Re: Alternative Currency for ESO?

Today I am going to follow up on a previous article I wrote entitled Alternative Currency for ESO?. If you haven't read it yet, you may want to brush up on the subject, but it isn't required reading. Cliff notes from that article is:

Some MMOs have so much in game money floating around that players start using rare items as currency. Think Stone of Jordan in Diablo 2. So I came up with a short list of the most likely candidates, and discussed the probability as each being the Stone of Jordan for ESO. The short list included certain tier of gear, crafting materials, glyphs, and soul gems.

I am proud to say (and glad I am legally allowed to say) that I have been beta testing ESO on the private test server since late last year. Unfortunately this means I was severely limited in what I was permitted to share, and had to feign ignorance. Just like Kyle and Josh from the Shoddy Cast, and Evarwyn from Elder Scrolls Off The Record (among many other people covering ESO content). But now I get the chance to pass along correct information, with very little speculation.

Now that we are all at least vaguely familiar with the topic, lets re-visit that short list of mine.

Will crafting materials become currency in ESO? I really doubt it. On the PTS server even the highest end and rarest materials barely broke 10k gold on average. While 10k IS a lot of gold, plenty of things cost more. A basic horse costs 17.2k. A higher tier mount costs 42.7k (unless they lowered the prices since I last checked). Basic siege equipment costs 450 gold (that adds up quickly if you're saving up alliance points), and re-speccing can reach over 10k as well. Also, the way the loot tables work for those rare materials (improvement/upgrade materials to be more specific) is that you get them through high level deconstruction and refining. It is tilted in favor of the crafter (on account of refining). And having played a crafter in the beta (and not exploiting certain bugs) I can tell you that they are too rare for a crafter to trade away. More likely scenario: Rare crafting materials will be sold/traded/given to friends and guild-mates, while keeping a healthy reserve for yourself.

So will certain tier of gear, or certain gear in general become currency? Not a chance. Sure people will trade pieces of gear, i.e. Chillbilly's werewolf buffing item for my vampire buffing item. But it won't be a regular and consistent occurrence. Looking at crafted gear, they at most have mid value in terms of best gear right now. The best gear is bought with alliance points, and bind on pickup. So then, can you trade alliance points? Not currently. In fact, alliance points can not (currently*) be bought, sold, nor traded, and buy the best gear in the game. Makes me want to PvP. Likely scenario: Gear will be bought and sold like normal. The better and rarer it is will fetch for more gold, as per usual.

Soul Gems? Nope. Sorry.

Glyphs I am less certain about. The way enchanting stood when last I checked (which wasn't recently), is that the skill was hard to level up (but SO worth it). The veteran ranked glyphs (level 50+) weren't dropping correctly, as in they weren't dropping at all. Even after this has been fixed, the PTS server is soon to be wiped and I simply don't have the time to measure the rarity of VR glyphs until post-launch. As it stands right now, VR glyphs do have the rarity potential to be used as currency, especially if the skill line progression isn't fixed. The main issue with the line progression is the imbalance in materials, and low inspiration (exp) rewards. I realize I'm going off topic, but bear with me, it will all tie together.

Creating glyphs need three types of runes. Aspect, Potency, and Essence. Combined, all three types are equally common to other crafting material gathering nodes. On top of that, Aspect types are slightly less common than the other two. And for good reason. Aspect controls the rarity. Of the three, Aspect runes are highest in demand, since there is the least variation, and they affect the rarity of the produced glyph. In a few of my guild banks, you'll find hundreds of Potency and Essence runes, but you'd be hard pressed to find more than 10 Aspect. My point here not clear? If it is, congrats. If not, let me tell you. With hundreds of unused materials (because they can't be used), there are literally hundreds of tiny little inspiration gains that will not happen, hindering Enchanting skill line progression. This doesn't even factor in people throwing these runes away, or hoarding them. Most likely scenario: Enchanting will be the hardest but most profitable of the crafts.


After everything is said and done, I do not think the players of ESO will adopt any form of alternate currency. There are plenty of gold sinks, including horses, potions, respec, gear, crafting styles, and bank/bag upgrades. On top of that, there is no evidence that there is anything rare and valuable enough to become this currency.

*Alliance points cannot currently be bought, sold, or traded. I predict that if ESO ever opens a pay-to-win style cash shop, you will be able to buy these very precious alliance points. This will open up alliance points becoming an elite currency.

Interviews and playthroughs Oh My!

One of the major problems as a writer is coming up with new material each time to write about. Writers and content creators spend hours upon hours researching, interviewing, and experimenting. Often times we as these content creators get to spend a few hours a day playing games. Although, what you may consider playing, is not what we consider playing. It is always preparation. From the moment we log in until the time we log out, we are constantly stopping and starting.

