Gold Sinks

So I've noticed that prices are starting to inflate, and I've heard some discussion about gold sinks, so I figured i'd make a thread where we could all discuss gold sinks and ideas.

 

One that I came up with, is for Elementalism users. They currently have unweave, to get gold from Talisman pieces. I'm unsure how much gold this gives, but perhaps this could also be "weave" which converts -excessively- large amounts of gold INTO talisman pieces? This is just an idea, and as a Sylvan i'm of course biased but it would be good to some for a few reasons. A pretty large gold sink which benefits all of us kind of, and allows those who would rather buy credits for gold to get talisman pieces without working for them. Of course, this could also devalue Talismans, but it's just an idea.

 

Also, I didn't put this in classleads because I think most goldsinks will not be class skills....

 

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Comments

  • This won't really work. It's only one class, and catering to a specific group of people (High-level people that can probably bash the Talismans up in a couple days)

    But yes, you are correct. There needs to be more gold sinks. A very obvious one would be to allow cities to purchase expansions at a very, very high gold cost. 

  • Player-donated gold. But that was just a general idea. Basically, the only things you HAVE to buy from a goldsink are mounts, arrows, comms, and other stupid piddly things no one cares about, like decorations and furniture.  Perhaps buying artifacts with gold would be viable? 

  • KyrraKyrra Australia
    The few auctions every year are a wonderful gold sink. I kind of wish they happened more often. I spent over four million on my bagpipes.
    (D.M.A.): Cooper says, "Kyrra is either the most innocent person in the world, or the girl who uses the most innuendo seemingly unintentionally but really on purpose."

  • More common auctions for expendable items would be a great gold sink. For example, auction an item that lets you use, say, 50 tracking skills on Veiled people without owning a Veil, and have one or two of those come up every few months, along with a vial of stat elixir or, hell, anyone else remember the awe of someone having a vial of Metacure? (Anyone else remember Metacure and Farag's Rot?)

    Basically, things people can drop their bank accounts on and the end up expending in a month, and thus could be semi-automated and not take attention or time away from the devs.

    Bydar, a garish-looking trader says, "I'm not a man, I'm an experience."
  • Auctions are good, but they're rare, and they really only sink gold out of the pockets of the relatively small percentage of players who have a few million gold on hand at a given time, or credits they're willing to sell to get it. Outright buying artefacts with gold probably isn't going to happen, but what would be cool (and has been suggested in other threads a few times) would be making the single-use artefacts like heron feathers and ethereal shrouds available in game for gold. 

    As a gold sink, that has the advantage over auctions that it sinks gold from a broader section of the player base, and in small enough quantities that people aren't encouraged to buy credits to sell for gold for them, which largely nullifies the sinking effect. It also has an advantage over the idea of talismans for gold, insofar as the market for talismans will tend to saturate after an initial rush, assuming that the completed talismans are permanent; if they're temporary, then selling the talisman pieces has the same effect as selling the completed item outright, but in that case, I'd as soon cut out the middle step and just sell the item.
  • Kei said:
    More common auctions for expendable items would be a great gold sink. For example, auction an item that lets you use, say, 50 tracking skills on Veiled people without owning a Veil, and have one or two of those come up every few months, along with a vial of stat elixir or, hell, anyone else remember the awe of someone having a vial of Metacure? (Anyone else remember Metacure and Farag's Rot?)

    Basically, things people can drop their bank accounts on and the end up expending in a month, and thus could be semi-automated and not take attention or time away from the devs.

    This came up while I was typing the above. The smaller auctions for temporary items is kind of in intermediate option between auctions as they are and selling single-use items. The item that gives you x senses on a veiled person would basically be a bulk purchase of shrouds.

