How to fix inflation

[illgot]

On 12/8/2022 at 12:40 AM, Darcmoon said:

I personally think that a number of people wouldn't be willing to lose 250 million for the gold credits.  I wouldn't, that is for sure.  It's not like its that hard to store credits.  The legacy storage can hold around 100 billion credits alone.  Loosing 25 billion to convert it to gold credits isn't worth it.  As for buying a hypercrate for 12 billion credits, I wouldn't do that anyway since I don't think they are worth anywhere near that much.  

Two years ago Hypercrates were less than 1 billion credits. One year ago the price went up to around 3-4 billion credits. Now they are around 10-12 billion credits. What do you think they will be next December?

A year from now when even casual traders start hitting 100 billion credits in their legacy bank, what do you think is going to happen to credits when...

1) they can't hold anymore

2) no one wants to accept credits because there is no place to put them and no way to accept enough credits to compensate for inflation

A new currency is not a suggestion to fix inflation, it is to bypass the 32 bit credit limit which will become an issue for the general population by 2024 and to create a credit sink to remove credits.

If the devs figure out a way to allow players to bypass the 4.29 billion inventory limit and 104.29 billion legacy limit, great, but also... big numbers like that are messy especially when we start tossing around "yeah, I need 36-40 billion credits for this hypercrate" then the following year "hypercrates now cost 120-150 billion credits".

Inflation still needs to be fixed or at least slowed down a lot but doing so will take more time than the credit economy has thanks to credit limits. The general population will start to hit the credit caps long before any fixes to our economy can reduce credit inflation and if that happens credits will lose all value.

Edited December 11, 2022 by illgot

[hillerbees]

20 hours ago, illgot said:

The "gold credits" can be sold to a vender for 1 billion credits. That will ensure they retain their credit value.

Once their value is established in game people will probably just trade around the new credit instead of the old credits. Would you rather buy a hypercrate for 12 billion credits giving 8 billion credits up front then on the third trade give them another 4 in exchange for the hypercrate all the while hoping they don't log off after you give them the first 8 billion or would you rather trade them 12 "gold credits"?

Why would people buy a new credit if you lose 25% of it's base value? Because the only other option is to either not accept credits once you hit the cap or spend time on fleet trying to buy other items which may lose their value over time. Then if you do buy other items you have to haggle with people trying to find a common value you agree with before you start bartering.

I don't know if this would help stop exploits like duping the new credit, but maybe they should be tokens like tech frags which go directly into your inventory and can only be traded like credits and not physical items.

My suggestion was not an optional idea....my idea was that Bioware just remove the old currency from the game and just translate it into a new "same" currency...in other words on Monday you have say 50 billion credits, on Tuesday you have 5 billion new credits. Its all relative - you will still be as rich or as poor as anyone else who has been hit with the "devaluation" the only "winner" will be those who have no credits ie. new players starting from scratch.  Now, just continue with the credit rewards being given out as before for rewards.

All that has happened is that you have wiped some zeros off players bank accounts and we are no longer near any cap.  If you were rich before you are still rich.  Asking prices for items will end up reflecting the newly adjusted pool of credits in the game but we can play on GTN again.  Think of it like when Italy adopted the EURO - they were used to having millions of Lira and now they had a lot less EURO but still had the same purchasing power.

[hillerbees]

Can I ask the devs if they plan on addressing this in any way in the near future?  I mean, we are told time and again that they read everything even if they don't always comment.  But inaction or ignoring this doesn't mean that no harm is done to the game.

Can they even tell us that they are working on a solution or that they see no need to come up with one.  I mean, as a long time player, hitting caps and all was fun initially but now its just boring.  I'd give up my credits full stop and start afresh if everyone else was doing so too...its that bad.

[WraithAssassin]

Smallest band-aid solution BW can do to fix a decent amount of scarcity with CM items and the stupid credits people would want for them... Put everything in Collections on CM (barring pre-order, founder, collector's edition stuff of course).

