Originally Posted by
Gluttony
Perhaps I don't understand what a gold sink is, but crafting is based on drops and the gold isn't exactly lost but traded. Elixirs used to be a true gold since they were consumable items, the gold you put into them was lost after 5 minutes of play time. Even though recipies are consumable, the gold isn't lost since they are drops and if they're bought from cs then the gold you spent to get it may be lost to you, but another player has it so it's not actually sunk into anything.
As for the other suggestions, they are already implemented into the game in a form of plat sink. Corpser's random loot chance is basically the idea behind platinum item packs. So as Drewcapu stated once the best idea for a gold sink has been identified, even if STS implements it into the game it is only a matter of time before someone from the marketing division realizes the potential to make actual money from the idea and it become a plat purchase only. I think Ixillicus' idea was ok in reverse (but has been suggested numerous times) to allow players to turn gold into plat, but more realistically 500k = 1 plat so a capped player can only get 20 plat per week (maybe change that to month), but again this could cause STS to see a decrease in revenue even if only a bit so it doesn't stand much of a chance to become a reality.
There are a couple of gold sinks in place but the amount of gold is so low that they are not effective: cs listing price, guild charter purchase. What about some new form of quests; you would have to pay a premium to accept them and the end product is a desirable prize, maybe use the hard to acquire crafting pieces or even some of the non set pinks from Nuri's campaign. Maybe even a completely brand new set, much like how cyber set was. Talk to Nuri and she will offer you a quest, kill 1000 zombies in Haunted Symphony and get a para scrap/glyph blade steel and since the item is a quest reward it won't be tradable or sellable. Quests would cost 25k to start for crafting parts (maybe 100k for blade steel), and 250k to start for actual gear. This idea basically makes it so you're buying these items along with a bit of work and the finished product you cannot sell or try to recoup your losses via cs, so once the gold is spent it's gone.