Friday, September 11, 2015
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Duplication Bug Hits The Elder Scrolls Onine
On Thursday April 17th Zenimax Online Studios announced they had identified an item duplication bug. Using the guild bank, players were duplicating stacks of items. The most popular of these items were legendary crafting materials such as Tempering Alloy and Dreugh Wax. Because of their high value and that they have a maximum stack size of 100, made these ideal for exploitation. This bug has since been fixed, and the damage looks minimal to the average player. But what does this mean for the economy going forward? How was a bug like this even possible? That, and more, will be explained.
Along with the bug being fixed, many accounts have been banned. ZOS hasn't yet stated just how many accounts have been banned. But they did have a large round of bans earlier this month. Jessica Folsom from ZOS made this statement last Wednesday "Today, we made our first major strike against those who choose to cheat in ESO, permanently banning thousands. This is only the beginning of our ongoing efforts to keep the game free from botters, speed hackers, and gold spammers." I didn't see a large impact in the past week, but I did see a large impact yesterday. Each bank I walked into (both yesterday and today) had about 20-30 less players than before this latest round of bans. It doesn't sound like a lot, but that is only one phase (instance) at a time, not to mention all the other banks I didn't visit. Doing some mental math here, hundreds of accounts were banned, possibly thousands (I halved my estimate on account of this being Easter weekend). I think its safe to say we won't be seeing a large impact on the economy. Anyone who dodged the ban bullet is going to be careful not to attract the attention of ZOS.
So, just how DID this exploit come to pass? There isn't a simple answer. Lets start by looking at the engine used in the Elder Scrolls Online. Originally ZOS used HeroEngine, the same engine used in Star Wars: The Old Republic. However, they used this engine only to help get themselves off the ground. Eventually they made their own engine, from scratch. This way (in theory) they would be able to do much, much more. By using a completely custom engine instead of using an engine built by ENGINE DEVELOPERS there is bound to be a few bugs and glitches. My favorite is falling through the map and landing on a test model for terrain and different objects. Unrelated glitches aside, past Elder Scrolls games have been riddled with bugs and glitches, including item duplication.Bethesda and Zenimax have worked on other games with very few bugs, so what makes Elder Scroll games so special? Well, they almost always change engines, or modify them. If you didn't expect to encounter such a significant glitch in ESO, I have three words for you: Prepare for more.
The other large contributor to how this glitch was allowed to be exploited, lies in when it was originally reported. If you think it was originally reported sometime in April, please sit down. The answer may make you lose your balance. This bug was first reported in February. Yes, February. Some people are claiming it existed in the ALPHA build of the game. It wasn't a widespread or well documented bug at the time, and we have the NDA to thank for that (along with the fact that of course, there were far fewer people playing the game at the time). I wish I had a copy of the NDA to refer to, but I do believe we were bound to be vague in regards to late game content, and prohibited from bad publicity. Don't quote me on that.
The reason it took so long for this issue to be resolved is because it wasn't pressing at the time. Major bugs that have a widespread effect are top priority. Easy fixes and less widespread bugs are secondary. Publicity as well. Anyone else remember that bug where a few players got Veteran Rank over the course of a Beta Weekend? Yeah, well, they fixed that a few days later. While I don't encourage or condone exploiting Elder Scrolls Online, or telling others how to exploit in such a fashion, sometimes a demonstration gets the ball rolling.
Many players are calling for a server wide rollback. While this is a bit of grim news,I don't think such rash action is necessary. Any gold or materials still in the system will either be distributed through buying and selling in the coming weeks, or hoarded for later. Those hoarding for later won't be driving the economy down, and are more likely to spend over the market price for goods (since they have so much money to throw around).
This bug could have been triggered by accident. If you were banned, and feel it was unjust, you can petition an appeal by following the steps found here.
The next article I plan on writing is in regards to alchemy reagents. More specifically, the rarity of them. If you'd like to share your insights with me, drop a line in the comments below, or hit me up in-game (@SoyezFerme). I've also been known to frequent the Tamriel Gold Goblin Teamspeak.
Along with the bug being fixed, many accounts have been banned. ZOS hasn't yet stated just how many accounts have been banned. But they did have a large round of bans earlier this month. Jessica Folsom from ZOS made this statement last Wednesday "Today, we made our first major strike against those who choose to cheat in ESO, permanently banning thousands. This is only the beginning of our ongoing efforts to keep the game free from botters, speed hackers, and gold spammers." I didn't see a large impact in the past week, but I did see a large impact yesterday. Each bank I walked into (both yesterday and today) had about 20-30 less players than before this latest round of bans. It doesn't sound like a lot, but that is only one phase (instance) at a time, not to mention all the other banks I didn't visit. Doing some mental math here, hundreds of accounts were banned, possibly thousands (I halved my estimate on account of this being Easter weekend). I think its safe to say we won't be seeing a large impact on the economy. Anyone who dodged the ban bullet is going to be careful not to attract the attention of ZOS.
So, just how DID this exploit come to pass? There isn't a simple answer. Lets start by looking at the engine used in the Elder Scrolls Online. Originally ZOS used HeroEngine, the same engine used in Star Wars: The Old Republic. However, they used this engine only to help get themselves off the ground. Eventually they made their own engine, from scratch. This way (in theory) they would be able to do much, much more. By using a completely custom engine instead of using an engine built by ENGINE DEVELOPERS there is bound to be a few bugs and glitches. My favorite is falling through the map and landing on a test model for terrain and different objects. Unrelated glitches aside, past Elder Scrolls games have been riddled with bugs and glitches, including item duplication.Bethesda and Zenimax have worked on other games with very few bugs, so what makes Elder Scroll games so special? Well, they almost always change engines, or modify them. If you didn't expect to encounter such a significant glitch in ESO, I have three words for you: Prepare for more.
The other large contributor to how this glitch was allowed to be exploited, lies in when it was originally reported. If you think it was originally reported sometime in April, please sit down. The answer may make you lose your balance. This bug was first reported in February. Yes, February. Some people are claiming it existed in the ALPHA build of the game. It wasn't a widespread or well documented bug at the time, and we have the NDA to thank for that (along with the fact that of course, there were far fewer people playing the game at the time). I wish I had a copy of the NDA to refer to, but I do believe we were bound to be vague in regards to late game content, and prohibited from bad publicity. Don't quote me on that.
The reason it took so long for this issue to be resolved is because it wasn't pressing at the time. Major bugs that have a widespread effect are top priority. Easy fixes and less widespread bugs are secondary. Publicity as well. Anyone else remember that bug where a few players got Veteran Rank over the course of a Beta Weekend? Yeah, well, they fixed that a few days later. While I don't encourage or condone exploiting Elder Scrolls Online, or telling others how to exploit in such a fashion, sometimes a demonstration gets the ball rolling.
Many players are calling for a server wide rollback. While this is a bit of grim news,I don't think such rash action is necessary. Any gold or materials still in the system will either be distributed through buying and selling in the coming weeks, or hoarded for later. Those hoarding for later won't be driving the economy down, and are more likely to spend over the market price for goods (since they have so much money to throw around).
This bug could have been triggered by accident. If you were banned, and feel it was unjust, you can petition an appeal by following the steps found here.
The next article I plan on writing is in regards to alchemy reagents. More specifically, the rarity of them. If you'd like to share your insights with me, drop a line in the comments below, or hit me up in-game (@SoyezFerme). I've also been known to frequent the Tamriel Gold Goblin Teamspeak.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Little bit of history
I woke up one early Summer day, in June, the 6th as I recall. I rolled out of bed, jumped in the shower, and found my Dad sitting out in my Mother's van waiting on me to go to Walmart with him. It was the year 2001, I still remember my Dad's excitement for the release of a game called World War II online. It was strange because my Dad had never been excited about any other game release, nor would he ever be excited for another. You see, my Dad was a business man turned history teacher. He owned his own restaurant for much of my young life, he struggled to keep food on the table while he worked and went to school for his teaching degree. History is really the only hobby he had at the time. Everything revolved around his degree, and for that level of intensity for him to be excited about a game, was thrilling to me.
We headed out that morning to purchase a game. That's a strange concept these days for kids. Now you can just visit a website, enter some credit card information, buy any game you want, and download it. It's even getting now where console kids don't have to leave their houses for a game. When you think back to the long-long ago, to the before time, you need to realize how far we have come. The other day I was reading about how a part of cannabis called (CBD) can heal people with Tonic-Clonic seizures. This treatment was unheard of 20 years ago because of fear. We live in a technology world. Every day, that old saying "Technology ain't what it use to be," is growing ever more clear.
World War II Online's release, was the last time I had played a game for 15 hours straight with no breaks. Until this weekend that is. Although I have had my moments of game marathons, I have always taken a break in between raids, or in between PVP matches. Sunday morning at 5:51am, I sat down to play Elder Scrolls Online, when I stood back up, it was 4:32pm. I had to get some laundry done for work the next day, so I took advantage of that fact, filled my water, and grabbed a few pizza rolls for the road. I sat back down at 5:00pm and played again until about 10:00pm or a little after.
By the time I was done playing for the evening, my back, elbows, butt, hands, feet, neck, all ached, as if I were the one actually swinging the sword, and not my character. I had truly been to battle, rode a horse, hopped off the horse, jumped back on the horse, sometimes involuntarily. I had to decipher German phrases. I had to recall beta experiences to make it through a few quests that were in German too. I grouped, I died, I crafted, I explored. It was a full day. I did find some money loopholes, and I plan to experiment more with those when I reach max level.
I guess you could say I had the full experience. Though, I did not have the full 44 hour experience like some of my apparently unemployed friends did. How those guys made it 44 hours to level 50, without an IV of Red-Bull I will never understand. They must be a lot younger, and must have a lot better computer chair than I.
My experience was good. Like with many other games bugs are many at launch. The game doesn't officially launch until the 4th, so there is still time to hammer out those broken quests, and fix the secondary weapon bugs, where you switch to the other weapon involuntarily in the middle of a fight. There is still time! Right Right!
I leave you now with only one phrase.
As the late, Vipper von Vipperson would say, "Never go full carrot."
-CB
We headed out that morning to purchase a game. That's a strange concept these days for kids. Now you can just visit a website, enter some credit card information, buy any game you want, and download it. It's even getting now where console kids don't have to leave their houses for a game. When you think back to the long-long ago, to the before time, you need to realize how far we have come. The other day I was reading about how a part of cannabis called (CBD) can heal people with Tonic-Clonic seizures. This treatment was unheard of 20 years ago because of fear. We live in a technology world. Every day, that old saying "Technology ain't what it use to be," is growing ever more clear.
World War II Online's release, was the last time I had played a game for 15 hours straight with no breaks. Until this weekend that is. Although I have had my moments of game marathons, I have always taken a break in between raids, or in between PVP matches. Sunday morning at 5:51am, I sat down to play Elder Scrolls Online, when I stood back up, it was 4:32pm. I had to get some laundry done for work the next day, so I took advantage of that fact, filled my water, and grabbed a few pizza rolls for the road. I sat back down at 5:00pm and played again until about 10:00pm or a little after.
By the time I was done playing for the evening, my back, elbows, butt, hands, feet, neck, all ached, as if I were the one actually swinging the sword, and not my character. I had truly been to battle, rode a horse, hopped off the horse, jumped back on the horse, sometimes involuntarily. I had to decipher German phrases. I had to recall beta experiences to make it through a few quests that were in German too. I grouped, I died, I crafted, I explored. It was a full day. I did find some money loopholes, and I plan to experiment more with those when I reach max level.
I guess you could say I had the full experience. Though, I did not have the full 44 hour experience like some of my apparently unemployed friends did. How those guys made it 44 hours to level 50, without an IV of Red-Bull I will never understand. They must be a lot younger, and must have a lot better computer chair than I.
My experience was good. Like with many other games bugs are many at launch. The game doesn't officially launch until the 4th, so there is still time to hammer out those broken quests, and fix the secondary weapon bugs, where you switch to the other weapon involuntarily in the middle of a fight. There is still time! Right Right!
I leave you now with only one phrase.
As the late, Vipper von Vipperson would say, "Never go full carrot."
-CB
Saturday, March 29, 2014
What to Watch For
ESO is soon to launch into Pre-Release in just under 12 hours. We are all going into this thinking we know how we want to play. Whether we want to skip dialogue, or listen/read to every sentence an NPC has to say. Or whether we want to get into PvP as soon as possible, or explore the PvE content as much as we can. Thinking you'll be a crafter? You'll probably be pulled into a different direction. Even your play style for your class. Throughout the PTS beta, nearly every of my preconceived notions on how I want to play has changed.