It usually begins with us following the "Ooo - Shiny" as we jot down a few extra notes concerning the location of an ore vein, or a wood source. Nearly often enough, we spend more time writing these notes than we actually get to enjoy what we are doing. This does not necessarily mean it is all that bad. We get to meet people, the average player does not. We get to enjoy upper tier communities, that many normal players do not. We get invited to betas that other people strive to get invited to. The reason for all this is simple. We are not here to play, we are here to study. I overheard a conversation the other day with a few players who have not been invited to a certain game with a certain "open all the time" beta. They were complaining that only people with certain clout were allowed into "these types" of betas. That only the people who knew someone or had popularity were allowed in.

I wanted to enter and hijack the conversation to tell them they were wrong. I realize now that even if I had, it wouldn't have changed their opinion one way or another. Sometimes you just cannot convince people of your thinking, because of their stubborn ways. I guess the same can be said about myself as I am as stubborn as they come. "Fear not! For the people whom you show jealousy for, are not having fun, but are working, and working for free for that matter!" I wanted to scream in their channel locked all to themselves.

Betas are always viewed as some sort of demo for the real game. That is not the case. Betas are to test, and only testing shall it be. You should never take knowledge from a beta, to insert your own opinions of disgust.

To put it into a bigger perspective:

IT IS THE BETA, THERE ARE GOING TO BE BUGS.

I feel that some people do not quite grasp this fact. Yet here we are again, explaining the over explained. 

-CB

Alternative Currency for ESO?

As we all know, The Elder Scrolls Online uses a megaserver. I don’t know the technical jargon behind this, but the end result will be every pc and mac user being able to interact and trade with each other. In other MMOs with such a large player base, gold sometimes becomes a useless currency for high tier items. This is primarily due to the lack of ways for gold to leave the game economy. In these instances, the new currency (such as Chaos Orb in Path of Exile) is valued equally to each player.  Other games such as Guild Wars 2, have had almost no inflation, and players haven’t adopted an alternative currency. With Guild Wars 2, there is a tax on certain player transactions, removing gold from the game’s economy. It also doesn’t hurt to have economists on staff to help maintain the game’s economic balance.

I don’t think Zenimax Online Studios has, or is currently looking for any economists unfortunately. After an extensive search, I found a few LinkedIn profiles, dozens of job postings, even Matt Firor’s phone number (don’t worry Matt, I won’t be prank calling you). But not a peep on if they have anyone qualified to monitor and manage ESO’s economy.

If ESO does end up having a ton of worthless gold, what items should you look out for? From what we’ve heard so far, and provided that the in-game items and crafting system is similar to past Elder Scrolls games, speculation is possible.

Certain tier of gear? Possibly. Without hands on experience in deconstructing equipment, we have no way of knowing the nature of the items you can acquire this way, their abilities, nor their rarity.

Crafting material? Possibly. Additives are these mysterious items that are an optional ingredient to craft gear with, but we effectively know nothing about them. There have been interviews with Nick Konkle and Paul Sage talking about them in the past, but no updates on how they might have changed, or the specifics on the items themselves.

Other crafting materials? Not a chance. The normal ingredients such as ore, or alchemy ingredients are going to be those things you trip over every ten feet. They’re also the kind of item gold farmers will find a way to exploit and sell for gold, and then sell for money.

Glyphs? Not likely. In case you’re not up to speed on what glyphs are, glyphs are the items crafted in the Enchanting skill line. They are items with an enchantment on them, and when used, transfers the enchantment onto a piece of equipment. While glyphs are a crafted item, giving them potential to become a currency, enchantments can be recharged (at least in past TES games) using a soul gem. With that in mind, soul gems are much more likely to become a currency item.

Soul gems? Likely. If soul gems are indeed used to restore charges onto enchantments, they gain value since everyone will desire them. With the exception of glyphs, everything else listed do not have equal value between each player. Soul gems in past TES games such as Skyrim also have a very high gold to weight ratio, making them highly valued as loot.

I thought about adding horse feed to the list, but decided not to. When Matt Firor talked about horses, and feeding them at E3 2013, he made it sound like there are only have two or three different types of food to feed your horse. It is possible, even probable, that there will be different rarities for these items with increased effects, yet I am not convinced there is a chance they could become a currency in ESO.

That brings my speculation on the subject of alternative currency to an end. If you’d like to weigh in on this topic, please post in the comments below.

