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AliceInWunderland

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Everything posted by AliceInWunderland

  1. Why aren't these available in the L2 Coin shop? Only available in the NCoin shop. Just about everything else that is available in NCoin shop is available in the L2 Coin shop, but not the 3 max daily support packs. Because after these have been purchased or used up, the only alternative is 5NCoin per or 50K adena per (Or via clan shop with honor coins). Again, another example of shadow price gouging. Why create a limiting factor that enables consistent forward progress? Baffling, to say the least.
  2. Yes, it's called Demand-Pull Inflation. It happens when demand outstrips supply. But it also works hand in hand with gear prices and other items NC marketed as "available" to players. It's a demand curve shift to the right that is for sure. It's not about being a fan of them or not. I am looking at the long term health of the server here. Don't want to see it die out in a few months because one clan controls everything. And it's slightly suspicious certain members are visiting that site that sells gear. Why would these people know all about this? Why monitor it? If someone says they're not engaged in it, yet know ALL about what goes on there, that's suspicious.
  3. Hey if what you guys are doing is above board, fine. If you're following the rules, fine, got nothing to worry about. However, I've personally never seen an economy get so inflated so fast. And that's partly due to a supply problem because of a monopoly. This wall of words could be construed as something to hide/protect. Players should be banned if they're breaking rules left and right for their own personal financial gain. Last time I checked, NCSoft frowns on using their IP to earn fiat currency, yes? People know how to play, but they all don't have deep pockets to control an economy like this. NCSoft may be fine with this situation because it forces people to buy L2 Coin Boxes, more and more. What are they up to now? 3M per? Last week before event, max price was 2M. Like I said, if it's all above board, fine. There are options. But this is unusual due to the speed at which prices have inflated.
  4. Monopolies have what is known as a poisoning effect. This is one problem with how the mechanics of rewards are set up. It is known a particular clan has dumped thousands upon thousands of dollars (or Euros) to dominate the server. Since we can't mention a certain acronym, if it is going on, it will end up ruining the server. Plus, that acronym has been known to be associated with criminal activities (stealing credit card data, personal information). I don't know what NCSoft's Marginal Cost of Enforcement against criminal activity is. Maybe they're happy with this regime. But, many are not, and there probably should be an investigation, because I've never seen a monopoly like this in any version of L2 I played or any other MMO. Is NCsoft complicit? Hard to say. But, I know I am certainly not happy with how the economy is functioning and the prices that are being dictated indicate to me something else is going on. All we're asking for is a simple investigation. What good is a game if a few people are breaking the rules for their own personal benefit? If it's not going on, fine. Then they have earned their dominance the right way by following the rules and TOS. But at least take your customers seriously or else you may find that they will go bye bye. We don't appreciate being ignored.
  5. Or a person that you want to throw money at. Imagine removing the blindfold and it's someone terrifying.
  6. Yes. Give people a reason to get started and invest in their toons. If the perception is that it's too hard to get started, you limit your customer base to those with only large amounts of disposable income. Broaden your base for a better revenue stream.
  7. It would be nice if NCSoft could publish probabilities in game about the chances to enchant talismans, belts, and capes. I've bought 2 packs and just about everything blew up going from 0 to 1. If I had known the probabilities were so low for successfully enchanting these items, I might have reconsidered my purchases. 4000 NCoin gone for destroying stuff. Best I was able to get was +3 Evas, +3 Speed, +2 Belt, +4 Cloak, and some level 2 jewels. The combine probabilities are stupidly low in my mind as well. Additionally, the event that gives 6 Event boxes - It's been a week and only 3 blueprints? It would be nice to at least get something useful from investing time into killing 3000 MOBS everyday by the event is over. Otherwise, where is the incentive to participate? I could use my time better and get better exp per hour. Bottom line, sometimes it just feels like I am throwing away resources. The Antharas Doll is doable and that's a reasonable reward for all the MOBS one has to kill to earn it. At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel with that series of quests. Not so much with all the other annihilation quests for this Cruma Event. I don't know if people are similarly frustrated and disappointed. Not publishing this data really isn't acting in good faith to the customers who purchase these items. Something to consider. Maybe NCSoft scrapes the posts here and does sentiment analysis. So for your ML Algs: The event boxes are near worthless and pathetic. Go mine that text data now. See what your ML algs say.
