Krono Solution

double post removed

The only problem with krono itself, is for Daybreak, so I'm not sure I care. If they're happy with the status quo then there's probably nothing to be done. The best way to "fix" krono for DBG is to give a place to sink it that isn't fundamentally bounded by time like all-access. Instead sink it in marketplace stuff, get the krono out of the system and encourage more purchases.

That would remove krono from circulation and from supply/demand force the second-hand price of Krono to rise closer to DBG's sale price, forcing second-hand sales sites out of business (or reducing margins significantly). That would be good for DBG, allowing them to better capture the money being spent. That's their problem, though, it doesn't solve any problem I have.

My problems are with krono farmers, and before there were Krono, there were simply real money transactions for items and characters. Without Krono that will still happen, krono simply happens to be a convenient mechanism that minimizes fraud, which is a good thing for everyone really. The best way of kicking the krono farmers out is simply to take away their monopoly, and give the people who want to pay to win what they want. idgaf, they're doing it anyway, at least this way they get their cool items and they can go do whatever it is they want to do and not get in the way of my fun.

It would require some time for someone to identify and add those items to the marketplace, and some thought would have to be given to how they are priced. Ultimately I think if they've been watching the TLP sites and slurping the various databases they probably could do a good job. But it's a person for a few months to go implement that, and there's risk of destabilizing the game if not done carefully. Again it depends on how much of a problem THEY see. Personally I think they're losing a lot of revenue from people who get frustrated with the bots and burn-out/quit. Agnarr is the best TLP to date, but the farmers are still ruining it and driving away customers.

The problem is not with the krono mechanism.

The problem is that DBG has almost no resources / will power to police the game population folks who abuse in game play for the sake of krono creation.

No, wrong. It's important for this thread to understand the krono lifecycle. Krono are created by someone buying them from DBG, ONLY. That is, to the best of my knowledge, the only way a krono can be created. If there are cheats/dupe bugs, whatever, DBG has every motivation to stop that at once and I believe they do. The price of that Krono, I believe is $17.99.

The only way a krono is destroyed, again to the best of my knowledge, is to buy a month of game time. That's it. A certain # will be consumed per month, by people who do not subscribe, but instead burn krono they acquired.

The price of krono on 3rd party websites floats based on the effort put in to acquire that krono via in-game transaction. As the people who sell here did not actually pay for the krono, they are selling based upon their time investment, and they can afford (because of bots, automation, etc.) to undercut DBG considerably. None of this involves DBG, but it DOES represent a supply of cash that DBG isn't capturing, it is an economic opportunity.

The people abusing gameplay are trying to trade items or plat they farm up (that process is usually the gameplay abuse) for krono you have acquired either via similar activity, or by your credit card. They do so NOT for the sake of krono creation, they do it for the sake of krono acquisition. Stopping/Banning/Curbing these people takes real human time and real human dollars and is probably cost prohibitive. Like roaches, they pop up everywhere.

If there were a way to sink krono other than subscription purchases, the USD value of a krono will rise and approximately track the DBG sales price. This will significantly reduce the profits of 3rd party sales, to the point I think that they'd have to close up shop. The items that players want are the rare camp or farm items (see agnarrprices.com for all of them), it is demonstrated players will pay real money for them to avoid that time investment. DBG is in a position to undercut the market on this, and offer direct. If they did so, the bot farmers would go. It is an uncomfortable solution, as it puts DBG in a position to be very greedy and make natural acquisition of these items more ridiculous (like any given mobile game), but at this point I feel we have sufficient ability to police this for a game this old.

I will solve all your krono problems. Just feel free to give me all of your krono, and I win ensure it is safely kept away from everyone else. Congrats on your krono free server guys, you did it!

Ha! how about pickzone tickets? 1 krono each!

Want a particular VP key? Pay a krono and open up your own pickzone for 2 hours. Want HS key? Same deal! lol. Much cheaper than the hefty 4 krono price they are going for right now...

Resources cost money.

I can't for the life of me understand why (even though you're joking)... you can make more money asking people if they want fries with their order at McDonalds.

