Fresh Start will ruin 2.0

[Azurymber]

If they actually have "fresh start" servers it will ruin 2.0 for a very simple reason.
A server that has massive inflation is very different from a server with a balanced economy

Put another way:
Would you apply the same economic policies to a country who's currency is experiencing hyperinflation, as you would to a balanced country?
The answer is no... unless you want to kill the balanced country's economy.

Put another way:
Old server > average gil is 40mil per person
New server > average gil is 2 mil per person

each server would require -very- different policies.

In order to maintain an economy SE needs to develop a balanced system of gil outputs (gil exiting the games economy via airship travel, npcs, etc) and gil inputs (gil entering the economy via leve rewards, mob drops, etc)

Now lets say in a game where everyone has 2mil gil average you create a system where you hold gil inputs and outputs equal. Or slightly higher gil inputs than ouputs. And this system keeps everyone in the game at a gil possession rate of 2mil on average. That works just fine.

But what if that system gets applied to the old servers where people have 40mil average? It essentially creates a system where everyone on the server generally retains that 40mil average, but only allows you to ever get 2mil on average more out of the game. All the people with 40mil+ (me being one of them) will sell good items for multiple millions, which new players will never be able to afford. New players or current players with less than 40mil will have to sell high-demand items to old players to get gil, but it will be incredibly difficult to generate the start-up gear in order to get those high-demand items.

The point is, if they have 2 servers with drastically different economic situations, they will be unable to implement any policies or hot fixes to balance -both- economies.

There are a few solutions but since SE has no concept of how an economy works they will probably never be able to pull them off.
1. gil sink out 90% of the gil prior to 2.0.
2. implement different policies for new and old servers
3. mass-ban all the botters who are holding on to 200+mil from fish bot > alc bot > npc
4. get rid of gil all together and create a new currency

the sad fact is this game has been exploited and botted without repercussions for the past 2 years. And if they treat the old servers the same as the new, one of them will lose out and will have an economic collapse. And that will ruin 2.0 at least for some servers.

[Nilheim]

Some folks might argue that they deserve having an advantage for playing the game when it was terrible. Being one of those... I wouldn't mind!

I don't think they will have brand new servers anyway, and it's not like money is hard to come by, even for new players.

[Azurymber]

Some folks might argue that they deserve having an advantage for playing the game when it was terrible. Being one of those... I wouldn't mind!

I don't think they will have brand new servers anyway, and it's not like money is hard to come by, even for new players.

the point wasn't that some deserve to have an advantage or not. It is that if you have 8 servers with one economy and 4 servers with a different economy, you cannot create policies that work on both types.

In other words, if SE does something that improves the game for ppl in the old servers, they will end up hurting / pissing off people in the new servers.

[Zyph]

What about the long run economic equilibrium that is sure to occur? You're only thinking in the short run in terms of economy.

[Nopax]

Totally valid points and I'm sure SE is prepared for them. Remember FFXI shipped in Japan a year before NA got it. There's lots they can do, including adding new servers and free transfers which is what I expect to happen. Which I believe is what happened with XI iirc.

[Airget]

Policies don't need to be changed just because one server has more or less gil then the other. The cost of items/economy always varies based on the server you are playing on.

For a perfect example just look at this http://www.ffxiah.com/item/11001/swith-cape-1

If you click at the cross server listing of said item you will see that the range of this item varies from 3mil on some servers to up to 7.5mil on other servers

So if one server has a high supply of gil items might sell for 7.5 mil meanwhile on a server that doesn't have as much gil it may only sell for 3.5mil but in terms of the worth of gil they could be worth the same amount because of how much gil flow each server has.

The economy balances itself out based on the flow of gil, so on a server where things may appear more expensive it's only because you can earn 100k off moko grass meanwhile on another server moko grass may only net you 20k a stack.

But ya the economy balances itself out based on the flow of gil it shouldn't be a problem for lower lvs to make gil as long as the sell rate of items is in tune with the flow of gil on that server.

[Alerith]

Last I checked, the power of the economy rested almost entirely in the hands of the players.

Plus, if we needed a real gil sink, Triple Triad or a full Golden Saucer type minigame station would fulfill all gilsinking needs.

[SniperRifle]

What the hell? Name 1 item that is purchasable and I will tell you how a fresh starting player can obtain it in under 48 hours playtime.

Aside from Vanya/Gryphonskin/lulclass weapons.

[Azurymber]

The economy won't balance out over time because many people just hold onto 100s of mil of gil.
FFXI's economies were all relatively similar, and the game was balanced on NA release

Here you have servers where the initial influx of gil was too high (could make millions off leves really fast) and where people literally botted for a year straight.

Lets say on a current server you need 10mil to get decent to raid end-game and improve yourself.
But on a new server you only need 500k.
SE has to decide how much gil leves and such give.

You might say "well a new player can sell to the rich" but if you look at prices now, high lvl players don't care about low level equip. they want double melded stuff and rare end game drops. Sadly it takes a LOT of investment to get to the point where you can get this stuff.

My challenge to you is this: start a new character and see how fast you can make 10mil. I bet even if you get 50 in a week it will take you months to make 10 mil.
Now go on a character with stuff leveld up and decent equip. You can make 10mil pretty easy (at least i can)

Already the game has an imbalance, and it will be worse on 2.0s release. If the economy isn't handled right, most people will get frustrated and quit (just like they did in ffxi when hyperinflation hit and woodsville axe went from 200k to 60mil overnight)

The current economy is not balanced and is a complete mess
fixing it is a challenge in itself
but trying to start new servers with new economies while fixing old ones will ruin the game.

[Alerith]

So...you think because a level 50 player can make 10 mil faster than a level 10 player...something is broken?

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight....