Ecto Prices

I can agree on this, really...btw why community say "xxx" worth "xxx"k+"xxx"e and now say no its not???For months and months all agree in prices, and on last month all changed...
All speaking about SF, about nerfing bla bla bla...ok then?Sf is nerfed now?NO, you can still farm?YES..no reason to speculate...when SF get nerf with other skills and all become hard to find i just shut up and realize that all is going right..its normal why say not if the truth is in front of my eyes?BUT untill that moment i keep my ideas up...ppl farm a lot of "high End for Day", that mean is still possible do it,ectos get farmed every day so nothing change!!or you thing is a good thing shot on a person because you have afraid that 2 moths later he will shot at you?

Will ANet consider making some adjustments to the character and Xunlai storage limit on currency (perhaps in connection with skill changes directed at certain farming builds)?

1. The currency limits (like storage which has seen a number of improvements) was designed at the beginning of Prophecies. Hopefully for GW2 and to consider for improvements in GW, a general issue with MMOs is that everyone that starts the game with nothing, so when a game is new, everyone starts "poor", but wealth accumulation develops over time, and the system should be able to accommodate that players in time will have accumulated wealth. The limits of 100K per character and 1 million gold for storage is inadequate in the context of the current game. Even if the design requires some cap, a higher cap would seem much more reasonable after the release of content after Prophecies.

2. The current limits inordinately increases the demand for a substitute (like a commodity such as ectos in this case) because of the reduced demand in the actual currency. Many players have reached the max they can store in currency so there's a preference for an alternative which they can store. It's like a bank no longer accepting cash or cash equivalent after a set limit, thus increasing the demand in gold coins and bars.

Players may need to deal with a barter element at the high end, but the prevalence of the use of currency substitutes for many transactions and inadequacy of the currency system to store wealth should warrant some consideration by ANet of a design adjustment. It should help to enhance the gaming experience for many players.

Realistically, in the real world, for an issue like this, there would be another denomination in currency, etc., rather than resorting to bartering commodities as a substitute.

Upping the 100k limit per character would solve nothing as long as items in this game are being sold and bought for 5,000k+ gold.

The problem is people after 5 years are that godawful rich they are able to ask such exorbitant prices.

And with gold ever flowing into the economy and virtually nothing of it being destroyed, this isn't likely to change.

Who speak about increase by 100k?Maybe better increase by 1000k on chars and 10000k on chest, so you can easy pay items up to 1000k of worth.

Even if a percentage of high-end transactions would rely on currency substitutes, most transactions are smaller. It would probably be a convenience for such "more standard" transactions to avoid having to engage in a commodities exchange as well. The purpose of having a currency system is to facilitate transactions and avoid having to go through that. Even if a small percentage of transactions engage in a commodities conversion, that shouldn't have much influence on the design...it's the area of where there are more transactions which should influence the design and have more impact on their playing experience. (Convenience should be important. With the increased use of character mules for storage, I remember when ANet at least made the change to allow for character switching without having to relogin each time.)

For more typical, standard transactions (not the super uber-rare items, etc.), players should be able to rely on simply using the currency system to complete their transaction. It facilitates pricing and ease of transactions.

The only objection I imagine would be from those who have a strong personal interest in ectos (hoping for continued abnormal demand due to inadequacies of the currency system) rather than an interest in game improvement and gaming experience.

It is easy - increase ecto drop rate.

Ecto drop rate have been constantly nerfed because of farms/SC - those things have/are being taken care of - no reason to keep ecto drop rate so low.

Additionally many of those ectos were obtained by things that now are considered exploits - no reason to reward exploits.

That would make the currency go to something else that isn't easily farmed (if/when SF nerf comes out) like black dyes or armbraces.

To get those black dyes people would have to buy them with hard platinum.

I actually think the ecto rate will go up, due to game mechanics. if an area is farmed too much the drop rate decreases.

There's nothing wrong with ecto droprates, it's still the same as it was in 2005. It never changed and it doesn't change with overfarm, the drops are just random so your observations on a very small sample are often heavily biased.

