How about a Cryptic limited (the maximum exchange value limit) EC/Zen trade tab similar to the Dilithium market, but with a fee attached. Someone would still need the zen, then people could help stimulate the Z-store, and as there's a fee for the exchange, some of the currency goes away with each exchange.
"..and like children playing after sunset, we were surrounded by darkness." -Ruri Hoshino
I don't know if an EC-Zen exchange would be such a good idea, but if it gets EC out of the economy it's worth thinking about.
Nah, they need to properly monetize GPL.
You make GPL a fiat currency like EC and make the two exchangeable with each other.
You offer many of the same products on both the EC and GPL market, to create cooperation and a reason to compete.
You make absolute sure that there are items that can only be purchased through EC and items that can only be purchased through GPL. You do that to prevent one from subsuming the other.
Do that, and there's your EC sink.
Space Barbie Extraordinaire. Got a question about Space Barbie? Just ask.
Things I want in STO:
1) More character customization options such as more clothing options, letting the toon complexion affect the entire body, not just the head. Also a true RGB color picker applied to all costume and appearance options, which would allow for true appearance customization and homogenous colors instead of "this same exact color looks vastly different on two different pieces."
2) Bridge customization, not bridge packs. Let us pick a general layout and adjust the color palette, console appearance, and chair types, as well as more ready room layout options.
3) Customizable ground weapons, i.e. The aesthetic look of phaser dual pistols but they shoot antiproton bolts. For obvious reasons this would only apply to standard ground weapons.
4) For the love of Q please revamp Plasma Ground Weapons. They look like demented Supersoakers right now.
5) True Vanity Impulse and Deflector effects similar to Vanity Shields.
6) A greater payout for hitting T6 Reputations. Currently it takes more time and resources to get from T5 to T6 than it does to get from nothing to T5. Make that grind really pay out at the end.
7) Mirrorverse Refugee event similar to AoY/Delta/Gamma, complete with new Mirrorverse recruits for all factions.
8) Independent Faction, because yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!
Here is a thought. To reduce the so-called EC inflation, and to combat the external scammers, make Keys automatically bound to account upon purchase from the C-Store. All existing Keys on the Exchange at implementation time will be returned to the poster and made Bind to Account.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Here is a thought. To reduce the so-called EC inflation, and to combat the external scammers, make Keys automatically bound to account upon purchase from the C-Store. All existing Keys on the Exchange at implementation time will be returned to the poster and made Bind to Account.
Yeah, no.
Keys should be left as is. People use them as direct currency to trade with, to sell to get EC to buy something else, or to open lockboxes. I would water that keys are the best selling items in the C-store because of this. Make it to where people can't sell or trade them, and people will stop getting so many. This means a decline in sales of Zen for people who buy keys. This will affect PWE's bottom line.
You don't mess with the bottom line.
Space Barbie Extraordinaire. Got a question about Space Barbie? Just ask.
Things I want in STO:
1) More character customization options such as more clothing options, letting the toon complexion affect the entire body, not just the head. Also a true RGB color picker applied to all costume and appearance options, which would allow for true appearance customization and homogenous colors instead of "this same exact color looks vastly different on two different pieces."
2) Bridge customization, not bridge packs. Let us pick a general layout and adjust the color palette, console appearance, and chair types, as well as more ready room layout options.
3) Customizable ground weapons, i.e. The aesthetic look of phaser dual pistols but they shoot antiproton bolts. For obvious reasons this would only apply to standard ground weapons.
4) For the love of Q please revamp Plasma Ground Weapons. They look like demented Supersoakers right now.
5) True Vanity Impulse and Deflector effects similar to Vanity Shields.
6) A greater payout for hitting T6 Reputations. Currently it takes more time and resources to get from T5 to T6 than it does to get from nothing to T5. Make that grind really pay out at the end.
7) Mirrorverse Refugee event similar to AoY/Delta/Gamma, complete with new Mirrorverse recruits for all factions.
8) Independent Faction, because yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!
Here is a thought. To reduce the so-called EC inflation, and to combat the external scammers, make Keys automatically bound to account upon purchase from the C-Store. All existing Keys on the Exchange at implementation time will be returned to the poster and made Bind to Account.
Cryptic wont do that as people buying stuff using keys is Cryptic's main money earner (or would appear to be). They cant be expected to do anything which could hurt their bottom line.
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
Here is a thought. To reduce the so-called EC inflation, and to combat the external scammers, make Keys automatically bound to account upon purchase from the C-Store. All existing Keys on the Exchange at implementation time will be returned to the poster and made Bind to Account.
I get plenty selling them as well. The whole idea was a Stalking Horse (winky eye). If you remember my earlier post where I laid out that the cost of Keys (and R&D Packs) in Zen has never changed, yet the EC cost has gone up between three and five times over the years.
Where then are people getting all this EC?
Many sources, as I indicated, have been nerfed by Cryptic about two years ago. So from where?
