Curse

KurtTheBehemoth · Feb 15, 2006, 09:24 AM // 09:24

Areanet is providing the average player with an opportunity. The release of Factions will momentarily shake the Guild Wars economy. Later this Month the PVE free trial will take place. Now is a scary time for all the ectoplasm horders here and abroad. Most players don't realize this but we are all being scammed. Didn't it seem odd when you first started playing that a sword could cost 50k but the average drop was less than 20G. The reason prices are so high in the game is directly attributed to the price of ectoplasms. Ectoplasms are essentially the the diamonds that run guild wars. Because they are used by the enormously wealthy (De Beers like) horders as currency. On the internet you can find several companies that sell in game currency for real world cash. They use player and computer controlled farmers to strip mine all the good items and a large portion of the Under World ectos. This is where the hording and price control comes in. NPC merchants prices are a direct reflection of what has been bought and sold through them all over the map. Not everyone wants FoW armor but enough do to create a market for ectos outside of their use as currency. And this is how the horders milk all the gold out of the economy. Lets say there is an unusually high drop rate for ectos one day. That means that more ectos will be in circulation but because it takes so many ectos for FOW armor the purchases of armor won't increase dramatically from day to day. The result from a day like this is that NPC prices drop by 500g. This makes the ebay gold selling players worry that their stash of 1000 ectos is in danger. With mutual unspoken agreement the horders sell a portion of their ectos to the NPC traders. Bam! less ectos in the economy and the prices go back up. To make money they do the same thing. Artificially raise the NPC price and players must buy from the horders for 500g more per ecto. Its estimated that Currency for Cash companies hold dozens of accounts. Let me give you an example of how much money a small company could make using this strategy. Lets say a company has 10 accounts that 1000 ectos a piece. Prices rise artificially by 1K and the company sells 5000 ectos 1000 x 5000= 5 million Gold. They then sell that gold right back to impatient players for real cash. This kind of price gouging flows throughout the whole economy. If you have millions in gold then its not a big deal to spend some buying up perfect and near perfect weapons/items in the game. All prices go up. Horders prosper and the person who only can play for a couple of hours a day suffers.

There is an answer.

Boycott Ectoplasms. Bring back the balance. If everyone stopped buying ectos the price would plummet. Fortunes would crumble. This is beginning to happen with the anticipation of Factions having different armor sets. People are saving their money for those and not feeding the beast that ruins Guild Wars. This is our chance. I offer more proof that it could happen. Look what happened to the greens. Some are still out of reach for early players but because the opening of the free passage to the Tombs prices are dropping. IN 1 month Victo's Maul went from 100k to todays price of just 25k and its still dropping. Weapons prices are to unstable for the horders to base their fortunes on. If we hit them in their overflowing ecto pockets during the Factions release Guild wars players could see a price drop like never before. Instead of slaving away trying to get the best gear, players could spend more time actually playing the game and enjoying it.

This could be a reality, and not just a pie in the sky dream of mine. Rally support for the cause. This gouging must come to an end.

NEVER GIVE UP > NEVER SURRENDER

VGJustice · Feb 15, 2006, 09:42 AM // 09:42

*ahem*

BWAHAHAHAHAHA X'D

Seriously, ban the use of Ectos as trade goods? What next, ban Shards? Honestly, I think you're giving Ectos too much credit. What makes them desierable is the FoW armor. That's it. The ONLY reason people use Ectos for cash is because it's a fairly stable and reliable comodity, farmers and bots be damned. As long as FoW armor exists, there will be a demand for Ecto. And, at 25 (or is it 50? ) for each piece of armor, that's a lot of Ectos for each player. Yes, some players have made a small personal fortune off of Ectos one way or another, but I don't see what's wrong with our current system.

Let's look at the rare drops: They are random. I've got a friend who was dirt flat broke (less than 10k gold) before he got a beautiful Dead Bow from a chest. He sold it for 60k, and got himself some nice armor with some nice runes. That's the beauty of the current system, the little guy that gets a lucky drop just hit the jackpot. He goes from nuthin' to rich in one trading session. Yay for him, he just got a nice sized piece of the "horders" treasure pile, and continues to play off and on.

There is, however, one part of your post that disturbs me to no end. This major overtone of "The Rich vs. The Poor". I've heard this way too many times to count, in game and out. I'm kinda tired of it. Why do you even care what the "Rich" do? They represent a very small minority. And it's not like there's limited drops or anything. So, what gives with trying to make a legitimatly rich player, who worked his tail off since launch, suddenly broke because someone else farms a lot? That's hardly fair, and that seems to be the theme or your topic here: Make it all fair.

Let me give you a reality check: Life is not fair. Deal with it. Some people get a lucky random drop, so they buy a Guild Hall. Or, some work hard at PvP and get great drops in the Hall of Heroes. Some people know how to take advantage of a sudden price drop, and get millions by being in the right place at the right time. And, yeah, some people farm to excess. And you know what else? It's a game. A game where the best equipment is provided to those that actually need it (via a PvP Only character and some Faction). This game is all about player skill and has little to do with accumulated wealth. If you think that having a huge pile of money is all that it's about, then I think you missed the point.

