BioWare, GTN prices are insane, its time to do something

[Darth-Obvious]

WoW added in a stupid dumb expensive mount you could buy with in-game currency and it definitely fixed inflation for a bit.

 

I definitely bought it as soon as it came out.

 

SWTOR could do the same with credit dumps for old items that you can't obtain anymore and make them insanely overpriced so that it would be a massive credit sink.

 

SWTOR already has a number of credit sinks but an issue that can occur with credit sinks is that the population of players that have the most amount of money in a game aren't necessarily spending credits on those items, features or unlocks.

 

Another issue that someone brought up in a thread not long ago are gold farmers. It was mentioned in the thread that SWTOR's credits on gold selling sites are so worthless at this point that you can get a billion credits for around $10.

[Templock]

There is always a way there, there is always a solution, its up to them to fix it.

 

I need good looking adaptive armour for my agent, that can only be obtained from GTN, like any normal person looks are vital to me in video games because I do like my character. I do like looking at her/him.

 

Very strange isnt it? Shocking I know.

 

But the Scorpion armor set from the Adaptive Gear Vendor for 600 creds a piece. Also check out the gear available from the armormech trainer and consider if making your character pretty is worth $15.

Edited September 2, 2021 by Templock

[cloneofdax]

This bit right here is why BioWare won’t listen because this statement is 100% false and misleading

 

How do I know it’s false? Because back in June I rolled on a brand new server with no credits.

I’ve spent no CCs and I’ve earnt over a billion credits in that time.

 

How did I do that you ask?

 

1. Saved every penny I earnt from playing content and then I used the small amount I had to buy some low hanging fruit on the GTN (crafted items)

2. Relisted said items at 20x the price I purchased them for till they sold

3. Did this 3 times a week till I eventually had enough credits to start buying better crafted items to resell.

** note ** At no time did I craft or sell mats. At no time did I buy credits or cartel market items to sell.

 

Everything I bought and sold could be easily crafted if I’d had the time (which I didn’t as I was playing on 3 servers). So I could have easily made way more credits doing that with the smallest amount of effort.

 

Now if I can do that and make over a billion credits in 4 months, then anyone playing the game can do it with a tiny bit of effort and a google search.

 

It seems your dilemma is you are unsubbing and will have a credit limit. And while I agree inflation is stupidly high, that’s not your core problem.

 

The question you should be asking BioWare is to increase the credit threshold of what preferred and free to players can have so you can buy items over a million credits.

 

This is correct, I too not only have characters on all servers, but multiple accounts. Getting credits is not hard and as mentioned above even just starting out on a new server or even new account, you can easily make enough credits.

 

BW should not even try to enforce sale prices on GTN, plus don't really see why other players should pay real money so you don't have to OP. You can use your monthly sub CC (plus security key if you have one) This alone can buy you a lot from cartel market. Yes it takes a few months but easily doable OP.

Edited September 2, 2021 by cloneofdax

[Neo_Psy]

Not much anyone can do about inflation in the game. The spending power of the credit is very weak, so you need millions of them to have any kind of value, obviously.

 

Creds are not hard to get though, I mean I had 5000 cartel coins knocking about, spent them on 30 hypercrates bundle thing and sold half the stuff I claimed for 600 million, the other half I kept for myself. And cartel coins are easier than ever to get with the galactic seasons.

[Tsillah]

I can categorically say it’s not the credit sellers driving this or any new credit exploits.

Since 2019 I’ve made 50 billion credits from crafting and buying and selling “crafted” items that are too cheap.

Not with good reason though.

 

You have made 50 billion credits. So that puts you at the top end of the spectrum. What's changed with your success is the distribution of credits where, just like in real life, the richest few own more than half of the wealth or at least a big chunk. And in the wake of that a significant share of people who can afford a decent amount that have hundreds of millions or 1-2 billion credits. That by itself will drive up prices especially of rare goods.

 

There are a few people that make lots of credits with crafting but as you should realize that although anyone can do that, not everyone can do that because you are using a niche market that makes a lot of credits. If a lot of people would sell these craftables they would not make you credits anymore because the market becomes saturated on the one hand and demand also goes down because more people will do their own crafting.

 

But where do these many credits come from anyhow? It's the credits that come out of nowhere like quest rewards and vendors giving you credits for stuff you sell to them. Anytime a persons gets credits for doing something in game essentially...and exploits. The credits added to an economy cause inflation. I think that it's not just exploits but when you sell for example gold gear to a vendor, which if you play a decent amount you will be overflowing with, the game also gets an influx of credits. So I would suggest that the RNG loot that comes in large amounts is part of the problem.