Admiralty and, to the most extent, Crafting is a make EC out of thin air. All the rest have at their root ZEN. All those other items require the initial purchase to have been made by somebody in ZEN. Either Keys, R&D Promotion Packs, and their adjunct Lobi must be used to first acquire the item to then put up for an EC cost.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
I think there are only two ways how to create new EC out of thin air. Selling items to an NPC, and getting EC rewards from doffing, admiralty and reputation projects. Everything else is simply EC changing hands from one player to another.
Similarily, there are only two ways how to "obliterate" EC (get it out of the game entirely). Buying from a NPC vendor, or using EC as input for doffing, admiralty and reputation projects. These are VERY small amounts compared to what you get from selling vendor trash. And that's why we have such a high inflation rate.
You are correct, I neglected to include the NPC/Replicators sales. Though remember the EC cost of that 'trash' was one of the items nerfed two years ago.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
The biggest problem with STO for quite some time now has been the increasingly inappropriate bank and exchange currency limits.
STO's game economy has grown over the last 7 years and what seemed at the start to be a large sum of EC is not quite so substantial in the game today.
There are two possible solutions: either raise the bank and exchange limits, or decrease the amount of currency in circulation.
I am told by people knowledgeable about computer programming that there are limits to the size of numbers that a computer can handle. This makes raising the currency caps a short-term solution at best. I would be happy to see them doubled to 2b personal bank. 1b account bank, and 1.5b exchange limit, but it could only ever be a temporary solution.
--
A better and more long lasting, but perhaps more difficult to implement solution would be Decimation.
The developers could decimate the currency, dividing all ec in the game - whether in personal, fleet or account banks - by ten.
It would of course also be necessary to divide all ec rewards in the game, without any exceptions, by ten.
This would have the effect of increasing all the currency caps by a factor of ten, without changing the value of any item or of currency itself.
100m in today's ec would become 10m. 1b would become 100m, and 10b would become 1b. It would finally mean something to be a space billionaire.
A lockbox key would cost 500k, a lockbox ship would cost 30m, a promo ship would cost 150m.
The gruelling quality of life problems caused by the low currency caps would be eliminated completely. A new day would dawn.
Please support beneficial change and lend your valuable voice to the cause of quality-of-life for the player! Please support either raising the caps or decimating the currency!
I get plenty selling them as well. The whole idea was a Stalking Horse (winky eye). If you remember my earlier post where I laid out that the cost of Keys (and R&D Packs) in Zen has never changed, yet the EC cost has gone up between three and five times over the years.
Where then are people getting all this EC?
Many sources, as I indicated, have been nerfed by Cryptic about two years ago. So from where?
Admiralty and, to the most extent, Crafting is a make EC out of thin air. All the rest have at their root ZEN. All those other items require the initial purchase to have been made by somebody in ZEN. Either Keys, R&D Promotion Packs, and their adjunct Lobi must be used to first acquire the item to then put up for an EC cost.
Of your list, I've made ec flipping ships, selling keys, selling R&D packs, selling fleet modules, selling crafting materials, selling stuff from lockboxes I've opened, and selling stuff which I presume was from lockboxes other people opened, such as Herald staffs, and Vaadwaur drones.
I've not (as yet) looked into Admiralty, and never considered crafting, because I was always worried that no one would actually be interested in buying a particular item. I've tried flipping dropped items of various qualities, and always at market prices, but they are invariably either a very long list time before selling, or they just end up expiring and getting returned, so I figure stuff like that, it's just as easy to recycle for the base price, than the hassle of listing, and thus taking a listing space, from a more shiftable commodity
"I fight for the Users!" - Tron
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
One more point, another decent source of EC 'out of thin air' was shut down by Cryptic with the new PVE UI. For example, in addition to running Fleet PVEs solo like SB 24 for Ship Masteries leveling, you could get between 275k and 300k EC per run selling 'trash' drops. Not anymore.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
'That stuff' is why we have EC in the first place. Buy Keys, etc. with Zen to begin with, but without a source of EC 'out of thin air' there would be nothing to buy it with on the Exchange. You needed EC infused into the game to begin with, after which all the Exchange churn can build the EC up. And by the way, the so-called 'Trash' can also be sold to other players as well.
'But to be logical is not to be right', and 'nothing' on God's earth could ever 'make it' right!'
Judge Dan Haywood
'As l speak now, the words are forming in my head.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
I think there are only two ways how to create new EC out of thin air. Selling items to an NPC, and getting EC rewards from doffing, admiralty and reputation projects. Everything else is simply EC changing hands from one player to another.
Similarily, there are only two ways how to "obliterate" EC (get it out of the game entirely). Buying from a NPC vendor, or using EC as input for doffing, admiralty and reputation projects. These are VERY small amounts compared to what you get from selling vendor trash. And that's why we have such a high inflation rate.
Also fleet projects or turning it into GPL in dabo. But yes, the sinks are rather limited.
Comments
Nah, they need to properly monetize GPL.
You make GPL a fiat currency like EC and make the two exchangeable with each other.
You offer many of the same products on both the EC and GPL market, to create cooperation and a reason to compete.
You make absolute sure that there are items that can only be purchased through EC and items that can only be purchased through GPL. You do that to prevent one from subsuming the other.
