Item degradation

[Oelurak]

I think its pretty obvious by now that although the plat farming might have been stopped, the impact that it has had on AL's economy is proving to be very lasting. Plat farming introduced a ginormous amount of gold into the market, leading to hyperinflation of elite gear, pushing it far out reach for the vast majority of players. Sir Spendsalot, the friendly NPCs, and the other gold sinks might be removing gold, but it doesn't seem to have much impact on the prices of mythic/arcane gear. So I thought of something that might help, plz write below why you think its a good/bad idea Sorry for the wordiness
What I propose is that every time you fight, there is a small chance that a part of your gear breaks, and will require repairs before it can be used again. These repairs, of course, will require gold and time to carry out. This will reduce the price of top-grade weapons not only by removing gold from the economy, but by also requiring players to keep multiple gear pieces if they wish to continue fighting while their broken gear is being repaired. This means that players will now have to use the same amount of gold to buy more gear, reducing demand for the over-expensive top-tier gears.
The first downside is that this may act as a disincentive to farming, resulting in a drop in supply of legendary gear, which can be both a good and a bad thing. The second, more obvious downside is that people (particularly newbs) will be driven away from the game due to frustration. To counter this, the chance of your gear breaking should be proportional to the level of your opponent (which makes sense both theoretically and practically). The gold cost of repairing your gear can also be dynamically variable, based on the amount of gold being introduced into the market through loot drops. The more archon rings are being looted, the more Baldur will charge to repair your weapon.
What do you guys think?

[Raselph]

What I propose is that every time you fight, there is a small chance that a part of your gear breaks, and will require repairs before it can be used again. These repairs, of course, will require gold and time to carry out. This will reduce the price of top-grade weapons not only by removing gold from the economy, but by also requiring players to keep multiple gear pieces if they wish to continue fighting while their broken gear is being repaired. This means that players will now have to use the same amount of gold to buy more gear, reducing demand for the over-expensive top-tier gears.

now is your goal to crash the market now?
already the the market for AL sorcs is near crashing what else do you want?
our markets are already going down and down...are you upto ruin AL or something?
seriously...look at those item prices...sam used to be 20m-25m , now its 28m+...ker'shal got trashed...elon bulwark got trashed...how many more weapons should get trashed...that would end up ruining every single person...especially we myth ppl lol...think twice before you post these things...think of the CONSEQUENCES...

[Oelurak]

now is your goal to crash the market now?
already the the market for AL sorcs is near crashing what else do you want?
our markets are already going down and down...are you upto ruin AL or something?
seriously...look at those item prices...sam used to be 20m-25m , now its 28m+...ker'shal got trashed...elon bulwark got trashed...how many more weapons should get trashed...that would end up ruining every single person...especially we myth ppl lol...think twice before you post these things...think of the CONSEQUENCES...

Kershal and bulwark prices are only going down because people are realizing that they are no longer useful due to nerfs and new mythic weapons released. Bulwark's price got knocked twice by the nerf and the new lvl41 bonesaw, which is now 28m (I think); not because people have less gold to spend. The gold oversupply problem is still very much here, you just aren't looking at the correct things.

EDIT: Reading your post again I realize that you are worried about the resale price of your mythic gear dropping. Firstly, that will merely be a return to more reasonable prices, and secondly your mythic gear is bound to shed a few million once newer and better mythics are released. That the price gap between new and old mythics is so huge only goes to show the extreme inequality in AL, a side effect of too much gold floating around.

[Ebezaanec]

I think this would increase the prices of the gear, not lower it. Items like Halloween mythics and Elondrian mythics are only available in discontinued locked crates.

@Raselph It's a forum. A place to share ideas. Don't take everything personally. Not everything in the Suggestions subforum even gets read, let alone implemented.

[Oelurak]

Honestly the chances of devs implementing anything this radical are close to zero. Just thought it would be cool to share a potential solution.

@Ebezaanec How does that drive prices up? Supply should remain rather constant since there are plenty of Necro locks around and people are opening them. If demand drops due to people having to keep two weapons, shouldn't that decrease prices?

[Dex Scene]

Honestly the chances of devs implementing anything this radical are close to zero. Just thought it would be cool to share a potential solution.

@Ebezaanec How does that drive prices up? Supply should remain rather constant since there are plenty of Necro locks around and people are opening them. If demand drops due to people having to keep two weapons, shouldn't that decrease prices?

Rich people have the gold. If they need to keep 2-3 myth weapons as backup The demand will raise and so the price

[Ebezaanec]

Honestly the chances of devs implementing anything this radical are close to zero. Just thought it would be cool to share a potential solution.

@Ebezaanec How does that drive prices up? Supply should remain rather constant since there are plenty of Necro locks around and people are opening them. If demand drops due to people having to keep two weapons, shouldn't that decrease prices?

The supply may be great. But it is finite. People will pop more and more when they realize that their precious weapons are degradable.

[Wutzgood]

This would only work if it was only for arcane and mythic gear. The rich are the only ones who need a gold sink.

If it's for legendary gear it will only hurt the poor who can barely afford pots with nothing to farm right now.

[Oelurak]

Yeah that's true. Maybe the higher rarity a weapon is the greater the chance it will break?

