Regnum, the economy, dwindling wealth...

[drunk_harlot]

Hi all.

I've recently been increasingly aware of the economy issues in RO. With Trix (and I'm not implying other classes don't have similar difficulties), I rarely make any significant gold grinding, and on the occasion I do get a few drops to sell, the profit is eaten up within less than an hour of war. I don't think it's the most pressing issue with RO at the moment, but it is an important one. If it wasn't for the help of other players and gold on alternate characters, I think many high level players would struggle to pay repair bills, let alone have spare gold to spare on fort upgrades or gem installations. I frequently borrow (borrow being somewhat inappropriate as I'm unlikely to be able to pay it back in the near future) sums of 100 to 500k to cover my arrows and repairs.

So, I thought we could discuss intelligent and elegant changes that would improve the situation, and should the developers have something imminently planned, give them a chance to indicate anything on the horizon that is relevant to this issue.

Thanks for your time.

[UmarilsStillHere]

Hit 50, have about 5-6 million, once that runs dry start a new char (mage for example and leech cash from that, or grind naked with initiation arrows for 5 months.

[-Edge-]

Mmm, I was talking about this with a friend today too. I'll cover up some problems I have come to realize.

Personally I don't have a problem with making money, or at least enough to repair my equipment. Why? Because that is another problem:

-Grinding spots are irregular. Some monsters drop totally different loot, with totally different values. The difference being so vast in some spots that like you said, that it creates problems. The follow up problem:

-That some players have an exceptionally hard time making money, while other players can have hordes of it. Which leads to the main problem, that gold itself has no real value. How many people actually trade with gold? People just try to buy Magnanite for ridiculous prices, they are lucky to get a seller. Other then that Magnanite has taken over in the economy. People will not trade their items for gold, they will trade something equal, or for Magnanite.

-Boss loot is a joke. It sells for something near normal mob loot. For something that should be paying off, it sure doesn't pay off. Also, how come you can buy something for 150k, then it sells at the merchant for 1/10th the price? Did you also know that gold is stolen? (10% if I'm correct) When you upgrade a fort. You put for example 400k into a fort, surprisingly the enemy that captures it does not get 400k. Why not?

If you use Premium you will know how much money you can make off Repair Hammers. I repair my armor normally after using it to 70% of its use. The typical repair cost is 30-60k. And I make around 60-80k (100k if I'm lucky in drops) which leaves a small profit for me. A player with a Repair Hammer would not only make all the money they get off loot, but they could repair their armor fully when its at 5% Durability. F2P players have no chance at this, and this is what leads certain players to accumulate more gold then others.

I think that covers nicely the points I feel lead to imbalance in the economy. But that just covers up getting gold, there is the totally different problem of its use after that. Which is a very small use.

[Brother-brian]

grind on ghosts. I find they give awesome drops. At least in Alsius.

Another thing, try not to buy armor/weapons.... ever. I try to only use wht I get in drops, and what I cant use, i try to trade with others before i sell to a merchant. One mans trash is another mans treasure.

Example: Im a knight, Im fighting ghosts, and I get 500 arrows (non-special) and a special long bow with some nice stats. But I cant use them. I could sell them, get maybe 20-30k for them, and that can buy me 1 piece of armor at a merchant, if im lucky... non-special, common armor.

OR, I can announce it over realm chat, an archer pms you about it, and he has a "special" knight weapon that he cant use, and was about to just sell to a merchant himself. NOW you meet at gate, trade, you both get better weapons, and save huge cash. And theyre things you can possibly buy at a merchant.

Some people will buy gems, magna rocks, almost anything you get. And try to pass down your old armor to someone who might need it, so he/she doesnt have to spend all that GP on "common" armor as well.

[ArchmagusArcana]

In almost 1M exp after level 50 i got 4 minor gems, one major gem and 5 or 6 non special crap drops. Oh and i think maybe one level 36 SP bow.

