Imho, honesty without tact is the cliche of ’keeping it real", and tactful honesty is difficult to balance in an anonymous forum. I think John Smith does a decent job, even though he never answered my last questions.
1, Have you ever made a statement concerning the ethics of economic punditry in game or in the forums? I imagine you see posts from people giving not only bad information but purposefully misleading information.
Perhaps a for instance would help. Say I am convinced that Fishing game-play will be released on Monday and want to talk about the effects of fishing on the economy. Would you have pointers or standards you would want players to apply to such a discussion?
Yes, the first time I was less than tactful was inspired by someone clearly attempting to mislead people about economics and game design. The rules are pretty intuitive though. Do not attempt to mislead people, making an argument using a different set of inputs is good business we always need more perspectives, making those inputs intentionally fallacious to prove some that isn’t true will end poorly.
It’s basically the opposite policy of news stations
Can you provide an explanation of what a player-driven economy is?
Do you feel GW2 falls under this and why?
Super very simple:
Players set prices, players set supply. Prices are set by the players. Players can change the supply of items by changes in their play activity.
All vendor based economies are not player driven. The TP is player driven. Apologies for the terse response, remind me sometime to revisit this more thoroughly.
Can you provide an explanation of what a player-driven economy is?
Do you feel GW2 falls under this and why?
Super very simple:
Players set prices, players set supply. Prices are set by the players. Players can change the supply of items by changes in their play activity.
All vendor based economies are not player driven. The TP is player driven. Apologies for the terse response, remind me sometime to revisit this more thoroughly.
With the addition of the 2nd Birthday Present (Birthday Blaster – it has pretty awesome stats tbh)-
Birthday Blaster – Shoot out birthday cakes that grant a 10 min buff to anyone nearby – Soulbound
+ 40 to all attributes
+10% Karma
+15% Magic Find
+15% Experience from kills
Does not replace or remove other food buffs.
Or:
Dragon’s Revelry Starcake
Nourishment (30 m):
+45 Power
+45 Precision
+45 Vitality
+45 Toughness
+45 Healing Power
+45 Condition Damage
+45 Ferocity
+20% Magic Find
+10% Experience from Kills
Intended to do the following:
1) Encourage players to eat food?
2) Are Players going hungry And starving all the time ? (killing things is hungry work)
3) depress the cooking market crafted foods even further ? (star cakes are 70s each, birthday boost gun is free – this takes away some unique crafting for those who gained the recipe)
4) Cause a bigger glut of Food on the market? (There are already millions of items of some foods untouched for over a year with supply clearly growing and this is a pretty big buff on the gun and it will be the case of finding someone with a gun in a dungeon etc)
4) ensure that only certain foods for specific purposes sell ? (Eg condi duration lvl 80)
5) was cooking always intended to be the cheapest market to learn – the NPC warns before learning this profession it will be expensive and will take you to all realms of the world?
Hi John,
They announced last week pricing changes to the Commander Tag…and some changes to how it would be implemented. Were there any economic discussions about the price changes or was this a purely game design decision? If there were economic discussions can you talk about any of the factors that went into the change?
I’d like to know if the latest trend of time gated material that can still be bought off the trading post (mawdrey components, ascended armour components) is a deliberate attempt to allow people to make money crafting by preventing a small number of users flooding the niche as soon as it becomes apparent.
PS thanks John for taking the time to respond to all the questions here, and thanks Wanze for creating the topic. This is my favourite forum thread that hasn’t been deleted.
Hi John,
They announced last week pricing changes to the Commander Tag…and some changes to how it would be implemented. Were there any economic discussions about the price changes or was this a purely game design decision? If there were economic discussions can you talk about any of the factors that went into the change?
There were economic discussions, but design was the most important thing, since any economic impact would be minor.
I’d like to know if the latest trend of time gated material that can still be bought off the trading post (mawdrey components, ascended armour components) is a deliberate attempt to allow people to make money crafting by preventing a small number of users flooding the niche as soon as it becomes apparent.
PS thanks John for taking the time to respond to all the questions here, and thanks Wanze for creating the topic. This is my favourite forum thread that hasn’t been deleted.
Having crafters able to make money was certainly part of the design intention.
Random questions of the day for fun purposes:
-At the actual market price, how much would it cost a single +70 Agony Resistance item?I managed to get a number like 6665327449000000000000000000000000000 gold, but i’m not sure if it’s accurate.
It also makes me wonder a second question.
-Has anyone done already a +20 item?
Random questions of the day for fun purposes:
-At the actual market price, how much would it cost a single +70 Agony Resistance item?I managed to get a number like 6665327449000000000000000000000000000 gold, but i’m not sure if it’s accurate.
