Website Price manipuation and its affect on the game/pbase

[mlkittrell]

I'm a big fan of the free market, however, i think that what is happening on the AH on Outland due to low pop and a bunch of AH goblins who spend their time to manipulate the price of things makes the game less fun for people who play to play not play to make a **** ton of gold by inflating prices.

Prices of primal shadow and earth... which were never above 5-6 gold with high population are randomly 20g because someone buys it all up and then reposts a few at a dramatically inflated value. How does it benefit the game/pbase when flasks cost 150g each and other critical raid supplies are equally expensive. Imagine being a new player and having to farm with their limited knowledge and low level chars 3-4 hours just to afford your flasks or make a farming alt because they have no farming professions on their main? There is something broken about this situation and its hurting the game/pbase.

The simple reason for this is supply and demand. when there are fewer players, there are fewer goods on the AH and goblins can easily monopolize a market with a moderate sum. This makes a bad situation worse. Small pbase, small amount of farming happening and then the goblins just make it worse. Additionally, it seems that because there are fewer players, the dynamic respawn stuff seems to kick down into lower gear contributing to again smaller supply.

I don't like the idea of penalizing goblins, because when they jack up prices, people farming becomes more lucrative... but what I would like to see is dynamic respawn and drop rates on tradeskill items/consumables take into account the average price and availability of items on the AH. So if a goblin jacks the price of primal shadow from 5g each to 20g each, then primal shadow drops more frequently and is easier to farm. This should help disincentivize goblins from grotesque price manipulation, and also help farmers make more money.


Overall, I would like to see the AH be a lot less useful and lucrative for people who want to use it to manipulate prices and more useful to player who are selling things they don't need and people who are buying things they need and will actually use. I think that would make the game better and more enjoyable for everyone... except the goblins who are engaged in a dynamic that just make the game not fun for most.

[angrylol]

if the golblin sets price to 20g, why not sell your stuff for 19.99 instead of 6g?

Why would you want to benefit people who want free/cheap stuff at the expense of farmer and goblins who benefit from each other? Reward those who do nothing and punish people who farm/flip stuff? How does that make sense to you?

[dolcokidol]

"goblin" buys every single shadow on the AH. Posts them all for insane amount, they drop more often, goblin farms some more, posts some more.
I need to farm something, i post a lot of it for insane prices, everyone undercuts my insane price to something also insane, I farm my missing stuff, remove auctions, easy.
Making items drop more when there's a lot of it on the AH is just a bad idea.

Also, those goblins are doing nothing wrong. If I see something cheap, I buy it right away needing it or not. Not my fault you're undercutting people like crazy.

[Valestia]

I'm a big fan of the free market, however, i think that what is happening on the AH on Outland due to low pop and a bunch of AH goblins who spend their time to manipulate the price of things makes the game less fun for people who play to play not play to make a **** ton of gold by inflating prices.

Prices of primal shadow and earth... which were never above 5-6 gold with high population are randomly 20g because someone buys it all up and then reposts a few at a dramatically inflated value. How does it benefit the game/pbase when flasks cost 150g each and other critical raid supplies are equally expensive. Imagine being a new player and having to farm with their limited knowledge and low level chars 3-4 hours just to afford your flasks or make a farming alt because they have no farming professions on their main? There is something broken about this situation and its hurting the game/pbase.

The simple reason for this is supply and demand. when there are fewer players, there are fewer goods on the AH and goblins can easily monopolize a market with a moderate sum. This makes a bad situation worse. Small pbase, small amount of farming happening and then the goblins just make it worse. Additionally, it seems that because there are fewer players, the dynamic respawn stuff seems to kick down into lower gear contributing to again smaller supply.

I don't like the idea of penalizing goblins, because when they jack up prices, people farming becomes more lucrative... but what I would like to see is dynamic respawn and drop rates on tradeskill items/consumables take into account the average price and availability of items on the AH. So if a goblin jacks the price of primal shadow from 5g each to 20g each, then primal shadow drops more frequently and is easier to farm. This should help disincentivize goblins from grotesque price manipulation, and also help farmers make more money.


Overall, I would like to see the AH be a lot less useful and lucrative for people who want to use it to manipulate prices and more useful to player who are selling things they don't need and people who are buying things they need and will actually use. I think that would make the game better and more enjoyable for everyone... except the goblins who are engaged in a dynamic that just make the game not fun for most.

Giving items more value, gives new players more opportunity to get their mounts and skills before hitting 80. Even when they hit 80, they have the opportunity to undercut inflation and make enough gold to get high end flying and maybe get some good gear from the auction house.