I think vanity/luxury items is a better route because if you increase the price of things people use playing their toons then you make it a lot less fun for new players and those who don't mindlessly farm plat. It wouldn't even touch the big bankrolls out there. I really like your idea to make kronos no-trade after one trade. As long as there is an item like that in the baz that has real world value and can be monopolized for resale at a markup then there is going to be a huge incentive for commercial plat farmers to continue plowing more cash into the economy than is going out.
A minor trickle doesn't have such an impact, it merely acts as a cut into generated plat. It isn't the solution, rather it is a factor in reducing the amount of plat in game. Adding it at a respective level is key. My inclination would be at 85+ gear (not the heroic armor on heroic characters), as that is the end if defiant gear. Allowing plat purchases for various other items is still demographic based. You can add in whatever you want as vanity items. If my goal is to dominate the economy with plat, I simply do not buy those items and the status quo never changes. I'm not saying that vanity for plat won't remove plat from the game. Surely it will. I'm saying that it won't curb the inflation issues.
It would reduce the value in plat somewhat. It would have an impact on krono sales (intended for plat resale) Most importantly, it would take Krono out of the hands of krono resellers. (Krono for cash less than from SOE.) This would drive the prices down (it would take some time due to "saved" krono) They would then equalize out for each economy. They'll always carry a hefty price tag, as you're asking another player to pay a high price for your subscription. The main aspect, is that it prevents them from being an interest-gaining commodity. (They've doubled or more in plat price in a year). This aspect further fuels the "desire" to acquire krono and not consume them. Every other item (not artifacts), degrades in value each year. This isn't to eliminate the issue entirely, it is to limit the impacts. I can sell a Krono now, for 800-950k on my server. For those wishing to consume them, the price is closer to 500-650k. If I want to sell them for plat and can only sell to people who will consume them, the buyer now controls pricing, not the seller. If I want 900k for a krono, I would either sit on it until someone is desperate/rich enough, or I sell it for what is being offered by people who will actually use the krono. It takes a whole aspect of krono sales, hoarding, & price gouging out of the equation.
Actually, optional gold sinks work fine. There's a neat case study from Kingdom of Loathing. They had a bug that would flip a player's gold (meat) counter from 0 to max (our same 2.1b). It became well known and abused before servers could be brought down and the bug fixed. The devs didn't do a rollback and instead did a campaign of optional meatsinks to pull money out of the economy. Over time they did work to destroy enough of the bugmeat to stabilize the economy and eventually give value to farming or having "normal" large amounts of meat. Non-consumable sinks obviously have a limit, but things like real clarity potions, rez tokens or other high value consumables can continue to drain currencies. Being able to stick some nobles in an npc and get an instanced version of contested zones like PoFear would be amazing.
Just like to say that making krono one time trade is a short sighted and idealistic solution that simply won't work. Is several reasons for this: People boxing is extremely common, do you wish to limit their ability to have a decision which boxes they keep all access? Many legitimate players buy krono as stocks/trading pieces. This type of thing was really common in old school EQ, big trades, I'd pull out the bags of the tinkerers, SMR, etc. We don't need more limited options, thanks. This would make buying krono a much scarier proposition for anyone, reducing demand and reducing revenue, it just hurts everyone here. Pretty sure no other item works this way, trade once, this would waste a lot of dev time on something that would only hurt the game. This won't deter the guys making a business out of this, they will only focus on other ways of gaining revenue. To be clear, I am no fan of the ridiculous price climbing happening with Krono, but this solution is simply a bad one. What needs to happen about it is a Sting operation honestly, now that would deter this kind of behavior. Not sure why it hasn't happened, but I'd wager a guess it is for legal reasons it hasn't happened.
