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

[Enthy]

Barber Shop gil sink! ^^

[Sainya]

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

OMG This, this is the best idea in the whole thread. Seriously. And it's implementable NOW.

[Punainen]

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

I would definitely use that. Heck, even just town or camp NPCs that will tele you places for a price.

[Amineri]

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

This has a lot of merit, but also has a lot of ramifications.

Purchasing guardian aspect is essentially the same as purchasing SP. This has to be balanced in with the overall progression scheme. And yes, SE has already added the ability to purchase SP via the guild tasks.

Purchasing Anima has a potential impact on future travel mechanisms, such as chocobos and airships.

The ideas have merit, but without knowing SE's plans I'd be a bit skeptical about seeing them right away.

[origamikitsune]

Time for another analysis into implementing more features that this game sorely needs. This time, we'll take a look at another MMO staple that has been curiously missing since retail launch: gil sinks.

I very fond of the suggestions here, though I do have some reservations about some of the ideas. Only skimmed, so not sure what all exactly has been said, but here's my 2cents.

Bazaar tax:
You are spot on with your suggestions here. I would also suggest that gil sinks could come in the form of paying a one-time fee for those extra ten slots, in two batches of 5. This could potentially be applied to retainers as well. While not a recurring sink, many smaller one-time sinks are not necessarily a bad thing either. I would also suggest that the option for "instant delivery" be added for a fee. Lots of people don't like having to go into the wards to get items. A nominal fee would provide an awesome gil sink. Make it a percentage of the sale price; this encourages lots of little items to be instant delivered, with larger items encouraging use of the market wards. An alternate to this would be a flat fee of some kind, based on rank of item and/or synth level.

NPC Repairs:
I understand what you are trying to suggest here, and I applaud it. However, I think the system as you proposed it undermines a lot of crafters. Granted, the repair system as it is seems broken to me, and fairly inconsistent. I just think that there might be a better solution that takes into account that crafters (whether we like it or not) are in fact a main class in this game, and there is probably some compromise that can be achieved. I will be the first to admit, I have no idea how this can be done.

Market Stalls:
You are spot on.

Favored Locations:
Wish I had thought of this. Its a great idea.

NPC Vendors:
Dynamic prices I think are something this game really needs. I don't think there should be limits on how many are sold like in 11, and admittedly, the prices would suck for new players for a little while until things balanced out. Assuming of course people purchased NPC items (I have no concept of how much or how little of what items are purchased from NPCs).

Player Housing:
Another win.

Mailbox:
I would suggest a flat fee for items, a slightly higher fee for unique items. Seems reasonable to me.

Casino:
I am indifferent to this idea because I won't use it. However, I think that it is an awesome idea because other people WOULD use it. Even if the house didn't always win, simply add Casino Marks. Allow gil to be turned into casino marks, but not the other way around. A variety of attractions, games, etc., as well mostly useless items (Such as titles maybe, vouchers for changing hair styles, what have you), would still make it fun and enjoyable to sink gil.

Chocobo Stables:
Bingo! You hit the nail on the head again.

Titles:
And again...

Dying...
And again... I would add however, the idea that Amineri posted in another thread. Open the full range of dyes we have now to NPCs as a gil sink. But allow crafters to freely mix and match parts to make any color combination. For example, if you have a recipe that requires "Robe (black)" and "Under-Robe (Red) for your Darth-Maul Costume, make that color combo NPC available because it exists in the game already. Allow crafters to do "Robe (Green)" and "Under-Robe (Blue)" to make a green-blue combo. Yellow and White for a yellow-white combo, etc. It provides a gil sink that people will use, but also adds features for crafters so that they aren't overshadowed. It also keeps Gatherers from loosing out on the fact that the mats are no longer in demand by the crafters.

Tripple Triad:
Again, indifferent, but a great idea.

Airships:
Definitely on the right track here.

What you forgot:
Changing inconsequential things, like hair styles, facial hair, scars and other features, is a wonderful gil sink. If it is purely for aesthetics, there is no reason it shouldn't be changeable... for a price. And since these things are no something crafters can do (I don't see Cosmetologist as a class), there's no worry about hurting the economy.

And that's my 2cents. Er... Dollars.

[Wynn]

One more comment I would like to add. If a gil sink is truly going to be a sink, it shouldn't be something you can buy out of. For example, the player housing. If paying for housing is added, that is a great sink, but it should never be something that you can pay a mil gil to buy out with. Who doesn't have a mil gil right now? I'm sure there are some but the majority of current players have that in spades. The ability to buy out of a sink makes it not a very good one. That's my opinion anyway.

[BloodLotus]

Let players take part in the Gladitorial Arena and Place bets on the winner.... just like in the cutscenes!

[Synapse]

I also would like to add a feature where, when players ignore Battlewarden in Camps and or Fail a Behest, the Repair NPC/NPC Vendor/Camp registration Cost should increase and if failure continues further, the NPCs may disappear untill players start participating in behest and "win back" the NPCs.

[Amsai]

Fret not, as the dev. team is well aware of the large, gil-laden purses of the populace. The team knows about the abundance of coinage that fills the markets, and also about the storages filled to the brim with currency! The team knows that inflation is a serious issue if left unchecked and you can bet that they have plans in place to address this in the future.

It had better be radical plans in the future. I am an adventurer, and I could care less about economies to be honost. I want to be able to do quests and endgame and whatnot without having to worry about if I have enough gil for things like a speed belt or salvage materials. People that already have millions and millions of gil could end up controling the market on items such as these. I don't mind working for my gil, but I do mind if its a mind-numbingly unrealistic amount to pay for items. I can only see options like controlled pricing, fixing economy and then reducing everyone to zero at ps3 release, changing the focus of gil to crafting normal gear and providing vanity items like housing and costumes etc and make all else Bind on pickup, or coming out with a new currency that is seperate and can not be bought or sold or traded between eachother in any shape form or fashion. Besides I would rather spend 2 years building up to get awesome gear through challenging content than 3 months of farming to buy gear

[Rowyne]

I don't envy SE for the task they have ahead of themselves in this department.

Like many people, I'm sitting on a ridiculous amount of gil because I simply have nothing to spend it on. Monetary goals are absolutely missing from this game.

However, if they start nickel and diming everything in the game, that will only encourage RMT. Not right away, of course, but new players and the upcoming PS3 crowd will most likely feel overwhelmed.

If a lot of the gil sinks right now were for vanity items (barber shops, mini-games, dyes), I think that would have the least negative impact, both in short and long term.

I must say I love the market stall idea. Increasing their benefit would make people really want to use them.

I'm not sure I like the idea of repair NPCs being more desirable than player repairs. Some people have leveled certain crafts just so they can make repairs with them. This would undermine that effort and SE's vision of crafting classes being true professions.

There must be some carefully planned choices and timing to stabilize the economy.