LaTale's Controlled Market

Aegelweard · June 2017

Goodness me! This is, probably, one of the best threads I have seen in years.

What I am thinking is that even if there will be a limit as to how much one can charge per, let us say, a gamble box or any other FashionShop-related items, there is still a vast array of dungeon- and craft-generated items that, in accordance with the Original Post that everybody seems to have forgotten, can be sold for how much the seller thinks is fair. I mean items like Palace armor, Lab bases, Synagogue accessories, etc.

Now, I am still sticking to my guns: good and constant supply of necessities can successfully take the role of a price regulator. Remember the last time OGP put Kazno coins - the very best LOLbox they ever had - on sale? Prices on pet herbs, for example, dropped to the ground. I was buying them 1~3m each and I ended up stocking over 240 of them. I have been using them ever since and even now I have around 20 lying in my characters inventory. Same situation happened with 200% IDR nostrums - people were selling them dirt cheap and again I stocked up over 1k of them and have been using them for years and years.

This why I believe that a smart supply-demand strategy is the key factor to a game's success.

And if anything, I would suggest putting Potions of resurrection into NPC shops, alongside supper puzzles. Both these items are as vital as air we breath and such there must be no barrier between the players and these items. NPCs never hoard and never inflate their prices, you know.

Chymes · June 2017

@Aegelweard

Now, I am still sticking to my guns: good and constant supply of necessities can successfully take the role of a price regulator. Remember the last time OGP put Kazno coins - the very best LOLbox they ever had - on sale? Prices on pet herbs, for example, dropped to the ground. I was buying them 1~3m each and I ended up stocking over 240 of them. I have been using them ever since and even now I have around 20 lying in my characters inventory. Same situation happened with 200% IDR nostrums - people were selling them dirt cheap and again I stocked up over 1k of them and have been using them for years and years.

I think having both a regulated system and a healthy flow of supply would be the best route simply because, as the game has already proven, leaving players to decide the prices of items will eventually lead to some type of inflation. Given, Ogp was starving players of items, but even when the events were more regular inflation still occurred the second one event was not featuring said item.

This game already has enough pay to win mechanics to the point where I don't see how having a controlled market would ever be a bad thing.

I do think they need to make the items that are a bread and butter purchasable by npc no matter what though~

Covalence · June 2017

Wouldn't an easier method of supply be KLT's approach to it where the calendar has essential buff potions and the like? I also remember a lot of the issues started when OGP removed holy water boxes and enchant boxes from the fashion shop. The hw boxes weren't as bad as they were replaced with remedies, but losing enchant boxes, to me at least, was one of the worst things to happen in the game. As I'm sure a lot of people here know, that 95% enchant rate does not feel like 95% at all lol. And after the boxes were removed, prices soared from around 3m to 20m and I think 40m later on. Losing the ability to safely enchant my gear without needing to buy a temporary mask from the fashion shop was definitely a turn off. Sorry if this wasn't worded properly as I just kinda woke up lol.

Aegelweard · June 2017

One question is troubling me: how would you calculate the maximum price for a certain item?

The problem is that this system must be in place when the server opens or else it will cause an outrage. "You had your fun for a month or two, now you cannot sell these items for more than X ely". People will react the same way they did to the removal of ely artifacts. Many will get disheartened and leave ("OH, here we go again!! Bad publisher. Bye-bye!"), forum will be filled with threads of rage and dissatisfaction. I have no doubt about that.

But we also have no clue as to how much ely gain we will be able to stack on this server or how easy will it be to get to 1b mark, what kind of prizes and prices they will have for gamble boxes, how great will be the supply of necessities. In other words, our equation is full of unknown variables.

In short: If we are to regulate prices we need specific methods and algorithms to do that. If you have any - I would love to see them.

I do think they need to make the items that are a bread and butter purchasable by npc no matter what though~

Would vote for that any time of the day

AugustineVii · June 2017

I love i hadn't mentioned ogplanet at all in the original post. But everyone seems to focus on it when they want to disagree. The purpose of this concept is to NOT be like ogplanet. But everyone seems to just keep bringing it back to that site... It's actually pretty disappointing.. But at the same time interesting to see a pattern.

Aegelweard · June 2017

I think this is because OGP was the only LaTale publisher most people have known for so many years. Aeria veterans are very few.

This is sort of a stereotype, I would say. You hear 'Russia' you think of Putin, bears and vodka. You hear 'LaTale' you think of OGP, poor management and 2 billion ely pets.

Besides, people are still aching over the downfall and death of OGP LaTale.

