Quote Originally Posted by Hwasung View Post
Even mind numbing activities like farming shards only incur a base price of the damage/cost to repair your gear once one is done farming.
This is wrong. The time spent farming is an opportunity cost.
If you farm shards to level up mining or because it's fun, then the shards are a waste product. You can sell them for anything.
If you farm shards for profit, then shard price has to be competitive with gil you would make doing something else.

In games like FFXIV, the people who mine for fun or education have a large impact on the ore supply. This turns the MMO economy into a garage sale instead of a self sustaining free market.

If you want a market, take away dungeon loot, quest rewards, and make crafted items only available from crafters. This makes it harder for casual players to attain items (since they have to compete with the hardcore players who have more resources), which is why MMOs have quest rewards instead of self sustaining free markets.