Guild Wars 2

Reading about the snowflakes got me thinking: Is having the entire GW2 economy virtually tied to one item, Globs of Ectoplasm a bad idea? Essentially the value of everything is pegged to the value of Ectoplasm.

Think about it: Every single desirable end-game item requires Ectoplasm and LOTS of it. They are literally are more valuable than gold. As different ways to generate Ectoplasm are discovered, the effects tend to ripple downward through the economy. Just take a look at what happened to Mithril this week, for example.

And the problem is, as new content is created, new recipes are added, as well as more “creative” ways to use the tools given to us (Salvage Kits, Mystic Forge), the chance that loopholes are going to be created becomes immense.

My question is, with all the other end-game crafting materials available, is Ectoplasm even necessary? Are we looking at long-term issues as long as Ectoplasm remains the “universal” currency for the end-game of GW2?

Any thoughts?

The question i would like to ask you is: Does this bother some people because its nearly impossible to manipulate the ecto market?

Just a thought.

Ath.2531:

The question i would like to ask you is: Does this bother some people because its nearly impossible to manipulate the ecto market?

Just a thought.

Really? Some people must not have made hundreds of gold on recent jewellery exploit, through exploits. Some ohters will not make extra hundreds more when ecto prices rises again?

Being a natural born farmer, i deal very little with the seasonal stuff or market manipulations, but i do observe the trends on a very regular basis to know whats going on(mainly for the mats i need for my legendary)

I take everything said on this forum with a grain of salt and so should everyone else.

But i am no exploiter, and i do not ever intend to be one.

Rogacz.9865:

Ath.2531:

The question i would like to ask you is: Does this bother some people because its nearly impossible to manipulate the ecto market?

Just a thought.

Really? Some people must not have made hundreds of gold on recent jewellery exploit, through exploits. Some ohters will not make extra hundreds more when ecto prices rises again?

You have a weird definition of exploit.

Whats weird about defning exploit, as using an unintended system behaviour that allows to skip significant costs of actions due to its misimplementation? Is there any doubt that salvagining said jewelery was an exploit considering it has since been blocked? TBH every single person involved should be banned, just like they did with karma exploit. No mercy this time though.

xxxzavulonxxx.8413:

Rogacz.9865:

Ath.2531:

The question i would like to ask you is: Does this bother some people because its nearly impossible to manipulate the ecto market?

Just a thought.

Really? Some people must not have made hundreds of gold on recent jewellery exploit, through exploits. Some ohters will not make extra hundreds more when ecto prices rises again?

You have a weird definition of exploit.

Please, do define your definition of exploit.

Rogacz.9865:

Ath.2531:

The question i would like to ask you is: Does this bother some people because its nearly impossible to manipulate the ecto market?

Just a thought.

Really? Some people must not have made hundreds of gold on recent jewellery exploit, through exploits. Some ohters will not make extra hundreds more when ecto prices rises again?

The two things you identify do not equal market manipulation. The jewellery “exploit” increased the supply of ectos, hence the price dropped. Those who will make money from ecto prices rising again are likely to have stockpiled at the cheap price and get rewarded when/if the price returns to normal levels.

Tarang.7562:

xxxzavulonxxx.8413:

Rogacz.9865:

Ath.2531:

The question i would like to ask you is: Does this bother some people because its nearly impossible to manipulate the ecto market?

Just a thought.

Really? Some people must not have made hundreds of gold on recent jewellery exploit, through exploits. Some ohters will not make extra hundreds more when ecto prices rises again?

You have a weird definition of exploit.

Please, do define your definition of exploit.

Extracurricular activity involving the usage of bugs/glitches. This was no bug or glitch, but oversight by devs.

In GW1 Ecto’s were used as currency, I do believe Ecto’s should, and will play a big role in GW2 too.

Rogacz.9865:

Whats weird about defning exploit, as using an unintended system behaviour that allows to skip significant costs of actions due to its misimplementation? Is there any doubt that salvagining said jewelery was an exploit considering it has since been blocked? TBH every single person involved should be banned, just like they did with karma exploit. No mercy this time though.

Don’t think this is fair. As I read the thread about the ecto salvage I was thinking, wow, I need to go do that. Make me some extra gold. I was too late cause it has been fixed already, but never did I even consider it an exploit. Seeing as you had to be lucky to make a real profit, exploits to me are more sure-fire ways to make an infinite amount of gold with no gambling involved (e.g. economy breaking exploits).

Charming Rogue.8071:

In GW1 Ecto’s were used as currency, I do believe Ecto’s should, and will play a big role in GW2 too.

That’s because the gold cap in GW1 was very low so we were forced to use ecto instead. Fact was, you couldn’t pay someone what an item was worth because nobody could receive that much gold.

Charming Rogue.8071:

Rogacz.9865:

Whats weird about defning exploit, as using an unintended system behaviour that allows to skip significant costs of actions due to its misimplementation? Is there any doubt that salvagining said jewelery was an exploit considering it has since been blocked? TBH every single person involved should be banned, just like they did with karma exploit. No mercy this time though.

Don’t think this is fair. As I read the thread about the ecto salvage I was thinking, wow, I need to go do that. Make me some extra gold. I was too late cause it has been fixed already, but never did I even consider it an exploit. Seeing as you had to be lucky to make a real profit, exploits to me are more sure-fire ways to make an infinite amount of gold with no gambling involved (e.g. economy breaking exploits).

I agree. That wasn’t an exploit. You have to use up your mithril, you need a BL Salvage Kit or it’s still gambling and buying gems to get the kits would eat away most of your profit. Definitely something that shouldn’t be left hanging around and legal but certainly not something to ban anyone over either.

It is stupid that ectos are used for both exotics and higher tier (ascended/legendary) items. It makes very little sense from a design persepctive because it means demand for top-tier items raises the price of 2nd tier items, when any basic design paradigm should tell you it is more healthy for the opposite to occur. Veterans farming for ascended items shouldn’t be making it harder for new players to gear up to exotic level, but that’s what this design paradigm does.

The main problem I have is tying ascended items to ectoplasm as well. As new ascended pieces are added, exotic pieces are going to become even more expensive simply because the ascended items are draining the supply of ectos to nothing. In my opinion, the two tiers should be completely segregated, given that exotics are now supposed to be stepping stones.