What Is With The Inflation All of a Sudden?

[DarthEnrique]

For a game that's supposedly having a lot of people quitting and what not do to various reason I was looking on the GTN and saw pieces for the Ghostly Magus Armor Set for 500 million a piece and was thinking "What the heck?" I'm not trying to say exploit or anything but that's pretty damn expensive. What's going on Bioware?

[HoloTweed]

For a game that's supposedly having a lot of people quitting and what not do to various reason I was looking on the GTN and saw pieces for the Ghostly Magus Armor Set for 500 million a piece and was thinking "What the heck?" I'm not trying to say exploit or anything but that's pretty damn expensive. What's going on Bioware?

 

Aaaaaaaaaaand why are you asking Bioware? They don't control prices on the GTN. That's set by the players and the price they THINK the market will bear.

[DarthEnrique]

Aaaaaaaaaaand why are you asking Bioware? They don't control prices on the GTN. That's set by the players and the price they THINK the market will bear.

 

Just want to make sure there's not something they need to check into.

[TrueBritannia]

The GTN always has some people putting up crazy prices. There is an inflation problem but it's not THAT serious (500mil ghostly magus lol).

[Rolodome]

For a game that's supposedly having a lot of people quitting and what not do to various reason I was looking on the GTN and saw pieces for the Ghostly Magus Armor Set for 500 million a piece and was thinking "What the heck?" I'm not trying to say exploit or anything but that's pretty damn expensive. What's going on Bioware?

Two things to point out here:

 

1) Players can list stuff for what they want to sell it for. Doesn't mean anyone is buying at that price. I seriously doubt someone is going to buy up the Ghostly Magus set for 500 million a piece.

 

2) When people quit, that actually makes it worse because now there are less players buying packs, or single-purchase CM sets, and selling them on the GTN. Since there are less people selling, that means there aren't as many undercutting each other, so the few sellers tend to just pick a price they want to get out of the item and list it for that.

[Pietrastor]

500 mill tag for Malgus set is a troll price, but the inflation skyrocketed since 4.0. Heroics cash flow (700k+ in 20 minutes), more generous end-game mat drops, level sync (credits & gear drops appropirate to level for doing anything) all add up. Edited November 1, 2016 by Pietrastor

[DarkJediMonk]

The other thing people do is .. use the gtn as bank storage.. the put something on the GTN at some crazy high price they think someone doesn't have and list it using it as temp bank since they used up all their inventory.

[DarthEnrique]

Two things to point out here:

 

1) Players can list stuff for what they want to sell it for. Doesn't mean anyone is buying at that price. I seriously doubt someone is going to buy up the Ghostly Magus set for 500 million a piece.

 

2) When people quit, that actually makes it worse because now there are less players buying packs, or single-purchase CM sets, and selling them on the GTN. Since there are less people selling, that means there aren't as many undercutting each other, so the few sellers tend to just pick a price they want to get out of the item and list it for that.

 

If there's less players less sellers means nothing because a lot of the money comes from grouping doesn't it? (4x the amount for completing bonuses right?) if you there are less players means less money cause not a lot of people are going to be getting that much if they end up having to solo a lot of it or two man it even if they get that lucky, I mean I could be wrong but shouldn't that at least factor in?

[DarthEnrique]

The other thing people do is .. use the gtn as bank storage.. the put something on the GTN at some crazy high price they think someone doesn't have and list it using it as temp bank since they used up all their inventory.

 

Someone has way too much stuff then?

[TX_Angel]

Just want to make sure there's not something they need to check into.

 

There was, for 6 weeks, then it was way too late, the economy has never recovered...

[DarthEnrique]

There was, for 6 weeks, then it was way too late, the economy has never recovered...

 

[HoloTweed]

Just want to make sure there's not something they need to check into.

 

Again, Bioware has nothing to do with GTN prices. There is nothing for them to check into, although I do think they are working on a new Tin Foil Hat helmet that will drop with Command Boxes.

[Andryah]

For a game that's supposedly having a lot of people quitting and what not do to various reason I was looking on the GTN and saw pieces for the Ghostly Magus Armor Set for 500 million a piece and was thinking "What the heck?" I'm not trying to say exploit or anything but that's pretty damn expensive. What's going on Bioware?