  8. 1000 Pet Feed will get you 1 craft point if anyone is lazy and has adena to burn. But, yes, Random Craft is exactly that: Random. It's not very smart or intelligent. In a way, it's like a tease. So it's like going to a Casino and a Strip Club at the same time.
  9. Update on peg and that's it so I don't get in trouble for bumping. Bid: 2.3M Ask: 3.0M As your plight Shaierel, maybe the powers that be will read this CX stuff and make adjustments.
  10. So we'll use the bid/ask model: Lowest Bid: 2.0M adena Highest Ask (That I have seen - 2 days ago it was up to 5M): 2.5M [This number could be higher as of 10/1.] So about the same spread as before when it was Bid: 1.5M Ask: 2.0M So if there's a middle to be met it's 2.25M per 1 1000 L2 Coin Box. So, yes, demand pull inflation is real. Prices are going up to induce those with credit cards to supply the market. Don't you all just love economics? This current P2W system needs some tweaks, but it can work in a way that meets player's preferences. Watch for gear to inflate, too, as more adena flows into the system. This concerns me because I anticipate newer players will see the true cost of progression and quit. SS and Spirit Ore are definite gold sinks. So you have gold sinks with rising player prices - Mobs still drop the same amount of adena. So, you see, there is no Central Bank to engineer better sinks to pull adena out of the economy. If people feel broke and poor in game, guess what? No incentive to keep going.
  11. Pretty much spot on. It's supply and demand. When supply shifts left, like when bots go bye bye, well, new eq. price if demand is constant is higher than before. I have my own laundry list of wishes of sorts, but I won't waste my breath. Though I have seen dominating/monopolist clans rise and fall in the past, this one seems different on Elc. Server. But when your bots/alts can defend a spot like how farmers did in the old days, only way to win is to overwhelm with numbers. I'm tired. Subjugation time.
  12. Apparently, the pet will auto attack no matter what. Is it supposed to be like this? It just runs in and I don't want that. Can't seem to turn it off.
  13. Did you see the Collection Set, "Fashion Terrorist?"
  14. I remember DC was the De Facto set for DE nukers, along with SoM. But now you can mix and match, which I really like.
  15. I like this feature a lot - makes a difference in resource management for me while balancing offense and defense.
  16. Seriously? We're gonna be in A grade 85+? Wow. Well, a good and bad thing. At least gear will "last" a lot longer.
  17. Hey, remember FG and The Vampire lands? Those MOBS were tough if you weren't in at least top A. I'm wondering when S grade will hit, if ever. Maybe the people who played on EU servers can tell us what's up with grade progression/rollout.
  18. The auto-hunt is very rudimentary, but it works. It doesn't allow for conditional logic at all. No ordering of skills, timing, etc. That's fine for my class: I just beat on things. But for mages and healer types, yes, better automation leads to better mana management and situation management. We can automate health pot usage below a certain health level, but cannot set a trigger for when to use a healing spell...? OTHER WEIRDNESS: Why do DE warriors get just a 1H sword, when humans get 1 1H, Duals, and a Polearm as n00b toons? Hopefully the game will see some refinement and fixes. Is it a reasonable hope, though? Remains to be seen. I'd also love to see an AH because then people can see average pricing in the market, instead of running around from toon to toon in Aden to understand market conditions. Remember: prices are all about relative scarcity. The better the information, the better the whole economy functions, because marginal "search costs" go way down.
  19. As a sort of concrete example why CX matters: Is it better to earn $500 a month from 5 players, or $50 a month from 500? Do the math and see what you come up with. When you broaden your "tax base" you earn more revenue, so to speak. But, again economics says: Do something until MB = MC. As soon as the Marginal Cost (MC) exceeds the Marginal Benefit (MB), an economic agent cannot rationally justify the cost. So, it's a major cost in time and convenience that costs players and fuels churn. Some obviously will not care either way. But it's reasonable to expect delivery of digital items relatively quickly and not have excessive checks for fraud. There are all kinds of servers out there that do nothing but REAL fraud detection. NCSoft seems to have decided to do things on their own and it will cost them. Not only in revenue, but in reputation, too.