Do that, and there's your EC sink.
Things I want in STO:
1) More character customization options such as more clothing options, letting the toon complexion affect the entire body, not just the head. Also a true RGB color picker applied to all costume and appearance options, which would allow for true appearance customization and homogenous colors instead of "this same exact color looks vastly different on two different pieces."
2) Bridge customization, not bridge packs. Let us pick a general layout and adjust the color palette, console appearance, and chair types, as well as more ready room layout options.
3) Customizable ground weapons, i.e. The aesthetic look of phaser dual pistols but they shoot antiproton bolts. For obvious reasons this would only apply to standard ground weapons.
4) For the love of Q please revamp Plasma Ground Weapons. They look like demented Supersoakers right now.
5) True Vanity Impulse and Deflector effects similar to Vanity Shields.
6) A greater payout for hitting T6 Reputations. Currently it takes more time and resources to get from T5 to T6 than it does to get from nothing to T5. Make that grind really pay out at the end.
7) Mirrorverse Refugee event similar to AoY/Delta/Gamma, complete with new Mirrorverse recruits for all factions.
8) Independent Faction, because yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!
i cannot buy new stuff, since my slots are filled.
"Anyaway, we don't often see a sense of humor in Section 31."
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Yeah, no.
Keys should be left as is. People use them as direct currency to trade with, to sell to get EC to buy something else, or to open lockboxes. I would water that keys are the best selling items in the C-store because of this. Make it to where people can't sell or trade them, and people will stop getting so many. This means a decline in sales of Zen for people who buy keys. This will affect PWE's bottom line.
You don't mess with the bottom line.
Things I want in STO:
1) More character customization options such as more clothing options, letting the toon complexion affect the entire body, not just the head. Also a true RGB color picker applied to all costume and appearance options, which would allow for true appearance customization and homogenous colors instead of "this same exact color looks vastly different on two different pieces."
2) Bridge customization, not bridge packs. Let us pick a general layout and adjust the color palette, console appearance, and chair types, as well as more ready room layout options.
3) Customizable ground weapons, i.e. The aesthetic look of phaser dual pistols but they shoot antiproton bolts. For obvious reasons this would only apply to standard ground weapons.
4) For the love of Q please revamp Plasma Ground Weapons. They look like demented Supersoakers right now.
5) True Vanity Impulse and Deflector effects similar to Vanity Shields.
6) A greater payout for hitting T6 Reputations. Currently it takes more time and resources to get from T5 to T6 than it does to get from nothing to T5. Make that grind really pay out at the end.
7) Mirrorverse Refugee event similar to AoY/Delta/Gamma, complete with new Mirrorverse recruits for all factions.
8) Independent Faction, because yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me!
Cryptic wont do that as people buying stuff using keys is Cryptic's main money earner (or would appear to be). They cant be expected to do anything which could hurt their bottom line.
Still waiting to be able to use forum titles
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Yeah, no.
I get my EC primarily from selling keys.
Where then are people getting all this EC?
Many sources, as I indicated, have been nerfed by Cryptic about two years ago. So from where?
Crafting?
Flipping Ships?
Selling Keys?
Selling R&D Packs?
Selling Fleet Modules?
Admiralty?
Selling stuff from Lockboxes?
Admiralty and, to the most extent, Crafting is a make EC out of thin air. All the rest have at their root ZEN. All those other items require the initial purchase to have been made by somebody in ZEN. Either Keys, R&D Promotion Packs, and their adjunct Lobi must be used to first acquire the item to then put up for an EC cost.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Similarily, there are only two ways how to "obliterate" EC (get it out of the game entirely). Buying from a NPC vendor, or using EC as input for doffing, admiralty and reputation projects. These are VERY small amounts compared to what you get from selling vendor trash. And that's why we have such a high inflation rate.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
To summarize this Thread...
Original STO beta tester.
Of your list, I've made ec flipping ships, selling keys, selling R&D packs, selling fleet modules, selling crafting materials, selling stuff from lockboxes I've opened, and selling stuff which I presume was from lockboxes other people opened, such as Herald staffs, and Vaadwaur drones.
I've not (as yet) looked into Admiralty, and never considered crafting, because I was always worried that no one would actually be interested in buying a particular item. I've tried flipping dropped items of various qualities, and always at market prices, but they are invariably either a very long list time before selling, or they just end up expiring and getting returned, so I figure stuff like that, it's just as easy to recycle for the base price, than the hassle of listing, and thus taking a listing space, from a more shiftable commodity
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
Hats off to you folks.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
The more you know.©®
Education is the Silver Bullet.
l don't know.
l really don't know what l'm about to say, except l have a feeling about it.
That l must repeat the words that come without my knowledge.'
Personally, I found that very questionable Dev behavior. Cryptic should not cater to the wims of a handful of super-rich.
"I was here before you, I will be here after you are gone. I am here, regardless of your acknowledgement or acceptance..." - The Truth
No need to wait. The T6 Connie was already above the new cap when it was raised...
...and I'm asking for another increase right now.
I confess to feeling no small amount of puzzlement myself.