It also makes me wonder a second question.
-Has anyone done already a +20 item?
Assuming the +1’s are 10s, and we start from 1 and only user 1’s; it would cost (2^69 + 1)/10 gold which I believe is 59,029,581,035,870,565,171.2 which, if I didn’t make an error, is 59 Quintillion gold.
edit: the + sign not displaying for some reason.
edit 2: I forgot thermocatalytic reagents.
edit 3: Quintillion
Random questions of the day for fun purposes:
-At the actual market price, how much would it cost a single +70 Agony Resistance item?I managed to get a number like 6665327449000000000000000000000000000 gold, but i’m not sure if it’s accurate.
It also makes me wonder a second question.
-Has anyone done already a +20 item?
The highest I can find on the Gw2spidy is a +14. And it has a max buy offer of 240g.
If you run alot fractals, these infusions can be a great way to make some cash. Provided you can find a buyer, as most people aren’t willing to spend this kind of cash for unneeded agony infusions.
“You know what the chain of command is?
It’s the chain I beat you with until you
recognize my command!”
Hi John,
The crafting cost of exotics lvl 80 (5g) is very high compared to the selling price (1g) because crafting has been damaged by the ascended gear (account bound).
There are many items that are affected, Will there be a solution soon?
What’s the problem? High prices means high reward for people willing to farm and for folks just exploring the area.
I’d agree there was a problem if I couldn’t get these items at any price, but since I can get them at any time I’m willing to pay the going rate, seems fine to me. Mostly, I’ll just use substitutes.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
Assuming the +1’s are 10s, and we start from 1 and only user 1’s; it would cost (2^69 + 1)/10 gold which I believe is 59,029,581,035,870,565,171.2 which, if I didn’t make an error, is 59 quintillion gold.
edit: the + sign not displaying for some reason.
edit 2: I forgot thermocatalytic reagents.
Chili Peppers and Lemongrass should maybe get a look at, in my opinion, but I agree with JS in that it’s not really a “problem”. (Just like how cloth prices aren’t really a problem, despite me grumbling about their price.)
The reason why Vanilla beans got adjusted two years ago was because they are used as base ingredients in many recipes. That’s not really the case with Chili Peppers or Lemongrass.
Chili Peppers and Lemongrass certainly aren’t an economic problem.
Now, there’s certainly an argument that making one of them a component in what is the single most powerful WvW consumable available only as a 1 in 4 drop from, what, 5 nodes in a small strip of land might represent a some poor game design choices that encourage unrewarding play patterns.
But the economy? It handles it just fine.
(Yes Chili Peppers are expensive but who cares, are they actually used for anything or are they just being bid up by people Googling ancient crafting guides?)
I think there is some current popular food booster(s) that uses Chili Peppers and/or Lemongrass to help in the LS. Item becomes popular, it gets crafted more, supply drops, bidding war on components.
So for those that really enjoy wvw it’s perfectly fine b/c wvw is known for providing ample resources. Yep…can’t see any issues……
Yes, WvW provides “ample” resources. You sell the stuff you don’t need and use the coin to purchase the stuff you do. I wvw as a mesmer, so I get far fewer drops than most anyone outside of sentries and I’m still earning more than enough to pay for gear and consumables.
I don’t expect to get rich playing WvW compared to other parts of the game, but I’ve never been impoverished for playing it to the exclusion of the other modes.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”
Random questions of the day for fun purposes:
-At the actual market price, how much would it cost a single +70 Agony Resistance item?I managed to get a number like 6665327449000000000000000000000000000 gold, but i’m not sure if it’s accurate.
It also makes me wonder a second question.
-Has anyone done already a +20 item?
Assuming the +1’s are 10s, and we start from 1 and only user 1’s; it would cost (2^69 + 1)/10 gold which I believe is 59,029,581,035,870,565,171.2 which, if I didn’t make an error, is 59 quadrillion gold.
edit: the + sign not displaying for some reason.
edit 2: I forgot thermocatalytic reagents.
Out of curiosity, do you have information available on how much gold exists in the game currently?
A long while back there was a patch to limit buy/sell orders to vendor price. This kept a lot of the chaff out of the trading post, but some of those junk buy orders are still there, and it’s cluttering up the market.
Is there a way to release/return those now-defunct orders back to their owners?
Also, and this might seem a tad hand-holding, would it be better to set the minimum buy/sale limit to 115% of the vendor price? Or is it seemingly okay to short-sell in favor of convenience (ie, bags are full and I need to clear something out via TP sales)?
Many alts; handle it!
