DevTalk: GIL SINKS! Ideas to Stabilize the Economy and Curb Inflation

[KoontaKintay]

i second this

ALSO.. how about the Colosseum and PvP.

[Amineri]

Renta, I have another suggestion for a gil sink.

Require various high-end item synths to include a material or part that can only be purchased from an NPC. This minimally impacts the gathering and crafting classes, since gathered materials are still useful, and crafters will still be creating items. However, it creates an automatic gil-sink upon every attempt at said high-rank item.

My personal favorite example would be Wood Wailer's Armor. Add a recipe to craft it, but in addition to the leathers, buckles, etc require an item that can only be purchased for 50k (notional) from an NPC.

[TonyMontana]

NPCs that sell anima and guardian aspect. That would be a gil sink i would use!

[Elexia]

I vote for a Gambling System that requires huge amount of gil for chances to get non-tradable items that are usable. :P

As long as it's something different, since Gambling in itself may cause issues since Japan is still "fight club" about Gambling lol.

[Wynn]

I like all these suggestions for gil sinks except for changing npc repair to 100%. IMO, that should stay as a crafter only repair perk.

[Peregrine]

Renta, I have another suggestion for a gil sink.

Require various high-end item synths to include a material or part that can only be purchased from an NPC. This minimally impacts the gathering and crafting classes, since gathered materials are still useful, and crafters will still be creating items. However, it creates an automatic gil-sink upon every attempt at said high-rank item.

My personal favorite example would be Wood Wailer's Armor. Add a recipe to craft it, but in addition to the leathers, buckles, etc require an item that can only be purchased for 50k (notional) from an NPC.

Crafters will automatically take the cost to NPC into consideration, and even mark it up more for HQ versions of the gear. This would play into the hands of the gil-reserves and play against those who have a modest or moderate amount of gil. They won't be paying the NPC. You will, the person who has less money. Not them, the person who has more money.

Let's say the average player has enough gil for 5 shots at that armor. They run out of gil without making any +2 or 3 versions.
The only people left who have enough gil for more attempts are those with the most starting gil. They can thus charge whatever they want when on the 10th attempt they +3 it. No one will be able to compete with them, and they will come out of the equation more rich than when they started. This power will fuel more HQ attempts at other synths that no one else can afford.

Keeping inflation in check is less about controlling gil in versus gil out. If everyone gains proportionate gil in the society, inflation isn't a problem. It's when inflation creates separations of wealth between members of society that it becomes a problem--when the only people who can afford the new gear are botcrafters with multiple-R50 sources of income, or gilbuyers for instance.

Right now FFXIV's gil issues are such a problem becuase the players poised to make a killing when items go rare and sellable are the cheaters. Are the gilbuyers. They're not the hard-working players.

[Anty]

I vote for a Gambling System that requires huge amount of gil for chances to get non-tradable items that are usable. :P

thats a great idea imo!

[Verecund]

I think they need to implement gil sinks that involve actual progression in the game, rather than for the purpose of buying a pet, house, or other gimmicks. Players need long-term goals to work towards.

[Sojiro]

NPCs that sell anima and guardian aspect. That would be a gil sink i would use!

Yeah it would. People would be buying the hell out of them lol.

[Amineri]

Crafters will automatically take the cost to NPC into consideration, and even mark it up more for HQ versions of the gear. This would play into the hands of the gil-reserves and play against those who have a modest or moderate amount of gil. They won't be paying the NPC. You will, the person who has less money. Not them, the person who has more money.
...
Right now FFXIV's gil issues are such a problem becuase the players poised to make a killing when items go rare and sellable are the cheaters. Are the gilbuyers. They're not the hard-working players.

Peregrine, you are opening up an entire separate issue here.

I agree 100%, having an NPC-purchased item as a part of synths, the crafter will pass the cost along to the buyer. However, it still does remove gil from the game.

However, the issue you are bringing up is less about overall gil balance then it is about distribution of gil -- the concentration of gil and items into the hands of the few. This is definitely something that has to be given serious consideration when considering how to adjust the gil supply.

This very factor is why I don't endorse balancing the gil supply by reducing gil sources. The people that already have the gil will be firmly entrenched, and new players will have an immense burden placed upon them to rise out of poverty.

However, the options for creating a more equitable distribution of gil are limited. Those people that you reference that have accumulated large amounts of gil in order to exert undue influence; those people are not going to purchase vanity items that don't provide a tangible benefit.

Right now those players are diversifying their holdings : spreading their wealth through gil and items that may be valuable in the future. Things like Lindwurm skins, Dragon Obsidian, Gold, Mythril, tier 4 gems. If Darksteel ore were still in the game I'm sure there would be some massive stockpiles of it (and there probably are a few small ones -- I know I still have five such ore).

I seriously can't think of a way to balance all of these assets more uniformly across the player-base without simply brute-force taking them away.