29-06-2012, 10:58 AM
SOME THOUGHTS ON THE RISE OF PRICES AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR NEWCOMERS
Only the price of certain crafting items goes up, notice that. I would say that this is because its hard (EXPENSIVE! we could discuss why it is so expensive. As a hint, note that only high level crafted items are valued at a price worth crafting. Hence, you have to go through a phase of losing money to gain experience) to level the crafting skills. So a few "crafters" hold the reigns of the crafted items market. The more players that join the game, the larger the demand for crafted items. However, I would say that the rate at which new platers join is higher than that at which more high level crafters appear. This means that prices for crafted items go up. Which in turn means that crafters are willing to pay more for their materials.
In principle, such a system would seem to be balanced naturally. I pay more for my crafted items, but I also get more for selling my materials. However, the fact that a lot of the highly paying materials are obtained in hard servers seems to be particularly tough on newcomers. "Young" players can not access this source of gold so they simply end up with a lower purchasing power. In fact, I would say that the mod is very tough on newbies. I would be interested in knowing what is the attrition rate. Now the question is whether enough players make it to higher levels.
The fact that prices are rising so much seems to indicate that, at least temporarily, not enough players are making it to high levels to keep things balanced. If it was the case, more high level players would obtain more "rare" crafting materials bringing the price down.
This could be due to the fact that joining rates might vary across time. Maybe new players come in waves. I don't know.
Now the question is: is the mod becoming to tough for new players (particularly through higher prices)? The answer to that is simple and it is in the joining and progression stats. Can the developers enlighten me on that?
Only the price of certain crafting items goes up, notice that. I would say that this is because its hard (EXPENSIVE! we could discuss why it is so expensive. As a hint, note that only high level crafted items are valued at a price worth crafting. Hence, you have to go through a phase of losing money to gain experience) to level the crafting skills. So a few "crafters" hold the reigns of the crafted items market. The more players that join the game, the larger the demand for crafted items. However, I would say that the rate at which new platers join is higher than that at which more high level crafters appear. This means that prices for crafted items go up. Which in turn means that crafters are willing to pay more for their materials.
In principle, such a system would seem to be balanced naturally. I pay more for my crafted items, but I also get more for selling my materials. However, the fact that a lot of the highly paying materials are obtained in hard servers seems to be particularly tough on newcomers. "Young" players can not access this source of gold so they simply end up with a lower purchasing power. In fact, I would say that the mod is very tough on newbies. I would be interested in knowing what is the attrition rate. Now the question is whether enough players make it to higher levels.
The fact that prices are rising so much seems to indicate that, at least temporarily, not enough players are making it to high levels to keep things balanced. If it was the case, more high level players would obtain more "rare" crafting materials bringing the price down.
This could be due to the fact that joining rates might vary across time. Maybe new players come in waves. I don't know.
Now the question is: is the mod becoming to tough for new players (particularly through higher prices)? The answer to that is simple and it is in the joining and progression stats. Can the developers enlighten me on that?