AH price out of control?

[badbob117]

Blame the Half-Orcs.

I can second this. With the introduction of half orc to the game, a ton of players just rolled a new toon or reincarnated. Try finding a a good greataxe on ah right now? All servers are bare. There seems to be the same random tendon slice junk across all servers. a few axiomatic axes, couple of ghost touch ones. anything nice is crazy overpriced. The higher level newly created half orcs are in dire needs of some good weapons. Hence the demand for large scales and shroud/vale ingredients is through the roof right now.

It will go back down eventually, when the Half orc fad dies down a bit. Best to just avoid ah for a little bit unless you got the plat to burn. I used the antique greataxe and carnifex until level 12 when i could use some stuff i had horded away on my battle bard i just rolled up. Both those weps got the job done right up to vale. Sacrificed a bit of dps rather then spend every dime i had on a axe worthy of swinging.

Hopefully stuff starts evening out soon :/

[seobanio]

It isn't immoral or greedy or whatever to sell items for what they are worth, and an item is worth what people are willing to pay for it in a market. Maybe those 1mill plat scales are selling. If you convince the person who is new to shroud to trade their large scale for your large bone, that is immoral. But posting an item in a forum where everyone can see similar items and everyone has a chance to bid or not is hardly so.

This is essentially what you are saying/what you mean:

I can't afford a large scale. There are things I want many large scales for. Only one large scale would take 90% of my plat. Therefore, large scales are overpriced.

My response:
Go do epic Devils Assault. Go farm amrath quests. Work for your scales (or alternatively, farm the plat to buy those scales) just like everyone else does. When you are deeply entrenched in the game, you will have plat and scales to spare and you will be the one selling extra ingredients on the ah.

Cheers
-Xexa

[Ybbald]

I can't afford a large scale. There are things I want many large scales for. Only one large scale would take 90% of my plat. Therefore, large scales are overpriced.

No, therefore you are poor. Just cause you can't buy a lot of it, doesn't mean it should cost less

[Talltale-Storyteller]

No, therefore you are poor. Just cause you can't buy a lot of it, doesn't mean it should cost less

Just going to point out you horribly missed the context and tone of that player's entire post.

[HumanJHawkins]

it has nothing to do with the switch from the gold standard. It will happen in any game of this type.<cut>

I'd be inclined to agree if I hadn't played for 3 years and saw stady inflation the whole time, followed by a HUGE leap right as the AH changed currency.

I think a lot of people put things up with a plat number that matched their old gold number. A few due to error, but most hoping to score on someone who wasn't paying attention. But things haven't leveled off yet.

Also, there is some human nature involved. I know I have a hard time thinking it's worth it to even bother posting something for less than 2,500 plat. But I used to have no trouble posting things for 10,000 gold. I'm sure I''m not the only one.

[aristarchus1000]

I'd be inclined to agree if I hadn't played for 3 years and saw stady inflation the whole time, followed by a HUGE leap right as the AH changed currency.

I think a lot of people put things up with a plat number that matched their old gold number. A few due to error, but most hoping to score on someone who wasn't paying attention. But things haven't leveled off yet.

Also, there is some human nature involved. I know I have a hard time thinking it's worth it to even bother posting something for less than 2,500 plat. But I used to have no trouble posting things for 10,000 gold. I'm sure I''m not the only one.

I have to agree with this. I remember posting things for 10,000 gold, but can't imagine posting anything for 1000 plat now. There is probably some inflation at the low end.

Regarding "overpriced" items... if it is priced too much for you, don't buy it. If enough people agree with you, then it is overpriced and it will come down over time if the person ever wants to sell the item. If an item stays overpriced for a long time, eventually the number of people with excess scale/funk/whatever will drive the price down until people start buying again.

If the price never seems to come down, that's because it's being sold. Just because the price is too high for you doesn't mean it is too high for someone else.

Regarding general inflation... it makes sense in a game like this, because money is "created" in the economy just by anyone playing any quest and selling the stuff to the vendor or broker. The vendors and brokers have unlimited cash to buy things, even if they never sell anything to anybody. It's artificial, but it does artificially inflate the currency. The best way to fight inflation is to collect rare items for sale. If I was new, I'd grab every valuable collectable (stone of change) I can get my hands on and auction them off. In fact, that is what I did when I first joined a server, and still what I do when I'm leveling up a lowbie. Vials of Pure Water, Deadly Feaverblanch, etc, should generally rise in price with inflation, because rich players will rarely want to farm low-level quests. It's a way to quickly "catch" up to the current inflation rate.

That said, for a new player, you really don't need to buy anything at the Auction House until level 10 or so, if that.