As skill information leaked (prior to me joining the beta), I made what I thought was going to be an epic build as a sorcerer wearing medium armor and using a two-handed sword. I carefully balanced magicka and stamina usage, as well as balanced out the skills on my weapon swaps. I stuck to this build as long as I could, and eventually figured out that it was going nowhere. After seeking out the advice of others on how my class could beat boss Mannimarco (who has since been nerfed) I realized I had gone in such a direction that my character could be much, much better. After some tweaking, adopting as much advice into my build as I could, I was able to beat Mannimarco. While this seems to have nothing to do with the game economy or making gold, there is a lesson to this story. The lessen is that the wisdom of the experienced can prove to be invaluable. All you have to do is listen.
Time is a precious thing. We here at Tamriel Gold Goblin have been saying for ages how time is money. Truth is, money is money. Time is just another currency that we take to the bank and exchange for money (gold). Saving time doesn't always mean saving money. First, you need to spend time learning and understanding before you get the best exchange rate of time for money (gold). Not everything can be read online, some things need to be experienced.
Between level 1 and level 10 I found I was mismatching gear because that is just what I was picking up. If you know what kind of gear you want (light, medium, heavy, or a combination), ask your guildmates and party members to keep an eye out. The same goes for weapons, and this advice isn't limited to levels 1 through 10. If you can get gear for free, perfect. If you can get gear without you or a friend paying a guild store fee, awesome. It's a win-win. Plus, come launch and pre-launch, how many guild stores will you even have access to? Not many.
"Vendor Trash" is typically considered common gear that isn't worth taking the time to sell to players. This is such a dirty word on new servers and for new characters. On the last character I created, I was still using level 4 gear on a level 10 character. Why? Because I hadn't come across anything better. Loot tables may not always be balanced, and nothing is guaranteed. Everyone needs better gear, even what others may consider to be trash. Find something you think is useless to your build? Post it in party and guild chat. If someone wants it, sell it to them for a bit more than the vendor would offer. They get gear, you get gold.
There are also a number of items you will NOT want to vendor. Some of the immediate ones I can think of are Racial Motif Books, Soul Gems, Green, Blue, Purple, and Yellow crafting materials, Blue, Purple, and Yellow Provisioning recipes, Racial Style crafting materials, and treasure maps. Each have their own value, even if its only that you'll end up buying them at some point. Racial Motif Books and their crafting materials are super important to anyone crafting weapons or armor. The books unlock styles, and the materials are used for that respective style. The rarer the style, the rarer the material. The colored crafting materials and recipes are also harder to come by, and are essential for top of the line gear. Soul Gems go like hotcakes in PvP. If you haven't heard, these are needed to resurrect yourself and others in both PvP and PvE. Most bosses in group dungeons prevent you from resurrecting yourself, so it would be nice if your group mates had a few to spare.
So, you think you know what craft you want to do (or have decided not to craft anything). Well, you're wrong. Even if you're already in a guild that has all the crafts covered by various players, you're going to want to gather materials for a craft you're not doing. Namely Alchemy and Provisioning materials. These are consumables that restore resources and temporarily enhance your character. While potions and food drop and can be bought from NPCs, the crafted quality is superior to any drop or vendor item. Some Alchemy and Provisioning materials are rarer than others, and all recipes call for specific ingredients. Anyone crafting these items will always have a shortage of certain ingredients. By picking these up from level 1, you will (eventually) find someone who wants to buy them, or find a crafter that can use them to make you something you want.
In terms of which armor to use, or to craft, there are a few things you should consider (or reconsider). Light armor is designed for magic users, medium designed for stealth, and heavy for tanks. Be sure of which you want to use. Making the crafting switch could cost you months of time in researching traits, and tons of gold in new crafting materials. If you aren't 100% sure (pretty much anyone who wasn't playing PTS in my opinion) then keep your crafts available by researching some of everything. Eventually you may want to respec your skill points towards a different craft. And so if you research some other gear, the time sink will be lessened. There is the trade off of wasting time and energy in performing the research. In my opinion though, it is worth it, even if you think you are 100% sure of what craft you want to focus on. In terms of using armor though, I recommend going all in on what you think is best. Switching what armor you use is a relatively painful process.