“I’m finding companies should sell access to forums,
it seems many like them better than the games they comment on.” -Horrorscope.7632
Also, and this might seem a tad hand-holding, would it be better to set the minimum buy/sale limit to 115% of the vendor price? Or is it seemingly okay to short-sell in favor of convenience (ie, bags are full and I need to clear something out via TP sales)?
Every item traded over the TP acts as a gold sink while every item sold to vendor acts as a gold faucet, greating inflation.
So I would guess he is fine with the status quo.
Tin Foil [HATS]-Hardcore BLTC-PvP Guild
Bloin – Running around, tagging Keeps, getting whack on Scoobie Snacks.
Also, and this might seem a tad hand-holding, would it be better to set the minimum buy/sale limit to 115% of the vendor price? Or is it seemingly okay to short-sell in favor of convenience (ie, bags are full and I need to clear something out via TP sales)?
Every item traded over the TP acts as a gold sink while every item sold to vendor acts as a gold faucet, greating inflation.
So I would guess he is fine with the status quo.
Proper point. Which just spurs the question, actually. If the minimum buy/sell on the TP is the same as the vendor price, I’m just going to vendor it, so I get the full amount. Instead of gold-sink, I’m creating wealth. Granted, I’m likely to vendor it if it’s at a minimum +15% as well, but in that scenario, I’m also likely to not waste my time looking for a vendor and throwing it on that buy order instead.
Mostly, I just want those nuisance 1c bids gone. =P
Many alts; handle it!
“I’m finding companies should sell access to forums,
it seems many like them better than the games they comment on.” -Horrorscope.7632
The TP Issues are technical issues. While they could fixed, it would be time consuming and we feel there are bigger issues we should be putting engineers’ time on.
The TP Issues are technical issues. While they could fixed, it would be time consuming and we feel there are bigger issues we should be putting engineers’ time on.
Couple weeks ago the TP was absolutely flawless and super fast.
The TP Issues are technical issues. While they could fixed, it would be time consuming and we feel there are bigger issues we should be putting engineers’ time on.
Couple weeks ago the TP was absolutely flawless and super fast.
Any easy way to get it to be like that again?
Yes. The TP runs on Scotch. We put in a nice 25 year in that week and it really kicked it up a notch.
In seriousness though we’re constantly working on improving performance and I expect the TP will get better and better over time.
The TP Issues are technical issues. While they could fixed, it would be time consuming and we feel there are bigger issues we should be putting engineers’ time on.
Couple weeks ago the TP was absolutely flawless and super fast.
Any easy way to get it to be like that again?
Yes. The TP runs on Scotch. We put in a nice 25 year in that week and it really kicked it up a notch.
In seriousness though we’re constantly working on improving performance and I expect the TP will get better and better over time.
Should run on Elonian Wine, just saying…
Tin Foil [HATS]-Hardcore BLTC-PvP Guild
Bloin – Running around, tagging Keeps, getting whack on Scoobie Snacks.
The TP Issues are technical issues. While they could fixed, it would be time consuming and we feel there are bigger issues we should be putting engineers’ time on.
Couple weeks ago the TP was absolutely flawless and super fast.
Any easy way to get it to be like that again?
Yes. The TP runs on Scotch. We put in a nice 25 year in that week and it really kicked it up a notch.
In seriousness though we’re constantly working on improving performance and I expect the TP will get better and better over time.
I am picturing the server racks with a bar in front and the engineers as bartenders. May I recommend lambic, a complex malted wine, inexpensive and provides a cheerful buzz.
edit for the sound of R2D2 slurring his chirps
“No! You can’t eat the ones that talk!
They’re special! They got aspirations.”
Finn the human
Random questions of the day for fun purposes:
-At the actual market price, how much would it cost a single +70 Agony Resistance item?I managed to get a number like 6665327449000000000000000000000000000 gold, but i’m not sure if it’s accurate.
It also makes me wonder a second question.
-Has anyone done already a +20 item?
Assuming the +1’s are 10s, and we start from 1 and only user 1’s; it would cost (2^69 + 1)/10 gold which I believe is 59,029,581,035,870,565,171.2 which, if I didn’t make an error, is 59 quadrillion gold.
edit: the + sign not displaying for some reason.
edit 2: I forgot thermocatalytic reagents.
I know this is yesterday’s question, but I can’t resist fun math time.
For the lowest offer price of 8s per +1 infusion, the peak gems-to-gold rate of 12.68g/$1.25, and NCSoft’s 2013 earnings report showing $1,479,521,681,932 KRW/$1,459,089,487.5 USD of “total assets”, and of course, the Thermocatalytic Reagents. …
NCSoft could craft a +38 Agony Infusion for $1,286,593,357.82 USD.
