your solutions against inflation in the game
I was answering someone else but I think it's worth a post, please share your solutions to the economic problem of inflation in the game below. Just put your stupid or no-so-stupid ideas. Share it all of it, you never know something could be used for devs as inspiration.
First, I think dev team got in contact with an economist at some point (very sorry I forgot his name), so I am pretty sure they will find a correct solution to a complex problem, but for all economies it will works long term, not counting the spikes but the long waves and cycles over years. What we see during this test is a blip on a long run.
What I see personally (during weekends test for me) people are not willing to rent a stall or a house to sell their stuff, they prefer to wait at the bank, that's the first problem, there is no reputation system and so immediate materialism always wins for now. But over time players trust more each others and we could see more defined artisans.
Another thing my experience of crafting with others, asking help in /tells if they can complete my receipe, or craft the thing for me, sharing the profits, was excellent. Sometimes I was generous and sometimes it was the others players that were. We really need this kind of gameplay.
We lack liquidity of goods in this game, tons of objects are stored in everyone's banks and I personally think that's another problem, a stored value is interesting for crafting (like ingredients for cooking), but we lack relationship of "maker" and "customers".
The radical solutions could be:
1)less space in banks, to the point you must make a limited choice (and be inter-depandant to others), is it frustrating? yes, that's the whole point, asking help is not an option but a necessity with this. A lot of people could refuse this but the game will be much more interesting if everyone is limited.
1.5) 1 tradeskill only for each character. While I like the "everyone can do everything", it also incentive individualism. I think the best interactions are when you build something with others people. 2 skills could be a sweet spot.
the second thing would be a taxes if there is a direct transaction (more if player to NPC), after all Cities' Kings would like to have their words too, how the walls of Night Harbour construction are paid in fact? However, If you do a transaction with a player maker (need to own a stall or a house), then it's the maker that will have to pay the taxe. It will strongly incentive players to buy from them, and makers to be more competitive. The good thing with taxes is very easy for devs to tweak in their desired direction (taxes for them can fluactuate to incentive them to produce more or less goods of different types)
A special place/statut for an economy of services, with a 5-stars system of customer satisfaction. Need to make potions? Need to guide newbies? Need a lot of stack of woods? This system could be a "job board" from players to players, you look, accept, do it, adn the other person note your gig. Good thing when you are bored and don't want to party up for hours. Ideally it will create more interaction between them too. This one would be without taxes. We want more players doing actions for others.
A hard max price limit for each item, with a lore excuse to it. "Are you trying to make the god of Greed angry..?"
A tax bonus for merchants using the donkey/horse market and travelling around the world of Eth-Ur. Even better if they craft on place, we want thoses guys in the game.
Magic dust (or whatever it is I forgot) should be "so magic" that you can't gather more than 2. Get your dust and leave the boss alone for others players. The problem is not the high players behaviors but the non-stop accumulation of something that should stay rare.
Make the magical weapons..fragile & dangerous. So they can just break and never seen again. It will help all the non-magical markets to exist and be a stable way to play the game. Your DPS is lesser with this iron sword? yes, but she is not gonna explose in your face and killin your whole party at the same time. Make the high-level play more and more risky, so the winnings are also more blissful for them.
If you ahave too much gold or beautiful armor on your shoulders, make the Thieves Guild or Goblin Populations attacking you non stop, and I mean non-stop until you pay them or get killed. Lore wise it's correct to say they should be relentless about it. The trick would be to be only wear poor's cloths in front of them to not get this absurd aggro. (It could bean hidden gameplay at high levels). At the same time, a rich player should have more probability to be scammed by NPC.
If an item is crafted by 2 people from not-the same guild, then there is a little bonus. Crafted by 3 different guilds, another one. Crafted by a druid, then by a shaman, then by a knight, ...more the players, more diverse their crafts and their races, more the item should be full of bonuses. it could open the door to tons of customisations of products too. Perhaps a legendary item could and only could only crafted by innocent beginners from over the world..?
make the platinium and gold coin more heavy, so more silvers and coppers coins are moving around.
Kill the auction chat, it's too convienant, more than often spammed, and should be a physical place for each town. You should put 1 paper by character by town max, near the Fae's lift or West gate, people will get a look and will understand it. Job board+auction board close to each others. You see an interesting thing to buy, and just near, you found the right job for you to buy that thing. Another board could be added with names of players ready to participate into whatever missions it is.
- Auction board = I want to buy this
- Job board = I need to gather salt as a mission for another player
- Adventurers board = I send a tell to 3 people and someone is willing to help me
- We split the loot and coins
- You receive the star notation of the job poster.
tl dr : incentives and make life easy for the interactions betweens players and punish thoses that don't want. Sorry for solo'er, but I (PERSONALLY and respectfully) think the game is not so great as pure solo, but really shines while "active solo" (asking helps with /tells or negotiating)
(the star notation will be abused 100%, that's also why I wish like google critics you can write a commentary each time as a note, so it will filter the bullshit, at least a bit.)