  20. Note to NCSoft: Customer Experience matters. Why make things difficult for the people you are trying to earn revenue from? But, I can guess why. It's happened before where people have lobbied their banks to get money back, claiming some kind of fraud. Sometimes they succeed, other times, they do not. So, NCSoft probably wants to do what it can to prevent chargebacks.
  21. It's the Wild West, this version. Ha. Only thing you can really do is use every advantage available to you.
  22. Yep, these numbers are in tune with what I am seeing/forecasting - JUST for maintenance. Doesn't include bells and whistles. So, that's $37.50 a week. I am kinda bummed those Patk/Pdef scrolls can't be bought in large quantities in the NCoin Store anymore. For 750 NCoin, you got 300 of each, plus 200 30% EXP Scrolls. Now, if you want to buy them, they're 1M adena for a mere pack of 10! Well, that's a stealth price gouging tactic, and there are zero supply issues with digital items unless their creators impose one. -----(only read if you care about your resources and find this stuff interesting)----- So if 5 Ncoin = 50K adena (Sayha Blessing Prices in NCoin and LCoin[adena] Shops) This sets it to 1 NCoin = 10K Adena And 1 NCoin = $0.0125 (Math says so based on prices in the NCoin purchase store.) Then 1M adena = ??? [1 NCoin = $0.0125 = 10K adena, then:] Removed Scroll Pack (300,300, 200)= 750 NCoin = 7,500,000 adena vs: 1M Adena = NCoin? (1,000,000/10,000) = 100 NCoin. (or $1.25) IF you were to match what's in the removed pack from the NCoin store: 300/10 * 1M = 30 * 1M = 30M Adena for the equivalent of 300 P.Atk Scrolls. 300/10 * 1M = 30 * 1M = 30M Adena for the equivalent of 300 P.Def Scrolls. Exp Scrolls = 5 NCoin per (could convert to LCoin Boxes, but prices vary on L2Coin boxes in the "private" market: So we'll just model that by spending NCoin. To get 200, you'd need 200 * 5 = 1000 NCoin or $12.50 with NCStore to get the equivalent of what was in that bundle before. So what do we have? 60M adena or $75 in NCoin which CAN be converted into adena for the scrolls, both P.Atk and P.Def, 300 EACH. $12.50 for the 200 Exp scrolls, if you care about 30% more exp. Leaving what? You'd have to spend the equivalent of $87.50 in NCoin converted into adena to buy what you could buy before from the NCoin store. What kind of price increase is that on a % basis? 833% change in prices for the SAME quantity and quality of stuff you were getting before. That meets and exceeds the definition of hyperinflation, and it's NOT being imposed upon by other player activities. It's all NCSoft's pricing model. There are no demand-pull or cost-push difficulties at all, because supply is infinite. If there was an arbitrage opportunity, more would have taken it by now. There's a reason these scrolls aren't tradeable. I don't see how this helps people stay invested in the game. But, maybe it won't matter. But, I think when it comes to any kind of "hunting" in L2, the more P.Atk/P.Def the better (yes, more is better). This is like getting someone addicted with cheap prices and then gouging them later on down the road. Now, they're optional boosts, but the scope and effectiveness of such boosts make it almost mandatory for consistent forward progress for players of any stripe. There is a major pricing disconnect here. Try to spin it as a "special," that bundle for 750 NCoin. But if they're so special, then maybe these scrolls should disappear from the LCoin adena store. You figure a pack of 10 (need 1 of each, yes?) scrolls lasts 3 hours and 20 minutes (200 minutes). You'd have to generate 200K in 20 minutes from drops just to break even under this regime. This doesn't factor in SS, Spirit Ore, Sayha, all that other stuff. Again, it's about bang for the buck, delivering value to the players and NCSoft can have their comfy margins still.
  23. Not all of it. You still have people obsessed with PvP Dominance and the endless PR campaigns in hero/shout chat. Oh, and you still have most of the server demanding the highest grade gear obtainable given their in-game and financial resources.
  24. Yeah that's the plan. Generate enough adena per day to buy boxes and then whatever is buyable in the LCoin store. Assuming people still sell them in the future...
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