Now I'm wondering how many times I have t-bagged you in battlegrounds.I could sell my WoW account with a ilevel 935 mage and 9/9 mythic achievements
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. ~ Marcus Aurelius“It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”
― George Orwell, 1984
“The urge to shout filthy words at the top of his voice was as strong as ever.”
― George Orwell, 1984
~Player of Inurtia
I'm not sure if we can make that comparison from "then" to "now". We have seen more people having subscriptions, but there's also a much, much higher percentage of people in the current customer base who don't see GS as a game. It's a side hustle.
Simucoins are still viable and perfect for the person who plays GS for a casual gaming experience. This person doesn't buy silver and rarely deviates from the subscription price, but splurges for the "extra". They lose nothing from their experience, and gain with additional expenditure.
Simucoins hurt the people who peddle for cash because the currency conflicts with their flow.
Case in point? Use the time-back machine and look at Sergey's site say 5 years ago, then 10, then 15. The carrot has only gotten larger but prices tended to remain relatively static until the inception of outrageous monetary scripting. Yes, of course before people point out person X or Y, outliers are there.
Not an enjoyable discussion, but one that has to be considered.
LadyXXXXXXX: I guess I just like swallowing.
LadyXXXXXXX: OMG that thing is HUGE
Tyrillian [General]: "Do you worship V'tull?"
You [General]: "V'tull worships me."
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane. ~ Marcus Aurelius“It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”
― George Orwell, 1984
“The urge to shout filthy words at the top of his voice was as strong as ever.”
― George Orwell, 1984
I think just about everyone is affected by a worthless in game currency (if silvers become totally worthless), whether people buy or sell silvers or not.
Again I think SimuCoins affect everyone. Wyrom tried to claim that people don't like the idea of spending all of their silvers on one item, but these same people are going to payout cold hard cash in addition to their already high subscription fees for that one item?
So scripting killed the silver market and not SimuCoins? Or both? Not being a smart ass I'm honestly not following you now.
Scripting has been going on for a long time in this game, maybe more people are doing it now, I don't know, but the silver market has persisted. The silver market didn't start taking a nose dive until Simu decided this game needed 4 DR events a year and that EG needed to be converted into another version of DR with a completely different alt-currency as well. The writing is on the wall now; all future events are likely to become exactly like DR. Hell I think we're already there aren't we?
< So scripting killed the silver market and not SimuCoins? Or both? >
In all honesty, multiple moving pieces have done significant damage to the silvers market. There is not one single aspect you can focus on without ignoring another, and I believe that is a damning topic for many. There is not a single fix to this particular issue.
Alternate currency doesn't help, but I don't think it hurts the general populace ( as much as you, Tgo, do from your rebuttal I'm wagering ).
There is in comparison a huge influx of high-end items caused by pay events. Players like uber gear, Simutronics is a CREAM corporation ( dollar dollar bills ya'll ), and in order for a player to feel compensated versus perceived value the rise of prices of items can be attributed.
Item attrition runs rampant in Gemstone now, in comparison to the way back machine. So values are much more skewed than ever before in comparison, which leads to silver devaluation because the item isn't simply good enough. This game is balanced against 4x gear, and let's face it when 6x is selling for a million silvers who would find silver to hold much relative value?
In my opinion, take it how you'd like, is that there's more gear out there than accounts available to use and thus the "carrot" must improve. The larger the carrot against the current valuation of silvers tends to reduce its own value. Combine that with people willing to cannibalize the valuation in order to obtain cash, and Simucoins removing some additional options ( I can't sell BP's to save my life anymore, add examples here ), and it's not a stretch to view it is a multi-faceted issue at hand.
So far, Wyrom has not gone the path of other games, but something akin to breakage or Bound to Character/Account may be an eventuality that has to be viewed. I realize everyone's in torch and pitchfork mode, but the man has quotas to meet to keep his own livelihood. Unless a silver seller is willing to chip the man some of the profits for the movement of silvers? Other games take cuts through an Auction House so it's not as far fetched as it may seem.
Everyone needs someone to blame, I get that. But to point out someone that in comparison has been open with communications/ideas than previous regimes without the clarity of seeing multiple sides is a bit odd. Warden shit on your Kix and told you they were Cocoa Puffs for many years and you LOVED IT!
LadyXXXXXXX: I guess I just like swallowing.
LadyXXXXXXX: OMG that thing is HUGE
Tyrillian [General]: "Do you worship V'tull?"
You [General]: "V'tull worships me."