And why would you want ectos to suddenly stop being a currency? Despite price instability they worked fine for all these years. No other existing item is worthy of becoming a currency, the only acceptable thing would be introducing stackable bars of 100k npc buy&sell value, effectively removing all trade/storage limits on platinum. That would temporarily drop the value of ectos but I'm sure that not for a long time (the buying market force of players who intend to actually use them for crafting is greatly underestimated).

Clearly, the answer is the same as alliance faction; every month, the Lion's Arch Taxation Office takes 10% of your wealth! Problem solved, and I'm sure no one will complain.

Or, you know, we could just have a few solid items that are worth a solid amount; gold bars, platinum bars, etc, which can be exchanged at a trader for a flat fee and allow higher level trading WITHOUT a reliance on a shifting commodity obtainable from only a single location.

oooooo I like that idea m8! A consistent item worth X amount of gold trade-able to special npcs for the SAME amount of gold every time. VERY nice.

Why not?

They weren't designed as a currency.

You can use stacks of lockpicks, stacks of black dyes, whatever, to complement ur trades without them being hard currency.

None of those things were heavily exploited before since they are random drops or have a fixed price, so it isn't favouring any style of play.

The main reason is to give back platinum value.

The reason for the ecto prices, is that less people are playing the game so less people farm = less supply of ectos.
Or people that have tons of them in their inventory, stopped playing so that supply is forever stored in someone's account.
When I started playing when the game first came out, ecto was 14k each then up to last year, it got to 4k now it is back up only due to the fact that less people are playing.
Face it guys, the game is dying and no one will be playing once GW2 is out.
Arenanet is taking their time with GW2 and with no expansions to GW1, the interest is fading.
I mean how many times can one, redo a mission or re create a toon.

my .2

I don't see what the problem is, I love the current price, I've been waiting for this price change for a long time.
Back in the day, when I first played Prophecies, ecto's were 12-20k.
Now, when you get an ecto as drop, you're way happier than when the price was at 4k, at least that's what I feel. It's much more special.
I'm not quite sure how much influence the UW update has had on the prices, as I havem't played for several months, but my guess is that it's played a (fairly decent) role as those skeletons made it a lot harder. Sigh, guess I'll have to try it some time.

Sounds like you have something to loose. Lockpicks are the obvious trade item.

A stack is worth 312,500 gold
So max tradeable in one fell swoop is 2,187,500

And thus armbraces would be EXACTLY 224 lock picks.

So there is no reason to say ectos must me this or that way. If all of us that do not have ectos started to trade in lockpicks our problems would be solved

Just to comment on a couple of flaws and possible reasons why lockpicks haven't generated much traction as a substitute, (1) there's an inherent unfairness with the pricing discount that provides a specific advantage for alliance members of Luxon/Kurzick outposts - (it might make more sense if those members didn't have such a pricing discount for lockpicks, but had it for other items...lockpicks was a free arbitrage opportunity that was a boon to them); and (2) there's a more significant pricing discount when trying to sell back to NPCs (1/2 price as opposed to a smaller margin with ectos). If there was a higher priced item that traded back for the same price as the purchase price (like festival tickets), that might be a better substitute than ectos.

It still begs the question and the designers should take a step back and consider whether the currency system should continue working (rather than max out so easily).

The price of an ecto? 0, it's a game there is no value to anything in it

But then I never understood the point of buying high-end stuff. I always obtained it myself. I farmed up all the ectos and shards for my ranger's Obsidian armor, all the amber pieces for my warrior's Kurzick 15k, and all the "rare" weapons and minipets I have I've found myself.

To each their own I guess....

Less people playing also means less demand too. And people who have tons of them in their inventory were never part of the supply, they were part of the demand.

This is probably the most elegant solution to the whole issue in my opinion. Create an item (Xunlai Bank Note or something to that effect), make it available at the trader for 5k and you can sell it back at 5k. No more worrying about current market price of ectos for high end trades.