[BossOfEarth]

@HumanJHawkins

I think you raise a good point. While I believe in the invisible hand of the market and all that, I also know that people are irrational about numbers. Stores sell things for $29.99 instead of $30.00 because some unevolved lizardy part of the human brain thinks "Hiss! 29.99 is cheap but 30.00 is outrageously expensive! Hiss! Hiss!" And so while economists to treat actors as rational, a savvy businessman is better served by taking advantage of the errors the human brain is prone to. It may well be that the switch from gold to platnum fooled the DDO players into paying the wrong price. Although for what it's worth, I think that the prices were broken before and view the current prices as a price fix.

I think a lot of people put things up with a plat number that matched their old gold number. A few due to error, but most hoping to score on someone who wasn't paying attention. But things haven't leveled off yet.

Whaddaya mean I'm making errors and not paying attention? You're the one who's a glassy eyed atomaton, never stoping to look around and THINK!*


*(Meant in good fun. Self depreciating. See attached Xkcd webcomic for details. )

[Meowin]

Currency is created out of nothing. You loot currency from breakables. You sell junk to vendors who have unlimited amounts of currency.
That is currency created out of nothing. Every single player is able to acquire currency in this way.
The longer the game is out, the more currency is introduced into the system.

The more currency that is in a system, the more currency that is avaliable to the players to spend on items sold by other players.

That. And those long time players who just got their toons from Europe which are about to burst from plat don´t give a **** about whether the shiny they want for their newly reincarnated character is worth the money being asked for on the AH. Instead of realising they could do almost as well with the random **** they loot themselves.

Meowin

[aurum1]

'Fighting' outrageous prices is just silly. The prices aren't outrageous. The game just has a poor economy. Would I buy a large scale for 1mm plat? No....but at the same time I wouldn't sell one for that much either. It is worth more to me than that.

On the low end...well the problem is what is the point? Lets say I loot a random holy burst weapon. A year ago I would have posted it on the AH. Now I have lots more loot and plat and it just isn't worth the bother. Now I will post it if I happen to be looking at the AH to buy stuff and happen to look at my inventory to post stuff. Otherwise it will get vendored when I repair. I can't be bothered to use brokers or the AH to make more plat since the value of it is so marginal to me. If I post something at all it will be over priced.

[MonkeyMouse]

Its just down to the fact that Stormreach isnt immune to the global recession, I heard two coin lord "hedge fund" bankers moaning the other day, its ok things will get better and prices will level out (the weak dollar doesnt help matters tho ;o) )

[Ybbald]

I think the solution is for vets to post decent vendor trash at reasonable rates

I recently did this and they have been flying off the AH because I posted them very cheap, undercutting all other similar postings cause I wasn't trying to make money, just get out good gear cheaply

[Lleren]

I think the solution is for vets to post decent vendor trash at reasonable rates

I recently did this and they have been flying off the AH because I posted them very cheap, undercutting all other similar postings cause I wasn't trying to make money, just get out good gear cheaply

And possibly flying back on at higher prices. Depending on what yer selling

[FluffyCalico]

Whats the cause beyond normal inflation? plat farmers? thats the direction i would be leaning towards.


_

Nope its people with plat capped toons who would rather pay that price then mess with finding it.

The price will always be what people will pay.

[Delandur]

You people who are condoning the ridiclous AH prices are probably the plat farmers. If I was to start a new toon on this server and be new to the game I'd want to cry, because when I really was new to the server I could buy good equipment off the ah from what I looted and sold at level 7.

I think a lot of you (I have several 20s as well just pointing that out) have had 20s for so long and just don't realize the implications that ridiclous pricing has.

For example, a new player starts and plays to level 5 or so where he discovers the AH. He thinks oh that's cool I can grab an item that I want from there. Only to find out that ALL the plat he's hoarded since being level 1 isn't even a quarter of what he needs to buy some +1 of ele damage weapon.

AH pricing is crazy, it DID get worse when the gold to plat switch went into effect, and for the most part HASN'T leveld back out.

With that being said any item I want I don't trade plat for becuase generally it's too valuable for plat alone (or at all).

The problem is that plat is somewhat useless at high levels yet you have these people who sit behind their computer for hours a day and try to hoard it. I just don't get some people. I mean go play the game or something.

This post is mostly for those plat farmers out there, which is a big pet peeve of mine

Sometimes I think they tell themselves "No, I don't want to play the game I want to become a billionaire in an imaginary fantasy game, because that makes me feel better about myself, considering I still live in mothers basement."

[pMagic]

I think the solution is for vets to post decent vendor trash at reasonable rates

I recently did this and they have been flying off the AH because I posted them very cheap, undercutting all other similar postings cause I wasn't trying to make money, just get out good gear cheaply

I think many people are starting to do this. But once you have a lot of plats what are you going to do with it?

I don't think most vets bother with the AH anymore.

[pMagic]

Sometimes I think they tell themselves "No, I don't want to play the game I want to become a billionaire in an imaginary fantasy game, because that makes me feel better about myself, considering I still live in mothers basement."

My mother's basement is very nice. Thank you very much.

