Prevent artificial inflation, please.

[Some Random User]

1 hour ago, Veelectric Boogaloo said:

Tough project there, convincing someone to intervene in a market to correct a non-existent inflation.

I've seen this approach before. The quoted comment fits the argument being torn apart in the video linked to below.

 

Rather than actually discussing the principle and finding real data to anchor the conversation to, Veelectric Boogaloo has repeatedly used this sort of approach to deny there is an argument. Put aside the question of there being a problem or not; Why is the response presupposing that the O.P. should be dismissed? The O.P. is actually putting together data points with the help of others who are more informed (members of the staff). That evidently hurt a third party's feelings.

 

If you'd like to be involved, that's great! Please refrain from personal attacks. Please refrain from lobbying for an end to the conversation. I've found the posts others have made, providing actual data rather than rude, dismissive, personal comments, to be much more beneficial than any mere perspective. Focus on data. Detach yourself from the issue and be clinical. You've provided your subjective perspective. We're trying to discuss objective matters. When things are subjective others are not compelled to agree with you.

 

Edited August 1, 2019 by GM Capocollo
removed off-topic video

[Some Random User]

2 minutes ago, The Philotic Knight said:

now you want essentially "personal attention" from the development team?

That is not how I meant that.

[Some Random User]

4 minutes ago, Omega-202 said:

At some point, does it not dawn on you that maybe you are off base somehow?

The only mistake I see at this point is dignifying an ad hominem with a response. I'm going to focus on responding to posts that focus more meaningfully.

[DSorrow]

13 minutes ago, Some Random User said:

 Almost seems like they have set out to just derail a productive conversation.

But you're completely innocent of this with the dismissive attitude, calling marketeers scammers and anyone not agreeing with your lack of evidence "rabble with pitchforks"? Yeah, I think we've seen enough of this thread.

[Omega-202]

Just now, Some Random User said:

The only mistake I see at this point is dignifying an ad hominem with a response. I'm going to focus on responding to posts that focus more meaningfully.

That's not an ad hominem.  That's trying to help you with your total lack of social awareness. 

[Some Random User]

34 minutes ago, The Philotic Knight said:

If someone buying ALL of the LotG on the market and attempting to sell them for $12M this is your concern, I don't share it.

I expected others to argue that things like this didn't happen, but they do. I was trying to head that off by providing some evidence that there was market speculation going on. I see now that that is a feature that was intended, so I don't feel that's a reasonable place to focus the conversation after that.

[Obitus]

1 minute ago, Some Random User said:

f you look back at the earlier posts in this thread O.P. has repeatedly asked for the staff to provide a guideline on what is expected for a player to do with their build by level 50. The staff responded that the crafting system is supposed to be used to fill all slots with Common I.O.s, and that's fine. If that's the standard then the game's N.P.C. stores and auction house are not helpful in the way they could be. The conversation of how to handle that and the conversation of the problem existing are two different things, and maybe should be in different threads. 

Bold mine.

 

How exactly are the existing systems inadequate?  A build full of Common IOs is a ludicrously easy bar to clear for any player.  This is a 15 year old game hosted by an all-volunteer staff.  In order to justify any kind of change to the game's structure, you need a little more than bald assertions.

 

"The conversation of how to handle [the problem], and the conversation of the problem existing are two different things," is a statement for the ages, frankly.   You're getting increasingly hostile responses in this thread because you smugly breeze past obvious and crucial points, like maybe whether or not a problem exists in the first place.

 

You've actually moved from claiming that high-end builds are too expensive to claiming now that Common IOs aren't easily achievable enough for newer players.  Why?  Because why is a discussion for a different thread, duh.  Your schtick really is starting to look like a parody, or as Nihilii put it:

 

14 minutes ago, nihilii said:

The more this thread goes on, the more tempting it becomes to rationalize it as you playing an elaborate Andy Kaufman routine on us all.

 

Perfect.

[PaxArcana]

1 hour ago, Omega-202 said:

Why can't people just play the game and ask for help in game like a lot of us did in the old days?  Why are you just waving off /help?

Because some questions cannot realistically be answered in /Help.

