Gold sink and the solution- Myth or Reality?

[Hiosahaf]

I was browsing through the forums (as usual) silently. And I noticed that the 50K gold payout has been replaced by the 30% DMG elixir kit.

There has been a lot of discussion going around about the need of a gold sink. But is this "gold sink" really viable? Let us examine the information we now have at hand.
- Payout of 50K replaced
- Replaced with DMG elixir kit (reading about the Kalizzaa's find of the year, I wouldn't want to invest in damage related stuff until the stat window is fixed. However I believe that the elixir will override other buffs as the highest buff should be counted. So Players would get a true 30% DMG buff, theoretically. Practically? I leave the testing to the pros.)
- Kit sells for 15-18K (as I was told on Line by my friend)
- On an average, a player suffers a comparative 35-33K loss (relating to the 50K replacement)

Now we already know that crates sell at around 11.5-12K (my prices may be wrong as I haven't logged into AL) and we are familiar with the rage moment when we usually loot the 2K gold trio. (Player suffers loss of 5.5-6K on an average for looting the commons)

Before I comment more, I would like the reader to read the following comments from some highly knowledgable players:

I disagree. There was plenty of gold. Just everyone was saving millions upon millions for mythic/arcane items. There was always plenty of gold.

Artificially injecting gold into the economy was a bad solution from the start. In fact, the suggestion I made is pretty much what Hio is talking about. Making the game more fun for people to play and making them WANT to play even if they don't attain the pinnacle of gear or status. Rather than constantly having a revolving player base with new players that have 0 gold.

For the most part I'm excited about the new changes Sam which is great... Like Candy I'm a little concerned about the gold from crates though. Removing the gold from crates is a bad idea. Already getting pinks that are worth less than the 2k 2k 2k payout is lame.

I also finally looted my first red arcane weapon and what was it... Lvl 26 hooks that are worth less than mythic daggers... this is ridiculous (outright ripoff) Yes I'm a rogue but at least if it was a staff or a maul it would be worth the thousands of crates opened to get first arcane weapon.

Either fix the Rogue Arcane Hooks (through an upgrade quest or something) or get rid of it altogether... huge disappoint getting hooks that won't even sell for what a glacian will sell for now. Considering the rarity (way harder to loot in locked than a red pet which is stupid rare already)

So let me get this straight you're taking the biggest gold payout which is like only 50k away so then what's left...

We spend 15 plat and 13,000 gold to get what... pinks that might sell for as little as 150 gold each o.O

Minus going through tons of crates looking for a Shard or decent redpet, maul, or staff what's left if not some decent gold payout???

Answer will be nothing unless ur interested in hoarding a bunch of snow vanities and holding them for year till their worth something... if anything something more of value should be added to crates as normal payout in gold or something else (if you make the elixirs something better than you can buy normally then maybe this could work?)... nerfing them is a bad idea though because if you don't loot something RED which is already next to impossible... then what is there as a consolation if not at least some of your 13k gold back or hopefully a little extra to make up for all the 2k 2k 2k and terrible pinks you keep getting in the last 10 crates???

Let's not kid our selves...
(The pinks are worth something for the first couple hours they are available and some of the weapons are worth something for a couple weeks spiraling down in value the whole time)

I've opened a lot of crates and I can say... I don't have a lot of gold.

So we can see that something wrong is going here. The concept of vanities in crates did drop to an extreme low and the price has remained low ever since. The Targe was an amazingly tanky gear in Shuyal expansion but we all know that it's value was quite meagre. (I don't agree to a few parts of the second quote though, except removal of hooks and their reintroduction later on)

So what solution(s) do I propose from this analysis?
- (Courtesy Faded) Introduction of weekly or rather fortnightly stuff. Re coloured vanities being introduced every fortnight isn't a bad idea. This will result in more crate popping. That will result in the prices rising. That will result in the cash flowing from rich to the poor farmers (for crates). A few of the farmers buy these vanities. Overall, a win-win situation, is the bottom line.
- Back in SI (and SII), most of the good gear came from Elite Copper and Elite Silver chests too. Introduce the hooks into these chests (remove from crates) with the odds so abysmally low (lower than odds of Talon. 1000 times lower). This will cause an impact on the economy.