I’ll leave you gold goblins for now, with a quote to ponder:
"The man of knowledge must be able not only to love his enemies but also to hate his friends."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

Trade Unions

     After discussing this topic with some of my new friends, I decided to put a little piece together. Trade Unions are not a very popular subject in the world of MMOs. Not because of the pros or cons, but because it's not an idea very well acquainted with the community. Generally, people consider themselves loners in the marketplace. They are out to get the 1 or 2 gold for their trinkets and affections. What if they could have 3 gold, and a gold standard for currency though? This is no place for rhetorical questions, only facts. Facts may entail a large consumption of quality over quantity. I do admit that my own judgments of Unions come into play. I have yet only experienced one instance of an MMO player-run Tradesman Union.

     It was a foggy afternoon, as I was cinching up my last sack of rotten goods, I saw a shady deal go down right before my eyes. A player was confronting another player about a transaction he had made to yet another player. In full RP these gentlemen played out a somewhat humorous collaboration of rule statements and creeds. They fired back at one another with quips and clever expressions. One of these players had evidently betrayed his tradesman union. He had purchased an item from a non-union player, and was paying his debt by being publicly ridiculed for all to see. I inquired about this from a fellow guild member as I was new to the scene. My guild mate replied with an explanation that these two gentlemen were in a trade union, and it was against their laws to trade with another player other than ones in their union. I felt this was queer, so I decided to get answers from the source. I made my way over to the gentlemen after their dispute had settled to laughs. I asked them if they could involve me into what had just occurred. They refused me.

     Apparently the first rule in Trade Unions is, you don't talk about Trade Unions. These gentlemen had assigned themselves to a creed. They did not want others to compete, as they were the one, and only.
It wasn't long before the little wooden gears and hamster balls in my head started turning. I had to know more about this. I didn't flake it off as a sudden flash mob of role play. There was something more here. I just didn't know how, or where to start. I began to dig. I spent most of my time where these particular players were trading. I noticed that they would buy from other players, not just ones from their union. The prices had to be low though. Lower than average. The market price on a 100 bundle of wood was 1000 gold give or take. I began approaching them with 2 or 3 bundles a day. Only not at the full market price, but at 2 - 300 gold per bundle. I was an immediate success. Not long after I had staged this coup, I was being approached by more and more union representatives. Five days of this endless streak of business, dealing only with union members, I was approached. Not only by a member of the union, but by 3 of the union board members. They asked to speak with me in private. I agreed and met with them on their voice communications server. For two hours, they discussed the possibility of my supplication. To provide with them, a large quantity of freshly cut woods ranging from high to low qualities. I humbly agreed and so began my journey of endless farming and building. I was allowed a guild standard, a work bench to work from, and an endless forest for my axe to never dull. There is somewhat of a literary value here, as I speak so passionately about my experiences. It truly was, the most drawn out chapter of my online life. By the third week of this endless struggle, they had put to my table an offer. Join the Union, and earn for yourself. You have earned our respect. Now you may see, just how far, and just how big this thing is.

     It took me a month. A month of mule work. As my eyes were opening to this underground world of trades, I began to see a series of patterns. Players from one side of the map, moved fluently from one side to the other. They never stopped, they were never brought to the sword. No one robbed them, no one murdered them, they were impervious. The untouchables.
It was a labyrinth of information, but as the dust settled I could see the clear vision. These men, had set together a list of rules to follow and to trade by. In a server of over 3000 traders, 2900 of them were union members.

     Make no mistake, they were not a guild. Guilds control what a player does in certain cases. Unions organize players. They organize what the market price is going to be. If that market price is gouged or undercut, there are penalties for disloyalty. You did not want to be banned from the Union. If that was the case, your trading days were over. You would have to pack up, and sell to yourself, farm what you needed. You no longer had the option of buying in bulk. You were the proverbial stain at the bottom of the swimming pool.

You were the unwanted and the unneeded. Luckily, I never experienced that side of the Union world.

Pros of a Tradesman Union:

There were many microperks to a tradesman union. Here are a few to list them out.

• Guaranteed Sale - Your goods were always going to be purchased through orders given through the union network. You filled the order, and you were paid the full standard market price.
• Protection - The union had determined trade routes, these trade routes were cleared of brigands and highway robbers. Often times caravans had military protection, but the trade routes were often patrolled by Union guards. No one wanted to kill you for fear of total war. Guilds would often times have a union representative. If a guild killed a union member, they sometimes had to pay for their mistakes with tribute or with free trade. They always followed this. None in my time of membership ever broke the rule. There had only been one incident before my arrival. It was declared as being the last. To sum the last war up. Over 50 guilds versus 1, it wasn't long until everyone involved in that 1 guild resigned. 
• No fear of Undercuts - No one in the union would ever undercut you on your price. There was no haggling or discussion, they paid you for the item. They also were required by union law to purchase first from a union member. The market price was set by day, only a 1 to 2 ratio could go up or down from that. 
• Insider information - If a guild merger or guild event such as war or contest, the union knew about it first. Union members were often contracted to provide materials. Some members of the union even could sponsor the events depending on the situation. 

