I Remember When The Prices On The GTN Weren't Crazy Bad...

[ceryxp]

My mother, 59, uses the McDonald's hamburger index. My mother likes to remind us that when she was 10 a hamburger cost $0.25.

[OlBuzzard]

My mother, 59, uses the McDonald's hamburger index. My mother likes to remind us that when she was 10 a hamburger cost $0.25.

 

Actually by the time 1955 rolled around you could get a McDonald cheese burger for $.19. I was still too young to remember back then . However, I do remember when the first one was built where I use to live .. I was 6 or 7 at the time. Hamburgers were still $.19 each. And the best I can remember you could get a burger, fries and a shake for less than $.50 (plus tax).

 

In short .. even as things have changed with everything else over the years .. so has the GTN!

Edited December 28, 2020 by OlBuzzard

[ceryxp]

Actually by the time 1955 rolled around you could get a McDonald cheese burger for $.19. I was still too young to remember back then . However, I do remember when the first one was built where I use to live .. I was 6 or 7 at the time. Hamburgers were still $.19 each. And the best I can remember you could get a burger, fries and a shake for less than $.50 (plus tax).

 

In short .. even as things have changed with everything else over the years .. so has the GTN!

 

Funny thing is that with inflation that 1971 $0.25 McDonald's hamburger would cost $1.61 today, and yet a cheeseburger costs $1.00. The cost of a McDonald's hamburger has not kept up with inflation because McDonald's is keeping the price down. But then you look at the price of a Big Mac, which in 1971 cost $0.65. Adjusted for inflation that Big Mac would cost $4.18, and yet the cost for a Big Mac is $5.71 (national average) according to the Economist.

 

* All currencies and inflation rates are for the US.

[SteveTheCynic]

no more 4p packet of crisps & 2p bars of chocolate

Yup. I remember those times.

 

For those who aren't aware of British money, 4p means four pence, which is the functional equivalent in British money of four cents in a dollar-(1) or euro-based country. The reference to buying a packet of crisps for 4p belongs to a shortish period in the first half of the 1970s, after 1972(1) but before 1976(3).

 

(1) Any dollar, except the Zimbabwean one, which was destroyed by hyperinflation.

 

(2) When the pound changed from being divided into twenty shillings of twelve (old) pence each to being divided into 100 (new) pence.

 

(3) A period of very high (for Britain) inflation.

[TrixxieTriss]

Actually by the time 1955 rolled around you could get a McDonald cheese burger for $.19. I was still too young to remember back then . However, I do remember when the first one was built where I use to live .. I was 6 or 7 at the time. Hamburgers were still $.19 each. And the best I can remember you could get a burger, fries and a shake for less than $.50 (plus tax).

 

In short .. even as things have changed with everything else over the years .. so has the GTN!

 

Do you remember when Maccas had southern fried chicken on the menu like KFC or wasn’t that a thing in the US?

I think they finally stopped doing before I turned 7 because I remember they didn’t have it when I had my 7th birthday there.

[HaoZhao]

There's nothing wrong with GTN prices (for the most part). Prices are higher as a response to super inflation. Inflation is happening because there's more money in the game than ever before. Selling all of the trash gear from a vet flashpoint run is worth like 100K. Back in my day, we ran Section X dailies for 7K and we liked it.

 

If inflation is to be controlled, they can lower the vendor value of dropped gear by around 90%. They can stop tying credit rewards from quests to your character level (which increases with every expansion). What really needs to be done is increasing the amount of money that is permanently removed from the game. Triple the cost of repairs. Increase the credit costs of set bonus shells and tacticals. Etc., etc., etc. The basic rules of economics aren't a negotiation, folks. You want a bazillion credits to appear out of thin air for you because you do minimal work on the game but you also want everything to be cheap. This is not a reasonable expectation.

 

Like every quest in Final Fantasy 14 is worth 1,000 Gil. Their economy is very healthy.

[LD_Little_Dragon]

If inflation is to be controlled, they can lower the vendor value of dropped gear by around 90%. They can stop tying credit rewards from quests to your character level (which increases with every expansion). What really needs to be done is increasing the amount of money that is permanently removed from the game. Triple the cost of repairs. Increase the credit costs of set bonus shells and tacticals..

 

That is a really bad idea. It would hurt the newer players and the players who don't have much time to spend on the game. While at the same time having no effect on the players with mega credits, and no effect on the inflated GTN prices. It would just hurt the less wealthy players, for no good reason.