 

I do agree that the limitations on Free to play and preferred is actually hurting the economy. We have a 3 speed economy because of the limitations. This isn’t good for the overall health of the game and BioWare should review it.

I think it's the opposite because more credits means more inflation. Again, buying stuff on the GTN doesn't get rid of inflation, it just means that the credits that exist change hands and the gtn tax can't keep up with that.

I would suggest BioWare increase the limit to 1 billion for preferred players and free to play. That way the GTN economy isn’t affected by those limitations. It would also help to devalue the credit to CC conversion which would combat the credit sellers still trying to trade.

Not a good idea. It will just increase inflation and it will give credits sellers a lot more room to play with since they would use f2p accounts to move credits around.

Edited September 2, 2021 by Tsillah

[xordevoreaux]

Not a good idea. It will just increase inflation and it will give credits sellers a lot more room to play with since they would use f2p accounts to move credits around.

This here is my only real argument against giving FTP/Pref accounts greater access to funds. I've one sub account and 4 pref accounts, and those 4 pref accounts are living just fine under the 1M rule == given that I gave each of them a one-time pre-paid sub for 60 days to swallow all of the perks that cost more than 1M, and how many gold sellers will spend that money trying to make money?

[TrixxieTriss]

This here is my only real argument against giving FTP/Pref accounts greater access to funds. I've one sub account and 4 pref accounts, and those 4 pref accounts are living just fine under the 1M rule == given that I gave each of them a one-time pre-paid sub for 60 days to swallow all of the perks that cost more than 1M, and how many gold sellers will spend that money trying to make money?

 

A little of topic I know, but why do you have 1 sub account and 4 referred accounts? Is it so you don’t have to pay to open more character slots?

[Ardrossan]

A little of topic I know, but why do you have 1 sub account and 4 referred accounts? Is it so you don’t have to pay to open more character slots?

 

You mean you didn't know that he has 120 characters spread across 5 accounts? I guess because he brings it up so rarely.

Edited September 2, 2021 by Ardrossan

[FlatTax]

To the OP's problem: EA sees all systems operating as intended. Frustrating grinds (and impossible ones, with the Credit cap) drive cash sales. Edited September 2, 2021 by FlatTax

[xordevoreaux]

A little of topic I know, but why do you have 1 sub account and 4 referred accounts? Is it so you don’t have to pay to open more character slots?

I have two computers, so I can invite myself to any of my guilds by loading up different accounts on both. I also, a long time ago, created private vanity guilds with just me on them on every server, and needed the extra toons to get the count high enough to get the the guild bank, etc., and rather than bother people, I can just invite alts from my pref accounts.

 

Beyond that it's nice to start fresh every once in a while. I've no plans to create additional accounts, I'm all preffed out.

And it's 190 toons across 5 accounts.

[Toraak]

What I see is, if BW increases credit cap for F2P/preferred, those that sell on the GTN will just increase prices accordingly.

 

Not to mention the biggest reason to subscribe to the game if you don't do Operations, is to bypass the 1 mil credit cap.

[TrixxieTriss]

Im seeing a large percentage of new CC items already being listed for 1 billion on multiple servers. I don’t think raising the credit cap will increase inflation all that much on those items.

[Tsillah]

Im seeing a large percentage of new CC items already being listed for 1 billion on multiple servers. I don’t think raising the credit cap will increase inflation all that much on those items.

You really don't have a clue what inflation is, do you? It's the devaluation of the currency, in this case credits. It's not the items getting so expensive by themselves, it's the credits losing their value because there are so incredibly many of them and that causes those items to cost a lot more in credits.

 

So it's incorrect to say that the inflation is on those items. Please understand that... it's the credits that are becoming worth less and less because there are too many in the economy. And the distribution of credits is making it harder on those that don't make a lot of credits for whatever reason. You made 50 billion, so if you want such an item you can buy it. Those with 5 million credits will never be able to buy them.

 

But inflation is about currency not items.

[BRKMSN]

Unfortunately, that’s not great for free to play or preferred players because BioWare have this stupid credit limitation for those accounts. If they increased the limit to 1 billion, it would still allow them to buy on the GTN and credits would devalue faster.

You can't be serious with this idea ...

