Aggressive Gold Sinks

[Alisi]

I love the game, SE. No disrespect, but this game badly need actual gold sinks. As it stands, the only real gold sinks worth anything is housing. With the growing player base, that simply isn't enough (by a fair amount) anymore. Most players can afford housing and, because they're limited and based on luck, they will only continue to rile the community up. This issue will never go away.

Gil is far too easy to come by and there is nothing outside of housing to really spend it on. This is the particular bane of the crafter/gatherers. I know many people who are gil capped -- some on multiple characters with their retainers capped as well. These people then drop out of the market altogether because there's no real point after getting capped.

We need NPC's that sell exclusive mounts, minions, glam, etc. for exorbitant amounts of gil to act as a gold sink and balance things out. I'm talking big amounts: 250m, 500m, or even 750m. People will buy them.

Now, I hear people saying "but Tempest, I just barely saved up for a house. How can I afford a 750m mount?" You probably won't be able to, not for a while. But MMOs NEED gold sinks to combat inflation. It'll benefit the markets across the board. It'll draw those end game crafters/gatherers who stopped making and selling stuff back, which will drop prices so you don't have to pay as much for those pots or food (warring crafters = price drops.) It'll also take some pressure off the housing situation. Housing is the only status symbol in the game, really. People aim for that because there isn't any choice.

Please at least consider it SE. Please! ;=;

[NephthysVasudan]

You could always start handing gil out to new players....because I can tell you right now....just because YOU can make gil like crazy...and know of OTHERS who can..doesn't mean EVERYONE can.

Generosity can have a major impact on the game.

[Alisi]

You could always start handing gil out to new players....because I can tell you right now....just because YOU can make gil like crazy...and know of OTHERS who can..doesn't mean EVERYONE can.

Yes, I am aware of this and, yes, I do help new players. However, gold sinks by their very nature are the best way to help new players. The issue with the MBs, and why things are expensive, is generally because of monopolies or near monopolies. This rises the prices of things across the board. Trade wars lower this and help new players acquire the things they need for less gil in general. As I said, crafters get gil capped and they drop out of the market because there's no point. Thereby eliminating competition and allowing more monopolies to flourish. Crafters who are battling each other for the sell will drive down those prices.

[NephthysVasudan]

Yes, I am aware of this and, yes, I do help new players. However, gold sinks by their very nature are the best way to help new players. The issue with the MBs, and why things are expensive, is generally because of monopolies or near monopolies. This rises the prices of things across the board. Trade wars lower this and help new players acquire the things they need for less gil in general. As I said, crafters get gil capped and they drop out of the market because there's no point. Thereby eliminating competition and allowing more monopolies to flourish. Crafters who are battling each other for the sell will drive down those prices.

I don't think you quite got my message...but oh well. (New Gold Sinks hurt new players because they aren't well off to start off with)

[Reinha]

I don't think you quite got my message...but oh well. (New Gold Sinks hurt new players because they aren't well off to start off with)

Optional gold sinks (things that remove gil from the game) actually help new players. When gil is deleted from the game there are less people with lots of gil, prices on the MB go down and new players with little gil can afford stuff on the MB better.

[Zojha]

The issue with the MBs, and why things are expensive, is generally because of monopolies or near monopolies. This rises the prices of things across the board.

I.e. you need more people to do that content, more MB space for retainers and less different products, because every product represents its own market.

The better idea here is not to get the people who are gil capped back into the market (they're only a handful anyway), but rather to make people who simply haven't bothered with crafting/gathering so far bother with it (because that's a metric ton of people), either by making it more accessible or enhancing gameplay. Consolidating materials would also help, as it reduces the amount of markets. Here on Balmung, price inflation is pretty much a non-issue, but we're also the highest populated server, likely with the most crafters to match.

As a bonus of that, if more people were to pick up crafting, there'd be a lower demand for crafted goods, as more people could afford it to make them themselves, thereby reducing the amount of purchases and further driving prices down.

It would also greatly help if exclusive gathered/crafted items were available via other means, such as gil vendors. That way, buying them does not shift money around in the playerbase, but removes it entirely. The people engaging in that content would simply save themselves the cost, which is still a benefit - and if they can sell lower than the vendor price, they can still sell to other players, too.

Now those would be some very effective changes. I get the feel they're better off posted in the "unpopular opinion" thread, though, as they don't benefit the rich people at all.

[Alisi]

Now those would be some very effective changes. I get the feel they're better off posted in the "unpopular opinion" thread, though, as they don't benefit the rich people at all.

My aim is not to benefit the rich. Simply to help other people break into the MB. People will buy exclusive gil mounts/minions/etc. because they are exclusive and people like having exclusive things. It would also help getting new people into crafting because crafting/gathering are the only real effective way to amass gil in the game. However, I don't think my idea would be the end all, be all. I think a combo of things (your ideas and mine, and others) would help the situation. I was just throwing it out there to get people talking.

[Cakekizyy]

Yes, I am aware of this and, yes, I do help new players. However, gold sinks by their very nature are the best way to help new players. The issue with the MBs, and why things are expensive, is generally because of monopolies or near monopolies. This rises the prices of things across the board. Trade wars lower this and help new players acquire the things they need for less gil in general. As I said, crafters get gil capped and they drop out of the market because there's no point. Thereby eliminating competition and allowing more monopolies to flourish. Crafters who are battling each other for the sell will drive down those prices.

IME, gold as nks hurt new players, not help.

[Raven2014]

You could always start handing gil out to new players....because I can tell you right now....just because YOU can make gil like crazy...and know of OTHERS who can..doesn't mean EVERYONE can.

Generosity can have a major impact on the game.

Then I don't think you understand the meaning or impact of gold sink. The point of a gold sink is to "delete" gil from existence. Unlike the real world, the health of an MMO market depend a lot more on how much gil is in circulation and less about its distribution.

Put it this way, a rich crafter may feel generous and hand out gil to a new player. But that player will just use that gil to buy something from the MB, and it can be just something the crafter who gave him the gil to begin with. This means on a macro level, there was little difference before and after. You saw two transfer of gil, but the amount of gil lost (to pay MB's tax) is very minimal.

And yes, it does affect the buying power of new player. The average MB's price is based on not the wealth distribution, but the overall amount of gil in circulation. It doesn't matter who have how much, the more gil there are in the system, the higher inflation is, and the less buying power it has. This is why American's servers tend to have higher price on MB comparing to Japan's server. We have a bigger problem with bots, which essentially money printers that generate gil out of thin air, people buy gil, and thus inject large amount of gil into the system.

[ErryK]

"750m gil mount" Why though?