the economy , they raise the economic status of those around them -- something that currently is not happening with our current guard of Whales .)
Or to put it in a different light , I personally don't see the "everything is awesome" in our current economy .
The ppl who voted "no" did so mainly out of either fear of things getting worse , or because of self interest -- in an attempt to keep things as they are because they themselves benefit from the current situation .
I'll try to draw a picture :
New money (EC) = more purchases on the exchange = exchange sellers make more EC (those who sell stuff benefit) = more demand arises (on the exchange) for premium items (lockbox ships) = more lockboxes are opened = more lockbox items flood the exchange , driving secondary lockbox item prices down (think traits) = Cryptic wins by getting money not only for EC but for more lockboxes getting opened .
- I'll also put this forward : as much as for some of us "vets" it's clear how to get EC by simply selling Keys or whatever , some of those who have the cash , but don't necessarily "live in the game" don't know that , and thus they spend their money , take their chances , and most likely loose out on the Lockbox scheme .
Know what some of these ppl do ?
They quit .
They don't come here to the forums , they don't make a scene , they just go away .
So maybe , just maybe , a few of those who could have picked up 100-200M EC directly from the C-Store and purchased that ship they wanted -- they would have lined both Cryptic's and the ingame whale's pockets on the way , and maybe they would have stayed .
But too bad for them (and indirectly for us) that that did not happen .
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."
What did stop the new people from being whales before?
If you want EC for Zen, Master Keys and Fleet Modules are a pretty clear-cut way to do it already. The price will go down if you really flood the market, of course, but if you're willing to whale it out, you can do that.
I think your "new" whales will be exactly the same one as before.
If there is more demand for lockbox items, that means first and foremost that the prices are rising. There won't be suddenly coming a flood of players that are willing to spend even more Zen on STO if they can't actually get more for it than before.
For any of the cunning sellers out there that got space-rich with the exchange, they know very well that they need to keep the demand high or availability low. They are likely to buy stuff that's too cheap and keep it unlisted until a later point when the availability is low enough.