Before analyzing the Market please read.

[IndigoHawk]

You have an argument for the overall health of the economy, but I know the economy is bad for me because it's not worth my time to mine stuff or make jewelry.

I quit gathering/crafting because it was simply not worth the small amount of gil it generates. I also don't buy stuff from other players.

You're right that I don't know how many other people have left the economy for similar reasons, but this is the first MMO where I left the economy while I was still playing. Either I'm unlucky, or the economy is unusually bad in this game.

[Aruseth]

Oh get over yourself the market is trash there isn't a thing worth buying other than food and even that is impossible to make a good buck on. since nothing else on the market has any value anymore 2stars 1 stars its all crap to easy to get to easy to make everyone is 50 everything on legacy they were handed the levels to them on a platter from leves and fate grinds so everyone has access. there is no restriction on multiple crafts so everyone is flooding the markets on 2star and food for measly 1k-15k profits some players selling food for less than it costs to make. the market is trash crafting is worthless to turn a profit you might as well gather mats and npc it cause that's where the market is heading. the market isn't about gil in circulation its about making a profit and filling your wallet.

[Huynh]

I think a lot of you are missing the point of the OP. Personal experiences are not an objective indication of the state of the market.

[whiskeybravo]

I think a lot of you are missing the point of the OP. Personal experiences are not an objective indication of the state of the market.

But the market is made entirely of personal experiences. Whether buying or selling.

I think OSU has the more compelling argument here. Early crafters experienced abnormally high profit margins because of lack of competition. And just like the real world if there is more competition (helped by free entry and exit from the marketplace) prices will go down due to the increase in supply (without corresponding increase in Demand). That's actually the picture of a healthy economy due to more people being able to afford more products (IE more people have running water, electricity, refrigeration, food, clothing, etc.).

Furthermore, prices will drop when demand drops (unless a huge decrease in supply offsets this). My observations indicate that many people are saving for housing. This is the elephant in the room due to the price tag, and the biggest change in the market since the patch. It's reasonable to assume this has a major impact on buying decisions. CT loot and increased tome collection being on the periphery, I think.

I honestly get a kick out of all this economic talk. You wonder why companies spend millions upon millions lobbying their governments for special privileges, contracts, changes to the law. IT'S BECAUSE THEY WANT THEIR PROFIT BACK. A free and competitive market is a bitch for greedy CEOs.

[OSUBuckeye4]

I think OSU has the more compelling argument here. Early crafters experienced abnormally high profit margins because of lack of competition. And just like the real world if there is more competition (helped by free entry and exit from the marketplace) prices will go down due to the increase in supply (without corresponding increase in Demand). That's actually the picture of a healthy economy due to more people being able to afford more products (IE more people have running water, electricity, refrigeration, food, clothing, etc.).

It's healthy in the real world, where people have to eat, drink, and pay for essentials (things like heating and clothing) on a day to day basis.

It's not very healthy (long term) in a virtual world where nothing breaks, everything can do everything, and every item is essentially an unnecessary purchase because better quality things can be picked up from dungeons for "free" (minus repair costs).


SE needs to fix one of those issues.

Either:

1) Things need to break/be replaced from time to time.
2) People need to pick specializations (get up to 50 in every class, but only one class can go to 60... for example)
3) Items that are BiS or BiS-equilivent need to be released (and preferably make the materials somewhat difficult to obtain either via low drop rates, or make them only obtainable through high level raiding)


The current path that FF14's economy is on is a doomed one.

Everything is fine right now, but, if unchecked it's going to be a disaster.

[whiskeybravo]

It's not very healthy (long term) in a virtual world where nothing breaks, everything can do everything, and every item is essentially an unnecessary purchase because better quality things can be picked up from dungeons for "free" (minus repair costs).

That's a good point. Maintenance is reflected by having to repair gear but not straight replacement, outside of converting gear for materia.

There is just a disconnect because of the other ways gear can be obtained, and the fact that regular old gear will get you through regular old content without having to have HQ and max melded. It is nice to have HQ gear loaded with materia, but at what cost compared to regular old gear? Everyone's answer will be different due to value being a subjective thing.

But along the lines of my other recent post, the market has changed, and people are looking for answers (or changes to be made) which is typically the case when change happens. The market may be worse *for some* now than before, but that doesn't mean the market was perfect before and is now in shambles. It could very well be that the market was actually in shambles before, but is now on the "road to recovery". (the reason I sort of lean this way is keeping in mind the abnormally high profits reaped by early crafters, whereas now prices are actually starting to stabilize due to influx of new crafters/gatherers)

[SafetyHippo]

But the market is made entirely of personal experiences. Whether buying or selling.

IF I buy 200k gil worth of shards at 500 per and fail to sell them ever for any price higher than 100, THEN my personal experience is a crippling loss of gil and will lead me to believe the market is failing, why else could I not sell them for a profit?

No the cold hard numbers that determine weather or not a market is thriving or failing have little to nothing to do with personal experience or observation. In order to make a true judgement of the WHOLE economy you need the amount of gil flow BETWEEN PLAYERS.

[SafetyHippo]

You have an argument for the overall health of the economy, but I know the economy is bad for me because it's not worth my time to mine stuff or make jewelry.

I quit gathering/crafting because it was simply not worth the small amount of gil it generates. I also don't buy stuff from other players.

First off your failure to find profit in farming came from the fact that farming isn't competitive and is very easy in this game. If anyone can easily spend 10 minutes gathering any item they need, why buy it from you? Second, You failed to make profit selling jewelry, one of the simplest and obvious crafts in the game. Jewelry requires few materials and falls under one of the easiest skills to level in the game, the reason you couldn't turn a profit there had nothing to do with your economy it was poor career choice.

[EvanderStoneguard]

I think the market is GREAT! KEEP IT THE SAME SE!!!!!!

[dspguy]

The fact is, in 2.1, daily quests/treasure maps quests give out more gil than it costs to repair equipment/transport. Even running low level dungeons is profitable now that trash mobs are dropping 6-8 gil per kill. Couple this with the fact that there is absolutely no NEED to ever buy anything because all of the best items in the game can either be created by a player from raw materials, or obtained through dungeon raiding... and you have a problem.

Gil being "printed" does not make the economy stronger. Maybe indirectly it frees up some gil-strapped players who are penny pinching on teleports and whatnot to splurge a bit: buy an HQ item. Buy some materia, some food.

Those 3 examples show money moving between players. That is healthy. Just printing gil is not.

Honestly, I think the problem is that there isn't much to spend gil on these days. I may not be the average player, but the vast majority of my expenses on any given day goes towards gil sinks: repair bills, teleport fees, FC housing savings. Occasionally I buy a few things off the marketboard so I craft my own gear. When I hit 50 on a job, I may buy a lot of philo mats and materia, but I don't level often, so that doesn't happen often.

In my opinion, right now, everyone's gil coffers are only growing with little to nothing to spend it all on.