[TERA PC & Console] En Masse is closing, but TERA lives on! We will continue to support TERA PC (NA) and TERA Console until service is transferred. Stay tuned for more information.
[TERA Console] The Grotto of Lost Souls update (v85) is now live! Read the patch notes here: https://bit.ly/TERACon_v85
[TERA PC] The 64-bit update (v97) is now live. Check out all the changes delivered on August 11 here: https://bit.ly/tera64_patchnotes
[TERA PC & CONSOLE] Summerfest Part 2: The Beach Bash is on from August 11 until September 1! Participate in event activities to earn tokens redeemable for costumes, consumables, mounts, and more! Details: https://bit.ly/tera_sf20
Comments
I think the point is that part of the reason most people struggle with gold is precisely because the amount of gold in the game overall keeps growing without end -- the rich only get richer, and prices are always rising. If you left some gold in your bank today and came back a year from now (assuming things don't change), that gold would buy you a lot less than it would today. The only real way to solve this is to take some gold out of the economy completely. You can do this via large-scale optional content (like player housing), or you can do this in little ways like service fees and consumables. But, at the end of the day, even though it may not seem immediately intuitive, implementing proper gold sinks will increase the average player's buying power.
Back to the matter of gold sink, we need to take a few points into consideration. EME needs to make money from cash shop, so it's unlikely they would put infinite stock of essential supplies into merchant store. We need gold sink that only improves QoL and doesn't affect neither their emp sale nor our in-game economic. Also, due to technical difficulties, it's a good idea to put only 1 or 2 boxes into the merchant store. Everytime there's a problem with supply/demain or when there's new update, EME only have to change the box's content or price, instead of having to fix up eveverything they put on. The bonbaza box was a good idea last patch, however they do need some change to get up to date with the new content.
In the past I suggested putting 1-use trio charm and nostrum/scroll into merchant store so player can choose either charm themselves the slow way or quickly charm/scroll/nos for extra fee, but EME has already put this into elite perk anyway, so maybe putting food into a store that available all year round would be a good next step.
I love some of counterpoint's suggestions. We need more hard-to-get consumables in the store, which would be optional for average players but some good QoL improvements for others. Smart dyad has been mentioned a lot in the past, but looked like EME want to keep it for strongbox event not sure if they would approve of that. 1/3/7 days costume and mount would also work, and might become the biggest gold sink since I know a lot of people who love to change their outfits everyday, however it would affect emp sale too so probably not gonna happen.
Gathering materials (scarabs/god tear/kaelic spark specifically) would be a good choice also, as not too many people still gather nodes nowadays (not counting felicity/bots). There's not much to do in openworld atm anyway. Once we get the new GvG/openworld boss raid from Ktera this summer we can take them out of the store to encourage more activity outside of dungeons.
You've hit the nail on the head calling it extra curriculum. We have to face facts that Tera is a casual game now and with that we need other casual ways to create gold sinks.
I've already stated that being able to craft SeS, trio charms, mes, and nocts would be a great addition that would help to provide a minor boost to crafting as well as a decent gold sink. My point is that there should be other options on how you play the game than what's considered current. We are constantly seeing the same patterns again and again. New content> grind> beak for 2-6 months> new content > etc...
Don't you think that with additional things to do during lulls will keep players playing longer and in the end that will always help improve EME's profits. What I want is things that not only improve players QoL but also serves as gold sinks to stabilize the economy. Why can't gold sinks be fun at the same time?
I remember in Aion where players could put up on their walls a bunch of trophies of the bosses they've fought in the past.
Would be a talking piece to have the head of Shandra Manaya hanging over your fireplace, that's for sure.
I'd have to disagree with gear repair, though, but that's mostly because I've been through about 3-4 years of DC Universe Online on a premium account (which means a $2000 limit on character money, rather than the $1500 for free players and the unlimited wallet of members). With DC Universe, every little combat wears down gear durability, and a death drops it by about 1/5 of total durability. In high-end group raids, SOE believed that one-shots was an acceptable mechanic to make a dungeon's difficulty higher. Basically, people dying 4-5 times in a dungeon (all too common in DCUO's higher end raids) results in 0 durability in armor AND weapons, and the cost to repair higher end gear is higher than the premium player's wallet cap, resulting in the members having to help out and sink their money to help other players simply because their in-game wallet couldn't afford it.
Blade&Soul has a decent one, with only a weapon repair being necessary, but the repair kits are rather costly, and the game caters more to P2W players, in my opinion.