~

This is just a short thread written at 5 am in the morning! Feel free to add your thoughts and ideas below in a civil and constructive manner!

[Energizeric]

It really is a challenge to make it so that people want to open tons of locked crates without ruining the economy of the game. The problem is that people open so many crates, that whatever the "common" loot is that drops from them will becomes pretty worthless. My idea of adding gold to them was so that we did not have this overabundance of worthless legendary items as we had in season 3 & 4. But now the gold itself is becoming worthless as there is an overabundance of that.

Problem is you that must include something in locked crates or nobody is going to open them. If the only items you can loot are mythic and arcane, people are NOT going to be pleased when they open 50 crates and get absolutely nothing in each one. So something must be in them. The question is what to put in them.

I think you really have to lower the gold drops, lower the chances of getting legendary drops, and slightly (very slightly) boost the chances of getting mythic or arcane drops. Overall this should balance out as the increase in mythic and arcane will make up for the lower gold payouts and less occasional legendary items.

This should result in less inflation, higher prices for crate pinks, and slightly lower prices for mythic and arcane items. I think most people would agree that these are all desirable outcomes.

[Kakashis]

It really is a challenge to make it so that people want to open tons of locked crates without ruining the economy of the game. The problem is that people open so many crates, that whatever the "common" loot is that drops from them will becomes pretty worthless. My idea of adding gold to them was so that we did not have this overabundance of worthless legendary items as we had in season 3 & 4. But now the gold itself is becoming worthless as there is an overabundance of that.

Problem is you that must include something in locked crates or nobody is going to open them. If the only items you can loot are mythic and arcane, people are NOT going to be pleased when they open 50 crates and get absolutely nothing in each one. So something must be in them. The question is what to put in them.

I think you really have to lower the gold drops, lower the chances of getting legendary drops, and slightly (very slightly) boost the chances of getting mythic or arcane drops. Overall this should balance out as the increase in mythic and arcane will make up for the lower gold payouts and less occasional legendary items.

This should result in less inflation, higher prices for crate pinks, and slightly lower prices for mythic and arcane items. I think most people would agree that these are all desirable outcomes.

Unless we have crazy hoarders that have deep enough pockets to manipulate the economy they see fit. But I agree, 50k from locked was too much

[FluffNStuff]

A solution that would make BOTH the openers AND the people that want to reduce the amount of gold happy would be to have replaced the 50K with 50 Plat.

[FluffNStuff]

It really is a challenge to make it so that people want to open tons of locked crates without ruining the economy of the game. The problem is that people open so many crates, that whatever the "common" loot is that drops from them will becomes pretty worthless. My idea of adding gold to them was so that we did not have this overabundance of worthless legendary items as we had in season 3 & 4. But now the gold itself is becoming worthless as there is an overabundance of that.

Problem is you that must include something in locked crates or nobody is going to open them. If the only items you can loot are mythic and arcane, people are NOT going to be pleased when they open 50 crates and get absolutely nothing in each one. So something must be in them. The question is what to put in them.

I think you really have to lower the gold drops, lower the chances of getting legendary drops, and slightly (very slightly) boost the chances of getting mythic or arcane drops. Overall this should balance out as the increase in mythic and arcane will make up for the lower gold payouts and less occasional legendary items.

This should result in less inflation, higher prices for crate pinks, and slightly lower prices for mythic and arcane items. I think most people would agree that these are all desirable outcomes.

So you FINALLY caught on to the fact that Removal of 50K from crates = less people opening crates = less people looting Shard = HIGHER price for Arcane Ring?

[Energizeric]

So you FINALLY caught on to the fact that Removal of 50K from crates = less people opening crates = less people looting Shard = HIGHER price for Arcane Ring?

