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

[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.