If Tera implements a gear repair system, it would have to be a fair one that even F2P players can take advantage of; make it an affordable gold sink, like maybe a few silver pieces, scaling to a few gold pieces for higher levels.
The idea is to get the rich players to sink some of their gold in order to keep inflation in check. Ideally the gold sink would be completely optional and wouldn't affect newer and poorer players.
I like the ideas about making alks, feedstocks and stuff available from NPCs, but I don't think this is something that will happen.. for one thing, by putting set prices on tradable items, it will essentially put value caps on items that people traditionally buy and sell.. while some could argue that this would be a good thing, it would inevitably bring complaints from others whose incomes depend on trading these items. Plus it could also negatively affect EMP sales. Personally I'm not opposed to the idea, but I don't think it would be universally popular, nor would it probably be in EME/BHS's best interests.
To expand a bit on my casino idea.. and I've also taken into consideration the need for more enchanting mats... the Castanica casino could actually offer some of these things as rewards. Essentially taking gold out of the economy while putting more enchanting mats into circulation, but making it RNG based (like virtually everything else in the game), therefore not putting set price caps on the value of these items.
I've also taken into consideration the fact that EME/BHS would need to make a profit from this, since they would have to dedicate development hours into the necessary programming. Essentially you would have a tiered slots system, so that everyone could participate, rich or poor. You could have everything from "copper slots" (using the model of "penny slots" in U.S. casinos); these machines would reward prizes like t3 alks and feedstock, small gold jackpots, etc., basically stuff that poor leveling characters could use. Include some mid-tier slots for silver and higher level stuff, and gold slots at the top, rewarding stuff like MWA, SES, T8 and 9 FS, etc. Things that we need more of in the game.
In addition: add a new token to the game. Could call it a Castanica Casino token, or whatever. These tokens could be acquired as jackpots from other slot machines, strongbox rewards, etc., whatever. Additionally they could be purchased with EMP. These tokens would be reserved for special high level slot machines with a chance to give rewards like rare fashion items, smart dyads, big gold jackpots, etchings, etc. Basically it would be a token that could be bought on the cash shop (money for EME), traded on broker (money for players), or acquired through in-game means (free stuff for F2P players). Still obviously RNG based, which - let's be honest here... we all hate RNG, but we all participate in it anyway. Look at how many people throw money away on those stupid lootboxes with only a "chance" of actually getting the item they want. How is that any different from a slot machine? It's not. The difference is that slot machines are actually fun and interactive.
Or if you don't like slot machines...? Table games. Card games. Shell games. Money wheels. Whatever. The possibilities are endless. Castanica already looks like Fremont Street anyway (anyone who has ever been to Las Vegas knows what I'm talking about). The odds of winning prizes in any of these games can be tweaked to suit EME's interests, and could be altered at any time (double jackpot weekends, etc.). And people winning top prizes could be announced the same way it is now. Example: player.x has won 5000 MWA jackpot from Enchanted Forest Slots (I know some people hate these announcements, and there should be a way to turn them off, but it's pretty obvious that the point of these messages is to encourage more people to gamble / buy EMP).
And no worries to EME/BHS - as everyone who understands casinos knows, the odds in any game of chance always favors the house. So even if they're set with payouts of say 95/100, in the long run, people will end up spending more gold than they make in return. Or they'll be opening their wallets and swiping to buy more tokens to win more gold / costumes/ enchanting mats / whatever. If done correctly, an in-game casino could kill three birds with one stone.
#1 by acting as a true gold sink, taking gold out of circulation (and thereby combating inflation)
#2 by putting more mats / feedstocks / etc. into circulation, helping to solve some of the current shortages of said items
#3 by putting more money into EME's pockets, helping to keep the game alive and giving them the resources to devote to further improvements
Anyway... that's just a "short" summation of my casino idea. I also have numerous ideas for player housing, but I'll save those for another day.
Comments, questions, concerns? Like or no? Good idea? Bad idea? Good idea but BHS will never implement it anyway so I'm probably just wasting my time? All opinions are welcome.
Great idea! Keep em coming!
Moreover, as I have already said, extra curriculum means nothing if they're not tied to a decent profit/advantage. It's the mindset of the players who prefer doing the easiest task with the highest efficiency that made BHS streamline everything to endgame and get rid of most of the great contents pre 65.