Wow..ppl still skipping the problem...who care of get another currency?Who care about ectos price or black dye or lockpicks?Who care about drop rate (never changed)?
We are just skipping problem..i try to explain this for the last time, and let see if someone understand :
I have 100$ and 10 grams of gold,(necklaces,rings,bangles etc..)...I need to buy a jewel for my girlfriend and jewel seller acept cash and gold (in grams) as payment. 1gram of gold worth for example 10$ Ok?Jewel price is 90$...Seller say "you can pay me with full cash,full gold or both"...so i can pay 90$ or with 9 grams of gold...untill now no problems.
Lets suppose i need to buy another jewel, but when i go to buy it gold price is 15$ for a gram...jewel cost 90$...so i can pay 90$ or 90& in gold,that mean=6 grams (intead 9 grams).
Lets suppose that gold worth, instead, 5$ for a gram..so i need pay that jewel 18g...
Intead gold and cash just put ectos and platinum...the problem is that ppl overprice items now that ectos worth more..
And the worse thing is that ppl cover this thing (who have items)...btw i cant say nothing because is legal sell for less or oversell items, i just write to warning ppl about this fact.
"Ectos" never cause problems, just speculators cause always problems.

You would have a point, however higher ecto prices do not mean lower ecto costs. Armbraces are still around 40e despite ectos almost doubling in price, high end items, Obby Edges - 80e ish, Eblades 65e ish they're all still the same price. Why? Because high end trades happen exclusively in ectos. If you have 40e and prices drop back to 4k/u, you've lost half your wealth in gold, but your wealth in ectos will be exactly the same, you will still be able to buy an armbrace for that 40 ecto.

No - the question is that its harder to get ectos now then it was before.

Every time Anet nerfs a farm it is creating an unfairness in the game - they are rewarding the players that were actively farming and bashing the players were doing something else.

Ecto is the way some players have of shutting down newer people to get in the high end trading.

How you ask?

Simple - they accumulated loads of ectos in the days on protective bond, etc,etc. Each time ecto price goes up it means you need to either farm more ectos or you need to spend more platinum to buy 1 ecto.

Of course today is harder to farm ectos and is bond to get harder with the SF nerf and other farm nerfs.

That is why minipets and other items don't cost platinum - they cost ectos. They cost 300 ectos today with ectos at 7.5k and they will cost 300 ectos tomorrow with ectos at 15k. And when there are too many people with 300 ectos the item price will go to 500 ectos. Remember the chaos SF farming times when ectos went down to 4k? Stuff that was 200ectos shot up to 1000 ectos.

Ectos is a way of rewarding older players that have hoarded them when UW was a lot easier to farm.

And for those that think drop rates were never changed go say that to raptors.

The only way to break this circle is to diminish the ecto price making it used for its purpose - Obby armor and chaos gloves.

If Anet wished people to easily accumulate fortune they would have no gold cap. Anet wished for people to have their fortune spent in stuff that wouldn't be worth anymore like armors and customized weapons (why the hell do you think customization exist?). And later titles and even the mini pets.

The easiest way to remove ecto as currency is to not allow it to stack on the trade box.

Doing that assures that nothing else will replace the gold as currency (well there is one candidate - armbraces, but I doubt people have hoards of them).

The problem is, we already paid to play Anet's game. So they could really care less about our opinion.

oh...so if ectos price raise you can still sell things to same price (rippoffing ppl), if they go down you raise the price (if raise in base at price np)?I call this speculation,rippoff and legal "scamm"..

If too problematic to make direct changes to the currency caps, a new NPC trader that buys and sells a new denomination stackable item (10k, 100k, etc.) for the same price would seem to make more sense (notes, gold bar, platinum bar, etc.) rather than forcing players to invest in a commodity with fluctuating prices and subject to a trading spread by a NPC trader.

At least players would have such a choice as to how to store their accumulated wealth rather being forced to speculate by amassing ectos, zkeys, etc.

Just to note, in the short-term, there would likely be significantly reduced demand for ectos where some players convert their wealth away from ectos.

There is a reason the Dollar and the Euro are preferred currencies in real world and not some Asian, South American or African coin.

