1 Reply by Elsa

(131 replies, posted in General discussion)

Being able to generate some random amount of NIC a day, month or year doesn't mean there isn't a fundamental problem with the market, only that there are ways to work it regardless.

The problem as I see it comes down to a big game market model being shoved into a small population game. That's it. Entire production cycle, from research to prototyping to manufacturing to sale would work fine in a large game with a sizable chunk of population falling outside of special handshake market clubs and self sufficient corps. This game just isn't there yet. Internal markets, high taxes, limited buy/sell orders, etc. simply compound the problem by further depleting the pool of available buyers and sellers. Add the kernel research cluster**** and you have what we have now - slow, understocked market with only a few select areas that allow for fast turnover. It's workable for more advanced producers, outright punishing to newbies and frustrating to those in between.

Go to forum: General discussion

2 Reply by Elsa

(60 replies, posted in General discussion)

Extra 30sec! 'Tis an outrage! 'Tis a slap in the face of this TOS-abiding, paying subscriber. That's it, I'm off to play MMOs that RESPECT my time...

*hops on a gryphon*
/g afk 10min, taxi

*sets autopilot for a popular trade hub*
/15 jumps, afk the rest of the night

*pulls out magic carpet*
/no autorun on this thing? are you serious?

Hmm.. renews Perp subscription. big_smile

Go to forum: General discussion

3 Reply by Elsa

(165 replies, posted in General discussion)

The point in making T1 "crap" cheaper to manufacture is to give new indy players one set of items they can produce for the market. Right now they can't compete - lack of funds means no research and low EP means very high costs on a few items they do know how to make. This change gives them something they can sell at small profit while they gain enough market knowledge, EP and capital to graduate to T2 stuff.

Go to forum: General discussion

4 Reply by Elsa

(165 replies, posted in General discussion)

As far as I'm concerned, the value of any given commodity is determined by its market price, not its source. Whether any particular batch of espitium or epriton was ninja mined, farmed along with plasma or dropped into my lap by a confused tooth fairy is absolutely irrelevant - it can be sold for a certain amount, and that's what goes into my cost calculations. Combat players do not normally sell their espitium at a fraction of its market price because they got some kernels and plasma to go along with it, so why would I?

My main concern with this change has to do with market availability. It just doesn't look like there is much reason for beta corps to sell epi back to alpha, so we'll be down to ninja mined stuff and leftovers from various corp arrangements.

Go to forum: General discussion

5 Reply by Elsa

(165 replies, posted in General discussion)

Out of curiosity, would you be able to supply 100% of your needs by buying on the market? If you can, then by farming T1 mods you're simply choosing to pay for eptriton with your time instead of NIC.

If there is not enough espitium/eptriton available on the market in general - as in, it's just not there to be bought in sufficient quantities - that's a much more serious problem.

Go to forum: General discussion

6 Reply by Elsa

(165 replies, posted in General discussion)

Smokeyii wrote:

While I think it's nice that I'll be able to make t1 sensor amps without requiring espitium, what happens if I decide to make t2, and those DO require espitium, but I cannot get any from recycling.

How about... buying it from people who don't mind being shot at? On open market, perhaps? A foreign concept in this game, I know. wink

Go to forum: General discussion

7 Reply by Elsa

(34 replies, posted in Balancing)

As it stands right now, replacing ammo and lost equipment as a trial is a rather expensive affair, at least relative to the amount of NIC real newbie trials are generating. Allowing them to see the market doesn't address this.

If NIC transfers from multiple trials to active accounts are a concern, why not cap the amount of NIC trial accounts can hold and give them a very limited access to the market? Perhaps allow trials to make "blind" purchases from the lowest sell orders instead of NPC orders, and no selling?

As far as Warcarft goes, it's not a very good model to look at. RMT transactions there are done on fully active accounts and fairly commonplace. $10 to open a new account is just a cost of doing business.

Go to forum: Balancing

8 Reply by Elsa

(50 replies, posted in Feature discussion and requests)

The fundamental difference between production and mining is that mining is adding resources to the economy, while manufacturing is only converting them. Normally, MMO economies are balanced around players producing various resources and built-in sinks to drain some of those resources back out of the economy. Add dependencies to make players trade their resources, and you have a functional market. Since production is not putting anything extra into the game, it can be done AFK. 

The trouble I'm having with auto-bots:

1. Extra ore. Based on what I've seen of the market so far, I'm having doubts whether there is enough demand to absorb additional ore. If not, prices will crash, making any miner-only auto-bot bonuses close to meaningless.

2. Another step toward self-sufficiency. To have an active market, there should be reasons for players to trade. So far, I've seen very few. Everybody just makes their own stuff from their own farmed mats (or their corp does). That said, I'm still very much a newb, so I could be wrong on this one. I hope I'm wrong on this one, actually.

3. Balance. If these bots are very EP-costly, only hardcore miners would be running them. This defeats the purpose of adding them as a source of low level income for non-miners. On the other hand, if they are available to everyone, should the material cost of items be balanced around players running auto-bots or not? If no, see #1 above. If yes, is it really any different from what we have now?

Go to forum: Feature discussion and requests

9 Reply by Elsa

(74 replies, posted in Recruitment forum)

I'd be interested in joining as well, although as a newbie I don't have much to offer at the moment. I'd like to do research and prototyping, but for now I'm busy mining to support my expensive kernel buying habits, running missions for rep and making an unholy mess of my extensions.

I'm also PST based, playing mostly evenings.

Go to forum: Recruitment forum

10 Reply by Elsa

(2 replies, posted in General discussion)

That's it! Both were insured. Thank you so much!

Go to forum: General discussion

11 Topic by Elsa

(2 replies, posted in General discussion)

I have two bots - a castel and a termis - that I can't pack for some reason. Both are completely empty, fully repaired, and inactive, yet there is no "package" option in the dropdown menu for either of those. If I attempt to sell them or place them inside a cargo hold, I get an "item has to be packed first!" error message. I can pack other bots I own just fine. Any ideas? What am I missing?

Thanks in advance!

Go to forum: General discussion

12 Reply by Elsa

(44 replies, posted in General discussion)

Yes, thank you! In my years of gaming, I've never seen a team this open, honest and welcoming (and this is coming from a pampered Warcraft player, no less). It looks like I've finally found a new home.

Thanks again for your hard work; it's very much appreciated!

Go to forum: General discussion