So, ever since I came back, I've noticed everything is waaaaaay more expensive than it used to be, to the point where buying things I need off the broker is a no-go and yes, I do know some things haven't been price gouged to hell and back. It's just frustrating when I want to get something off the broker, like gear or something, I have to grind like.. 5,000 platinum or more to just afford one piece of gear and when I get to Myrist, I know I'll be stuck there again because all the gear I need is waaaaay out of my reach when it comes to prices. Sad thing is that I expressed my concern on chat and everyone failed to see how big of an issue this is, because, not only is this limiting veteran players, but this will push away new players even more than the game already has. Just one things I'd like to ask is.. Is there any way you guys or the devs can fix the player economy? (And sorry for this random post, just this has been bothering me for months and yes, I know I can ask people for things, but that's not the point. People shouldn't have to ask players for gear, bags and whatnot because they can't afford anything on the broker.) This is going way out of things I'd talk about out of fear of being yelled at but I really want to know if it's possible to fix the player economy, and if it is possible, why hadn't it been fixed yet?
The only possible way they can fix the plat inflation that have been obtained through several plat dupe exploits or repeatable quest turn in(as is happening right now and have been going on for months with boxes) is to keep plat as a player to player transaction currency and then add a new currency that you can use at a merchant and you get these coins for doing activities in current content and can buy pretty much everything with these coins at various amount of coins depending on how important the item is. But krono is how they make their money and a lot of people make a living farming and selling them in various titles. So no, they wont look into sorting the economy.
That's a shame.. It's pretty much one of the only things pushing me away from the game, I REALLY want to enjoy the game, but it's getting harder and harder to enjoy it when I can't afford anything and when I ask for help, all I get is sarcastic remarks or just *******-ish comments. It probably will be a matter of time before I just quit this game for good. I want this series and the company to get better, but if the devs refuse to do anything then this series will die.
Here's the thing though... despite the economy being a royal train wreck into perdition, learning how to bend it to your advantage will pay off and negate the need to buy / swap real money for (kronos) plat. Once you're of the appropriate level and playing in the current content, there's a whole host of things that are routinely a great fount of wealth even if you're strictly a sociopath solo player. Such as: A. Transmuting 2. Salvaging 9. Harvesting / sellin rares C. Sellin loot rights to adorns (red / green / etc) whatever that you may find in a solo zone (overland too) F. Sellin shinies (no-trades via slr too!) 11. Random master drops in solos! So you see, for every seat - there's an *ss - completionists want that last no-trade shiny... raiders want those weapon essences... people want to finish off their red runes... etcetera - and they're willin to *pay* you(!) for stuff that you might not think you need... The disadvantage being: running zones / overland areas so much you want to punch yourself in the face for that 20-50m plat. /shrug All in all, hooking up with a guild that's complimentary to your desires is a good step...
Exactly what Zeddicious said. You don't need to buy gear to level to max. There are crate merchants at the start of every expansion since PoP. They have what will get you into and through solo zones. Get to 120, unlock salvaging from tradeskill AAs, and break the gear you don't need down into infuser fragments to sell
Here's the problem with trying to fix the economy. There's a HUGE disparity in plat reserves among players. Some have hundreds of million plat or more, some have 10k or less. Any means to try to siphon plat out of the economy will be met with resistance by those on the low end of the scale. People sell things on the broker at crazy prices, not always because they want to gouge someone, but there's something they want to buy they need to raise plat for. I try very hard to earn all my gear from drops. I don't like to buy out of auction or the broker. (And I definitely don't buy upgrades from the marketplace.) That just isn't fun for me. But there are times where it's beneficial to be able to.
I came back in November, hadn't played since whatever expac Tranquil Sea was part of, and only did the TS line there. I had 8k plat in the bank and I now have over 200 million and quit playing regularly over a month ago (Great job with the longevity there). I did not buy or sell Krono. You do not NEED plat for anything in the game other than plat infusing especially now with the recipe for a chance at Empyral mana being in game. And, honestly, you do not need plat infusing unless you're planning on running end game heroics/raids. There's no gear you're going to buy that is going to be better than quested/mob dropped gear regardless of the level you are at. That will either be because you will out level the gear sub 100 or you're going to get the gear in solo heroics/achievements post 110. The only thing you will need the plat for once 110+ is experts and red runes. This can be solved by being self sufficient and having crafters or supplying crafters with materials via the broker which will get you the plat. I've bought literally one thing with plat in BoL and that was a heroic dungeon ranged item. The plat comes fairly easily if you sell shinies and crafting materials. Play the broker. Enjoy getting all of that plat that there's nothing to buy with unless you want to buy Krono for your sub. The situation is natural for any game that has been around as long as EQ2, it's the same in EQ1 and WoW. Inflation happens just like in real life. Ten grand in 1990 went a lot further than 10 grand in 2020. Net worth rules work the same. The market works the same. It's just a simplified microcosm of the real world and just like in the real world there will always be haves and have nots. The more time you fret about not having the less time you have to have.
Before you get to PoP and just start getting free box gear, Agnostics gear is just fine and you get that every 10 levels. I only ever had to buy level 95 handcrafted gear. That's it. And if you are at Myrist, just get help with the BoL prelude and get that freebie gear from the Blinding after and then do CD if you want to, or do the summer quests instead if you don't have help with the prelude and stick that gear on..
The main way to fix the economy is to stop the transfer of characters from Isle of Refuge server to the regular servers. IR server is a free trade server, all the heirloom items are tradeable there. People bring a character back from there, loaded with goodies on a regular basis. It kills grouping and the economy. And it's cheating, which is directly supported by the dev's because it makes them money. Playing paper and pen, you didn't go tot he DM and say, "Hey man, I've got a $100 bill says I get a flametongue sword...." But that's exactly what's happening now. If you want large enough plat to afford the endgame, you need to be selling Krono and Singing Steel Crates. Or you need to xfer your characters to IR server and join a raid guild there. Nobody plays honestly anymore. Except the house decorators.
You could always come to the Rivervale server. It's the newest server and nobody here has any platinum so the broker prices are super low.
Krono's wrecked the economy, no doubt. But it is what it is. And the sale of them is likely making money for the game. That said....a Krono will cost you the price of a delivered pizza. You can sell it for 3-7 million( or more) plat depending on your server and market timing. Then you are set for months worth of play if you are continually adding to that pool by all the various aforementioned methods. But now you have enough for a splurge or 2.
Availability of loot has a lot to do with the prices on the market. Devs changed the way we get expert spell books and now look at the prices. those that are readily available can be bought for pennies, then look for a level 120 sage book and see there is only one on the broker and its going for 8mil. That's what you would expect to pay for Master lol, and that person can ask whatever he feels for the book, supply and demand remember? There's no mastercrafted gear to be bought because the Devs decided to make it useless and there's no looted gear because what little bit is out there is either heirloom or of no value.. So don't blame kronos on all the exorbitant prices out there the Devs have earned a big portion of the blame for the failed market.
Some good information shared here for you to be well on your way to affording what you need / want. Also some crazy stuff said here. LOL.
You can get to max level at least without buying any gear. You could even skip the lvl 95 upgrade from agnostic gear to handcrafted, if you have a merc and still be fine. I did that on some of mine, especially on servers that I was just starting on. Then yeah, you will want to buy things like green adornments, etc at max level.