This is the same way - gold and platinum are basically worthless in GW - the only worth they have is that they can be turned into ectos.

We generally think "Wow ecto is only 4k - that means ecto is really weak" or "Wow ecto is 15K - that means ecto is really strong". But what it means is "Wow ecto is only 4k - that means gold/platinum is really strong".

Call it semantics if you want.

You got it mixed - people aren't forced to invest in a commodity with fluctuating prices. People are rewarded by the game by a commodity with fluctuating (ecto) prices called gold/platinum.

Dont agree with "There is a reason the Dollar and the Euro are preferred currencies in real world and not some Asian, South American or African coin." because in guild war there arent continents with "different type of money" (in kamadan pay with gold/platinum/ectos, same in kaineng and same in LA).
All ppl in game pay with same type of things...Ectos are $ if you trust or not,thats the truth...Its a simple thing to understand, why its so difficult?
For example , to get 14e you need pay 100k, so this mean that a ecto worth 7.14k and that mean when you buy something in ectos instead platinum if you paying in ectos they worth 7.14k each.
Ppl buy ectos because there is a limit of 100k and 1000k on storage..if i have no more space to get money what i suppose to do?Stop play?Stop sell?Stop farm?No, i just buy ectos and get money again..if i refill again all i need to do is just buy other ectos...Ectos need to pay items over 100k too,so if you want 200k items you need 100k+ectos or YOU CANT PAY...Or simply you can pay full ectos, no problem...this is not mean that ectos is the currency because you buy all for money NOT FOR ECTOS, even ectos are bought with money (platinums)..
Ectos can worth 4k/each or 15k each,. this dont change nothing you still need them to pay items over 100k...if they worth 4k you need add a lot of ectos, if they worth 15k you just need add less ectos...
The players just tryng to raise items price with no reason, ectos are just "week" or "stronge" add....
This is the truth.

You are talking about apples and I'm talking about oranges.

People don't buy "14 ectos for 100k". Well they do but there isn't where ectos mostly come.

People farmed thousand of ectos long time ago.

All I'm just saying is ecto isn't a fair currency.

People keep complaining that UWSC and other SC allow to make loads in a few minutes, especially compared to normal play style.

But power trading compared to SC allows even more and a part of that is based on ectos being a currency.

So no one is having a hard time grasping the concept of ectos as an additional currency.

Ectos simply allow fortunes that were made based on farms/exploits that no longer exist to exist this day and so defeating the purpose of the gold cap.

I'm not discussing here if the gold cap is a good idea or not, although I know that came from a time Anet insisted on "skill not playing time".

I'm just saying that having ectos as a the way to go around the gold cap plus a gold cap is even worse in the purpose of balancing "skill not playing time" than not having a gold cap.

Sure. That is, if they give a damn about future customers in their future games.


ARGH!! COULDN'T CARE MORE! COULDN'T!

IMO, the reason behind why people sell voltaic spears at 60e even when ectos are at 4k or when they are at 8k is because they don't know the value of voltaic spear . Simply because not everyone started 4-5 years ago ... not everyone knows the prices of rare items ... and also because of the fact that humans are greedy, we think that because what i have is rare, i can sell it for whatever i want because only i have it and because the supply is low, prices would be forced high .

similarly to a monopoly . if you're the only company that owns 100% of the market share of a product, no one can tell you how much you want to set the price of your product at because only you have it . So because of greed, you, the one who has the rare item, who inflated the price of rare items in the first place . not some other "Add" on currency like armbraces or ectos.

These "add" on currecies are just used to allow us to bypass the 100k limit .