Does nobody on these threads even realize how little a Krono is worth on the black market? Unless you are selling hundreds a day, you are better off getting a job flipping burgers. Just go get a job.

Because mom only charges 200 bucks per month to rent out the basement then I only need about another 100 per month for taco bell (value menu ftw) so I only have to farm about 30 or 40 krono a month then the rest of my time playing I can have fun doing what I want to do. I'm my own boss man, you don't understand the freedom!

Nah but I heard one guy saying he has programs to do everything while afk including getting alerts if someone sends a tell in game like a gm asking if hes afk farming then he can respond from the phone, that would be a decent way to make some extra cash on top of whatever else you did for a living. But yah if your at your keyboard for 18 hours a day killing mobs once per 23 minutes or whatever the respawn timer is on what your farming...life fail.

Don't forget in some countries what you make flipping burgers for a month in the US is 2X more then they earn n a year. Getting 6 to 8 US dollars per Krono is Huge income for them.

Plus now with a working m-q2 on agnarr afk farming is taking off. So really once again the problem is not the krono but the players and how they abuse mechanics of the game / 3rd party programs with zero repercussion's.

Honestly wish there was a way to claim a krono for 1k stationcash or something like that to get rid of the extra krono. I'm sure there would be a lot of people who ended up doing that when new ornaments/illusions etc all come out, and would take a decent ammount of kronos off the server.

They aren't undercutting Daybreak. Daybreak was already paid for that krono. They could care less what happens to it afterward.

This is not entirely true. If a new player comes to the game, and wants a krono for gear, and can buy it for $18 from Daybreak, or can safely buy it for $8 from a third party site, Daybreak loses a sale. So, they have plenty of concern about what happens to them afterward, and especially concern to ban RMT accounts, which is a triple win--those krono never get redeemed so again, Daybreak gets money for nothing, AND players realize that buying from 3rd party sites isn't as safe as buying from Daybreak, pushing players to be more likely to buy from Daybreak, AND Daybreak reduces supply of Krono on the RMT market which drives the price up closer to Daybreak's price.

Open your eyes!

Krono is not the problem! Lack of oversight (guides) the game is the problem!

The Final Solution.

This. There is demand for krono, it is being satisfied by someone other than DBG, they have lost money they could have had, this is called economic loss. Never-mind the costs associated with fraud that DBG has to shoulder whether they want it or not.

Krono itself is fine, it's a solution to a problem that shouldn't exist, but has existed almost since the game launched. That problem cannot be solved in this game. There are opportunities to capitalize on this that would help everyone: players who want to pay get their items fast and safe, players who want to play will be less often blocked for camps, and dbg makes money. The losers are of course third parties trying to make a business out of the game, many of whom post on this board and are uncomfortable with this idea.

The question is whether a) DBG has the resources to mess with this, even if it sees potential or worst of all b) DBG thinks that killing 3rd party bot farmers will kill the game (or is actually responsible for the farmers). All aspects of option b are the end of the world really.

This is exactly the problem, and why it should be allowed to train them. If the GMs aren't going to police the game, then the community should be allowed to do it.

You know... now that I think about it. hmmmm.... This gives me an idea of a new section to add to my web site lol. More details to come.

What? This is an illogical point of view. Daybreak isn't missing out on any krono sales. People are going to keep buying kronos, and even if those kronos continue to change hands, it doesn't diminish the fact that they already received $18 for that particular krono. Even if an RMTer sells that krono, it literally does nothing to hurt SOE. If anything, SOE should encourage people to buy them and hold them to use as krono for the simple fact that they are easy cross-game trading tools. Even if people stop buying kronos from DBG because there are a ton in circulation, they already have their initial sub fee + $3 for every sub going forward.

You're right, it does nothing to SOE, they sold out years ago. Verant is also right out.

The concept of loss includes, but is not entirely defined by damages. Loss also includes what you could have made had you acted differently than you did. By not choosing to be a brain surgeon, I have probably lost half a million dollars by now. Nothing stopped me from pursuing that career, I simply chose a different career, and lost money I could have made.

This may not make sense to you in your walk of life, but I guarantee you that every banker, investor, and accountant is acutely aware of it, and marketing/sales use the idea to hook you in all the time.