 

Do not increase the costs of anything needed to play the game. A proper credit sink would be bringing a vendor that sells purely cosmetic items (mounts, pets, glittery type consumables, etc), that are bound on pick-up, for very high amounts of credits. These toys would have no effect on gameplay, give the wealthy something to show off, and casual players without mega credits could just ignore the shinies.

[ceryxp]

That is a really bad idea. It would hurt the newer players and the players who don't have much time to spend on the game. While at the same time having no effect on the players with mega credits, and no effect on the inflated GTN prices. It would just hurt the less wealthy players, for no good reason.

 

Exactly. Just like all of the credit sinks that were added with 6.0 have had no effect on the billionaires but have disproportionately affected less wealthy players. That is because they were the wrong type of credit sinks.

Edited December 28, 2020 by ceryxp

[KendraP]

Exactly. Just like all of the credit sinks that were added with 6.0 have had no effect on the billionaires but have disproportionately affected less wealthy players. That is because they were the wrong type of credit sinks.

Seconded, or I guess more accurately, thirded haha.

 

They failed miserably at dealing with the inflation. The billionaires have mkre than ever, and everyone else finds it harder to simply afford things at all.

[DarkTergon]

Exactly. Just like all of the credit sinks that were added with 6.0 have had no effect on the billionaires but have disproportionately affected less wealthy players. That is because they were the wrong type of credit sinks.

 

There is nothing they can do about the billionaires, they already have the money, any credit sink will effect the new players, and that's it. I love the idea of the vendor with the cosmetic items, (BoP) but even at that, we will still have people complaining that it is out of their reach, and demand prices are reduced. Just look at the flashy thing from the pirate event, how many people complained it was too expensive? The only way to combat the mega wealth is to go back in time to the very first big exploit and stop it straight away. But they left it too long, the credits flowed in to the game, even when they stopped it, noone got banned or lost their credits. We've seen people here on the forums admitting to taking advantage of the dye exploit too, and they are still playing, still selling their ill gotten dyes.

 

I've built up a huge stock of items over the years, so much, that I gave away 10 billion to guilds, friends, and random players, and started again with no cash, just my stock, and I've surpassed that. I'm still funding guilds, buying tons of decos, etc. But there is so many credits in the game, it'll take a reset to rebalance it. And all that would do is piss of so many people the game would falter, and probably end.

Edited December 28, 2020 by DarkTergon

[HaoZhao]

That is a really bad idea. It would hurt the newer players and the players who don't have much time to spend on the game. While at the same time having no effect on the players with mega credits, and no effect on the inflated GTN prices. It would just hurt the less wealthy players, for no good reason.

 

Do not increase the costs of anything needed to play the game. A proper credit sink would be bringing a vendor that sells purely cosmetic items (mounts, pets, glittery type consumables, etc), that are bound on pick-up, for very high amounts of credits. These toys would have no effect on gameplay, give the wealthy something to show off, and casual players without mega credits could just ignore the shinies.

 

The alternative is to leave things as they are and just submit to the ever-growing hyper-inflation. Enjoy buying mk-10 kits for a million credits each after the next expansion makes things even worse. Like I said before, you want a bazillion credits to appear out of thin air for you because you do minimal work on the game but you also want everything to be cheap. This is not a reasonable expectation.

Edited December 28, 2020 by HaoZhao

[BroBroNelly]

There was a time I could buy character unlocks for 90,000 credits. I really wish I had bought more!

 

Right? You could also buy species unlocks for well within the F2P credit cap of 200K at the time.

 

 

I miss 2.0 era GTN.

[MadDutchman]

By far the single largest credit sink in this game is the GTN tax.

 

Having a vendor with expensive shinies, or increasing repair costs etc. isn't going to do squat to remove credits in comparison.

 

What I would like to see them do is utilize the system that already exists by making it far easier/user friendly to list items on the GTN. I trash a lot of items to the vendor just because I can't be bothered to list it on the GTN. Now if they had as part of the item popup basic market data (current lowest price, current average, historical average for X amount of time) as well as the ability to quickly list items quickly from anywhere (perhaps with credit/CC unlock). Make it convenient for for players to use and you'll see much more use, and as such, much more GTN tax (which could probably be modestly raised as well).

