Originally Posted by
Orsnoire
As others have noted, the majority of those who are claiming there isn't a problem are those assuming that the current state of revenue in the economy is the permanent state of revenue. Hint: it's not. For macroeconomics, money supply can be dumbed down/oversimplified to the following equation:
[Revenue in] - [Expenses out] = Money supply
The thing is, for an economy to work (i.e. I get a reward for doing my job - in this case my DoH - so I continue to do my job, and in turn others can benefit or profit from me doing my job, who provide benefits for others who benefit from doing their jobs, etc. etc. and down the line), an economy must have a healthy money supply that at least stays constant overall, and more often needs one that increases (due to the natural tendency of some players in the economy to sit on their money and refuse to spend it, thereby acting as an additional expense to the economy).
The issue in this game is that we currently have an absurdly inflated [Revenue in] number. This is due to most people sitting on the gil they earned from completing first time rewards, quests, and the main story. This number is not only going to taper off, it's going to be nearly completely eliminated over time (other than the minor influx of new players, we'll be LIBERAL and claim that's going to generate 5% of what it does now).
In the current economy, as anyone who spends a significant of time on the market wards can clearly see, the money supply is decreasing, producing the deflationary pressure that many have noted. You can see this at all levels of sales, where something that was selling for 100 gil last week is now selling for 50 gil (simplified example). This suggests that IN ITS CURRENT STATE, our [Revenue in] is ALREADY lower than our [Expenses out] in the economy. Considering that we are still experiencing the absurdly inflated [Revenue in] stat, the current deflation is an exceptionally bad sign for the game's economy.
So yeah, those naysayers claiming there is no problem, you couldn't be more wrong. Just because it doesn't look to you like there's a problem now, those of us who've been around the block and also understand macroeconomics can clearly see the writing on the wall. The [Revenue in] needs dramatic improvement if we're to have a vibrant, functioning economy (and for these same dunce naysayers to continue making their gil by selling on the market wards, ironically).
Using this quote as a perfect example of how people don't understand the market forces at work. The prices people set and buy in the market wards are based on what actually sells, not on what something should be ideally. The simple reality is, there's less demand for Silver Rings than there is for Silver Ingots. Result: Silver Rings have a {currently} lower price, due to there being more supply than the market can support at the higher price. Really not that hard to figure out. This pricing scheme where people price stuff where it will actually sell is exacerbated by the 40 posting limit per character, thus providing a real incentive to ensure that one's prices match the market.
By stating that the prices make absolutely no sense to you, you (and by proxy those others who post that there isn't a problem) simply expose the fact that you don't understand the economic principles and forces at play, and therefore have no authority to make the claims that there is no problem.
TL;DR: the fact that there is serious deflation going on in the game right now should be causing alarm, since people only recently completed the ginormous gil fountain that is the primary story questline. If it's not alarming to you, you don't understand macroeconomic principles, plain and simple.