Prioritize your expenses. The main things you will need to save gold for are bag/inventory upgrades, and buying a horse. At some point you may also want to re-spec your character. These are the three big sinks of gold. Start saving your septims, and decide which you are saving for. If you have the Imperial Edition, you start with a basic horse. There are even better horses though, and you are allowed to have more than one. I myself would save that even better horse for late game. A budget would also help to manage things like wayshrine fees and vendor purchases. Setting a budget on things like these will help reduce your spending and help you save for those major purchases.
And finally, the most important tip I can give you for your first character: Loot Everything. Especially in the tutorial areas of Cold Harbour. Cold Harbour can leave your character fully equipped and enough gold to upgrade further as soon as you leave. You'll also learn which types of containers provide which kinds of loot, and begin to recognize them from a distance.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to head over to the convenience store to stock up on supplies, attend a guild meeting, finish upgrading my computer, then take a nap before I hop on ESO tomorrow. I hope to see you all in game.
As skill information leaked (prior to me joining the beta), I made what I thought was going to be an epic build as a sorcerer wearing medium armor and using a two-handed sword. I carefully balanced magicka and stamina usage, as well as balanced out the skills on my weapon swaps. I stuck to this build as long as I could, and eventually figured out that it was going nowhere. After seeking out the advice of others on how my class could beat boss Mannimarco (who has since been nerfed) I realized I had gone in such a direction that my character could be much, much better. After some tweaking, adopting as much advice into my build as I could, I was able to beat Mannimarco. While this seems to have nothing to do with the game economy or making gold, there is a lesson to this story. The lessen is that the wisdom of the experienced can prove to be invaluable. All you have to do is listen.
(This was my character a few hours after fighting Mannimarco and had time for a breather, and the time to take a selfie evidently)
Time is a precious thing. We here at Tamriel Gold Goblin have been saying for ages how time is money. Truth is, money is money. Time is just another currency that we take to the bank and exchange for money (gold). Saving time doesn't always mean saving money. First, you need to spend time learning and understanding before you get the best exchange rate of time for money (gold). Not everything can be read online, some things need to be experienced.
Between level 1 and level 10 I found I was mismatching gear because that is just what I was picking up. If you know what kind of gear you want (light, medium, heavy, or a combination), ask your guildmates and party members to keep an eye out. The same goes for weapons, and this advice isn't limited to levels 1 through 10. If you can get gear for free, perfect. If you can get gear without you or a friend paying a guild store fee, awesome. It's a win-win. Plus, come launch and pre-launch, how many guild stores will you even have access to? Not many.
"Vendor Trash" is typically considered common gear that isn't worth taking the time to sell to players. This is such a dirty word on new servers and for new characters. On the last character I created, I was still using level 4 gear on a level 10 character. Why? Because I hadn't come across anything better. Loot tables may not always be balanced, and nothing is guaranteed. Everyone needs better gear, even what others may consider to be trash. Find something you think is useless to your build? Post it in party and guild chat. If someone wants it, sell it to them for a bit more than the vendor would offer. They get gear, you get gold.
There are also a number of items you will NOT want to vendor. Some of the immediate ones I can think of are Racial Motif Books, Soul Gems, Green, Blue, Purple, and Yellow crafting materials, Blue, Purple, and Yellow Provisioning recipes, Racial Style crafting materials, and treasure maps. Each have their own value, even if its only that you'll end up buying them at some point. Racial Motif Books and their crafting materials are super important to anyone crafting weapons or armor. The books unlock styles, and the materials are used for that respective style. The rarer the style, the rarer the material. The colored crafting materials and recipes are also harder to come by, and are essential for top of the line gear. Soul Gems go like hotcakes in PvP. If you haven't heard, these are needed to resurrect yourself and others in both PvP and PvE. Most bosses in group dungeons prevent you from resurrecting yourself, so it would be nice if your group mates had a few to spare.
So, you think you know what craft you want to do (or have decided not to craft anything). Well, you're wrong. Even if you're already in a guild that has all the crafts covered by various players, you're going to want to gather materials for a craft you're not doing. Namely Alchemy and Provisioning materials. These are consumables that restore resources and temporarily enhance your character. While potions and food drop and can be bought from NPCs, the crafted quality is superior to any drop or vendor item. Some Alchemy and Provisioning materials are rarer than others, and all recipes call for specific ingredients. Anyone crafting these items will always have a shortage of certain ingredients. By picking these up from level 1, you will (eventually) find someone who wants to buy them, or find a crafter that can use them to make you something you want.