 

By efficiently communicating market information, it will benefit all forms of item sales. People will be far more inclined to sell random drops of the GTN if they know they actually have real value (many of the planet drops have considerable value for purely cosmetic purposes, but few people actually sell them). Crafters will naturally gravitate towards items that are selling well for good prices, increasing supply and driving down prices. CM flippers will also purchase items that have the highest value, again increasing supply of those items and driving down prices.

 

Oh, and they should stop using mail to deliver your money. It's clunky and annoying. We should have a dedicated UI for this where you can collect you gains and view historical sale information.

[DarkTergon]

Right? You could also buy species unlocks for well within the F2P credit cap of 200K at the time.

 

 

I miss 2.0 era GTN.

 

a species unlock for less than 200k... where, when, how? Unless it was human, because no one wanted them....

[TrixxieTriss]

Seconded, or I guess more accurately, thirded haha.

 

They failed miserably at dealing with the inflation. The billionaires have mkre than ever, and everyone else finds it harder to simply afford things at all.

 

Just learn to craft the right items and watch the GTN daily. I didn’t hit my first billion till end of last year (after 8 years of playing). Now I’ve 3 times that from just crafting. (I’ve never exploited and I don’t flip cartel stuff or buy it to sell).

 

If you are time constrained, just send your companion dudes to farm each time you are on with them and top up using Jawa Junk. Honestly, I’ve not physically farmed nodes for the sake of getting mats since January 2020.

 

Before I learnt not to get into price wars or list too many of the same thing at once, my wife and I were spending much of our game time farming mats for my crafting (At least 25 hours a week, not including the crafting). Now I spend about 5% of my time crafting and GTN listing and make way more than I ever did before engaging in GTN wars (work smart not hard = more credits, less stress, more time to play content).

 

Here’s a prime example of how stupid some people are. Currently on SF GTN there is one guy listing crafted orange red dyes and green yellow dyes for 5000 credits. He is using one account and has 40+ pages across many Alt characters to list them all.

 

Why is this stupid?

Well first of all the mats he is using sell for way more than what he is listing the dyes for.

Second he is devaluing those dyes so people will expect them to be cheap for the foreseeable future.

Third, he has no hope of every selling them all and he is already selling them so cheap that discounting them more to get rid of them is pointless.

Fourth, bargain hunters like me won’t buy them when so many are listed because we know the price won’t go back up for a long time or we run out of space to store them all (I wish we could stack dyes like Jawa junk).

And lastly, people see so many of the same things super cheap and think they aren’t worth much, so they by pass them without giving them a second thought while GTN browsing.

 

At the end of the day he has either spent many, many hours and credits farming all those mats or converted Jawa junk for less than it’s worth. He is literally throwing credits away. With a 10th of those mats he’s used I could easily make a couple 100 million credits in a week, Instead he will be lucky to make a couple hundred thousand in a month.

 

I’ll let you in on an old secret now because those dye colours are basically worthless now, I’ve been buying them cheap and selling them for 400,000 each. Which I can’t do now that they’ve ruined the market for them. I made 200 mill in a few months from buying those colours when silly people spam listed them for 20,000 each.

The secret is never list more than two of the same at once. Then you don’t flood the market and eventually when the cheap stuff goes, only your stuff is left. If everyone followed that principle, we’d all be able to make plenty of credits and spend less time farming mats or crafting.

 

Sadly, some people can’t grasp that over supply drives prices down. You never see people here complaining about that. The smart players know that under supply and over demand is how you make credits.

Edited December 29, 2020 by TrixxieTriss

[DarkTergon]

J

Here’s a prime example of how stupid some people are. Currently on SF GTN there is one guy listing crafted orange red dyes and green yellow dyes for 5000 credits. He is using one account and has 40+ pages across many Alt characters to list them all.

 

Why is this stupid?

Well first of all the mats he is using sell for way more than what he is listing the dyes for.

Second he is devaluing those dyes so people will expect them to be cheap for the foreseeable future.

Third, he has no hope of every selling them all and he is already selling them so cheap that discounting them more to get rid of them is pointless.

Fourth, bargain hunters like me won’t buy them when so many are listed because we know the price won’t go back up for a long time or we run out of space to store them all (I wish we could stack dyes like Jawa junk).

And lastly, people see so many of the same things super cheap and think they aren’t worth much, so they by pass them without giving them a second thought while GTN browsing.