Cons of Tradesman Union:

As with the pros, there were many reasons you did not want to join a Union. Here are a few of those reasons:

• Monopoly - If a union member had a monopoly on a certain item, you literally could not contest his business and compete with him. You had to have 2x his stock to even try, even then it was risky. If the member was good with the board, he could have you banned from the union for any reason. 
• Corrupt - Anytime you put together a group of players, motives will be flown and sowed together. Majority rules as they say. If you became the black sheep by a cross trade or disagreement, your removal was imminent. However, board members could also be bought to swing one way or the other.
• Sub-unions - If the Union board had any off time, Sub-unions would emerge, little leaders as we called them. It was a foundation to tear apart the Union as a whole. If it wasn't stamped out, a player could arise with an idea that could destroy the fabric of the society.
• Dictatorships - Though I never saw this happen, I had heard of this happening in the past. If a union was structured poorly and  one person was to lead this organization. That one person often times became a dictator over a majority rule.

Concluding with one last summary to wrap this thing up. The Requirements of Membership. I have only a few of them written down here. They are the ones that stick out.

1. Never discuss politics outside of the Union.
2. Never trade with an outside player if a member has informed you of the same item listed.
3. Trading with previous union members is forbidden.
4. Trading with previous union guilds is forbidden.
5. The market price is set once per day, You are allotted a 1 - 2 % raise or decrease from this market price.
6. Going above or below the 1 - 2 % is forbidden.
7. Killing or robbing union members is forbidden.
8. If a player asks for your union id, respond with (enter keyword here) 
9. If you ask a player for his or her union id, and they do not respond with the correct keyword, record their name and report to the union board. 
10. Never give out the daily keyword to anyone.

Now some of those rules are paraphrased. Others, are rules written exact. I can see how a lot of these rules had a purpose. The last though seem more like a cult to me than anything. There were a lot more but I felt it was redundant for this entry. A keyword would allow a player to enter the union halls without appropriate tags. I can understand, but report the player to the union hall? Sounds kind of cultish to me. Leave a comment if you agree or disagree. 

Thanks for reading

-CB

Elder Scrolls Preparation

     In order to get the creative juices flowing, I often like to start the morning out with a Yoohoo and a protein shake. I mix them, in my Blenderball from GNC. Just as soon as the frothy milk reaches the top of the bottle I slam it like a sorority sister from Nebraska on her 21st birthday. That's my breakfast. I eat generally 6 times a day with my diet. I do whatever keeps my metabolism as high as possible. What does not get my metabolism moving, is the fact that every close friend of mine, now has a key to the progressive beta of Elder Scrolls online. So now until they end the beta, my friends are in the world of Tamriel without me. With the NDA and my understanding of how Zenimax works, I refuse and they refuse to break that Non-disclosure agreement.

     It sort of puts me at a loss, here I am making the necessary preparations for my gold making website, which is meant to be 100% free to the public mind you. I am unable to start my research in to how things are going to go on the money front. Without any information what so ever from the beta, this has put me in a bad mood.

     So with that disaster, I went forth to find things to keep myself occupied. I have updated the website no less to support this blog, as well as a few other things. I now have 2 writers in my employ. Both are close friends, and they both have access to the *&*^$ beta. However, we have made an agreement that we shall not disclose any information, as it could get us sued up and down. So it's server, website, and blog work for me.

     When dealing with this level of boredom, often times you must find a way to keep yourself occupied. Lest you do not go insane and end up assaulting a renegade band of beavers. Their only plight being to rid the world of flowing water, as they build a large dam. I decided, "No, I am not going to kill, Slopdop, the friendly monk beaver for his information regarding beaver world domination."
Instead rather I will spend my time gloriously looking for ways to better prepare myself for the onslaught of endless gaming nights. The sad fact of the matter is, while I am writing this totally stupid entry, that will be read back years from now, I will realize that I should have been working on the website. Instead of course making myself laugh early in the morning with talks of beavers. It's unfortunate really. With nothing to write I can always find a way to write totally ridiculous material. I understand, and like many of you out there, all 5 of you even, that I am not funny. Well you know what I say to that?

You're right. I am not funny.

But.. I need material on my blog to test with.

Future me. Sorry for the time lost.

-CB