I don't think anyone is opening locked crates hoping to get 50k gold. They are opening hoping to get arcane and mythic items. Removing 50k reward from locked crates will have little effect on the number of crates that will get opened. It's kind of like if they removed the $100 prize from the powerball lottery. Doubt anyone is going to not purchase a ticket for the $200 million jackpot because the $100 prize has been removed from play.

[Rare]

I don't think anyone is opening locked crates hoping to get 50k gold. They are opening hoping to get arcane and mythic items. Removing 50k reward from locked crates will have little effect on the number of crates that will get opened. It's kind of like if they removed the $100 prize from the powerball lottery. Doubt anyone is going to not purchase a ticket for the $200 million jackpot because the $100 prize has been removed from play.

No but if they went all in and spent $1000 and got nothing out of it, they'd probably rage quit the lotto.

[falmear]

Most people open crates to loot mythic or arcane items. Removal of 50k really just slows people down from opening more crates. You loot 50k, this allows you to buy a few more crates to open (now or later). If you want a gold sink just add the same fee on player to player gold trades as there is in the auction house. Everyone will hate this but everyone knows that they try to dodge the fees from the auction house by doing player to player trades. Whether or not removing 50k gold from crates has any effect on inflation is to be seen. You can still loot 25k gold.

[Energizeric]

As has been suggested, the real solution for a gold sink is to have an expensive item that is purchased from an NPC for gold. Maybe something like the leprechaun pendant, but instead of buying for plat you purchase for gold. Maybe a mythic item of some sort. Something that all wealthy players will want to have, so the sink hits the wealthy and not the poor.

[faefaefae]

Your ideas are always brilliant. I agree with each of your suggestions.

To immediately alleviate the problem of inflation, a 'gold sink' has to be created so that 'extra gold' can be taken out from the economy. As you have said, we need to take into account the interest of STS when making any suggestion of this kind. Here is my suggestion:

We all know new mythics are coming. There may be new lv 41 mythic weapons, mythic armor, mythic helm and mythic amulet. Why not make one of them directly purchasable in AL store for a large amount of gold? For example, a new mythic amulet can be purchased from store for $15m gold (not plat) and this amulet cannot be looted from lock. This will absorb a large amount of gold from the economy and can alleviate the inflation problem immediately. As other mythic gear can only be looted from locks or other elite chests, implementing this suggestion will not affect STS's income as plat spenders will keep popping locks to loot those items.

On second thought, apart from putting a new mythic amulet in store that can be purchased from a NPC for a large amount of gold, STS can consider selling very expensive vanities such as "red and black jester suit" for 20 million gold and rich players can purchase them from a NPC directly. Large amount of gold will disappear from the market immediately, rich players are happy walking around in town with a luxurious vanity, poor and average players will not be affected. A win-win situation.

[Energizeric]

That's not a bad idea either. Some kind of exclusive vanity for rich players. With the jester vanities, players have shown they are willing to purchase very pricey vanities if they are rare. With a fixed price from an NPC, you can be sure there will be no price drop on these as the only way to get one will be from the NPC or to buy one from someone who purchased from the NPC.

I'm thinking something that has some sort of cool effect, maybe smoke, flames or something that gets you noticed in town like when you have a kershal or arcane ring.

[Hiosahaf]

Introduction of fixed price items from NPCs is a good idea, but fortnightly stuff is better because it helps the sales of a farmer too as the crate popper keeps spending gold on buying crates.

Glad to see the inputs here. Replacing 50k gold with 50 plat isn't a bad idea either! But the main point is- introduction of DMG elixirs instead is probably not the best choice.

Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

[FluffNStuff]

That's not a bad idea either. Some kind of exclusive vanity for rich players. With the jester vanities, players have shown they are willing to purchase very pricey vanities if they are rare. With a fixed price from an NPC, you can be sure there will be no price drop on these as the only way to get one will be from the NPC or to buy one from someone who purchased from the NPC.

