Did materia reduce total gil in the economy?

[Brigandier]

The items disappear. Where did the gil ever go? Either you made those materia or you bought them from another player. Whether or not you blow shit up, your gil went to another player and did not leave the game.

It was meant to stimulate the economy by taking gear out of the game constantly, keeping demand high for making more and more gear. In that sense it is very successful.

Sorry, read "gil-sink" as amount of gil you have to blow through to play decently. In Aion I went through millions of kinah to socket HP stones on pieces due to the whole "break everything" thing that SE now has going. In that case, it certainly feels like a gil sink.

In regards to removing gil out of the economy and lowering inflation, I would still say it does to a small degree. Not all of those armor pieces getting broken are exclusively being made from player drops. I'm sure some of it comes from NPC.

[NoctisUmbra]

I'd say it was a Gil Sink for people too lazy to Spiritbond their gear or have any crafts leveled that didn't ask their LS for help.

Gear cost gil.
Materia cost gil.
Melding services may cost gil.
Failure to meld, rince and repeat.

So to some extent yes, it is a gil sink , but with the prices of materia/catalysts going down significantly, its not as costly as it once was.

Giving gil to another player does not qualify as a gil sink.

[Avraym]

Giving gil to another player does not qualify as a gil sink.

I guess, but it still leaves ones pockets barron :P

[MeowyWowie]

I'd say it was a Gil Sink for people too lazy to Spiritbond their gear or have any crafts leveled that didn't ask their LS for help.

Gear cost gil.
Materia cost gil.
Melding services may cost gil.
Failure to meld, rince and repeat.

So to some extent yes, it is a gil sink , but with the prices of materia/catalysts going down significantly, its not as costly as it once was.

A gil sink is something that removes gil from the economy, not just individual players. The only thing removing gil from the economy in this case is MW taxes, which exist even without the materia system. It may speed up the rate at which taxes remove gil from the economy, but I still wouldn't consider materia a gil sink.

[MariyaShidou]

Giving gil to another player does not qualify as a gil sink.

What cause the economy to inflate: The infinite gil generated and little gil disappear from the economy. Materia DOES reduce the gil generated into the economy, because you stop NPC stuff.

[NoctisUmbra]

What cause the economy to inflate: The infinite gil generated and little gil disappear from the economy. Materia DOES reduce the gil generated into the economy, because you stop NPC stuff.

You don't stop NPCing everything. I will accept that some things that used to get NPC'd sell better now, but that is an indirect effect. It's working against inflation, but it isn't actively removing gil. It's preventing more gil from entering.

[Murugan]

As far as gil "only trading hands, and never being lost" I think players quitting the game is a pretty effective gil sink. Everyone eventually quits, and most of them quit with still quite a lot of gil. Even if they don't there is no guarantee that gil will ever find its way back into the economy.

So the more times gil changes hands, the more chances some of it will be lost forever.

The materia system does a few things it combats inflation, because most active players are spending much more gil now than they were before (and in proportion to how much they are earning). It is also easier to "get rich" in just about any way (DoL, crafting, farming, or spiritbonding) to afford even the most rare items.

It probably reduces the overall amount of total gil in the economy simply because people do not rely on NPC based methods as much anymore to earn their gil (because engaging other players in the economy is more lucrative), but the real story is how it gives wealthy people something to spend their money on which non-wealthy people can compete in the production of. Which is needed in an economy if you want to have any redistribution of wealth.

[Cichy]

So was the materia system a successful gil sink or did it just transfer the wealth?
And perhaps the greater question, does gil need to be removed for prices to be "normalized"?

Feel free to post your theories, but a dev response would be nice on the former question.

Materia needs to become meldable through personal bazaar, something along lines how the repairs are done now.
I think maybe than it will become more of a gil sink and help the entire system. Most people I speak to dont even bother with it unless they can meld something on their own. If the system was improved it would also help crafters sell more gear.

[HiirNoivl]

The only gil sink in this materia system is Hiir Noivl. I've never been so rich.

[Conradus]

So was the materia system a successful gil sink or did it just transfer the wealth?
And perhaps the greater question, does gil need to be removed for prices to be "normalized"?

Feel free to post your theories, but a dev response would be nice on the former question.

It probably did sink some gil as people bought items from NPC to replace equipment turned into materia, but not much, since most people making materia aren't converting stuff that can be NPC bought. It's a equipment sink. It makes more need for crafters to make more equipment.