Lockpicks vs. ectos for currency?

I'm sure this has been brought up in the past, and I certainly understand why ectos were traditionally used for currency, but why are they still used instead of other things? The price of ectos varies, sometimes wildly (ie during the free entry into uw weekend event) the only way you can get them is in the uw or buying them. I don't see why we don't use lockpicks instead.. they're available from just about every merchant, they have a set value that never changes (1200 gold) and even if you're not using them to trade you can just... use them! I understand that they're worth less than ectos so you'd need more of them to equal the same amount but then you don't have to haggle over the value of the ectos you're trading. I know its like an ingrained habit with the weight of momentum behind it. Is there something I'm missing?

theres already item selling for 8 stack of ecto... and ecto are 3-4k more than lockpick... I wouldnt see selling something for 15stack of lockpick...

This has been discussed before in a pretty long thread...you'll find that lockpicks are a better solution but people with lots of ecto will always be against it. Realistically lockpicks will work for 99.9% of trades, if you have to trade for something worth 7+ stacks of ecto then you need to make some decisions about how to transfer the money anyways.

People with lots of money determine what is currency.

Proletariat however can use lockpicks if they wish or whatever. Ectos will remain the currency until people who own them decide they want to change that.

Having variable currency is beneficial, since it allows for speculation and haggling - almost all of today's currency is virtual, and their value determined by stock markets. Hard currencies (gold, silver, diamonds) simply don't work as well, since they can't adapt.

How about stacks of 250 Armbraces?





















Zing!

Incorrect, anyone from an alliance that owns a factions town can get them cheaper than everyone else.

Yer and that is why there set value would be 1200-1250 gold, you can already pick up stacks of lockpicks at that price.

I sell them for 1k. Bam -- crushed your "set value" theory.

Ecto prices are pretty unreliable. Although id rather see ectos pinned at something lockpicks make for a nice alternitive and are only unsuitable for mega pricey trades. And as for alliances the 1200-1250 is about the price they are dealt in anyway they just have the convinience and supply the lockpicks to make a lockpick economy vaiable.

/Stacks of Red Iris Flowers for new currency

And I'd buy it for 1k and resell it for 1.2k...

Unlike ectos, there is a semi-stable market for them (chaos gloves and FoW are the only uses for ecto)

There's always going to be outliers to the average price, just like nothing natural fits a linear or exponential regression

sorry but that puts too much control of the economy in the hands of a few people who control towns....what if they decided they wanted to raise their profit margin by making the price 1.3k or 1.4k instead...people would have to pay in order to get their lockpicks. Meanwhile those people controlling the towns can still get the discount and have a position of power in the enconomy. Instead they rely on Ecto prices which are controlled by Anet and their loot tables and not the whim of some person who may want to get a bit more gold for themselves.

people who own towns are behind this move to try to convince people to use lockpicks...because they have a vested interest in the outcome...just like people who own lots of ectos have a vested interest in seeing the community continue to use it as currency. The difference being that the control of the supply lies with Anet, not some elite group of alliances. People who do not have huge stacks of ectos know this...which is why they continue to use ectos over lockpicks.

That could happen in theroy but i doubt it could relisticly happen. One alliance deos it then GG people just buy from the others and the alliance just shot itself in the foot. Although it might be possible to get them all to do it, that would mean getting lots of alliances to "team up" and keep a lid on any member who would b out to make a quick buck selling cheaper that the alliances inforced price. They couldnt really stop him unless they somhow found out. Also these alliances are activley competing with one another so its very unlikey tthem would join up. Now think about a kurzick/luxon alliance... madness .

That'd be schweet.

I wholehartedly agree with using lockpicks instead of ectos. The problem is all the people that power trade already have an inventory full of ectos, so they would be against it, even though it would actually save them money instead of using fluctuating ectos.

Works in pre-searing

We are used to ectos, it's tough (maybe only for me) to change our habit to write from 100K+5e to 100K+15 lock

It would be a great idea if lockpicks didn't drop.

^^Hehe, GW Teamsters, Hoffa style.

Yeah I think the price of ecto has gotten far too unstable for it to be effectively used as currency. At the same time I don't see a shift happening. It ALMOST happened with candy canes after they were first introduced to the game, when peppermint candy canes were just called candy canes and were the only kind available. About 6 mo. after they hit the game you started seeing people posting "WTS xxx 100k+50cc", but before it could really take we had 3 different kinds of canes and it became apparent they would be more readily available then people had initially assumed (thank god they made me filthy rich before that happened). I also think that ecto as currency goes beyond the need for something to trade above the 100k limit, and also has to do with a currency valued at more than a platinum, the next step so to speak. I think we will always need a form of currency that is worth at least 5k per unit.

But I'm just a simple necro, and I could be totally wrong.

How do people get ecto?

eBay




I kid, I kid...

Farming underworld (UW) or buying them from other players or the rare material trader.

Lockpicks are not of high enough value to use as an ecto replacement.

Ecto will never be replaced.

The only thing I've seen that sometimes replaces Ecto was Diamonds...before EOTN when their price more than halved. Lockpicks won't ever be used, value is too low.

As someone else said, the big fortunes in game are stored in ecto; those people buy and sell in ecto accordingly, making it the defacto currency of high-end trades; everything else follows that.

Old habits die hard. Even if ecto isn't the "smart" thing to do, it is too well into the mindset of the average player.

You want the real reason? here it is... they have control of them...