Avarre · Feb 15, 2006, 09:44 AM // 09:44

How about no. Greens dropped because more people went out and got then rather than whining, not by boycott. I'm afraid to type any more for fear I'll get myself banned flaming this abominable thread.

Hockster · Feb 15, 2006, 09:54 AM // 09:54

Wah wah wah boo hoo. Quit whining because you won't/can't/are too lazy to farm for something you want and can't afford.

Caged Fury · Feb 15, 2006, 09:55 AM // 09:55

ggkthx

Avarre · Feb 15, 2006, 09:58 AM // 09:58

Anyways, his starting logic is flawed.

Quote:

The result from a day like this is that NPC prices drop by 500g. This makes the ebay gold selling players worry that their stash of 1000 ectos is in danger. With mutual unspoken agreement the horders sell a portion of their ectos to the NPC traders. Bam! less ectos in the economy and the prices go back up

Player ecto price = based on trader price = goes DOWN when more are sold to the NPC. But plz.

jimmy_logic · Feb 15, 2006, 10:33 AM // 10:33

... and for everything else there is MasterCard.

SilentAssassin · Feb 15, 2006, 10:37 AM // 10:37

... muhahahahahahahabaahaa

thx for the good laugh

LOL

got lah · Feb 15, 2006, 10:55 AM // 10:55

ROFL LOL THAT'S HILARIOUS OMG.

Someone please move this to Off-Topic and Absurd. He probably didn't see that section while he was posting.

Rayea · Feb 15, 2006, 11:00 AM // 11:00

well, i guess you can understand the logic.....*eyes cross*
but then again, lill-peeps like me cant afford to even *look* at an ecto

(and here was me worrying he was talking about those that hoard anything in general..Whew hhe)

KurtTheBehemoth · Feb 15, 2006, 11:03 AM // 11:03

I now see where most of the members of this post stand. If Ecto's are so worthless then what is wrong with boycotting them. Or are you reacting this way because you are afraid? Afraid your precious ecto hordes may soon be worthless. I will be spamming the revolution in different cities. Your underhanded gouging will soon be at an end.

Never Give Up > Never Surrender

Avarre · Feb 15, 2006, 11:04 AM // 11:04

I have two ectos. Its one mega hoard, you know.

KurtTheBehemoth · Feb 15, 2006, 11:07 AM // 11:07

If you are not a horder then why not join the cause. Can't you see the oppression we are under. It doesn't have to be that way.

Rayea · Feb 15, 2006, 11:09 AM // 11:09

kurt, some of us have never even had an ecto....and are dirt poor to begin with also...
(but above begging for a crust in LA...roast Tengu is good enough for the likes of me and mine ^^ why, only yesterday evening, Claud and Misha shared a romantic meal on the LA beach of Baked Tengu and Merman Sushi ^^ *winks* heheh)

Caged Fury · Feb 15, 2006, 11:15 AM // 11:15

Oooh, ooh...roast Tengu...lucky you. I get to chew on bones left by hellhounds.

got lah · Feb 15, 2006, 11:50 AM // 11:50

Why not take your 500g and your hopes of making ectos drop to 100g per so you can buy 5 somewhere else?

Avarre · Feb 15, 2006, 11:52 AM // 11:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by KurtTheBehemoth

If you are not a horder then why not join the cause. Can't you see the oppression we are under. It doesn't have to be that way.

Because I have full fow, around 300k in various stored materials, and I know quite well that it does not take effort to gather ectos and shards. Not even slightly.

You aren't under oppression, what do the hoarders do to you? They are HOARDERS, they just keep things. What do you expect, they will give them to you?

Yakumo · Feb 15, 2006, 12:03 PM // 12:03

Woohoo! A revolution... FANTASTIC! And without knowing, I'm already helping your cause... how great is that? Having no gold is besides the point... but if you want to know how committed I am to the cause, give me 500K and I'll not buy ectos with it... honest...

Psst! What's an ecto?

Dave83 · Feb 15, 2006, 12:53 PM // 12:53

Everyone else said what I was going to. Go farm man, you could have made several k with the time it took you to post that.

SziP · Feb 15, 2006, 01:00 PM // 13:00

MUHAHAHAHAAH ROFLMFAO!!!!!!!!!! Is this serious?, i wouldnt waste my time trying, there are sooo many reasons why u are going to be unsucessful.Here are just a few.
1. When your hard farming pays off and you have no more space in the inventory to store your gold, you do this WTB ECTOS for (x)k each and you put them in bulks in your inventory or invest them in a FoW armor .What am i going to do if they are 1k each, are u crazy .
2. The FoW armor will be avalible to every newb player out there , and wont appreciate the hard work of farming ectos. Except the ones that e-bay it.
3.How people agree with you?....on this forum, your the only one . Have fun wasting time, recruting people in ascalon or even pre(who have no idea what ectos are and make them boycott w/ you).....lol when i think about boycotting in GW.......what a waste of time. lol