 

If we increased the F2P and/or preferred to 1 Billion credits, let's look at what happens:

 

Every character you have can have 1 Billion credits (before escrow)

The most expensive GTN price is 1 billion credits

Legacy bank holds 100 billion

F2P character could buy the most expensive item and then withdraw another billion credits immediately.

 

Why would anybody that isn't a GM pay to continually sub?

[cloneofdax]

You can't be serious with this idea ...

 

If we increased the F2P and/or preferred to 1 Billion credits, let's look at what happens:

 

Every character you have can have 1 Billion credits (before escrow)

The most expensive GTN price is 1 billion credits

Legacy bank holds 100 billion

F2P character could buy the most expensive item and then withdraw another billion credits immediately.

 

Why would anybody that isn't a GM pay to continually sub?

 

Agreed, as mentioned F2P nowadays have access to almost everything. BW still need to give a reason for players to sub or at least to sub continually. Unlimited credits I will admit is really the only reason I still sub. If F2P got it then, just going to go F2P.

[OddballEasyEight]

To the OP's problem: EA sees all systems operating as intended. Frustrating grinds (and impossible ones, with the Credit cap) drive cash sales.

 

Oh wow... you guys should try out some of Gaijins games... It'll change your view on this games so-called "frustrating grinds".

[OddballEasyEight]

You really don't have a clue what inflation is, do you? It's the devaluation of the currency, in this case credits. It's not the items getting so expensive by themselves, it's the credits losing their value because there are so incredibly many of them and that causes those items to cost a lot more in credits.

 

So it's incorrect to say that the inflation is on those items. Please understand that... it's the credits that are becoming worth less and less because there are too many in the economy. And the distribution of credits is making it harder on those that don't make a lot of credits for whatever reason. You made 50 billion, so if you want such an item you can buy it. Those with 5 million credits will never be able to buy them.

 

But inflation is about currency not items.

 

No, she means there's a cap of 1 billion on the GTN so even with inflation, we wouldn't see higher prices than we do now since people are already listing things for 1 billion... which is the cap, so they can't list them for higher.

[TrixxieTriss]

No, she means there's a cap of 1 billion on the GTN so even with inflation, we wouldn't see higher prices than we do now since people are already listing things for 1 billion... which is the cap, so they can't list them for higher.

 

Thank you, that’s exactly what I meant.

[WizardGR]

The more people come to game, the more greedy the system become.

 

I remember when "operation pass" was in the market and the sell price was 300k. (350 was the limit of a pref)

Now if these existed will be sold at the price of 2 million.

The staff in the GTN is for sub people, nowadays

[Tsillah]

No, she means there's a cap of 1 billion on the GTN so even with inflation, we wouldn't see higher prices than we do now since people are already listing things for 1 billion... which is the cap, so they can't list them for higher.

 

As I said earlier, that would give more freedom to credit sellers being able to move credits more easily. That would have as a result that more people will have more credits to spend and that would increase the demand. So that would cause the prices to go up as well if the supply doesn't increase equally and if the credit sellers are putting more credits into the economy it's just as much inflation as it's supply and demand. The main issue is where these credits come from.

 

The game adds more credits than it takes away. Much more in fact and that comes mainly from vendors that give a fixed price for crap you sell to them (particularly the loads of gold gear that we get in abundance) and the daily quests people do that have a credit reward associated with them. And when there is an exploit at the vendor, like the vendor sells stuff for a price that's incorrect, say 1 credit and when you sell it back you get 1K for it....well that adds even more credits to the economy.

 

And having more people that can spend a billion credits is not going to lower the prices on things. That's just going to drive up prices even more, because more people can afford a lot more on average and F2P players will add a lot more credits to the economy again. You just have to think these things through. Giving F2P accounts a credit cap of 1 billion credits also means per character. So if you have 10 characters that's 10 billion credits that are made available to the economy. That will increase prices even further.

Edited September 3, 2021 by Tsillah

[Nortumberland]

It is impossible to buy anything for free to play and pref players from GTN, prices are literally insane and overpriced, a single chest armour pack costs like 3m and more. My sub will be end in a few days so I will be unable to play this game due to credits limit,

 

There is tons of overpriced items on GTN that can only be purchased if one sinks lots of real world money, selling packs etc,

 

Heroics farm solo rewards only 1m ALL OF THEM daily, so I have to spend my personal time in this game to get 5m in 5 days? Heroics are also digital cancer if you do solo and annoying and no one doing them anymore in group.

