So we all noticed the significant augmentation of the prices for the Ectos…
But the price isnt really what doesnt make sense, since it actually just follows the most basic law of the market.
What makes me have a “wtf” moment is the following fact : each day that goes by, we have more and more level 80 characters, that means they all have access to level 69-80 rare gear (=gear that can be salvages for ectos). Each day, there should be MORE ectos in the BLTP…. Yet there are less and less.
Look at the image below, the red vertical bar is the demand of ectos (always stable) and the blue vertical bar is the volume on ectos put on sale.
The only thing that I can surmise is that with all of the Ecto heavy recipes (unique exotics requiring 250, infused gear requiring stacks of 250), there are more Ectos being used up in recipes than there are being created in the community.
So we all noticed the significant augmentation of the prices for the Ectos…
But the price isnt really what doesnt make sense, since it actually just follows the most basic law of the market.
What makes me have a “wtf” moment is the following fact : each day that goes by, we have more and more level 80 characters, that means they all have access to level 69-80 rare gear (=gear that can be salvages for ectos). Each day, there should be MORE ectos in the BLTP…. Yet there are less and less.
Look at the image below, the red vertical bar is the demand of ectos (always stable) and the blue vertical bar is the volume on ectos put on sale.
3 possible explanations:
1 more people are hoarding ectos for personal use.
2. The number op players quitting the game outnumber the influx of active players at max level.
3. Wave of bot bans
Prices are just climbing to normal lvl(+inflation) after decembers momentary huge increase due snowflake exploit u can see it by checking sales from longer period of time.
3 possible explanations:
1 more people are hoarding ectos for personal use.
2. The number op players quitting the game outnumber the influx of active players at max level.
3. Wave of bot bans
I’ll give another. I have 5 level 80s and not a single ecto to my name. I didn’t have much success salvaging ectos from rare gear (even with the BLTC salvaging kits) so I quit doing it. I only salvage rares that are soulbound now. I’d rather take the guaranteed 25-40s I get for selling a BoE rare than risk getting a couple pieces of T5 materials that don’t even amount to 1s.
I don’t know how many people there are like me out there, but we’re certainly not contributing to the ecto market either.
What makes me have a “wtf” moment is the following fact : each day that goes by, we have more and more level 80 characters, that means they all have access to level 69-80 rare gear (=gear that can be salvages for ectos). Each day, there should be MORE ectos in the BLTP…. Yet there are less and less.
Not necessarily. The more and more level 80 characters there are, the more that players are looking to obtain ectos for their exotics, Legendary weapons, ect.
Even if they don’t want a legendary but instead another weapon like Vision of the Mist, this item still requires 250 ectoplasms.
You should notice that mystic coins have been skyrocketing as well, this is because those items are also in high demand for legendary weapons / named exotics.
There was a mass ban of Snowflake salvages. Anet handle it pretty poorly and made the market worse by banning people who would normally stablize the ecto prices before the fiasco. This market is an example of what happens when the government over reacts to every problem in the market
Prices are just climbing to normal lvl(+inflation) after decembers momentary huge increase due snowflake exploit u can see it by checking sales from longer period of time.
First, if you look at the big picture you’ll find that during the snowflake exploitation period, the price of ecto was largely unaffected – sell volume increased massively but prices remained essentially constant. While the influx of ecto almost certainly helped to keep the price stable for a while, it did not cause a significant decrease, meaning that we can’t be “returning” to the norm.
Second, just citing inflation ignores a critical factor – demand for ectos has been measurably increased since the introduction of FotM and several key recipes which require large amounts of ecto, from 50 to full stacks. The introduction of more and more ecto-guzzling recipes without a corresponding increase in potential sources of ecto (indeed, a decrease due to certain changes made to craftable rare/exotic recipes not related to the snowflake exploit) will result in continuing increase in demand.
In other words, ANet needs to either admit that they fully intend for ectos to become comparable in value to the average lodestone, or dramatically increase ecto supply to correspond with the dramatically increased demand.
It is not rocket science. You ban the bots, you ban a fraction of the constant supply of Rare items which in turn limits the supply of Ectoplasms. Meanwhile the demand remains the same.
… t’was not a good time to start going for Mystic Clovers, in retrospect :S
I’ll give another. I have 5 level 80s and not a single ecto to my name. I didn’t have much success salvaging ectos from rare gear (even with the BLTC salvaging kits) so I quit doing it. I only salvage rares that are soulbound now. I’d rather take the guaranteed 25-40s I get for selling a BoE rare than risk getting a couple pieces of T5 materials that don’t even amount to 1s.
I don’t know how many people there are like me out there, but we’re certainly not contributing to the ecto market either.
And I thought i was unlucky :P
My friend, I think you didnt salvage the right items… For more on how to get ectos, check this : http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Glob_of_Ectoplasm
On average I got about 1 ecto for 3 items, and i’m far from lucky.
