my opinion of the gem trade
Confused since the gem trade is directly a cause and effect of supply and demand. The more players that want to buy gems with gold the higher the price goes. The higher the price goes the more likely people are to buy gems to sell for gold. If enough people do that to raise the supply above the demand the price goes down. Until such time that the demand exceeds supply again and the price goes up. The average wealth of players also to an extent impacts price as the more gold the average person has the more willing they are to spend it on gems which is basically nothing more than an increase in demand.
Confused since the gem trade is directly a cause and effect of supply and demand.
No, it’s not.
- One of the KEY factors of the gem-price in gold is the gem-price in dollars. This is not determined by the players, it is set by Anet.
- Another vital part of the price is what you can buy with the gems from the gem store. It is Anet that decides what items can be bought by gems and thus it is Anet that plays a vital role in the demand for gems.
Saying that the price of gems is purely demand-supply is simply not true.
Tallis – Perpetual newbie – Tarnished Coast.
Always carries a towel – Never panics – Eats cookies.
Always carries a towel – Never panics – Eats cookies.
If I may add a brief argument?
If this is Supply/Demand, it is the worst implemented one in existence. When this game started, one could get about 300 gems for a gold, more or less. Right now, it sits at 80. Before Consortium Chests, the only thing that one could buy was buff/rez stones and Keys for Black Lion Chests. At a gold a pop, these temp items are worth it…
At 4+ gold a Key (which never returns it’s investment) or a Rez, people are not using the Gold to Gems to buy things from the net. So, why exactly is the exchange at 80?
It’s not because there is a demand for gems. It’s because Anet is protecting it’s investments. It wants people to buy gems, instead of earning it through the game. They want to make it more attractive to buy gems with cash, than to earn it though play.
I wouldn’t be so disappointed in this, if they actually had items worth buying in their cash shop. I could see them wanting to profit, however, they’ve not even gotten around to making enough Vanity Items to even be protecting anything. At this point, they are just preventing people from losing money opening up BLC, which are not worth it anyway.
…
As a further example, they currently are pricing a Black Lion Key at 285 commendations. That’s about 5 gold, before you start factoring in the money for crafting or the repaid bills for going out and farming the aprox. 850 weapons needed to create one. At about .8 c a pop, that’s 8 gold for a Black Lion Key. The return on investment is 3 silver pieces.
Unless there is something that we don’t know about the chests, Arenanet is overvaluing these chests, which currently can be purchased for 3 copper a piece. Something is dead broken in this economy, and it needs fixing
Confused since the gem trade is directly a cause and effect of supply and demand.
No, it’s not.
- One of the KEY factors of the gem-price in gold is the gem-price in dollars. This is not determined by the players, it is set by Anet.
- Another vital part of the price is what you can buy with the gems from the gem store. It is Anet that decides what items can be bought by gems and thus it is Anet that plays a vital role in the demand for gems.
Saying that the price of gems is purely demand-supply is simply not true.
Nothing you have stated really refutes that gem prices are not following the rules of supply and demand. Incentives does not somehow magically dispense the principles the market is operating under.
[SU]