A Few thoughtful suggestions for the Economy

[Colvin]

It's fixable with just some not-too difficult adjustments!

Given the fact that SE doesn't plan to increase the craft-ability or usability of additional items below 50 (as stated by Reps on the forums); I have set out a few bullet points that I think will help set some of the economic issues we are having, back on track. All of these ideas are designed to increase demand and reduce the inventory of items across the board.


1. New Gear Recipes (a no-brainer... but the approach?)

This may seem a little obvious. If we add new Recipes that people actually want to use on a regular basis in battle, there will clearly be more sales. However, there could be some additional benefits. New recipes moving forward should use not only the inevitable new materials (in whatever rarity), but also a markedly higher amount of low-level materials. Care should be taken to make sure that a large amount of the materials needed are gathered and not farmed from mobs. One of the best ways to reduce inventory and increase the cost of items such as cotton thread, would be to make level 80 synths require 10-20 of them. This will:

• Dramatically reduce the present inventory
• Increase the price of said goods
• Increase the interest in gathering

2. More NPC turn-in rewards

In order to reduce the inventory of low-level items, there should be additional turn-ins (Similar to GC rewards) which allow you to gain non-gil tokens for purchases. My initial suggestion would be to allow people to do turn-ins for beat tribes. While I admit this would have required a maximum amount per day and a possible increase in the minimum reputation required to level up, I feel this could still be done moving forward without adjusting the present numbers. The tokens could then be used (instead of gil) to make purchases from these factions.

If you will allow me to digress; part of the problem with the US Economic turn-around plan is that fed in to top-down economics instead of bottom up. Money/Gil is most useful in an economy when it is designed to change as many hands as possible from the beginning of its life to end. This creates additional steps and channels for income.

While none of us know what the higher level reputations will provide for sales, the addition of Gather/ Disciple of the Hand goods attainable ONLY via factions would also fill a niche that is not addressed (While keeping in mind overall balance with current items.)

This will (Including benefits from first suggestion):

• Create Competition for goods on the market
• Set another outflow for goods without injecting additional gil (therefore causing inflation)
• Create additional interaction possibilities and play options for faction content

3. Proper iLvl Requirements to Low-Level Dungeons

While I am no fan of the current elitism for over-requisite of iLvl for end-game content (there is no viable way to check skill... something I will address in a different post); I believe this would be an easy way to drum up sales for lower-level items. The system could be simple in that the iLvl requirement for the next dungeon should be the iLvl of the gear in the previous dungeon. This way, people either need to buy gear or play the lower level dungeons multiple times before moving on. Presently, I believe most people only play them for the tome bonus (which will become less and less valuable as more and more tome items are put in to the market), or to farm vanity gear for the future vanity slot patch (will also fade at some point).

• Increase demand for lower level goods
• Increase the price of said goods
• Increase the interest in gathering/crafting

4. Bonus for level-appropriate gear

While I love (and understand the need for) level-sync, the fact that you don't need lower-level gear in lower-level dungeons (or even primals) presents an interesting opportunity. We could give benefits to people who complete dungeons or boss fights with gear which is in a range of the iLvl Requirement. I am not suggesting we change the stat benefit of the gear, but rather you get a bonus of tokens (gil, increased % drop chance, whatever) for wearing that gear.

This will:

• Give Higher level characters a reason to have/buy lower-level gear
• Present an interesting opportunity for elite players looking for a challenge (Do primals in minimal iLvl gear for profit)
• Increase the interest in gathering/crafting (for said gear)

5. An increase in the usability of and diversity of one time use items (food/potions)

Ask any MMO economist and they will tell you that consumables are a key to any economy. People generally flock to crafting jobs such as potion-making and food because they have a steady level of consumption and so remain competitive in price (provided the content provides reason to use them).

There have been more than a few topics on the forums about the need to increase potency and/or longivity of these items so I won't go through all of that reasoning. However, I will say the following:

• Set different cooldowns for some potions
• Adjust the recast to make them (slightly) more accessable
• Diversify the number of foods and potions by swapping up the stat bonus
• Use a wider variety of items (such as different types of fish... SO many worthless fish) to build these

This Will:
blah, blah blah. Same thing as above

At any rate, sorry for the long post and I hope this promotes some good discussion that can encourage SE to make some positive economic changes in our game!