Prices dropping...fast

[Taskmage]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

/sigh I thought this thread was about the economy. Now it's another My MMO vs Your lolMMO thread.

[Mhurron]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

/sigh I thought this thread was about the economy. Now it's another My MMO vs Your lolMMO thread.

Well of course. If it wasn't WoW's fault, it had to be some other game that 'ffxi players are flocking to.' After all, it couldn't be anything that SE did to improve things now could it. Of course not because everybody knows they don't care about their players, right?

[jwalton]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

That's a fairly profound post, Mhurron. However, the fact remains that prices across all world servers started taking a TREMENDOUS plunge at the exact same time Phantasy Star Universe made its debut. Japanese player numbers also dropped somewhat during the last few weeks, and Phantasy Star Universe's servers were overloaded with 120000+ registrations on day one despite the registration server having problems. How convenient. World of Warcraft, in all it's 6+ million player glory, never even touched FFXI's economy because the Japanese don't care about western-made games, so trying to use that dead horse for leverage is wasted effort. Phantasy Star Universe is a Japanese-made videogame.

Believe what you wish. I beg my leave. Take care, and have fun.

[Bricklayer]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

That's a fairly profound post, Mhurron. However, the fact remains that prices across all world servers started taking a TREMENDOUS plunge at the exact same time Phantasy Star Universe made its debut. Japanese player numbers also dropped somewhat during the last few weeks, and Phantasy Star Universe's servers were overloaded with 120000+ registrations on day one despite the registration server having problems. How convenient. World of Warcraft, in all it's 6+ million player glory, never even touched FFXI's economy because the Japanese don't care about western-made games, so trying to use that dead horse for leverage is wasted effort. Phantasy Star Universe is a Japanese-made videogame.

Believe what you wish. I beg my leave. Take care, and have fun.

This is an interesting coincidence, but I don't know if it is really sufficient to describe the recession currently going on in FFXI. If migration were an issue, I don't think I would have seen 4000+ players on Ramuh over the weekend. The population is still there. It just seems that people are less willing to spend money. This suggests to me that either 1) people don't have money to spend, or 2) people are holding their money, because they're worried about buying items that depreciate immediately upon purchase. Given time, I agree that this trend will stabilize and people will start spending again. It will be interesting if overall pricing stabilizes at a lower level than before the recession.

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

Okay, goodbye. Have fun.

Back on topic, please?

[Theyaden]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

I think the prices going down are largly due to the recient mass bannings of assorted cheaters. Prices seem to drop everytime SE decides to eliminate a large block of individuals as has happened before and will likely happen again at different intervals. I applaud SE for being willing to do this with regards to the warp and speed hacks which seem to be whats taking the hits curently.

I'm not completely sure what to think of the price drops. My crafting work is definately easier with fire crystals going for just 1-2k a stack on Garuda. Although Silk thread has dropped to the point I don't bother to farm it anymore unless it's an area I can skillup on them due to the low drop rate others do still hunt it regularily so the supply will remain. Curently I'm leveling up a little crafting since that will always be a good investment to take advantage of cheaper skillups. The economy will go on and if SE keeps up their work nailing those with a propensity to cheat they are likely thinning out the crowd of gilbuyers inadvertantly (I don't know for certain I base this on the concept someone willing to cheat for convenience with a speed or warp hack is also more likely for convenience to buy gil for the convenience of not having to farm, BCNM, Garison, Craft)

My personal advise for those that have considered leveling a craft is enjoy the prices while they last since it's cheaper right now to do that it will be later down the line.

[little ninja]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

Thing im noticing is an over supply of alot of farmable stuff. first week of sept there was 30+ stacks of slime oils in all 4 nations. an in jeuno i seen around 77 stacks of cuttings. while buying was still steady there is just a mass flood of craftables across the board.

Another thing i noticed is the only way i can make any money crafting nowadays is if i can HQ 3/4 of my synths. otherwise i take a hard hit to my profits. Even if i farm most of my things. it ends up i could have just sold the farmed items for more of a profit...