Lets say the accepted currency went to lockpicks. then the people that hoard the ectos in order to keep the prices up will have to trade in ectos for lockpicks, driving the ecto material value way down... Where as the lockpicks will never go down from what it is now, they may go up... however that is not what these people want because they do not have massive stockpiles of lockpicks from farming. Its never been about value to these people, its been about what they can exploit. Many of these guys bought ecto for as cheap as 600 gold in the massive hundreds using illegally purchased gold. They can also replenish this commodity because the ecto is not a scarce an item, its just perceived to be scarce cause the item is seldom sold back to the vendor NPCs and destroyed from the game... On occasion they are used for armor. to this date that is the major ecto sink in the game... however Anet has added a few new ones in special collector items in Gwen. Every ecto destroyed is another nail in its coffin. because the more it is pulled out of the game the less likly the hoarding farmers will be able to resist or demand ecto exchanges...

Lets use a less stable example. Diamonds for instance... This is the direction these people WANT us to go, because again, THEY can control it better. Diamonds drop with some regularity and can now be farmed in some areas, Much as ecto is now... True not as plentiful as ecto can be, BUT its possible.. With Lockpicks this is not really very true as they drop in unpredictable ways all through the game in HM. So while it is a 100% acceptable currency exchange method that SHOULD be accepted and used in the bogus player driven market of make believe values and imaginary demand. It more then likely will never be allowed, simply because lockpicks can not be MASS farmed by the people that continually exploit the game for more FAKE value then a typical player should have. This also drives many of their illegal gold selling activities for Real money. Something that is unacceptable by Anet and NCsoft, but is continually ignored by many of the game populous because they want to cheat and don't care if they get caught... Its a real business for them. Not a game. This is what makes it in violation of the EULA and the Rules of Conduct EVERY PLAYER ACCEPTS WHEN THEY INSTALL THE GAME.

The reason lockpicks will not be allowed to become a good commodity in the game is because they are not easily replenished with exploitative behavior. Fact is every aspect of the demand market is controlled by the very people that use it. When a price is too high or they are asking for 50 ectos instead of a reasonable amount of game gold, people buying it SHOULD always and 100% say "Your freaking nuts.. I'll just go get one myself and and you can go to hell." Then, and ONLY then, will the flow of the market place become something more in line with a normal player and the perceived REASON for farming be drastically reduced to near zero... Cause after all there is nothing in this game that is unattainable from just playing the game. NOTHING.

Sorry folks... the only ones you have to blame for prices is yourselves. Tell these people to bugger off and never use them. Problem solved. If they demand ecto refuse the trade... If they demand anything over 100K refuse the trade. Hell if you want to know where to get it, look it up on wiki for crying out out loud.

Control of an out of control market place is 100% in YOUR hands. Refuse to buy outrageously uncontrolled priced wares, and go get it yourself FOR yourself. The day you stop making use of the trade button and start making full use of collectors and Merchants and Traders npcs, you will QUICKLY discover that what you were paying those outrageous prices for, are not all that big a deal after all.

Too late to change habits...

Ecto is established in the market as an alternative currency for 2+ years.
It's value was unstable from day 1 (yeah i belong to those players who bought their fow paying 12-13k/ecto) but this didn't change anything and ecto survived till today..

I don't want to be pecimistic but since GW2 is on the way...it's too late for such "innovative" ideas/proposals


just my 2 cents

lockpicks drop? this is the first time i've heard this.

ectos have always seemed to be more desirable and usefull that lockpicks, as lockpicks are an alternative to keys which drop reasnobly frequently (at least for the amount of time i spend on) but for the armour ectos cannot be replaced with something else.

Your loss,

Nobody can "purchase" them from and npc for less than 1200gp. I could sell one that dropped for 900pg and beat your price.

how about a perm set value for ecto... would also prevent people from complaining (as they should) about the favor system.

No, bad idea. Ecto is a rare a rare material, therefore it should be subject to price change as all other materials are.

Let me buy some off you then

But ya its not a set price. the prices dont fluctuate as much as ectos but they still do.

I see some guy in the town you go ele sword farming selling for 1300 all the time. Some people are greedy others like Bloodgoat arent. so ya the set value is incorrect

I've never gotten a Lockpick via drop, but it makes sense. After all, Keys drop, so why not Lockpicks?

Btw, how many uses does a Lockpick have? Is it a set amount or random? And will the lockpicks work on any Chest? Ex: I buy a Lockpick from a merchant in Ascalon City, will it open a Steel Chest in Shiverpeaks?

these thread are getting kinda old. Why do we have to completely change the alt currency. Really. I have an idea. use what u have. I doubt any real trader will deny you using ectos or lockpicks as long as the seller gets enough money to cover his price.

As for lockpicks, their value is only 750g dispite whatever else you want to claim. As soon as lockpicks become currency, this will be true. They dont drop well or often, so farming them is difficult. If demand rose, the alliances that hold towns will increase the cost. I personally don't want to trade in something that will cost me 1.5K and give me a return of 750g.

But my original arguement still stands, you want to trade or sell something work in the currency that both parties agree on and stop trying to change everyone elses practices to fit your agenda.

Yea they are old, but I think the concern is valid... the point is ecto is being used because its easily farmed and exploited... And as such that is what the people that sell for huge amounts demand. well if people STOP GIVING IT TO THEM AT ALL, then change will happen. without it well that's their problem then isn't it?

Personally I have long since abandoned the use of the trade button as a source for game gold... As far as I am concerned if gold does not come from
1: a drop, or
2: an NPC merchant.

Its not a legal acquisition.

True I don't have much more then 20k or 30k on me at any time, but then again I also don't have reason too either. Cause I have long since learned that if I want it I go get it myself otherwise I do not deserve to have it. Buying things from other players is a waste. And the sooner more people learn that the sooner the CHEATERS that exploit this very system to sell gold for real money will be put out of business.