I’d love to see the gold-to-gems graph that day. xD
Ara Daybreak [GT] – Charr Elementalist – Henge of Denravi
With the release of the new Silver Fed Salvage O Matic in the gem store today, can you elaborate a bit on how the chance to salvage rarer materials of the salvage kits works and gets applied to? I assume that it applies to the chance to get a higher tier common mat (ori instead of mithril when salvaging a lvl 80 sword) but after some research i have done, those chances are nowhere near the rates advertised in the tooltips. So i think its either bugged or salvageable items also have an internal chance to salvage rarer mats to which the chance of the salvage kit itself gets applied to.
In my test i salvaged 1000 hard leather straps with each salvage kit except BLSK, here are my results for getting Hard Leather instead of Thick Leather (adverticed chances to salvage rarer mats in braces):
The TP Issues are technical issues. While they could fixed, it would be time consuming and we feel there are bigger issues we should be putting engineers’ time on.
Couple weeks ago the TP was absolutely flawless and super fast.
Any easy way to get it to be like that again?
Yes. The TP runs on Scotch tape. We put in a nice 25 rolls in that week and it really kicked it up a notch.
In seriousness though we’re constantly working on improving performance and I expect the TP will get better and better over time.
With the release of the new Silver Fed Salvage O Matic in the gem store today, can you elaborate a bit on how the chance to salvage rarer materials of the salvage kits works and gets applied to? I assume that it applies to the chance to get a higher tier common mat (ori instead of mithril when salvaging a lvl 80 sword) but after some research i have done, those chances are nowhere near the rates advertised in the tooltips. So i think its either bugged or salvageable items also have an internal chance to salvage rarer mats to which the chance of the salvage kit itself gets applied to.
In my test i salvaged 1000 hard leather straps with each salvage kit except BLSK, here are my results for getting Hard Leather instead of Thick Leather (adverticed chances to salvage rarer mats in braces):
With the feature patch announcement today I am concluding key runs will be far more time intensive than the 15 minutes they are today. Was there an economic intent with the feature patch to make the items from the Black Lion Chests more valuable/desireable with this change?
What led to the decision for the silver fed salvage-o-matic cost to use to be more than the kits they replace on top of the gem cost? This is a different approach than the copper fed salavage-o-matic which are cheaper to use than their salvage kit counterpart.
Is there any hope you can give for the value of Badges of Honor?
I mean, they’ve got to be worth something even if we’ve got thousands of them.
… and I second this request, even if I made the first request.
Seriously, there has to be some thinking about this situation.
This may not be a very satisfying answer. Badges of Honor and other currencies like karma that are applied to workloads that can not change in value are very stable, they can neither deflate or inflate. If I consider the entire Tyrian economic ecosystem, it is tempting to leave them alone until a major expansion of the workload (NPC merchant offering) can be released, or leave them alone entirely.
“No! You can’t eat the ones that talk!
They’re special! They got aspirations.”
Finn the human
Just this month 7,496,080 Oozes have been dealt with.
John, factoids like this are the little nuggets that make the game more interesting.
Suggestion: Why not introduce optional pop-ups with inconsequential information like this during loading screens, or when we first log into the game? It would give a few players a laugh, or at least something to ponder about..
With the release of the new Silver Fed Salvage O Matic in the gem store today, can you elaborate a bit on how the chance to salvage rarer materials of the salvage kits works and gets applied to? I assume that it applies to the chance to get a higher tier common mat (ori instead of mithril when salvaging a lvl 80 sword) but after some research i have done, those chances are nowhere near the rates advertised in the tooltips. So i think its either bugged or salvageable items also have an internal chance to salvage rarer mats to which the chance of the salvage kit itself gets applied to.
In my test i salvaged 1000 hard leather straps with each salvage kit except BLSK, here are my results for getting Hard Leather instead of Thick Leather (adverticed chances to salvage rarer mats in braces):
I’d also like clarification; thanks for the detailed data. I think I see one item with better results from Fine vs. Salvage-o-matic (sample size is still smallish though — 200 each), but I’ll post in that thread.
you mistakenly perceive a fantastic and functioning system as broken
Might i dare you to post your statement (without anyone involved just saying you believe economic system is fantastic and functioning) in general section or on a CDI?
out of this subforum would gather thousands answers in few hours.
I’m tempted to register to reddit and link that sentence without ANY comment.
GW2 balance:
A PvE player is supposed to avoid a 1-2 second 1 shotting aoe.
A WWW player is considered uncapable of avoiding a 5,75 second aoe for half his health.
…