 

 

They aren't craftable, they come from the collection vendor, this is someone who has the CE addition, and is trolling anyone who has the CE and selling the dyes, basically, he is selling them at a rate that he doesn't lose credit, but no one else can sell them, because of him. The only thing he is losing is the time it takes to list them. He is being a complete <redacted>

[TrixxieTriss]

They aren't craftable, they come from the collection vendor, this is someone who has the CE addition, and is trolling anyone who has the CE and selling the dyes, basically, he is selling them at a rate that he doesn't lose credit, but no one else can sell them, because of him. The only thing he is losing is the time it takes to list them. He is being a complete <redacted>

 

Are you sure? I’m pretty sure you can craft both. But I’m not on at the moment so I can’t check.

If Im wrong, then he and others who list them so low are even dumber because they could be limiting the listings and making a premium on them.

Also if they come from the CE vendor, what’s the actual credit cost to by them. I’m sure they aren’t free?

Edited December 29, 2020 by TrixxieTriss

[OlBuzzard]

Just learn to craft the right items and watch the GTN daily. I didn’t hit my first billion till end of last year (after 8 years of playing). Now I’ve 3 times that from just crafting. (I’ve never exploited and I don’t flip cartel stuff or buy it to sell).

 

If you are time constrained, just send your companion dudes to farm each time you are on with them and top up using Jawa Junk. Honestly, I’ve not physically farmed nodes for the sake of getting mats since January 2020.

 

Before I learnt not to get into price wars or list too many of the same thing at once, my wife and I were spending much of our game time farming mats for my crafting (At least 25 hours a week, not including the crafting). Now I spend about 5% of my time crafting and GTN listing and make way more than I ever did before engaging in GTN wars (work smart not hard = more credits, less stress, more time to play content).

 

Here’s a prime example of how stupid some people are. Currently on SF GTN there is one guy listing crafted orange red dyes and green yellow dyes for 5000 credits. He is using one account and has 40+ pages across many Alt characters to list them all.

 

Why is this stupid?

Well first of all the mats he is using sell for way more than what he is listing the dyes for.

Second he is devaluing those dyes so people will expect them to be cheap for the foreseeable future.

Third, he has no hope of every selling them all and he is already selling them so cheap that discounting them more to get rid of them is pointless.

Fourth, bargain hunters like me won’t buy them when so many are listed because we know the price won’t go back up for a long time or we run out of space to store them all (I wish we could stack dyes like Jawa junk).

And lastly, people see so many of the same things super cheap and think they aren’t worth much, so they by pass them without giving them a second thought while GTN browsing.

 

At the end of the day he has either spent many, many hours and credits farming all those mats or converted Jawa junk for less than it’s worth. He is literally throwing credits away. With a 10th of those mats he’s used I could easily make a couple 100 million credits in a week, Instead he will be lucky to make a couple hundred thousand in a month.

 

I’ll let you in on an old secret now because those dye colours are basically worthless now, I’ve been buying them cheap and selling them for 400,000 each. Which I can’t do now that they’ve ruined the market for them. I made 200 mill in a few months from buying those colours when silly people spam listed them for 20,000 each.

The secret is never list more than two of the same at once. Then you don’t flood the market and eventually when the cheap stuff goes, only your stuff is left. If everyone followed that principle, we’d all be able to make plenty of credits and spend less time farming mats or crafting.

 

Sadly, some people can’t grasp that over supply drives prices down. You never see people here complaining about that. The smart players know that under supply and over demand is how you make credits.

 

You are partially correct. Please keep in mind that it's not just crafted items / mats. But just about anything (item) which has been "flooded" with over supply. "Twi'lek Dancers (for example) ... use to sell for 6 - 10 mil each. The market has been flooded with them for several months now and have been selling for 2 - 4 mil each. Also several versions of "isotopes" are less than 1/2 ... Solid Resource Matrix: was at 1 to 1-5 MIL each ... now sells for 175K - 250K regularly.

 

On the other hand ... most CC items such as Satele armor sets and many decos... have more than doubled in the last few months.

 

I'm certain that we can find examples of all sorts of extremes on BOTH ends ( increases and decreases) if we looked hard enough.

 

IMO it's like any other part of the game... it has both good and bad points to be considered.