Solution ? simple . Make a guide which is updated frequently with the prices of items . The one who decides this price is the economy which is based on supply (how much is it farmed) and demand (whether if it is in the current trend / cool etc) . not the buyer or the seller .

the industry is the price maker . the sellers (us) are price takers . we don't have control over the price . this is somewhat similar to a perfect competition . it is easy to enter the economy . start farming . earn some money . power trade ectos with high end items .

well with the proposed idea of a pricing guide, it doesn't matter if ecto prices drop to 1k because it is being over farmed. Since you know that VS costs 240k, you simply add 100k + 140e to it . if prices of ectos rise to 5k, it doesn't mean that prices of VS would rise . you would still pay 100k + 24e for it . the only time when prices of VS would increase is if there is a decrease in quantity supplied (nerf to a farming team build for VS?) of it thus making it go rare . when everyone starts farming again, prices of VS would go back to normal, if not lower in the case of VS being over farmed.

p.s. you must be wondering if i had 100 ectos and prices rises to 7k from 4k per ecto, wouldn't i have earned 300k ? yes you have but because what you have is becoming a scarce currency . there is no reason why prices of ectos would rise . once someone releases a easy/fast farming build for ectos, prices would simply fall again.

In other website there are prices, here there are prices..btw ppl still overprice items....
A guide dont change nothing.

so a guide changes sumtin, amirite dawg?

no one uses them because no one knows about them ..

ok ok can be....but if they dont use them because prices are too low?or for buyer to high?If on google you search" Guild Wars PC on xxxx " (xxxx=Item Name) you can found in first page this site and other site for PCs.
So you can chek the price when you want, or ask for a PC in Price check section.
So dunno if ppl dont know site for price cheking.

1) because they don't bother to use them and not because prices or too low or for buyer too high .

2) You can't google a price check . the prices are never right . the results that show up on google if you type "Guildwars PC XXXX" are the threads which contains these words . what's on that thread is the price that that seller wants . it's not the actual price of the weapon .
how long does it take for a PC on the PC section to get a reply ? long ... if everyone asked for 2-3 PCs everyday, would you want to reply to every single price check ? no . if you ask me, i wouldn't do it either . what do you gain from doing all that ? nothing .

Ok suppose you are right..so all prices on GW and prices in this or other sites are random?
I understand that prices are made just to have a idea of what an item worth,btw a lot of ppl refer to this site or other when they sell/buy...btw my opinion is that :
Buyer get prices from a site that have lower price, Sellers get prices where there are higher prices (ignoring all other sites) all follow guides but the guide that give advantages.
Btw when you check "PC of xxxx" you can check all threads with that key word and comparate values and make a "middle price"...the problem is that "PPL WANT BE PAYED BUT DONT WANT PAY", and Always try to pay less possible for an item..Powerseller help too in all this...

McSnake85: il tuo inglese mi fa sanguinare gli occhi...

Scherzo, non prendertela...

e vabbò...cerco di fare del mio meglio! =P

your english is better than my italian, and my last name ends in a vowel

you keep talking about how people get their prices, be it sellers or buyers, from sites but aren't these sites considered guides ? so back to the first question ..

how does a guide not change anything ?

say you found a very rare item . that only you have (some other people also have it but they don't play anymore) . you decide to sell it at any price you want . and when others find it, because only you have the "first" one and you set it's price, others think that that is the price of it . how would you explain that then ?

so by making a guide and probably posting it on GWG and keeping it updated constantly would solve the problem of overpriced ectos .

ok ok and ok..i agree with you...first that find a rare items SET the price...ok nothing to say...im just asking an asnwer to a simple question.
Suppose you find an item : The LOL Blade...you are the first,so you can sell it for how much you want...we are ok about that?ok, then you say : It worth 500k..or you say it worth 25e...ok, then ppl check ectos price and say..ahh ok it worth 500k...So all ppl agree that THE LOL Blade worth 500k or 25e..Now you have set the price,so all ppl that found it sell it for 500k/25e.
Now, a lot of ppl sell it and ppl farm a lot of them...after months ppl do this something change: Ectos price..they drop...ok np,you say it worth 500k?just increase the number of ecto you need to buy it...suppose the worth half..so you need add +25e...so the LOL Blade worth 50e!!Something changed?NO NOTHING...Now after months something changed : ectos price raise..PPL keep sell them for 50e!!!WOW...WTF?Price double?you start from 500k and all ppl agree with e=X and for e=X/2 but now..with e=x*2 all changed and price raise...
Question: How possible?PPl speculating on this?