[pMagic]

For example, a new player starts and plays to level 5 or so where he discovers the AH. He thinks oh that's cool I can grab an item that I want from there. Only to find out that ALL the plat he's hoarded since being level 1 isn't even a quarter of what he needs to buy some +1 of ele damage weapon.

This is very true. Even low level gear price is ridiculous.

[Aalric]

My experience has actually been the opposite - I think after U7 & it's search function, it's hard to sell anything that isn't top end. & even very nice items are not being bidded on.

Before U7 I would post all sorts of stuff on the AH. I always posted a bit lower than the "going price" & it usually sold. Now, most things won't sell for any price at all. Why? Because of the search function. Most people simply never see them.

What about high value items? devil scales (I tend to watch those - I always need them) sky rocketed immediately after U7 to about 1.5 million plat. They are now going for around 600,000 which is lower than before U7.

I've basicly given up on selling stuff on the AH & just vendor it or give it to a guildie. Even an excellent item won't sell if no one ever sees it.

[Postumus]

It is that attitude that is the cause of the extreme prices players are asking for stuff. Basically why should i support another plyers greedy streak? Also that arguement goes both ways... why sell so high when you can only have so much plat?

What you are experiencing is (on a small scale) is what govts across the world try to manage constantly: how too keep prices in a free market affordable and still avoid pitfalls like inflation, deflation, etc. At least in DDO we all have jobs.


Actually Ratnix explained the situation pretty well. The inflation is caused by DDO, not greed.


It would be the same as if the govt kept printing more and more money, the prices of everything would be inflated because the money is being devalued.


The AH is not the problem. 'Greedy' sellers are not the problem. Too much money IS the problem. Vet players are sitting on mountains of platinum but don't have enough high priced items to spend it on, so the prices of lower value items become inflated.


If you're sitting on 4m pp, what is worth more to you, a couple of hours farming feverblanches and pure waters, or simply buying them from other players for ten or twenty times their value? A few people boycotting the AH or 'greedy traders' won't change a thing. If I see an item I want NOW, and I have the pp, of course I'll buy it rather than wait to farm it or find it on sale at a reasonable price.


The cap is clearly ineffective (is it per char or per account?) since people just resort to bartering high valued items.


Taxes are one solution (the AH already has a VAT), but then even more people would complain (as they do in RL) and people would still find a work around by bartering items instead of using platinum.


Tolls would help reduce money supply. Say those free trips to Korthos or 3 Barrel Cove, or Tangle Root Gorge, or the Stormreach teleporters cost you per use. But then tolls are taxes, and taxes make people .


DDO just needs more money (platinum) sinks for high end players. The trick is how to do this and not take away from the Turbine Point sinks like airships, etc. If anything, this should be an opportunity to get players to come forward with creative ideas on what they'd like to spend all that high-end platinum on besides loot.


You could sell titles (knight, duke, earl, baron), you could sell land (then tax it), you could sell more cosmetic items at extremely high prices. But then we get back to does this take away revenue from Turbine, since couldn't they make more money selling these items through the DDO store?


There is no easy solution, and certainly none that will make everyone happy.

[Postumus]

You people who are condoning the ridiclous AH prices are probably the plat farmers.

No, no, no. It is not the 'plat farmers.' This is what happens in an unregulated free market with unlimited money supply.


Sellers don't dictate the price, the buyers do. No one can force a buyer to buy anything. The sellers WANT to sell, and since there is generally no overhead for them (unless they are resellers), they will take the highest price they can get. Buyers are flush with virtual cash, so they drive prices up, not sellers.


You are witnessing the same type of phenomenon that occurred in the US housing market. Cheap, easy credit allowed anyone to have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars (through financing). The market got flooded with lots of buyers with money, so prices became inflated to ridiculous levels. Similar thing happened with IPOs in the nineties.


Unlike the real world, DDO won't experience a 'bubble' since, as Ratnix explained, there is no end to the money supply. It just keeps growing. Buyers keep accumulating more and more wealth, and have less and less to spend it on. Now new players with 150pp are competing with TRX3 players with (virtually) unlimited wealth for some of the same items.


If the AH didn't exist, prices would still be sky high and the trade channel would be a nightmare. People would just use the forums to sell things, for the same high prices.


The only way to lower prices in a free market, is to increase the supply of those items. You could try to undercut every seller on the AH and trade channel - but that would be a full time job. Also, savvy AH sellers will simply snap up your lower priced items and resell them at a higher rate to try to keep prices up.


I think a better approach is to educate new players.

1- Steer them toward the pawnshop vendors and encourage people to use pawnshops rather than other in game vendors who don't resell, so items are available to other players at (practically) list price.

2- Teach lowbies which crafting items sell on the AH so they post ALL their crafting items for sale, rather than cash them in to NPCs for dubious rewards. That would dramatically increase the supply of those items and drive the prices down.