On my lock i have plenty of money i guess, but im using equipment that dropped at level 40 for me, or was gifted to me. Same thing on my barb, almost every single piece i have i gained around 40 or so on inner beach, or was gifted it. On Ra knight, almost all of it was donated to me.

Perhaps it is just me, but it seems like once you hit 50 you get about 1% of the drops that you normally would get.....I seem to recall having to stop and sell every half hour to hour of grinding in Alsius OC because of all the drops i got; mostly garbage, but still, it was at least a drop that i could sell.

I SEEM to have better luck in Syrtis side of PP on cyclops and such, but still since 50 on my lock, the drop rate is pathetic.

[Angelwinged_Devil]

the economy of gold has been an issue in regnum for a long time, they made the income of gold go down, but the prices for items didn't go down either which makes it harder when buying equipment (not hitting mages as hard though)

[drunk_harlot]

Many of the above ideas are totally useful for conserving gold, and surviving the higher questless levels financially, but it wasn't exactly what I was getting at. I guess I was more intrested in discussing how to apply reasonable changes to the game so high level characters can cover their repair bills and arrow costs, and on occasion have some spare for fort upgrades and new features like gem installation, and achieve this independantly of gold from other characters. Basically a state of independant economic stability once you hit 50. I'm not against some effort being involved to maintain this state, but grinding desperately with no armour and low level arrows, would seem to be a flaw in the state of the economy as it stands.

Clearly if people want to continue discussion regarding coping with the situation as it is now, I'm sure that will be useful for people to.

[Ulti19]

I agree that there are problems getting gold to cover repair costs and put in fort wars. I spend around 90-120 k a day on repairs alone if i fight in wz, hich i love to do. It takes me like 3 hours of grinding or more just to get the drops to cover that sometimes. Sometimes a little less, that's when i consider myself lucky. But i don't think i should have to start a new character just to pay for this one that took long to get to lv 50 in the first place. I hope they increase drop rates significantly. As to how to help ur financial problems, buy a horse and run around the world collecting magna then sell high^^

[Comp]

I think the best solution is to modify whatever algorithm used to manage how much equipment gets damaged. I'm a hunter and I still have 50k repairs; however, I also have to buy friggin arrows every other day.

[ArchmagusArcana]

Originally Posted by drunk_harlot

Many of the above ideas are totally useful for conserving gold, and surviving the higher questless levels financially, but it wasn't exactly what I was getting at. I guess I was more intrested in discussing how to apply reasonable changes to the game so high level characters can cover their repair bills and arrow costs, and on occasion have some spare for fort upgrades and new features like gem installation, and achieve this independantly of gold from other characters. Basically a state of independant economic stability once you hit 50. I'm not against some effort being involved to maintain this state, but grinding desperately with no armour and low level arrows, would seem to be a flaw in the state of the economy as it stands.

Clearly if people want to continue discussion regarding coping with the situation as it is now, I'm sure that will be useful for people to.

Im not sure that we want to go down this road, but lots of games let you invest in things....Like a mini stock market (though would operate more like mutual funds or Certificate of Deposit). You invest so much money, say up to 1,000,000, and receive 1% back on it per day. Or something. To make it simple, say that the realm you fight for recognizes the great work that you do (once you hit 50) and gives you a daily stipend of 10k gold, accumulating up to 1 week (70k gold) if not collected, it will only accumulate to 70k, preventing people from letting an account collect dust and then entering the game a year later with 3.64M gold. 70k a week will obviously not cover repairs and arrows for people that spend a lot of time in the war zone, but at least you will have some money there if and when you need it.

Clan banks could give you a rate of return too......whenever they decide to get real clan banks working....Soon(tm)

Truly, i think that the best idea is a recurring quest, say once a week per person (or maybe per account). Not some goddamn kill 800000000000 wild asshairs dwelling deep in enemy territory. More like (what has been suggested 10k times) a bounty hunt. A repeat of kill 20 <realm> players, for <$$$$$$$> each time you do it. Better than grind, though no drops, it would allow you to pay for SOME repairs while not having to stop warring just to have money for things.