For just one example: Mastermind pet-control Numeric Keybindings, for example.  A hundred or two hundred lines of text, just to show ONE primary set's bindfiles, and properly explain how to use them.  During which, NO OTHER QUESTIONS CAN BE ASKED OR ANSWERED, without risk of seriously confusing the person who needed that answer.

/Help is for relatively simply questions with simple answers.  Not for in-depth answers, nor for complex questions.  For those things, the forum serves best.

 

35 minutes ago, Some Random User said:

perform up to par.

"Up to par."

 

That's a funny phrase, really.  You see, it doesn't have an objective valuation attached.  Applying that phrase to, for example, a middle-school baseball team is going to imply some VERY different standards of performance than applying the exact same words to, say, the Yankees or the Red Sox.

 

It is the same with characters here in CoX.  For the crowd that insists on being able to solo everything at +4x8, "up to par" is going to set a very, very, very high bar.  Exactly the right IO sets, slotted in exactly the right combinations, complimented by exactly the right Incarnate choices, or bust.

 

For the more typical, mostly casual gamer ... not so much.  Common IOs, or even just SOs (+0 or better), are going to be entirely sufficient for that.

 

...

 

You don't need to have Major League skills, to have fun in the Minors - or, for that matter, to have fun on a Little League team.  Or maybe just a random pick-up game of stickball with the other kids on the block.

 

[Some Random User]

1 hour ago, DSorrow said:

New players aren't the players who look for high-end builds and nobody should expect to get high-end builds with no effort put in.

To be clear, that is not what I'm asking for. I asked the staff repeatedly to give me guidelines for what they felt an appropriate build was and they responded. The crafting system was evidently designed back on live to be an out for players who, like myself, don't want to deal with Wentworth's. I offered to help provide data and one of the staffers and I got into a conversation about how the live devs had balanced income-per-level. He was able to answer almost every question I'd brought up the entire time. That was great.

 

I happen to have experience working on an accounting software development team. I've also worked deciding if something is profitable and by how much for the same company. I have experience figuring this stuff out, which meant coming up with real metrics. That and a lack of documentation to refer to about the game's economy drove the feeling that there needed to be an initial post and drove the ongoing conversation on my end. As I've said maybe four or five times now, a player gets limited Influence on their way to level 50 and if they're not supposed to do more than Common I.O.s there's a messaging problem. That guideline of what someone should be able to purchase isn't communicated properly, and if you go to the auction house and get whiplash from all of the price fluctuations that's an issue that is worth discussing.

[Some Random User]

13 minutes ago, PaxArcana said:

For the more typical, mostly casual gamer ... not so much.  Common IOs, or even just SOs (+0 or better), are going to be entirely sufficient for that.

Sounds like we need this to be the message we spread to new players.

[PaxArcana]

It's the message I see being spread to them all the time, SRU.

[DSorrow]

8 minutes ago, Some Random User said:

Sounds like we need this to be the message we spread to new players.

Then I'm even more confused about this thread. You started discussing a problem that doesn't exist (inflation), then moved on to discussing the cost of top-end builds vs. regular gameplay earnings during leveling up and what you actually wanted to find out is what kind of build is required to participate in end game? All the while said information is readily given out to anyone who can phrase their build related question in to "what do I need to play end game" rather than "what's the best build for soloing +4/x8". I'm completely and utterly confused.

[_NOPE_]

14 minutes ago, Some Random User said:

As I've said maybe four or five times now, a player gets limited Influence on their way to level 50 and if they're not supposed to do more than Common I.O.s there's a messaging problem. 

And that's probably where you're going wrong, this is a game, it's made to be played for fun. There is no "supposed to", play however you want to, as long as it doesn't violate the code of conduct.

 

You want to play the entire game with nothing but SOS at +0x1 ? Go for it. You want to play the game at Max difficulty with full incarnate slots? Go for it. You want to sit in wentworth's and just do nothing but play the market all day long? Go for it. It's your GAME, play it however you want to.

 

GO. HUNT. KILL SKULS. Or don't, whatever. 

[GM Capocollo]

I think this thread's just circling the drain at this point.  The OP's made their case, everyone's taken a shot at trying to understand it, and now it's just devolved into a meta-discussion about the OP's desires and goals.