1. It wouldn't affect them at all. Any account could buy a krono for cash & trade to an alt account, or buy a krono for pp on the repective account. 2. There are items which can be used in this manner aside from Krono. 3. It doesn't impact true demand. It only impacts those wishing to sell for cash or higher pp value, without actually paying for a krono. 4. I know nothing else works this way. That is why I proposed it. It would not "only hurt the game" rather, increases future possible uses. 5. That is the very definition of deterring someone. It is not a "bad" solution, as you put it, it merely conflicts with your interest in krono. A "sting" operation would not help SOE (they're making money off primary sales). The legal costs alone would be an investment failure. It would also not stop the occurances, or else plat/account sellers would have disappeared years ago.
You obviously do not get the point of Krono if you think this is a great solution for boxers using Krono.
I buy krono's with plat and share them with my alts or my wife's alts as we need them. Your trade once rule would be horrible for me.
How so? I'm Assuming you mean alts on different accounts. Is it so hard to transfer plat and purchase a krono on each account?
There has always been and will always be the option to convert $US into EQ plat. Unrestricted Krono ensures that people following the EULA get the most plat for their $18 or $17/per purchase. The people buying Krono would be known in the industry as customers, likely among the customers providing the most money to SOE per person and by purchasing Krono likely helping to retain customers who are only willing to go Gold for plat and don't intend to ever pay $US for a sub fee again. Restrictions on Krono reduces the supply as some of those customers will not be willing to pay $17-$18 if Krono are selling for "only" whatever price you feel Krono would drop to without the ability to resell. A drop in price increases demand. Lower supply and greater demand will not ever result in prices staying down in any real or Norrathian world without price fixing/regulation and SOE is never going to price fix/regulate the plat sale price of Krono.
I agree but.... It would be (potentially) lower supply and (definitely) lower demand. You cut a group out if the purchasing circle, the demand decreases, not the other way around. Those wanting to spend plat for a subscription does not increase due to limiting the amount of times a krono can change hands. People are not necessarily buying more krono from SOE now than 6 months ago, simply because the plat price per Krono has increased. If that were the case, the demand would still be the same, but the supply would have increased, resulting in lower costs. Economic ideals do not transpose 1:1 in this type of situation.
I buy multiple when I get an ok deal on them and then dont' worry about it for months. I don't want to suddenly decide to activate an account and realize either none are for sale or the ones that are cost way more than I want to pay. Why shouldn't I be able to transfer a krono to them? I've also loaned krono's to guild members who returned them a few days later. Your plan would make that impossible as well. Why not just leave them alone and let the market adjust itself accordingly?
This doesn't change. It just means per account, rather than stockpiling on one account to dole out later. Loan a krono vs. Loan plat. Not much difference. Artificial inflation of price by "investing" in Krono. Feb 2014: krono x 10 = 4.5 million Sept 2014: krono x 5 = 4.5 million People will buy them in the hopes that another 6 months or so will net a large increase. Will you be able to afford Krono for you, your wife, and your alt accounts when the price hits 1.5 million? 2 million? Etc... (Cost varies per server obviously, but the trend is fairly constant).
lol at 1M pp i dont know how most people afford just one of them. I think krono are getting to the price of exclusive people only. but then again on most servers krono is the only thing to buy
Still unable to concede that no trade kronos fails pretty hard I see. There are those who invest in the things, and then there is me, who buys them in terror of how much they might cost if I wait another week. The freedom is very necessary boxing, you never know what accounts will still hold your interest from month to month, might want to make a new one, might want to help a friend/guildy, might get ultimatums from the wife for not having a krono ready for her, etc etc. It really doesn't have the intended effect at all, it just hurts the people who legitimately use these things.
I know what you mean, but at the same time, other items are rising in price as well, so we aren't absolutely doomed necessarily, just mostly How on earth did we get on this topic anyways, can we jump back on the plat sink wagon again please, this is a waste of time.
I assume you mean previously attuneable items being turned back into attuneable. Turning no trade items into attuneable would be a massive mistake unless it was severely limited into what items could be changed. MAYBE non raid augs only or something like that.