[Raregem]

Just because someone has higher quality gear doesn't mean they're rich. People save for months on end to get things then they are broke again. So proposing to do this would break some players. Most struggle to get just one (weapon) so needing one or two spare..shudder. I personally would be upset if they implemented something like this. There are already enough limitations crafting for 12 hours, energy etc.

Maybe they could do a gold sink in reskinning weapons or something of that nature. You could buy exclusive skins Christmas lights, bones, spiked etc. Sort of like a vanity for your weapon.

[Raselph]

EDIT: Reading your post again I realize that you are worried about the resale price of your mythic gear dropping. Firstly, that will merely be a return to more reasonable prices, and secondly your mythic gear is bound to shed a few million once newer and better mythics are released. That the price gap between new and old mythics is so huge only goes to show the extreme inequality in AL, a side effect of too much gold floating around.

HAH! worried about my old myths? i can get a back up plan in a few seconds, all i am worried about is the players who have saved up for months or even yrs who again get broke, and now? they have to save up or their myth sets are totally dead...they wont even get outta their struggle all that will happen is everyone who gets their myth sets will have to pay again and again to keep it at its best to prevent it from degrading...they go back to 0g and ultimately wanna quit AL...especially when all your hardwork goes into the trash can

[Serancha]

We have not even begun to see the effects of the plat farming fix yet. The damage to the economy took a good year to reach the point it did. It will take at least several months for the economy to adjust, and for sts to adjust to those adjustments to get the economy to where it needs to be.

The main thing it may mean is STS eventually re-adjusting drop rates that were drastically reduced when tens of thousands of crates were being opened each week. They will need to be calculating how many of each rarity item are actually being looted. and tweak things until the amount of those items available balances the value they wish to see based on the player base. There is a lot involved, and crate loot is just one area of the game that was affected by plat farmers.

Making items need repairing and eventually require replacement would be a possibility if the drop rates were much higher than they are. However, the reason the best items are so expensive is because there are so few looted. If those few became breakable, the prices would then shoot up 2 or 3 times, especially as merchers would start hoarding and extorting even more than they already do. (No, I do not mean all merches. I know a few good and fair ones who don't play that way, but there are a lot of less savory individuals that do.)

In short, it's a decent idea, and I have played a game with the kind of system you describe. However. I don't think it could work here unless the loot system were totally overhauled.

[Oelurak]

I'm not proposing that your weapons crack daily, maybe once a week on average? And of course your weapons will never crack beyond repair. The point isn't to make everyone keep multiple mythics, but to force players to buy a mythic and a legendary maybe. That way they'll have less gold available to spend on their first weapon, lowering prices for mythics but maintaining (or even increasing) prices for legendaries.

[Raselph]

I'm not proposing that your weapons crack daily, maybe once a week on average? And of course your weapons will never crack beyond repair. The point isn't to make everyone keep multiple mythics, but to force players to buy a mythic and a legendary maybe. That way they'll have less gold available to spend on their first weapon, lowering prices for mythics but maintaining (or even increasing) prices for legendaries.

if your that rich to afford that weekly crack, think about the others first....

[Serancha]

I'm not proposing that your weapons crack daily, maybe once a week on average? And of course your weapons will never crack beyond repair. The point isn't to make everyone keep multiple mythics, but to force players to buy a mythic and a legendary maybe. That way they'll have less gold available to spend on their first weapon, lowering prices for mythics but maintaining (or even increasing) prices for legendaries.

Ah I see.

If the items didn't break, then this might be a workable idea. I don't believe it would change the value of items at all, but would remove some extra gold from the economy. 50k to repair an arcane, 25k for a mythic, 2k for a legendary..... Wouldn't make a huge difference, but over time it could be an effective gold sink.

Most people with mythic/arcane weapons already have legendary ones also, whether for backup or gemming purposes, but when you remove gold from an inflated economy on a regular basis, things can only improve. The new gear coming put will help stimulate the economy also.

Along the same lines, they could put in vet bills for arcane pets (this addition is a joke, before anyone explodes)

[Xeusx]

*Watching this and eating my delicous popcorns*

[Serancha]

*Watching this and eating my delicous popcorns*

It is actually quite a good idea IMO, just for slightly different reasons the OP used to explain it.

[Raselph]

along the same lines, they could put in vet bills for arcane pets (this addition is a joke, before anyone explodes)

*horrified

[Oelurak]

If the items didn't break, then this might be a workable idea. I don't believe it would change the value of items at all, but would remove some extra gold from the economy. 50k to repair an arcane, 25k for a mythic, 2k for a legendary.....

Yeah that seems like quite a reasonable price. It will remove more gold from those who have more to spare, and seems sustainable over the long term.

Edit: I don't keep a second sword as my main one is already perfectly gemmed, and I'm sure there are others like me who have no incentive for a spare weapon. It might not be a lot, but they're probably much richer than normal, meaning than they are the group of players with most influence over mythic prices. Making them factor in the cost of an extra legendary before deciding how much they can bid for their mythic should effectively suppress the price.

[Serancha]

Nah, people with that much money don't sneeze at another 500k. But I do agree it would make an effective gold sink.

Of course this depends on how long the repair process is. If it was 12 hours like most things, people would just sleep through it. Much longer and they would start screaming