There was a mass ban of Snowflake salvages. Anet handle it pretty poorly and made the market worse by banning people who would normally stablize the ecto prices before the fiasco. This market is an example of what happens when the government over reacts to every problem in the market
Yeah, totally forgot about this incident… And I agree it was handled poorly.
What makes me have a “wtf” moment is the following fact : each day that goes by, we have more and more level 80 characters, that means they all have access to level 69-80 rare gear (=gear that can be salvages for ectos). Each day, there should be MORE ectos in the BLTP…. Yet there are less and less.
All those level 80 characters will want exotics. Which means they want stuff that requires exotics, pushing up the price of exotics.
Much of the ecto supply has been from people crafting rares and salvaging for ecto.
Since the recent bot ban, the price of the materials needed to craft these rares has risen to the point where you cannot make a profit doing this – it costs more to make the rare than you will likely get back from the ecto after TP fees.
The only way to supply ecto at a profit in the current market is to farm the materials (slow), salvage loot (low volume) or convert dungeon tokens into rares and then ecto (low volume).
Many crafters saw this coming a few weeks ago and a lot of people not only stopped crafting but began holding their ecto to wait and see where prices would go.
Anet said the banned snowflake people made 250,000 ecto which seems like a lot, but I think that was all absorbed within a week or two. An individual crafter can make hundreds or thousands of ecto each day – I personally made about 30,000 in December and dozens of more people were doing the same thing.
First, if you look at the big picture you’ll find that during the snowflake exploitation period, the price of ecto was largely unaffected – sell volume increased massively but prices remained essentially constant. While the influx of ecto almost certainly helped to keep the price stable for a while, it did not cause a significant decrease, meaning that we can’t be “returning” to the norm.
Begining of december price was peaking close to 37s after that supply increased dramatically and price dropped to low as 25s and would have continued to drop w/o bans, after bans supply has steadily dropped to pre exploit lvl and so has price returned too, so how about you actually look at the big picture instead of pulling data out of your …
Second, just citing inflation ignores a critical factor – demand for ectos has been measurably increased since the introduction of FotM and several key recipes which require large amounts of ecto, from 50 to full stacks. The introduction of more and more ecto-guzzling recipes without a corresponding increase in potential sources of ecto (indeed, a decrease due to certain changes made to craftable rare/exotic recipes not related to the snowflake exploit) will result in continuing increase in demand.
There is potential source, its called salvaging, demand of ectos just makes it more or less profitable.
Begining of december price was peaking close to 37s after that supply increased dramatically and price dropped to low as 25s and would have continued to drop w/o bans, after bans supply has steadily dropped to pre exploit lvl and so has price returned too, so how about you actually look at the big picture instead of pulling data out of your …
The price dropped dramatically, than evened out at a higher level before the bans. The bans did not occur on 17 Dec, the lowest point in ecto price for the month of December. At the date on which the bans occurred, the supply drops somewhat but not dramatically – if the majority of ecto on the market were connected to the banned accounts, you’d see a sheer cliff in supply rather than a slow taper. So how about you actually conduct analysis instead of pulling garbage out of your …
Second, just citing inflation ignores a critical factor – demand for ectos has been measurably increased since the introduction of FotM and several key recipes which require large amounts of ecto, from 50 to full stacks. The introduction of more and more ecto-guzzling recipes without a corresponding increase in potential sources of ecto (indeed, a decrease due to certain changes made to craftable rare/exotic recipes not related to the snowflake exploit) will result in continuing increase in demand.
There is potential source, its called salvaging, demand of ectos just makes it more or less profitable.
I guess you just have a reading comprehension problem? I’m obviously aware of the only way to obtain ectoplasm; the fact that salvaging is the only means to acquire it is exactly the problem.
Increased demand (more recipes requiring ecto, most of them requiring full stacks) with no increase in supply (salvaging is still the only source of ecto and salvage rates have never been increased to counteract the vast amounts of new ecto needed) (additionally, it’s technically a decrease in supply due to bot bans) means prices will continue to climb until either A. player demand for ecto drops off – which would mean that the ecto-consuming Ascended recipes either are removed or become irrelevant – or B. ecto supply is increased somehow – which would necessitate a way to obtain ecto outside of salvaging, an increase of ecto obtained per salvage operation, or an increase in drop rates of ecto-yielding items.
Hum… I like how everyone gives input and stuff, it makes the thread interesting.
Also, the Globs case can be explained by any or all the above mentioned theories, so unless you’re Warren Buffet himself keep your comments respectful and humble to one another, it doesn’t cost much and it wont make you look bad (and kindda ridiculous…).
This thread is a discussion, not a lecture by so-called experts. Brighten up people !
Im just one player but…I Dont farm I just play the game. Any green get tossed in the mystic toilet for rares. Any rares get tossed in for exotics. Exotics get recycled same place. If I somehow get an ecto it goes in my bank.
Long term lev 80 players are going to use more ectos than they get from salvaging rares that they personally looted. The more people playing, more popular the game is, the more ectos will cost (even if it’s only a few silver more etc).
