NPC Prices (CPI?)

[Catapult]

I would not say they lack anyone competent in economics. I spend a fair bit of time examining what the NPCs buy and sell, and at what rates. There is a definiate logic behind those settings. SE is doing a lot of work (and succeeding well) in controlling the prices of craftable items for gear below level 40.

This is making it very simple for people to level up crafts to 40.
This is making it very affordable for people to buy equipment up to level 40.
The relaxation on upper tier goods costs is allowing a more dominant free market for those items (also influenced by the presence of non-craftable items).

There is a lot of work and tweaking being done, and they are doing a good job at it.

(If you do not believe they are doing a good job, think of this: How many people have 10s or 100s of millions of Gil. Now think of how the price of most materials has hardly budged over the last 6 months. The biggest 'movement' is in Dungeon Drops and Materia (especially Int materia when Garuda was in 'easy' mode)).

You do seem to understand what is going on here.

SE are regulating the market and controlling inflation to ensure socially equitable conditions are not screwed over for those outside the elite crafting sphere.


And - yes, this is a pet peeve of mine - you are not asking for a CPI.

You: "SE, can we please have a CPI?"
SE: "Sure, here is the information on how much market prices have changed over the last period of time."
You: ".....and how does this change anything?"
SE: "It doesn't. All you asked for was a CPI. So we gave it to you."

A CPI is a statistical measure. On its own, it does nothing to an economy. In fact, it exists irrespective of whether you measure it or not. If a player wanted to, they could go and calculate the CPI themselves using the 20-most-recent sales tab. It just provides you with information that can help make an informed decision.

You are asking for a CPI to be utilised in economic management and influence market movements. Very bad idea, because this causes a circular behaviour where what you are measuring is used to impact what you are measuring = a recipe for uncontrolled inflation = bad news.