We have Rootstock and Summer Fes minigames which are not quest-based. We have Bamarama with the same gamble element you talked about. There was slot machine mechanic used during gold/steel medal event (but the only possible reward was Moon), letter based mechanic during T-E-R-A and secret shadow event,... Those mechanics can be use to create plenty of new curriculum for players, but how many would take part in if they only give measly reward ? Even the current Kyra event, noone wants to do it since you can't "farm" it anymore. Would you blame EME for not giving enough activities for players to do, or for not giving enough reward to motivate players to do ?
Event right now when you suggest "make crafting great again", in the end it comes down to "can I do what I want to do and still get good reward for it please ?". Spending 10g buying crafting kit and spending 100g buying the production straight out, I can only see people agreeing with the former for the 90g profit, rather than with the later which is a 10 times better gold sink. "Casual" and "gold sink" don't go well together.
Anyway, you can suggest event ideas to make the game enjoyable (and you always should), but don't expect to change anything fundamentally.
Why don't you think armor skins and costumes for mounts/pets are not something rewarding?
Or why do you think being able to craft SeS, MeS, and alks wouldn't be rewarding?
I think being able to train pets/mounts would be a great addition to Tera!
There is nothing wrong with suggesting ideas that would help to expand on options that players will enjoy. This current streamlined system is simply forcing players down a linear path to gear and break, with little to no reward. It takes less than a month to max gear as it is if you apply the very little effort it takes now. I and probably a lot of other players would probably like to extend the enjoyment we get out of a game and not rush to rinse/repeat current content. Adding things that would function as gold sinks would only further make changes to content that much easier to implement and help to extend the longevity of current contents.
Whether you find recent events rewarding enough to participate in is relative, don't you think.
My answer is, it will be abused, and it does not serve as a viable gold sink.
1. When crafting was still relevant (before AI patch) people abused felicity/bots to no end. Same thing when we could gather Rootstock ingredients with no pp cost, or when blue box event gave 15 catalysts each. If you think it hardly has anything to do with you, be prepare to have your effort in doing the same thing halved or even more, thus making the reward no longer "rewarding" and put you back to the start where there's no more "rewarding" extra curriculum to do.
2. I have already explained. The gold spend for crafting kits isn't significant enough compare to the finished product's value, and you cannot pick both method. It's how BHS killed scroll crafting by introducing scrolls in store to serve as some sort of gold sink; however they killed this immediately afterward with the introduction of the new elite perks. The same goes for any other activities involved other consumable, if you choose to be able to craft them, you would simply remove them as a viable gold sink (but also introduce a new time sink - crafting; however if you revert back to point 1 this time sink won't last long with people abusing it, and in the end will disappear altogether)
I think I should also explain more about time sink and gold sink, since you kept using them together as if they're best friends in the world.
They're not. If there're tasks that take time to complete, it's a time sink. If you introduce a way for people to skip the time needed to complete the task with gold, and it's worth the cost, it's a (viable) gold sink. By paying gold, they effectively remove this time sink (since they nolonger need to spend too much time doing it anymore). Thus, they don't go well together. You simply cannot make more things for people to do to serve as something people pay to skip.
I'm suggesting ways for crafting, ( which is a viable gold sink), to remain relevant.
In its current state BHS should just remove it. It's by far the least functional time sink in Tera. Will there be players that bypass my suggestions by swiping? Sure! Will there be players that abuse it? Of course! Does that mean all players are going to? No.
If rinse/repeat content is your thing then great. I'm happy that you enjoy the game the way you like. But for me and a lot of people I've talked to, content in Tera goes stale extremely quickly and there's not much variety how you play. This in the long run will affect the longevity of any game.
Giving players more ways to bypass the grind is not the answer. Focusing on adding spice to the play experience is, IMO.
Ooh and who's to say what other people find rewarding? I don't dictate other people's tastes anymore than you do.
Suggesting having a time sink serve as a gold sink is like telling people to spend gold to waste their time. If you keep thinking it's a good idea then there's nothing else I can say. Good luck convincing others.
I agree. Also increase the fee of non elite by 300% and make an elite fee of 10%. Higher fees on broker is the best gold sink. It will decrease the inflation because is a gold sink and because players will think twice before ask high prices.
Even though I know it will be unpopular, I am also in favor of some degree of listing fee for Elite players, even if it just to prevent endless "spinning" of items on the broker. Even though most people don't think about it (because a lot of people don't use the broker to their advantage), this is arguably the most unfair of all the Elite perks right now.
That being said, I don't think I would go that far, as it will just drive people away from the broker entirely and clutter chat with more trade requests. I would start with a modest increase of the listing tax for Elite to maybe 2% or 3%. It could maybe be increased further, but I'd start small and see how it goes.