But let us not deviate from our discussion.

AugustineVii · June 2017

I wouldn't saying anyone is mourning the loss of ogplanet..

but i see what you're saying LOL.

Vyvaeth · June 2017

Let us all forget about OGP and LaTale for a second and be more general. From the first moment a server goes online characters are accumulating items, resources, game currency, etc. That means by the law of supply and demand that MMORPG economies are in a permanent state of deflation.

If you change the system to mirror the real world then you'll create a situation where some people are always in over their heads, they won't be able to accumulate enough game wealth to even pay the bills, nevermind get new gear. You'll get a middle-class who for the most part make very small improvements in their gear over very long periods of time. And then you'll have the upper-class which will be a relatively small group of characters that are the only ones that get to experience the best that the game has to offer. In a system like this the poor and the middle class will not feel like the game is properly rewarding them for their time and effort, and they'll leave the game resulting in the entire economy imploding. Sounds more like a virtual world social experiment than a game lol. And I genuinely think fixing prices artificially is going to make matters worse... but not in this case, that's why I'm supporting the idea until LaTale has enough population.

AugustineVii · June 2017

@Vyvaeth How would it make it worse?

trixx23 · June 2017

This is one of the biggest factors that killed the game and people trying to ignore/deflect. It's going to happen again. The amount of funds requires for in-game items at end game is crazy. Then you add the prices of additional essential items that cannot be obtained in-game but through astros...

It's going to happen again only a matter of time. How does it kill the game? Because it legit turns it to damn near unplayable unless you spend either a ton of time or money on the game. Reason as to why many players don't stay too long.

And yeah it's far worse for players just starting or mid-game players trying to get better. People took that economy aspect wayy too far; at the end of the day it's a video game. People want to have fun, unwind and relax

I also spent money on the game as well but I wasn't actively trying to rip people off or at least not in my latter years of play; that's for sure. More people having fun more money spent.

@vyvaeth Your scenario sounds like the end of ogp latale lol

AugustineVii · June 2017

@trixx23 yep... pretty much. It would be interesting to see how it would play out to be honest. But i dont see this becoming an actual thing.

RPGpro · June 2017

@Covalence

Super puzzles were always available from the puzzle shop NPC in Atlantis, S2 simply added them to other puzzle shop NPCs too.

One of the major issues with LaTale's economy was that ely USED to be easier to farm and a LOT of players quit playing back when they had billions of ely, then sometime after the ely farming rates were drastically lowered they returned to find (now overpriced) items much cheaper than they used to be, this massive influx of money caused the prices to rise, since these returning players were plentiful and willing to pay over-the-top prices.

Personally, I had 2.8 billion ely when season 2 launched, I spent every single ely during the ely-spender event OGP ran shortly afterwards (I got the top prize).

I was one of the few that actually did this.

I know one player that had hit the absolute limit of ely, which at the time was 649 bil in the bank and 70 bil on each character (with the max character slots at the time it meant the cap was 999 bil in total). He quit playing and returned years later, luckily he wasn't an idiot and spent the money carefully, rather than throwing it at expensive items and causing more inflation.

@Aegelweard I'm an Aeria veteran (and the only Aeria Latale GameSage that stuck around from beta to the server's closure)...There's actually a lot more Aeria players than you think still around, just not many of them walk around with a giant flag saying "Ex Aeria Player here!"

Chymer · June 2017

Uhmmm *BUMP* after looking at the cash shop prices U.U

JimboyCJ455 · June 2017

I don't think the prices are as bad as people think. It was 400 astros for $10 in OGP, right? (I hope I'm remembering that correctly.) $10 on Papaya is 900, so it's overall higher, but the prices have doubled for it.

JimboyCJ455 · June 2017

Ok, so it was worse than I thought, it's actually 380 (by Paypal) for $20. So, it's actually much better worse than I initially thought. Pets were 110 astros on OGP. Little Rat is 680 over here. Ouch.

trixx23 · December 2017

oh well

mamario00 · December 2017

Kind of ironic one of the main people bandwagoning the whole inflation thing is telling everyone that the price for items should have a controlled variable :thinking:

AugustineVii · December 2017

+1 ^

Aegelweard · December 2017

@mamario00 They kind of imply "it must be controlled... by me!"

mamario00 · December 2017

@Aegelweard they did, I mean I can imagine who came up with this idea and I can guarantee half of them are zombies to the game, the one that doesn't have a brain and is in constant search for one. Well the idea is plausible, but it has various setbacks and stuff, that in itself is a topic I do not want to discuss.

LaTale's Controlled Market

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