WoW sales

My problem with teh current new server policy is that you cant start fresh. I mean if you start today the economy has adjusted for all those who have have used the exploits to enrich themselves, i believe i read somewhere that there are many 500+pp players in the game. The known exploits have been fixed, but that means many will start at a disadvantage. Getting a fresh server with no character transfers means, that everyone starts on basically the same footing.

epic

 

Well, fortunately with EQ2 the economy could get totally and utterly screwed up (it's not, in my opinion, by the way), and you'd still be able to do very well starting fresh. That is to say, it's not hard at all early in the game to get your own equipment that's pretty decent. You can craft it yourself, or do any number of quests that give better gear, or just kill mobs for gear. Particularly with the increased drop rates of solo mobs, the economy is often not even an issue.

 

You know id love to get some stats on the economy from EQ2, hope someone eventually writes a thesis on it. Anyone know if they have released any info on it?

epic

 

Well, I don't know. What I do know is that SoE recently introduced some changes that should really allow the economy of the game to stay great as the game ages (as I said, I personally feel it's good now). Specifically, they made it so that all equipment that anybody would want to make use of is attunable. This means that each piece of gear can only ever be used by one person, though gear can be sold to other players until it is used that first time. Once you are done with a piece of gear, you can sell it to vendors for a decent amount of cash.

Now, I'm sure you're already thinking of the obvious drawback to this scheme: you can't give your friend that breastplate or sword that you're no longer using. In response, I just have to say that it was either this, or SoE found some other way to keep equipment from circulating in-game forever. Specifically, they'd need to implement a system where equipment decays over time or somesuch. Given the challenge to obtain some pieces, this clearly wasn't an option.

So, what EQ2 now has is a system whereby all of the good gear that's out there will still retain its value even after years of EQ2 being available. This means that you'll still be able to go out and kill that named mob in Everfrost for some good gear and it'll still be worth a lot on the broker, provided you can't use it yourself, even after the game's been out for five years.

Edit: I guess the meaning of a good economy is basically that you can go out and play for an hour or so and feel like you've been able to earn some money. This definitely exists currently in EQ2. With the new equipment drop rates, after an hour of soloing I can earn anywhere from 10-20gp, and that's just by selling stuff to vendors: I might be able to get more if I bothered to go into broker mode. And yes, this money feels like a significant amount, too.

 

I have no problem with many of the changes made, i actually think it should have been there from the start.

You make some good points in that post. This is the first MMORPG ive played and still getting the hang of some of the structure they entail.

epic

 

At some point, I'd really like one of these games to make their "No Drop" limited to account rather than character. I understand the reasoning for it, but I don't like picking up quest rewards or having outgrown items that I can't do ANYTHING to but sell to a vendor. :? It would be nice if I could use them for my alts.

Overall, I'm not sure this would have too much detrimental affect, but since I tend to play a LOT of alts, I'd like to see it show up. I mean, I still earned/bought the item, so I'd like to still have access to it at least on other characters of mine on that server.

 

I don't know. I mean, the way EQ2's economy is currently working, you can usually purchase gear on the broker for not a whole lot more than it sells to vendors (and, what's more, a higher-level alt will be able to completely outfit an alt 5-10 levels below without too much dent in his/her pocketbook). So, unless you're talking about heritage quest items (which I don't personally think should be transferrable at all), I don't think this is much of an issue in EQ2.

 

Anything that get's "No Dropped." In WoW that's a lot, and it's getting so that EQ has a whole lot of Attunable items too, now. I figured EQ2 would probably have more at the higher levels, but it may not. I know it's been pretty good in the earlier levels, but those don't usually tend to resemble reality in 40+.

Regardless, I'm talking about any game that seriously uses attunable items, which some do to a large degree.

 

I think WoW has it right so far.

Bind on pick up - all quest rewards, so can only be sold to vendors if not useful. Quest XP main way to get XP so I still do quests even if item reward is not useful, and then sell it for coin. If you do quests at the right level, then class related quest rewards are usually better than random drops. Course the auction house may have better made stuff, but that hits the pocket

Bind on equip - most mob drops. So can be sent to alt's or sold to vendors or usually sold at AH for several times npc vendor offer price.

