Money Has Depreciated in Value Since U5

[nolaureltree000]

has anyone else noticed how money has depreciated in value in Sarlona since the recent update?

pre-U5, it was common to find +1 Tomes of [insert stat] for 10,000-15,000pp buyout in the AH. post-U5, it's rare to find any under 20,000pp. coinciding with that, im making more money off the AH than i ever did pre-U5. even throw away items seem to sell for a few thousand plat.

in turn, this has made buying game-priced goods cheaper than ever. all of a sudden that 3rd bank slot i didn't want to pay 8,000pp for pre-U5 seems like pocket change. repair bills? not even a thought. potions and wands? ive been able to buy them willy-nilly.

i have a feeling that the transfer of prices from gold-based to plat-based and the conversion of player pricing/spending is the main culprit of the depreciation. to anyone else that has noticed this, do you think the current market prices will stick or will the whole market begin to stabilize and revert to pre-U5 pricing? are we just riding a bubble of increased earning potential, or is this going to be the new standard?

[xanvar]

I blame Obama

[Qzipoun]

I have noticed prices going up on a few things but not enough to say it's a common occurrence.

I doubt the change from gold to plat has much of an effect, most people dealing with any significant amount of (gasp) plat were using plat instead of gold.

I'm not saying this negatively but looking at your post count and join date, maybe you're just finally understanding the true worth(lessness) of in-game money?

Bank upgrades, repairs, potions, wands and co have always been pocket change

[kernal42]

On Orien AH prices went up (large scales from 350kpp to 600kpp) immediately after the AH went down. Which is to say, the first people to post stuff in the re-activated AH tried to gouge prices like crazy. They've been going down, but of course each posting drops in price only every three days when the auction expires. I expect it will be back to normal within a week or two, and really hope the prices don't stay this elevated.

Cheers,
Kernal

[nolaureltree000]

Bank upgrades, repairs, potions, wands and co have always been pocket change

not for your first character

[moops]

Keep in mind supply and demand--the AH was broken and not many people were putting their stuff on the AH, some people still aren't--so the ones who did put stuff on teh AH could ask for more money and get it.

[Brennie]

I think its probably a combination of things:

- Old players rolling new characters, thus increasing demand (Capped caharcters want for little, but new characters need tomes and items as they level)

- AH bugs. Being unable to post for a while has caused "Seller beware" syndrome, thus leading to tenative seller and less supply.

- Festivault coming, and people stocking up on the best possible weapons for Icy Burst (Flaming burst?) upgrades, leading to overall inflation.

- Collapse of the guild housing bubble due to low-income guilds being unable to increasing rates from predatory lending from house K banking firms who divided and sold their loans to far-reaching investers.

[sirgog]

The main thing, IMO, is that some players were hoarding plat expecting airships to be a more immediate plat expense than they are.

The existence of 1.8m PP airships might have kept plat out of the economy - but now we know that this expense is far off into the future.

[Halock]

Actually, i expect the opposite to happen in the coming months, as the game got a new money sink to take cash out of the economy, repair bills and potions used to be a joke, the constant need to buy new ship upgrade and things for the hard points might do a better job.

No idea about the cost of the high end stuff, but in theory should help with the mudflation going on, i think that i what turbine is after anywas.

[DarkSpectre]

Not only have ah prices gone out of the ceiling, the decent pulls out of chest are few and rare.

[sirgog]

Actually, i expect the opposite to happen in the coming months, as the game got a new money sink to take cash out of the economy, repair bills and potions used to be a joke, the constant need to buy new ship upgrade and things for the hard points might do a better job.

No idea about the cost of the high end stuff, but in theory should help with the mudflation going on, i think that i what turbine is after anywas.

There seemed to have been some deflation before U5 in anticipation of these plat sinks, but they are so small, and so slow to reach, that they'll probably have less of a deflationary effect than Yugoloth potions.

[Chai]

Money loses value each day, when more and more of it becomes present in the system. This has been happening since MOD 1 and isnt a result of the last update.

The same result would happen in real life if countries began printing endless currency.

[quityourjobs]

- Collapse of the guild housing bubble due to low-income guilds being unable to increasing rates from predatory lending from house K banking firms who divided and sold their loans to far-reaching investers.

This. Kundarak derivative swaps ruined the economy.

[AyumiAmakusa]

Money loses value each day, when more and more of it becomes present in the system. This has been happening since MOD 1 and isnt a result of the last update.

The same result would happen in real life if countries began printing endless currency.

Yes people, it's called 'Inflation'. Look it up, you'll be surprised at what you learn.

[quityourjobs]

Yes people, it's called 'Inflation'. Look it up, you'll be surprised at what you learn.

It's not a one-way street though. Money is permanently removed from MMO systems when players quit and by gold sinks like AH fees, repairs, consumables and such.

I don't know there's anything in U5 that powerfully increases the money supply, rather I'd guess that most of the AH price changes are, as some others mentioned, due to it being unavailable and buggy for a few days. People repost items at high prices to capitalize on the small supply.

[Zenako]

While the prices of top end items has not shifted much (and I suspect those who were in the plat only mindset were only looking at those items anyway), I have seen a noticeable bump in prices on low end items, like potions and tools. There is a serious resistence to listing items for only 2 figures (even if plat) where before it was a three digit price in gold.

One clear example is +5 Tools. Before it was very very common to see them listed at 5000 gold for a stack of 50 buyout. Now you often see them listed for 5000 plat buyout, or 50000 gold. Of course this could just be someone reflexively putting in the same entry they always did, or even nefarious and intentionally hoping others vastly overpay.

I am also see a LOT of trash weapons seriously, way seriously overpriced (often looking for cheap stuff to vendor with a hagglebard while looking for the diamonds in the rough as well).

I expect that a lot of people are not really adapting to the change in money standard all that well and are entering gold prices when the field is asking for plat.

While it may have made sense to ask for 100 gold for that potion, it just seems almost a little silly to post something for 10 coins.

[xanvar]

Even with the Neg rep, I still blame Obama. In fact this only proves it is true.

[Narmolanya]

I will remain silent as I have already been in one thread that turned nasty and got closed today when we started talking about economic polocy...lol

[jadenkorr]

X number of good items get pulled a day, with a Y worth in plat.

Item worth is mostly static (unless new items are added into the game to change the balance) The problem is that plat is generated at a much higher rate than good items, leading to inflation.

Trading doesnt take money out of the economy (unless on the AH), so the money passes through the hands of different players, but remains in the economy. An ever-increasing supply of plat in the game, coupled with the rarity of good items, will just lead to prices going up. People will ask for more plat (which is worth less and less each day), for the same item over time.

[GraysonAC]

One thing I've noticed is the drop in price on low-end collectibles. A month ago, Pure Water was easily sold at 2.5k plat, now it's often down to 1k. Fragrant Drowshood was sitting comfortably at 25k, now down to 15k or so. Fevers were easy at 1.5k, now 0.8k tops. As a noob and lowbie, that's how I made money (playing the market), so it's been interesting to watch.

I think the major factor at the moment was actually the 4 or 5 days the AH was out of commission. Folks stockpiled, and demand didn't increase.