    My main concern with that, which you allude to in the end of your post, is required admin attention. From what I've seen of auctions, they seem generally to require pretty significant attention. I'm not entirely sure why that's the case, or how difficult it would be to reduce that effect for smaller scale auctions, but if it can't be fully or almost-fully automated, it's probably not worth it.
  • There are plenty of arties you could put in as short decay items with high costs. the level 1 stat things wouldn't be combat breaking, but give enough of a boost that people would spend 100k to get them for a couple of months. Permanent ones cost like 3.5m though, so finding a balance between "I would actually pay that much" and "why would I ever buy it with credits when I could just get the gold version" might be hard.
  • Even WC/SS sales probably aren't sufficient to be a noticeable sink.
  • Ironically the cost is too high to be a decent sink. For most people (who don't buy credits to sell specifically for the thing) getting 20million is a huge time investment. I know I toss around 50-100k like it is nothing, but the 2.5m for a boat is a huge psychological hurdle for me. If things are priced from 50-250k you will drain a lot more than single things of a few million.

  • edited February 2014
    Um... are people having a hard time finding things to spend their gold on? Because I could spend -all- of it. I promise. That seems almost impossible.


  • I'm skeptical that this would have the desired effect because the market for regular talismans is dragons, and what dragons can do better than anyone is go out and powerbash up a huge amount of gold. It doesn't count as a goldsink if people are paying for it with gold they generate from PVE specifically for that purpose.

    Ships are a great goldsink because they're a barrier to a huge amount of desirable content: lots of areas, quests, other activities like diving, and a unique form of PVP. They're a great prestige possession. They cost a *lot* of gold - the right amount to feel achievable, but also tempt people to dump a few hundred creds in the credit market for the immediate 2.5 mil. They have numerous upgrades with their own portioned-off costs. They have constant upkeep, meaning they never stop being a goldsink. And they can be org-owned, spreading the gold vacuum cleaner around everyone's couch cushion cracks. When ships were implemented, the effect on the credit market was noticeable and immediate.
    image
  • From a wandering trader who has bound crowns as his wares? Like Kortoxian but less common to see.
    I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
  • With impending trade skill separation I'd suggest anvil/laboratory/ouroboros purchasable for homes. Like 400k including non-decay
    I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
  • Holy shit. A Shecks post I agree with. Except for the cap in price. Gotta let the free trade roll, man. 

  • Ideally a gold sink would be sufficiently expensive that it's going to remove a sizeable chunk of gold from the game, sufficiently cheap that people will actually pay for it, and not something that only has to be bought once. 400k for an anvil or whatever in your house is great, but that's a one time expense. Like ships, there'll be an immediate noticeable effect on credit prices when they first become available, but prices will gradually increase afterwards after the initial wave as sales taper off rapidly.

    Shecks' idea is interesting, but I'm not sure about it being Mayan crowns. They really work best as a promotional item that's available in a limited capacity, especially given the amount of administration time devoted to coming up with new Shop of Wonders items. I'm not sure there'd be enough new items released regularly enough if they could be bought all year round.
  • Allow Lupine Collar equipped mount owners to 'buy' their mounts coming back instantaneously at, say... 2,000 gold per riding level of the mount, from a specific denizen (so it can't be done mid-combat, or, at least, not easily). I bet that'd eat up a ton of gold, I know I'd end up throwing away a crapload of money on it!
  • Sarapis said:
    Gold sink: Wand of Zap.

    1 billion gold.

    Get to work people.
    Well, I suppose I have something to save up for now. 
  • TharvisTharvis The Land of Beer and Chocolate!
    Sarapis said:
    Gold sink: Wand of Zap.

    1 billion gold.

    Get to work people.
    @Sarapis I'll take two!
    Aurora says, "Tharvis, why are you always breaking things?!"
    Artemis says, "You are so high maintenance, Tharvis, gosh."
    Tecton says, "It's still your fault, Tharvis."

  • Sarapis said:

    Gold sink: Wand of Zap.


    1 billion gold.

    Get to work people.
    No prob. I'll just sell another 35 shops at 31 million gold each.
    I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
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