The Czerka weapons, Satele doubleblade, just a whole trove of weapons and armor that BW removed from the CM for... What reason? To maybe be direct sale at a random point?

Can also bring back the older packs pre Ultimates. 

But those, again, band-aid solution to what really is a larger problem than it can solve. On SF a few hours ago i saw a Antique Sorroco weapon for about 200m. Which is completely stupid.

[FlatTax]

1 hour ago, WraithAssassin said:

The Czerka weapons, Satele doubleblade, just a whole trove of weapons and armor that BW removed from the CM for... What reason? To maybe be direct sale at a random point?

The reason: to drive sales of their gambling product.

A real minimum solution would be to make Augs and their Kits available for a moderate sum of Tech Frags and/or DRM.

That would effectively demonitize endgame gearing, and insulate actual gameplay from broken, cash-infected design choices.

[illgot]

30 minutes ago, FlatTax said:

The reason: to drive sales of their gambling product.

A real minimum solution would be to make Augs and their Kits available for a moderate sum of Tech Frags and/or DRM.

That would effectively demonitize endgame gearing, and insulate actual gameplay from broken, cash-infected design choices.

I don't know if the czerka weapons, sand people set, etc drop from the current hypercrates. There is a list of items that are extremely rare because they have either been left out of the hypercrate loot tables or are so rare no one has seen them drop on years.  It is more likely an over sight than intentional.

[OlBuzzard]

1 hour ago, illgot said:

I don't know if the czerka weapons, sand people set, etc drop from the current hypercrates. There is a list of items that are extremely rare because they have either been left out of the hypercrate loot tables or are so rare no one has seen them drop on years.  It is more likely an over sight than intentional.

On this part we agree.  IMO one of the things that drives up the prices:  availability (whether decor items or "armor" category).  If said items were at least on a somewhat regular rotating basis that would certainly change how players look at stuff in the GTN.

Also:  deco items:
** While there are numerous sets available all too often there are some items that are only available in a very large set.  (You either buy an entire set to get said item or resort to the GTN to find it).

** Additional "packages" (for lack of a better term) might also help.  Security items for example might include droids/cameras and perhaps an assortment of personnel.  Fish tanks might be another...  I think you get the idea.

Aside from that please keep in mind that if you take everyone's credits ... and reassign another value to them (say 10 to 1) for the new currency value that will still not change anything.  The players with the most will still have the most.  EVEN if you set a lower-level cap into place.  In a matter of months, you will be right back to where you are now.

IMO a long-term solution will need to address several matters at once.  At the top of that list MUST be to eliminate the introduction of credit sellers.

As for F2P players IMO that is squarely in the hands of BW as it should be.  (I know ...  not a popular idea.  But it is after all their game.)

It should also be noted that as long as Mods ... (and related armor items) are gated this will also add to the difficulties of finding a workable long-term solution.  And NO ...  frankly I'm almost certain that this will not go over that well with some folks as well.  BUT from everything I've encountered in all of my travels through an assortment of games (WoW being the most popular).... there will always be the opportunity for players with the savvy and time to devote to making an abundance of credits (or GC in some cases).  That will never change.

It should also be noted that IMO repairing the serious damage to crafting will also go a long way to assisting in repairing the damage.  And there again ... while more of a long-term goal it should not be ignored either.

Just my $.02 for today.

[Cindron]

So, Bio remains silent why?

Inflation forces most to subscribe.  Real cash.
Inflation drives items off the GTN and players to their Cartel Market using real cash.
Inflation drives up the population of gold spammers as more flock to them thus creating more gold spammers who must be subscribers as well.  Real cash.
You enjoy decorating looks like you need to go to Cartel Market, real cash.
You like collecting armor, looks like you need to go to Cartel Market, real cash.
You want that weapon, looks like you need to go to Cartel Market, real cash.
Amazing bundle, off to the Cartel Market, real cash.
Daily the GTN shrinks as more items vanish only to be found with endless shouting at fleet or Cartel Market, real cash.
People ask why not increase the cap of the GTN?  Why would they, too much to be made driving people to Cartel Market.  Real cash.