I am willing to start taking bets that 1/4 of my server is now g/s populated. an around another 1/4 are 24/7 mules an fish botters.... An the rest of the server stands afk infront of the whitegate A.H

[little ninja]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

man I tell you, you just cant please people... complain when prices are high, now complain cause they are too low...good grief.

There is reason to be concerned an curious on such a matter. If your not may i suggest learning something about American History. One event in mind, the Stock Market Crash...

[Taskmage]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

man I tell you, you just cant please people... complain when prices are high, now complain cause they are too low...good grief.

Plus le change, plus le meme chose? ^^

[Icemage]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

Plus le change, plus le meme chose? ^^

Oy, please spell it correctly.

Plus ça change, plus c'est le meme chose.

For those who are illiterate in French, it translates roughly as "The more things change, the more they stay the same."


Icemage

[Taskmage]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

Bah I'll just stick to english next time

But yeah, concerns about fish botting and the like aside, it's generally recognized that falling prices are a good thing. Despite the economy improving as a whole, expensive items are still expensive in relation to other items, and the people who want them are still going to grumble about how difficult they are to obtain, especially when as noted earlier the more frequently traded items that most people use for an income are going to adjust in price faster than slower moving luxury goods. So are people still going to complain? Yeah, of course. Just take it as a sign that the world's still turning.

I am concerned about fish botting though. The recent deflation has either underscored the existing problem or forced the botters to become more bold and seek other markets to wreck for their money. Sole are 10k a stack on Lakshmi now, Bream 6k/stack, Grimmonite 3k each, Gigant Squid 5k each ... these are the highest level fish with common practical uses. The only fish whose prices haven't tanked are Noble Lady and Shall Shell, which are sold from an NPC in Bibiki, and Bhefel Marlin, which has a practically interminable demand based on the demand for Mercurial Kris.

[Caspian]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

Oy, please spell it correctly.
Plus ça change, plus c'est le meme chose.
For those who are illiterate in French, it translates roughly as "The more things change, the more they stay the same."
Icemage

Knowitall.

I do believe that SE's attempts have played a role in the deflation. But I don't think its solely responsible. It is likely that IGE and other RMT sites and their corresponding accounts are hording gil right now. Pretending they have less than they do, selling for higher prices and such. I don't think the mass inflation we saw last year will happen, but I do think it will happen and it will still be fairly big.
Either way, I've been buying a few certian pieces of equipment that skyrocketed up to 100x their pre Xmas prices. Prices go up, I'm richer than Bill Gates. Prices stay the same, I can just sell them back for minor overall loss. I've already grown used to the current amount of money I have, figure anything I sell them for at all now is a bonus.

[Pai Pai Master]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

I currently have about 1,502 gil, so this whole issue doesn't really phase me at the moment. I'll figure out how I feel about it later. XD

[Drive]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

Offtopic: Jwalton: Those PSU pics reminded me of Earth and Beyond from westwood studios and EA. And that ethan vs magashi cutscene was one of the worst fight scenes my eyes have ever watched.

On-topic: The price falling doesn't really bother me much. Mainly because I'm constantly poor so everyone falling to what I can afford is a plus. Like erase for 100k is something beautiful for me but a horror for BCNM40 goers.

[Icemage]

Re: Prices dropping...fast

You know what I find most fascinating about this discussion is the dynamics of the economy.

Long before the Christmas rush of last year, there was rampant speculation inside and outside of the FFXI fishing communities about what sort of impact that fishbotters had on the economy. I'd say that the recent deflation is a strong point in favor of the theory (which I subscribe to) that of all the sources of "new money", fishbotting was accounting for the vast majority.

Note that, despite the increase in the number of fishbotters, none of them are now adding new gil into the economy. In fact, they're taking money out because they're selling their wares on the AH and racking up fees and receiving gil from other players (i.e. "old" gil), instead of receiving new gil from NPCs or monsters.

Compare to a couple years ago, where it was easily possible for a single fisherman (botter or otherwise) to make at least a couple hundred thousand "new" gil in a single day via rusty caps (and even afterwards, via black ink).

After Square-Enix squeezed the life out of new gil produced via fishing, prices started stabilizing dramatically. Coincidence? You decide.


Icemage