 

All items worth equipping in EQ2 are now attunable. They can be sold to vendors when you're done using them, but cannot be transferred to other players if you've used them.

 

Pretty much like EQ2, though quest exp means a bit less (they did increase it recently, however). Only difference as far as items in EQ2 goes is that all Heritage quest items are no-trade. All other quest items are just attunable.

 

i read somewhere that WoW just banned a few thousand accounts. These accounts were being used to farm plat/gold and sell on outside websites.

true?

If so, i hope eq2 follows in that footstpeps

 

I think attuneable is a far better solution than no drop. if anyone remembers eq1, at first relatively few things were no drop, mostly just quest items so other people couldnt do them for you. even dragon loot was tradeable. after Velious it seemed like everything was no drop to combat twinking.

this way, say im the only high level wizard in my guild and we've been raiding the fabulous dungeon of zorvnok and the magical staff of blackwolf the dragonmaster drops the one night im not there it isnt going to rot. someone can loot it for me. In eq1 all sorts of high end gear rotted because no one on hand could use it.

sure this encourages farming, but once attuned, the item is taken out of the economy and cant be resold

 

true, according to a post by the devs on their forums

 

No Drop was the first solution to come out, so it was the one used for such a long time. Attunable does indeed make sense, but you'll notice even WoW uses "No Drop" the same sort of way--for good loot off the boss mobs. EQ has more legacy with it, but ALL games really want you yourself playing through and experiencing (and spending the time and $$ of course ) to get some of the very best items.

At any rate, WoW is the main game it irritates me on that you can't at the very least utilize old equipment on alts, because SO DAMN MUCH of the game will Soulbind/Attune--pretty much every useful weapon, armor piece, and enhancement jewelry. That's going a bit too overboard, IMHO, so there should be SOME extras involved. The NPC tends to be painfully low for something you loved using for a few levels, and will typically be well under what you bought it for. (Provided you bought it, but because the game has a Diablo-like item randomness, you tend to have to go through a few different iterations of the same weapon--or use the AH frequently--to get the stats you want.)

You'd be surprised at how capable EQ players were at getting their low level alts to the raid zone to be able to use said unneeded items. Of course later it changed to "alts who were near the minimum level requirement"... though the ones that scaled tended to still be good even for fresh newbies. Hehe.

 

what level you talking about? Because I totally disagree. Between random mob drops and AH you can twink as much as you like under 20-25th IMO. So what if a few things are better self quested - thats for the good of the game.

 

Well, in all the raids I've been on, there's always been a strict "no gear for alts" policy. Our guild in EQ2 allows guild members who did not attend a raid to spend DKP on an item if nobody at the raid bids. In theory you could, if you had DKP on an alt, then buy equipment on a raid you attended with your main.

However, since we're really focused on the high-end game, there really isn't any time for alts in our guild. At least, not right now.

 

You can twink if you have cash--but that's the same with any game. I'd rather be able to use the items I myself got however I feel like. Considering a lot of WoW's items (and the main ones you end up using) are the randomly-generated drops, you can't always find one in the AH with the exact stats you had. And you get to pay--or RE-pay--for basically the same thing you had before while being forced to dump your old item for far less value to an NPC.

EQ1, man. ^_^ Totally different environments. And while I'm sure some guilds had similar policies, most would make sure nothing uber went to waste.

 

Well again I disagree, nearly all randomly generated drops are bind on equip, not on pick-up. Certainly at the level I'm playing at (23rd currently). So if you want to twink - don't use an item! It's for the good of the game IMO that you can't re-use something that's been used. None of my alts are the same class, so I don't need to re-use armour/weapons. e.g. If I pick up cloth or leather or staves with my Warrior I save them if I don't need money for my alts.

 

Actually, what we do is if nobody wants a specific item, it's sold on the broker, and we then make use of the money for heritage quests. This will only last so long, of course, so we're considering other ways to make use of that cash.