Why is Bio so quiet?

Everything is working as intended.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Cindron

[Nee-Elder]

3 hours ago, Cindron said:

So, Bio remains silent why?

Inflation forces most to subscribe.  Real cash.
Inflation drives items off the GTN and players to their Cartel Market using real cash.
Inflation drives up the population of gold spammers as more flock to them thus creating more gold spammers who must be subscribers as well.  Real cash.
You enjoy decorating looks like you need to go to Cartel Market, real cash.
You like collecting armor, looks like you need to go to Cartel Market, real cash.
You want that weapon, looks like you need to go to Cartel Market, real cash.
Amazing bundle, off to the Cartel Market, real cash.
Daily the GTN shrinks as more items vanish only to be found with endless shouting at fleet or Cartel Market, real cash.
People ask why not increase the cap of the GTN?  Why would they, too much to be made driving people to Cartel Market.  Real cash.

Why is Bio so quiet?

Everything is working as intended.

Bingo ^ , and basically what i was trying to say myself in my earlier post:  https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926230-how-to-fix-inflation/?do=findComment&comment=9731184 ...but  Cindron did it  more umm poetic!

[septru]

18 hours ago, Cindron said:

So, Bio remains silent why?

Inflation forces most to subscribe.  Real cash.
Inflation drives items off the GTN and players to their Cartel Market using real cash.
Inflation drives up the population of gold spammers as more flock to them thus creating more gold spammers who must be subscribers as well.  Real cash.
You enjoy decorating looks like you need to go to Cartel Market, real cash.
You like collecting armor, looks like you need to go to Cartel Market, real cash.
You want that weapon, looks like you need to go to Cartel Market, real cash.
Amazing bundle, off to the Cartel Market, real cash.
Daily the GTN shrinks as more items vanish only to be found with endless shouting at fleet or Cartel Market, real cash.
People ask why not increase the cap of the GTN?  Why would they, too much to be made driving people to Cartel Market.  Real cash.

Why is Bio so quiet?

Everything is working as intended.

this is a good point... 

 

but as many people have pointed out. in a year or two, the average player is going to be reaching the credit cap. Once the average player reach the credit cap, the whole game economy is going to collapse and many players will probably quit. 

[DonJuanTriunfant]

Honest question, does anyone ever actually pay 7bil for one piece of gear in GTN or from another player? I found an Elegant Reveler (I think? It's the silver bikini with frills) for 50k apiece and bought it precisely because it was relatively cheap. I refuse to pay more than 500k for almost anything on principle. Maybe I'm too much of a Filthy Casual (TM), but from my perspective paying such absurd prices means either unhealthy desperation or the ability to get millions of credits in no time (for what it's worth, just my new Sentinel has made about 5-7mil only from story content and a few extra things).

 

I know it's gonna sound dumb but what if we just boycotted these prices? Or am I just dumb?

 

Edit: A thought experiment for people smarter than me, what if BW made it so you could trade CC for credits, or buy items from CM with credits? Maybe with a cap so the system isn't abused and BW still gets our sweet dollar bills?

Edited December 13, 2022 by DonJuanTriunfant
Addition

[DWho]

Single pieces of armor sets tend to sell for less because they become bound to the character they are used on. Full sets command higher prices because they can be unlocked in collections for any character in your legacy to use (I believe it is account wide so if you are on multiple servers, they can used unlocked sets too). Getting all of the pieces, one piece at a time can be challenging, but if you are only looking for a single piece for one character, deals can be found.

Even with just a few players with hundreds of billions of credits, there is always someone willing to spend the ridiculous numbers of credits, so boycotts don't work.