I'm thinking something that has some sort of cool effect, maybe smoke, flames or something that gets you noticed in town like when you have a kershal or arcane ring.

Players will pay ANYTHING for something if they think they can sell it for MORE (reason the jesters were so expensive). An expensive vanity that you can buy from the store will have little value as there will also be no price rise (NPC controls price).. Unless there are a limited number of them and they would be discontinued quickly.
Also the removal of the 50K removes one of the best crate hooks. If a player got 50K that meant opening AT LEAST another 4 crates right away. It is these hooks that lead players to open more crates then they planned that creates crate spammers. Small wins just fuel the desire more for a bigger win.

[Bigboyblue]

The damage elixir is a flop. It won't affect older rich players. They don't have any need for 50k payout. I'm sure most would rather get 50 plat to pop more crates. This elixir damages new players. Those who are just beginning their gaming life. Now, when they open crates with no myth or arcane drop they are losing more gold. It discourages new players from opening locks. I know it discourages me from opening locks. Atleast a 50 plat payout does something for me. This elixir is no good. Please change it STS.

A gold sink could be very good. A vanity for sale from NPC would work. Maybe one that can be customized. That way they are quite unique and players would really want one. One of the better ideas I've heard is selling pvp arenas to guilds for "X" amount of gold. These would be amazing and I'm sure everyone would have to buy one. I had a recommendation of a house zone. You can now buy a house in it's own zone. You can invite your party there to hang out. Add a bigger stash there so it has some worth. Who doesn't want their very own special zone.

[GoodSyntax]

How about limited run vanities popping from crates?

For example, 1,000 Cosmos vanities are put into crates. As soon as the 1,000th is looted, the vanity is immediately discontinued, so the auction value starts to increase (good for merching/hoarding). Then, the next limited release vanity becomes available, i.e., Shadow vanity.

Anything that has a limited run will be desirable (like the colored jester, red/green arlor). The more exclusive the run, the more valuable; therefore, the more desirable. A similar option is to inject new scaled weapons that were previously discontinued. For instance, releasing a lv41 Agile Lifethief of Potency, in a limited run of 100. This would make it so that STS does not have to continually create and add new assets/resources to the game, since they could use the existing asset and just adjust the stats.

This would incentivize crate poppers, merchers and crate farmers alike.

[Energizeric]

I have another idea...

How about charge a fee in gold to convert original founders/heraldic/crier sets to vanity. That would be something I'm sure many players would be willing to pay big money for.

[Hiosahaf]

Limited time vanities is a better idea because, granted it pays out slowly compared to the NPC thing, but it has a sure shot boost of working the way it was desired. Plus, I would LOVE to see the DWS and ALP making an entry at each cap level each season (in limited numbers, from crates, with a nerfed drop rate)

So the suggestions which I (please don't mind my opinion) found to be awesome were: (Just summarising incase a Dev feels gracious to drop by)
- Limited time vanities.
- Conversion of 50K gold payout to 50 plat payout.
- Introduction of Season I gear for a limited time in a limited number at cap level.
- NPC selling vanities (not so enthusiastic about it. Fluff spoke really well regarding this topic)

For the minority player base (compared to the number of people I assume would be playing)
- Charging a fee in gold to convert original founders/heraldic/crier sets to vanity.

[tharidom]

I gave up on locks today I opened another 9 and then I decided to count all my locks opened more than 200 so if I have plat ill buy luck elixirs and sell those at least it earns gold and it doesnt make you go bankrupt.(no the 200locks only gave crap 5 eggs in total all ethyl best drop was 2k/100plat/100plat).

[tharidom]

Sounds fun but the ending is predictable people like salesmaaaaaan and all of those others who spend loads of cash will start opening locks immediatly after the update and they will end up with all the stuff and get even more gold.

[tharidom]

15mill so this still means the people who open all locks and have arcanes and myths can buy it but normal players cant?