In terms of which armor to use, or to craft, there are a few things you should consider (or reconsider). Light armor is designed for magic users, medium designed for stealth, and heavy for tanks. Be sure of which you want to use. Making the crafting switch could cost you months of time in researching traits, and tons of gold in new crafting materials. If you aren't 100% sure (pretty much anyone who wasn't playing PTS in my opinion) then keep your crafts available by researching some of everything. Eventually you may want to respec your skill points towards a different craft. And so if you research some other gear, the time sink will be lessened. There is the trade off of wasting time and energy in performing the research. In my opinion though, it is worth it, even if you think you are 100% sure of what craft you want to focus on. In terms of using armor though, I recommend going all in on what you think is best. Switching what armor you use is a relatively painful process.
Prioritize your expenses. The main things you will need to save gold for are bag/inventory upgrades, and buying a horse. At some point you may also want to re-spec your character. These are the three big sinks of gold. Start saving your septims, and decide which you are saving for. If you have the Imperial Edition, you start with a basic horse. There are even better horses though, and you are allowed to have more than one. I myself would save that even better horse for late game. A budget would also help to manage things like wayshrine fees and vendor purchases. Setting a budget on things like these will help reduce your spending and help you save for those major purchases.
And finally, the most important tip I can give you for your first character: Loot Everything. Especially in the tutorial areas of Cold Harbour. Cold Harbour can leave your character fully equipped and enough gold to upgrade further as soon as you leave. You'll also learn which types of containers provide which kinds of loot, and begin to recognize them from a distance.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to head over to the convenience store to stock up on supplies, attend a guild meeting, finish upgrading my computer, then take a nap before I hop on ESO tomorrow. I hope to see you all in game.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Popularity
Hey guys ChillBilly here.
I just wanted to put in a little blog entry about the way things are as it stands. We started just a few months ago. I purchased the domain name on a whim, that if I could get at least 10 viewers, at least I would be able to show the world what I know about game economies. It started slow. At first it wasn't clear if we were going to be a success or not. There were already other websites that were very successful in guides on characters and skills, but none that focused on the economy. It's a little intimidating to step up to bat against the pros. So I released a few videos about World of Warcraft Gold making.
Not long after, we began to get a few followers. I focused more on the newsletters from our site. We obtained a few extra programs to help it along. We now have 90 subscribers to our newsletter, 40 subscribers to YouTube, and over 100 views a day to our website.
Some may not see this as uber successful. I see it as a good start. So we have our topic. We have our support from the community. We just need to refine our craft.
I will be updating the website in the next couple of weeks. Fortunately, I do have a great bit of knowledge on websites, so we aren't too much in the dark. I have been receiving a lot of emails requesting message boards. Our new website will have a forum. That ticker you see reaching across the screen will have a clearer message. All will be well.
I appreciate anyone that takes the time to read what we have written. I especially appreciate the people who have taken the time to sign up for the newsletter. I also especially appreciate our silent sponsors. Without all of you subscribers and sponsors. We would not be able to make this possible.
Thank you again.
-CB
I just wanted to put in a little blog entry about the way things are as it stands. We started just a few months ago. I purchased the domain name on a whim, that if I could get at least 10 viewers, at least I would be able to show the world what I know about game economies. It started slow. At first it wasn't clear if we were going to be a success or not. There were already other websites that were very successful in guides on characters and skills, but none that focused on the economy. It's a little intimidating to step up to bat against the pros. So I released a few videos about World of Warcraft Gold making.
Not long after, we began to get a few followers. I focused more on the newsletters from our site. We obtained a few extra programs to help it along. We now have 90 subscribers to our newsletter, 40 subscribers to YouTube, and over 100 views a day to our website.
Some may not see this as uber successful. I see it as a good start. So we have our topic. We have our support from the community. We just need to refine our craft.
I will be updating the website in the next couple of weeks. Fortunately, I do have a great bit of knowledge on websites, so we aren't too much in the dark. I have been receiving a lot of emails requesting message boards. Our new website will have a forum. That ticker you see reaching across the screen will have a clearer message. All will be well.
I appreciate anyone that takes the time to read what we have written. I especially appreciate the people who have taken the time to sign up for the newsletter. I also especially appreciate our silent sponsors. Without all of you subscribers and sponsors. We would not be able to make this possible.
Thank you again.
-CB
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