 

I have seen some silly high prices on the GTNs of late, and I very much doubt they sell at those prices, because someone in the market for something rare is very likely well aware of fair market prices on their server and will simply wait out absurd listing prices.

 

As a market player.... my advice is to ignore the ridiculously high prices for items. People either do it for bragging rights of some kind, or they do it hoping to sucker someone into a mistake on the GTN, or they may be trafficking in something that violates the ToS/EULA.

 

Now.. as a practical matter.. there are those Senya sabers in the market right now, and some people want one, but lack the credits.. so they will try to sell anything and everything at inflated prices in the hopes of getting lucky enough to get the credits to buy one. This will eventually die down.

 

I have a basket of items that I keep tabs on for each server I play the GTN on... and I use those to spot check for rapid inflationary moves and pressures. These are more common items that are in demand, not the narrow and select collectors market which is the domain of the wealthy. While I do see some crazy prices on various items on the GTN... I have seen little to no movement in my monitoring basket.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Andryah

[HoloTweed]

If there's less players less sellers means nothing because a lot of the money comes from grouping doesn't it? (4x the amount for completing bonuses right?) if you there are less players means less money cause not a lot of people are going to be getting that much if they end up having to solo a lot of it or two man it even if they get that lucky, I mean I could be wrong but shouldn't that at least factor in?

 

No, it's not that you COULD be wrong, it's that you actually ARE wrong. I suggest do an online search for Supply and Demand - it explains everything quite well. If there are less players, there are less people selling a product. Supply < Demand = $Prices ^^

[Rolodome]

If there's less players less sellers means nothing because a lot of the money comes from grouping doesn't it? (4x the amount for completing bonuses right?) if you there are less players means less money cause not a lot of people are going to be getting that much if they end up having to solo a lot of it or two man it even if they get that lucky, I mean I could be wrong but shouldn't that at least factor in?

Thing is, "inflation" often gets blamed for problems, but in the context of this game's economy, it largely makes no difference for the concerns that people tend to have.

 

I used to think it mattered a couple years ago, before I had it explained to me by someone else.

 

The gist is: Most of the time what people mean when they say "inflation is happening and it's a problem," is they mean "I'm having trouble affording to buy the stuff that I want." But you need only look at items like crafted dyes to see that inflation doesn't mean much overall. The dyes are very affordable because there is a steady supply of them coming into the market and it's easy to generate a bunch of them, so it's not hard to meet the demand.

 

With most items people want, the supply is extremely limited (and this is done on purpose by the devs) so the item remains relatively rare and the price goes up accordingly. The only case I can think of off-hand where inflation is a big deal, is for preferred players, because of the credit cap. For everyone else, it doesn't make much of a difference. Rare items are always going to be costly to obtain and that's intended.

 

But it can be worse if there's less selling competition in the market because then you've got some random person dictating price with no discerning for the actual value of the item. When enough people are competing to sell an item, its value tends to come out naturally, as the sellers feel out at what prices the item is actually selling for.

 

So the ideal, in this game's setup, for the buyer, is to have as many people competing to sell an item as possible. That way the price gets pushed down as people try to undercut each other for a quick sell.

 

I guess in theory, there are cases where, if there is enough raw inflation, it would be harder for someone new coming in to afford stuff off of something like heroics (since their payout does not inflate with the economy). But again, what stuff gets priced at has more to do with sale competition and buyer interest, so, for example, even if the economy gets inflated by X amount, if all those people with more credits aren't actually spending them on most vanity items, then the prices are still going to cap at a certain point because the people selling want to make a profit some time this century.

[clearsighted]

Because there's been like three separate bugs in the last year, which were each allowed to go on for multiple weeks, which allowed HUGE fortunes to be made. Credit sellers made a killing, and bioware did virtually nothing to correct it. So those that exploited got the rewards and those that refrained got higher GTN prices.

 

Another reason for higher prices, is the way they handle opening cartel crates now. It used to be that people who bought tons of them had to make inventory space by dumping their unwanted onto the GTN. Now they can just leave their unwanted items in their cartel stash for eternity.

