Curse

Baba_Beast · May 08, 2007, 05:13 AM // 05:13

the fact si that ther's no more gold farming. before, people where farming more than 1m in money so what they do? buy ectos to store the cash.

but now there's no more money farming. so what people do? they farm ectos and sell it righ after (50%+ at the merchant cause the dont wanna waste time) so price drops.

before patch, people where converting farmed cash in ectos but now people convert farmed ectos in cash. simple

Envious · May 08, 2007, 06:43 AM // 06:43

Ectos are at 7k last time I checked.

Hyper.nl · May 08, 2007, 07:11 AM // 07:11

I's not just the ecto's. (almost) everything has dropped in price. Dyes, many rare crafting materials, domain of anguish gemstones. Runes also. Superior Vigor is 20k instead of 30-32k.

So, I guess that gold is getting scarse a bit, at least there seems to be less gold in the market as before the hard mode.

Sparks Dawnbringer · May 08, 2007, 07:23 AM // 07:23

People are selling Ecto to buy new pets. And lots of bots ar farming undead in Hard mode.

foo · May 08, 2007, 08:52 AM // 08:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Levi Garett

Ecto sucks.

Lockpicks ftw!

WTS Godly Crys Sword! 100k+1000 Lockpicks!!!

For real though....at least they would retain their value!

That's a real good idea. with a going value of 1.3, those things are the best alternative to gold now.

RTSFirebat · May 08, 2007, 08:55 AM // 08:55

Lower Ecto price = a good thing.

When will people understand that?

HayesA · May 08, 2007, 02:36 PM // 14:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moloch Vein

Ectoplasm will never be able to hold truly steady as a currency. For a real currency, you will have to use items that either are unfarmable, or as close to unfarmable as possible.

Interestingly enough, there is such an item - rubies. Rubies are practically unfarmable. While some creatures yield salvage with a small probability of converting into a gem, these notoriously stop dropping after enough runs. Everyone can collect trade contracts to ensure himself of some minor fortune, but this is a completely nonviable large-scale farming strategy. Also rubies and other gemstones drop everywhere, but only very, very rarely.

Although you're close. If you think about it, what is currency? If you take a look at the American Dollar. The dollar used to be backed by gold, and silver. Now it's backed on the "word of the government." And that's it; the promise that the government will pay you back. Currency is often built around trust; a trust that you are owed this dollar if you decide to cash it in. So, in reality; ecto cannot be a type of currency. Nor can any item which can be farmed. The only reason gold is a currency is because it's just simply readily available. I mean, every creature in the game, just about, drops gold.

I believe anet should broaden the cap on the amount of gold you can trade to players. Instead of 100k, they should make it unlimited. That would effectively reduce, if not remove in total, the need to have a material as a currency. The cost of ecto would plummet, as it's no longer really demanded.

King's Spectre · May 08, 2007, 02:42 PM // 14:42

What better way for anet to balance the scales? Just about all wealth beyond the gold limit is tied up in Ectos. So you limit cash flow into the system with the drop scaling and you keep rare material drops constant, passively chipping away at the "old wealth" by degrading ecto prices.

You have to be a little careful. If you trash it too much you can really torq-off a player segment that generates a lot of buzz in the forums. It has to feel like something that just kind of happened.

If you want to float a conspiracy theory, how about: the "fix" to the drop scaling (excluding rare materials, etc) was not a response to the 1000-post threads in both forums, but a planned thing. Let them stew for a day and then throw them a bone (that also happens to trips up ecto hoarders). If it wasn't planned, it certainly worked out well.

I would be *shocked* if a GW:EN grinder armor used ectos. Imagine the ecto sell-off when it's discovered that the new ultimate vanity armor uses something else.

Hyper Cutter · May 08, 2007, 04:31 PM // 16:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by King's Spectre

I would be *shocked* if a GW:EN grinder armor used ectos. Imagine the ecto sell-off when it's discovered that the new ultimate vanity armor uses something else.

I mean, there's currently no use for diamonds...

Sir Skullcrasher · May 08, 2007, 04:57 PM // 16:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by RTSFirebat

Lower Ecto price = a good thing.

When will people understand that?

I agree ecto price low = FoW for me in few more years

When will all the rarity in GW drop on prices too?