 

It is impossible to earn enough credits by doing normal methods,

 

People literally having billions of credits in this game by getting packs and then selling them on gtn while rest of us can't even get a armour set.

 

It is time to do something, put some measures into the game. Economy is dying,

 

You don't NEED any fancy armor to play the game. If you WANT it though, put at least some effort. There are numerous ways to get credits. Doing dailies is one of least profitable ways. Simply farming nodes while watching Tube will beat it by a huge margin. If you are smart and eager, you'll be swimming in millions. If you are lazy or not smart though... you come here to whine. Why not pay for another month and get what you want? Or simply purchase it with real cash if you want it that bad? Makes no sense to me.

 

Ppl get packs using CC. CC mostly come from paying sub/purchasing CC packs. In other words, these ppl support the development of the game unlike F2P/Preferred. You neither want to pay sub nor purchase CC yet got a nerve to demand the same profits just for being there.

 

In terms of economy, it is fine since it works for subbers. It's just F2P/Pref have restrictions. Reasonable restrictions. Increasing the cred cap to 1bil will only do harm. Gold sellers will have an easier time, thus increasing the inflation even more. Increasing the amount of cash on plyers will also skyrocket the inflations since there will be zero reason to not increase the prices on GTN. Your billion will just be as worth as a million nowdays. I also belive a lot of ppl will just unsub and get all the inlocks, staying Pref forever. I doubt operations alone will make them keep subbing. This will cut the support of the game with obvious consequences.

[Tsillah]

The more people come to game, the more greedy the system become.

 

I remember when "operation pass" was in the market and the sell price was 300k. (350 was the limit of a pref)

Now if these existed will be sold at the price of 2 million.

The staff in the GTN is for sub people, nowadays

The price of those passes went above 350K at some point, because subbed guildies would buy them for their f2p members and/or friends. Some guilds had a stack of them sitting in their guild bank for this purpose. And if they were sold today I wouldn't be surprised if they were sold for 20 million+ and I think I'm being on the low side with that.

[Templock]

As I said earlier, that would give more freedom to credit sellers being able to move credits more easily. That would have as a result that more people will have more credits to spend and that would increase the demand. So that would cause the prices to go up as well if the supply doesn't increase equally and if the credit sellers are putting more credits into the economy it's just as much inflation as it's supply and demand. The main issue is where these credits come from.

 

The game adds more credits than it takes away. Much more in fact and that comes mainly from vendors that give a fixed price for crap you sell to them (particularly the loads of gold gear that we get in abundance) and the daily quests people do that have a credit reward associated with them. And when there is an exploit at the vendor, like the vendor sells stuff for a price that's incorrect, say 1 credit and when you sell it back you get 1K for it....well that adds even more credits to the economy.

 

And having more people that can spend a billion credits is not going to lower the prices on things. That's just going to drive up prices even more, because more people can afford a lot more on average and F2P players will add a lot more credits to the economy again. You just have to think these things through. Giving F2P accounts a credit cap of 1 billion credits also means per character. So if you have 10 characters that's 10 billion credits that are made available to the economy. That will increase prices even further.

 

Dig up! Dig up!

[Moonshift]

The resell madness would stop if it were not possible to resell the purchased items from the GTN. Or make daily limits for how much people can sell in the GTN.

Then it would no longer be up to a few to decide whether an item is too cheap or too expensive.

 

I suggest only to buy things from the GTN if you rly need something. Don't buy this overpriced stuff. The Economy is actually broken.

 

The reason why prices are exploding has been known for a long time. Now it has been accelerated by the elimination of refer a friend and the ever higher cartelcoin prices. It is also favored by the fact that many have already left the game and are therefore less offered in the GTN.

Actually, the content in the cartel shop should also be accessible by playing, otherwise a subscription is just another free to play level.

 

I'm playing SWTOR and not GTN!

The GTN should be a place for the people actually playing the game and use the items they are bought and not for baby sharks.

 

I want that the new player have the same experience like the other player. They get kicked if they want to do the flashpoints in a normal way. They are excluded from operations because they have no achievement instead of teaching them to. And now people reselling my crafted 900.000k items so that the f2p players can no longer afford them. Shame!

As long as the f2p limit remains, I will also sell my items below this price. When the game ends your whole trillions are gone but I keep my humanity.

 

The rich are only rich as long as they have someone to tell how rich they are

[Nihaelis]

The rich are only rich as long as they have someone to tell how rich they are

 

And folks keep buying the stuff I list for hundreds of millions of credits. I sold my digital soul a long long time ago.