Edited November 2, 2016 by clearsighted

[Andryah]

The gist is: Most of the time what people mean when they say "inflation is happening and it's a problem," is they mean "I'm having trouble affording to buy the stuff that I want." But you need only look at items like crafted dyes to see that inflation doesn't mean much overall. The dyes are very affordable because there is a steady supply of them coming into the market and it's easy to generate a bunch of them, so it's not hard to meet the demand.

 

Exactly.

 

In fact, dyes (both crafted and CM) are in my "basket of trackers". Crafted, because it shows commodity supply demand pricing, and CM dyes because it quickly tells me if there is a fresh pop of dyes from older packs that people are dumping. I have actually made more money off the GTN market spreads on CM dyes then probably anything else over the last couple years.

Edited November 2, 2016 by Andryah

[PetFish]

1. Player Wants <ITEM>
   
2. Player Checks GTN for <ITEM>
   
3. Player Sees:
   
   • 12 <ITEM> Priced @ 10-15 Million Credits Each
     
   • 1 <ITEM> Priced @ 48 Million
     

[*]Player Runs to Forums to Rage About Inflation cuz of ONE Troll Price

 

Sad but true story.

[DarthEnrique]

1. Player Wants <ITEM>
   
2. Player Checks GTN for <ITEM>
   
3. Player Sees:
   
   • 12 <ITEM> Priced @ 10-15 Million Credits Each
     
   • 1 <ITEM> Priced @ 48 Million
     

[*]Player Runs to Forums to Rage About Inflation cuz of ONE Troll Price

 

Sad but true story.

Huh?!

[peter_plankskull]

Again, Bioware has nothing to do with GTN prices. There is nothing for them to check into, although I do think they are working on a new Tin Foil Hat helmet that will drop with Command Boxes.

 

Under most circumstances, the studio doesn't have a whole lot to do with the GTN prices. In this case it does...

 

For instance... letting a major credit exploit go on for 6 weeks at a time put a very large amount of credits into the economy. Then getting rid of credit sinks, such as buying a speeder, buying training skills, and crafting skills along with letting any average joe obtain 700k in 30 mins is the cause for inflation. When everyone is able to obtain a large amount of credits with little to no effort, then the size of the economy drastically gets inflated.

[KyaniteD]

It could be this:

2) When people quit, that actually makes it worse because now there are less players buying packs, or single-purchase CM sets, and selling them on the GTN. Since there are less people selling, that means there aren't as many undercutting each other, so the few sellers tend to just pick a price they want to get out of the item and list it for that.

 

combined with this:

500 mill tag for Malgus set is a troll price, but the inflation skyrocketed since 4.0. Heroics cash flow (700k+ in 20 minutes), more generous end-game mat drops, level sync (credits & gear drops appropirate to level for doing anything) all add up.

 

and the Halloween costume contests giving out cartel coins.

 

Or in other words: The offer of a rare item targeted at a momentary, (suspected) immediate demand.

Edited November 2, 2016 by KyaniteD

[DarthEnrique]

It could be this:

 

 

combined with this:

 

 

and the Halloween costume contests giving out cartel coins.

 

Or in other words: The offer of a rare item targeted at a momentary, (suspected) immediate demand.

 

I honestly don't think I have ever seen anyone in that outfit to be quite honest.

[KyaniteD]

I honestly don't think I have ever seen anyone in that outfit to be quite honest.

 

Have you been at any of your server's Halloween parties?

[DarthEnrique]

Have you been at any of your server's Halloween parties?

 

No, I never join any party advertised in the chat cause they always involve ***, I'm not into that and find it obnoxiously stupid cause the **** ***** is better, in this case action is better then words any day. So noooooooo thank you.....

Edited November 2, 2016 by DarthEnrique

[KyaniteD]

No, I never join any party advertised in the chat cause they always involve ERP, I'm not into that and find it obnoxiously stupid cause the real thing is better, in this case action is better then words any day. So noooooooo thank you.....

 

Well, that would have been a place where you could have seen the Ghostly Magus pieces actually used.