[TrixxieTriss]

You are partially correct. Please keep in mind that it's not just crafted items / mats. But just about anything (item) which has been "flooded" with over supply. "Twi'lek Dancers (for example) ... use to sell for 6 - 10 mil each. The market has been flooded with them for several months now and have been selling for 2 - 4 mil each. Also several versions of "isotopes" are less than 1/2 ... Solid Resource Matrix: was at 1 to 1-5 MIL each ... now sells for 175K - 250K regularly.

 

On the other hand ... most CC items such as Satele armor sets and many decos... have more than doubled in the last few months.

 

I'm certain that we can find examples of all sorts of extremes on BOTH ends ( increases and decreases) if we looked hard enough.

 

IMO it's like any other part of the game... it has both good and bad points to be considered.

 

That’s why I don’t trade in CM items cause it’s too fickle to lose real money or waste CC’s. At least with crafted items you don’t lose value on CC or CM items.

[Stradlin]

Thanks to the big conquest patch of of last spring, rate with which normnal players can generate new credits to the game has grown a great deal. Most all MMOs are doomed to having to deal with at least a gradual inflation all the time. Last spring, the steady, creeping inflation turned into a massive landslide for TOR. Edited December 29, 2020 by Stradlin

[OlBuzzard]

That’s why I don’t trade in CM items cause it’s too fickle to lose real money or waste CC’s. At least with crafted items you don’t lose value on CC or CM items.

 

Same here !!

[DreadtechSavant]

Players will sell items at whatever price they want, don't need anyone's approval or consent. Be that high or low price.

The buyer can decide to buy it or not. Not every player sells for profit, I don't. I sell items (craft able that is) cheap to help other players out, I get enough jawa scrap metal that it cost me nothing to craft these items now that jawa metal is no longer only gotten from cartel packs. I care not about lining the pockets of so many just plain greedy players.

Edited December 29, 2020 by DreadtechSavant

[DarkTergon]

That’s why I don’t trade in CM items cause it’s too fickle to lose real money or waste CC’s. At least with crafted items you don’t lose value on CC or CM items.

 

The only time I've bought Cartel coins was when they first came out. I used to use mine to get the sets I didn't have, but couldn't afford. I started off buying CM items for the gtn to relist, as my profits grew, the more I bought. I also crafted a lot of the end game stuff, when it first came out. Made a pretty penny on the 306 stuff. Used to craft the dyes too, but since decos have become a hot item, it what I mostly buy and sell now.

 

The dancers were high priced as it was harder to get the certs, but with the nightlife event, people had more than they could use, so they bough the dancers and flooded the market, I must have got a few hundred for less than 50k each, and now I sell them a couple at a time when the price goes above a certain amount.

[DarkTergon]

Players will sell items at whatever price they want, don't need anyone's approval or consent. Be that high or low price.

The buyer can decide to buy it or not. Not every player sells for profit, I don't. I sell items (craft able that is) cheap to help other players out, I get enough jawa scrap metal that it cost me nothing to craft these items now that jawa metal is no longer only gotten from cartel packs. I care not about lining the pockets of so many just plain greedy players.

 

reminds me of the tale of a demonstrator complaining about the rich, and how they robbed the poor, etc, the usual things they say. Yet when thiis person won the lotto, did they give it away to help people...no they didn't. Most people complain when they don't have, or want to work to earn it. Yes it's a game, and the credits are worthless outside. But the GTN is also a sub game to some, it may not earn CQ points, or give you achievements, but there is something fun buying something for 10k, and being able to sell it back for 10 million later on, because you could judge the market and knew what would explode in value

 

Not everyone does it for themselves, I've helped out many guilds, donated hundreds of millions worth of decos, FS plans, etc. If I didn't play the gtn, those guilds wouldn't be as advanced as they are. Not to mention, I've spent the last week, running around the starter planets giving away millions of credits to new players as 'Santa Clause' . It was quite fun, the amount of people who say no or run away is funny.

[JediQuaker]

Players will sell items at whatever price they want, don't need anyone's approval or consent. Be that high or low price.

The buyer can decide to buy it or not.

Yes, some people seem to forget that this is just a game, and credits are not 'real money'. I have no desire to 'play' the GTN so when I sell things on the GTN, I mostly just want to get rid of them. (Some rare, high value items are the exception. 😉 )

 

It's also worth noting that when I or Dread put things on the GTN they usually sell quite quickly, and only the higher priced units are left. So, often when people see a particular item for say, 20 million credits, that's not necessarily the price they sell for, but the price they don't sell for.