Decaying Rotting the game away :(

[kisedd]

There needs to be more money sinks in the game I think. Things people want of course. However, right now, most crafters "grind" mats off vendors. It is nearly impossible for one person to supply all the mats he needs to level crafting. Most crafters stand next to the mat vendors and burn money grinding out the tons of items they need to level. It's not hard to burn hundreds of thousands of dapper just trying to make a level.

[jesder]

The only money sinks currently are -

1 - buying items from NPCs .. really this is where the money the crafters makes goes rightnow so that they can increase skills. Only a newbie would buy anything but Mats.

2 - guildhalls - 10mil is a decent amount of dap removed but with 20 people that is only 500k a person.

3 - Apartments - 1mil this is a large one time money sink and is not likely to be enough to offset inflation for long

4 - Packer Meks - limit of 3 per character for a total of about ~350k and well worth it. If you are not carefull you they will die and you have to buy more, but generally this is a onetime sink.

5 - crafting/harvesting tools - a little over 1k and you dont have to buy them often. This may change at high levels since decay rates at the time seem really high.

6 - Not yet in game - Mounts ...I would guess the price on a mount will be about 100-200k. Since the system is not in yet, we do not know how often you will need to buy a new one.


So lets say that most characters spend 1mil a month on money sinks. I know rightnow I can pull in more than 2mil in a month from missions alone. Combine that with any mats I gather and it is easy to see the problem. Rightnow the first one is the end of most dap since the crafters tend to get a good amount of dap selling items which is used to get more skill.


What does Decay do to this? Not much. It only removes a few mats which do not add much to the overall problem.

[korin77]

I dunno about that. If you were to buy a full suit of ql 90 armor it will cost you around 400k... if they wear out in 2 days thats a constant sink of 200k a day. I don't know about you but thats a great deal of money to me considering how much money is needed for crafting. I certainly think it makes a big impact.

[jesder]

I dunno about that. If you were to buy a full suit of ql 90 armor it will cost you around 400k... if they wear out in 2 days thats a constant sink of 200k a day. I don't know about you but thats a great deal of money to me considering how much money is needed for crafting. I certainly think it makes a big impact.

you miss the point ... that 400k is just changing hands untill it is given to a NPC. A money sink removes the money from the game preventing inflation of the player economy. wait till everyone has millions of Dap, that 400k armour will be cost 800k or nothing depending on how greedy the crafters are.


What I am saying is that decay rate does nothing more than move the money around from fighters to crafters. This is needed however if what this thread suggests is true, it is extreme at this point and should be less than 1/2. However without real testing it is hard to say just how out of balance it is.

[jdiegel]

I dunno about that. If you were to buy a full suit of ql 90 armor it will cost you around 400k... if they wear out in 2 days thats a constant sink of 200k a day. I don't know about you but thats a great deal of money to me considering how much money is needed for crafting. I certainly think it makes a big impact.

A money sink is something that is absorbed by the system, not another player. Me buying a set of armor from you is not a 400k money sink since that money is still in the economy. For that 400k to actually "sink" the crafter would have to be able to spend it all on something provided by the system, not other players. If that crafter buys 400k worth of harvested materials, that is still not a money sink, since now the harvester has to find something in the system to spend it on that is not provided by another player. If that harvester turns around and invests that entire 400k in guild hall enhancements, then you have a money sink since now that money is removed from the economy.

The thing is, the system has to be able to absorb money at something resembling a similar rate that it is disperses it, otherwise inflation kicks in.

[korin77]

aye, well ultimately it goes to an NPC. and IS removed from the game. With tons of crafters out there eventually armor will get cheaper not more expensive. With player vendors it will be very easy to obtain armor.

You don't seem to see it currently but when you have hundreds of crafters out there able to make armor and no demand, you will be singing a different tune.

[jdiegel]

My point is that their are not enough NPC's to absorb it all so, no, it does not ultimately go to an NPC.

[jesder]

You don't seem to see it currently but when you have hundreds of crafters out there able to make armor and no demand, you will be singing a different tune.

That is the other possible downside of feeding too much dap to the crafters. Normally whatever profession in a MMOG that makes all the money is the one people tend to pick. If they all are selling to other players then the supply outgrows the demand. Decay helps here and with the current decay there would be a huge demand but the fighters wouldnt be able to pay anyway

[korin77]

Well only to a certain extent. Everyone has to specialize in something after level 100. This would still weed out all the lazy people. Fighters can make money easily farming lower level mobs like they currently do. There is no money shortage there. I for one like to feel useful as a crafter. If there is no real need for me to make stuff then what would be the point of exploring that aspect of the game? This game was designed so everyone can try everything out. So eventually everyone should learn crafting to some extent.

I currently don't see decay as a problem. If you fight monsters same or lower level than you, you won't even see it decay that fast. Its when you fight monsters that are over 30-50 lvls higher than you are that the decay rate speeds up like crazy.

My armor usually last me a 4-5 days before I have to replace it. I tank lvl 100 mobs with my lvl 80 melee tryker using lvl 50 armor.

If however the bug is in the higher level QL armor then it certainly should be looked at.

[shrike]

The problem is when grouping with many people.

Imagine
- a 2 player group fighting mobs which give you both 3k each with little item decay to you both
- a 7 player groups fighting mobs which give all 3k each with very high item decy to everyone

Where would you rather play? As it is now grouping with many people is greatly discouraged. Now, which is one of the selling points of the game? Forming big groups to withstand raids of many strong mobs?