I have noticed a lot of talk lately in chat about item values being raised because of the NUB. Well that is partly true; there are many factors that have generated a greater price in items.
Firstly, the people with the NUB bonus are getting XP at a increased rate and want to have similar items to others of there MPR. To keep their MPR and PR at reasonable % NUBs need to buy the items at a greater rate then others. Additionally, NUBs are new, therefore they do not have any items on other characters to transfer. .
NUBs have little choice in over paying for items. Since, the demand is so high and the items are essential to being able to progress the prices have had no choice but to rise.
This is not the new players fault. It is a direct result of the economic system that is in place. The current system leads to this.
Secondly, the central bank perpetuates the inflated economic costs. For example an item becomes popular and everyone wants one. The price goes up. Then for whatever reason the item becomes less popular. The prices should fall. However, the central bank keeps the prices inflated. I have seen on more then one occasion where the central bank came in and bout 2 or 3 items in a row. Moreover, the same item had starting prices that were not met. These items are trying readjust in vale, but the central bank keeps the market artificially high. I understand the need for the central bank, I am just not sure if it is always in the best interest of the game to have the central bank step in on items that are not selling well.
Thirdly, the inherent problem is that there are not enough items to go around and the cost to upgrade items is cheap compared to the cost of the item. Hence, there is little difference between a base item and an item that is 400K NW. One way to fix this problem is to increase the amount of items in the game and also increase the cost to upgrade items. This will allow people to get the items they want and build the items stronger as their minions grow. It will also not hurt the richer players because there already uber items will have even more NW. As long as the cost to upgrade items is disproportionate to the cost to purchase items there will be little difference in a base level items and a +8 item. This hurts the players who have little money and helps the wealthy players.
There two problem that could happen if increasing the items and the cost to raise them did occur. First, rich people could stock up on the items keeping the supply where it is at. Second, there would be less movement of items; therefore people who play the economic aspect of the game would lose out a bit.
I am sure there are more factors and possible outcomes but it is getting late and this is getting insanely long. If you made it this far you get a gold star.
QBJohnnywas November 9 2007 3:42 AM EST
You have to look a little closer: people are charging higher prices for some items; and some of those items are selling at higher prices. But if you go through past auctions you will see that prices are pretty much the same as they have been for months.
People will always try to get a good price for their items, but demand is only high for certain items. There are a lot of auctions where the price set has been pretty high in comparison to past prices. But those items haven't sold.
Making items less rare is a temporary fix anyway. People in CB have a habit of hoarding items. So in some cases the more you put on the market the more people hoard them while they're cheap. Suddenly they're rare again and prices rise. Or prices drop to the point where nobody wants to buy them anymore incase they make a loss on the item.
And it's a myth that some items are necessary to progress. It should be in the Terms and Conditions: You don't need all the rares to play this game!
Central Bank buys a lot of things that nobody else wants to buy. I'm pretty sure there are quite a lot of sellers who have been grateful for the existence of Central Bank's bids. And it's not Central Bank keeping the market high; a lot of buyers and sellers ignore auctions and go straight to FS/WTB. If anything that's where the market levels come from...
People will always try to get a good price for their items, but demand is only high for certain items. There are a lot of auctions where the price set has been pretty high in comparison to past prices. But those items haven't sold.
Making items less rare is a temporary fix anyway. People in CB have a habit of hoarding items. So in some cases the more you put on the market the more people hoard them while they're cheap. Suddenly they're rare again and prices rise. Or prices drop to the point where nobody wants to buy them anymore incase they make a loss on the item.
And it's a myth that some items are necessary to progress. It should be in the Terms and Conditions: You don't need all the rares to play this game!
Central Bank buys a lot of things that nobody else wants to buy. I'm pretty sure there are quite a lot of sellers who have been grateful for the existence of Central Bank's bids. And it's not Central Bank keeping the market high; a lot of buyers and sellers ignore auctions and go straight to FS/WTB. If anything that's where the market levels come from...