Destroying Server Economies

[TwistedTea]

I have my doubts about most of the people who set prices actually enjoying crafting, but that's gonna be a pretty subjective argument.
There is a player run economy, it runs on things that are not easily bottable. Things that aren't a pure time to dollar ratio. That's all bots can do. You find complicated crafts that require skill and adjustment as they develop and those will be the markets to "run".

In essence, we're playing whack-a-mole with crafting/gathering/flipping against bots. Eg, we find things which are not 'easily botable' but eventually the botters move in on those maket segments as well, so we have to keep moving into different markets. This would be normal market board flow, if there were no bots, but on hyper-competitive market boards, these shifts occur in a matter of hours. And it's not like you can wait out the botters either and hope that the market recovers. Often, it takes months before, certain items are selling at 'normal' prices again.

Sounds like you're still running markets. Same bots as always. In fact now you can take advantage of bot deflated markets on other servers to profit back on your home server. There aren't MORE bots just because the servers are accessible now.

I think the Blue Mage analogy is apt, having to decide your Market board practice around bots is limiting for people who actually enjoy crafting/gathering/playing the MB.

I thought the problem was the bots made it difficult to profit? Are the items cheap or are they expensive? The nodes don't run out of stuff, you can get the mats you can make the items and sell them for profit. Bots have been around since 1.0, not a new problem and they definitely haven't killed the economy.

I'll make it simpler for you. Bots initially drive down prices to the point where legitimate crafters/gatherers can no longer compete. We could buy gathered mats/flip from the bots and craft/flip items for a profit. But the same bots who gather often craft/flip as well. Then they drive down the price of crafted items as well. So that pushes out the legitimate crafters as well.

When all the legit crafters/gatherers are gone, the bots have monopolies. This can be observed in some of the food/potions/crafted gear markets of several servers.

[Krotoan]

In essence, we're playing whack-a-mole with crafting/gathering/flipping against bots. Eg, we find things which are not 'easily botable' but eventually the botters move in on those maket segments as well, so we have to keep moving into different markets. This would be normal market board flow, if there were no bots, but on hyper-competitive market boards, these shifts occur in a matter of hours. And it's not like you can wait out the botters either and hope that the market recovers. Often, it takes months before, certain are selling at 'normal' prices again.

Sounds exciting. It doesn't sound like you can be shut out of crafting/gathering forever though. .. or playing the rest of the game for that matter.

I think the Blue Mage analogy is apt, having to decide your Market board practice around bots is limiting for people who actually enjoy crafting/gathering/playing the MB.

Limiting.. but not crazily restricted like the entire Blue mage experience.. that was a very far stretch. I guess I get what you're trying to say.. but I'm gonna say the comparison is poor.

I'll make it simpler for you. Bots initially drive down prices to the point where legitimate crafters/gatherers can no longer compete. We could buy gathered mats/flip from the bots and craft/flip items for a profit. But the same bots who gather often craft/flip as well. Then they drive down the price of crafted items as well. So that pushes out the legitimate crafters as well.

if all you ever wanted to do was have 10 items and their mats and just profit forever off of those I can see your problem. But right now it just sounds like they make you change up your tactics (some servers quicker than others). Not exactly ideal, but also still pretty open to actually playing something like a game instead of a spreadsheet.

When all the legit crafters/gatherers are gone, the bots have monopolies. This can be observed in some of the food/potions/crafted gear markets of several servers.

And yet in 6 years of bots the markets still retain player control over much of the crafts and materials.

[TwistedTea]

Sounds exciting. It doesn't sound like you can be shut out of crafting/gathering forever though. .. or playing the rest of the game for that matter.

This is discussion about server economies/market boards. Bots could shut you out of certain markets for long periods of time. We'll have to see how it plays out, now that they can impact the entire data center.

Limiting.. but not crazily restricted like the entire Blue mage experience.. that was a very far stretch. I guess I get what you're trying to say.. but I'm gonna say the comparison is poor.

And I will disagree with you. Just like a Blue Mage cannot participate in all of the normal combat content, having to plan your market board practices around bots is similarly limiting for people who enjoy crafting/gathering/playing the Market Board.

if all you ever wanted to do was have 10 items and their mats and just profit forever off of those I can see your problem. But right now it just sounds like they make you change up your tactics (some servers quicker than others).

Already addressed, bots will move in your new markets as well. Your old markets will probably not recover for a long period for you to move back in. Essentially, the item pool you can compete in diminishes.

Not exactly ideal, but also still pretty open to actually playing something like a game instead of a spreadsheet.

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Some people like raiding/Eurkea/Gold Saucer etc If they choose to focus on these areas of the game, it can't be held against them. And some people like crafting/gathering/playing the Market Board.

And yet in 6 years of bots the markets still retain player control over much of the crafts and materials.

Except, if you observe Balmung or several other servers, certain segments of the market are controlled by botters. These are not exactly small segments of the market either(food/potions/crafted gear etc)

[Krotoan]

This is discussion about server economies/market boards. Bots could shut you out of certain markets for long periods of time. We'll have to see how it plays out, now that they can impact the entire data center.

And I'm saying that the bots will be no worse than before. If anything people will probably be happy that the average price of most goods across all servers is going to fall. There are the same amount of them and they cannot sell on more than one server.

And I will disagree with you. Just like a Blue Mage cannot participate in all of the normal combat content, having to plan your market board practices around bots is similarly limiting for people who enjoy crafting/gathering/playing the Market Board.

Irreconcilable then I suppose. A job that cannot participate in ANYTHING the other jobs were built for besides the basic world exploring isn't comparable to a job where you have to rotate through other content to stay ahead of bots in any way other than you can say its "limiting".

Already addressed, bots will move in your new markets as well. Your old markets will probably not recover for a long period for you to move back in. Essentially, the item pool you can compete in diminishes.

If that was the case then by now ALL markets you participate in would have stayed saturated with bots forever. This is not the case. The item pool you can compete in moves.
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Some people like raiding/Eurkea/Gold Saucer etc If they choose to focus on these areas of the game, it can't be held against them. And some people like crafting/gathering/playing the Market Board.

Which is fine, but opening up the markets benefits more of the player base than it harms in my view.

Except, if you observe Balmung or several other servers, certain segments of the market are controlled by botters. These are not exactly small segments of the market either(food/potions/crafted gear etc)

Segments though. Not entire markets. They cannot hope to control all markets and there is nothing expanding the potential amount of bots.