Goodie, an economy post. Time for my monthly rant concerning the ?State of the Economy?. 
The arguments about this are never going to go away.
Firstly Astral Rings. These are an independent case as the last update changed the way they were obtained. Originally they were obtained from a coffer in Castle Oztroja. Many THF would take advantage of this and use it as a money making tool. They?d pick the coffers and hopefully get an Astral Ring and sell it on the AH. The problem came in that many jobs (including THF somewhat ironically) obtain a piece of Artefact Armour (AF) from the coffer in Castle Oztroja. Many of these jobs reported difficulty in obtaining this piece of AF due to increased competition from Astral Ring hunters.
No other coffer suffered in this way, so technically you were disadvantaged if you needed a coffer from this area. As such, S-E changed how these were obtained (now a BCNM drop) and placed a less desirable ring in the coffer. The result is that supply of the ring has dramatically dropped, so price subsequently increased. Unfortunate for those who want the ring but probably a necessary change.
However, that doesn?t explain increasing prices on other items. Some people argue that the increasing prices are a result of natural inflation in the market. I?m sorry but whilst I have no formal training in how economics works, I do find it hard to swallow that an item increasing in price from 400k to 650k in the space of a week (seen it happen) is ?natural inflation?. Clearly something is amiss. I have had a theory over the last week that what I think may be happening.
PLAYERS ARE SCARED OF THE FFXI ECONOMY!
May sound ridiculous at first but I genuinely feel that the market is so unstable due to a number of factors (too numerous to mention but people buying gil thus having a lower attached value to it being a prime one) buyers are reluctant to exercise their power and are worried.
The idea works that if buyers refuse to buy an item at a listed price, the sellers must have to lower his asking price to sell it. This is not happening. Why?
Because all players hear nowadays is ?prices are rising on everything!!!1!!11!!1one?. So when they see 1 last Uber Item X listed on the AH with a price history 400k, but their attempts to purchase at that price fail, their initial instinct is not to wait for another to be listed at that price, instead they panic and stick their bid up to 450k because they fear that if they don?t buy it for that price now, someone else will and the process will repeat so that the next one listed will have to be bought for 500k.
The result is that Joe Buyer is kind of happy with himself as he feels he?s beaten the economy. ?I got it for that price and the next buyer will likely have to pay more? when in actual fact some grouped patience amongst buyers could have led to everyone getting the item for significantly less.
The reason I think this? Because it is what I feel myself. LS regulars probably know I am saving for an Elusive Earring (my gil currently stands at 660k). When I started saving last week the price was between 400k-500k. However in my process of saving the price fluctuated up to 650k and hovers between that at 600k. Last night 5 were listed on the AH. Not a great amount but enough, you?d think, to encourage a bit of price gouging among sellers.
Not one sold for 600k (100k more thn I wanted to spend considering the price a week earlier, but yes, I was panicking ). I left it at that point. Came back online an hour later and 3 had sold for 630k, 630k and 640k.
It?s sad and the problem is probably irrecoverable now.
Players have to decide if the problems with the economy are great enough that they inhibit the fun factor of the other aspects of the game. If so, your only option is to stop playing.
The arguments about this are never going to go away.Firstly Astral Rings. These are an independent case as the last update changed the way they were obtained. Originally they were obtained from a coffer in Castle Oztroja. Many THF would take advantage of this and use it as a money making tool. They?d pick the coffers and hopefully get an Astral Ring and sell it on the AH. The problem came in that many jobs (including THF somewhat ironically) obtain a piece of Artefact Armour (AF) from the coffer in Castle Oztroja. Many of these jobs reported difficulty in obtaining this piece of AF due to increased competition from Astral Ring hunters.
No other coffer suffered in this way, so technically you were disadvantaged if you needed a coffer from this area. As such, S-E changed how these were obtained (now a BCNM drop) and placed a less desirable ring in the coffer. The result is that supply of the ring has dramatically dropped, so price subsequently increased. Unfortunate for those who want the ring but probably a necessary change.
However, that doesn?t explain increasing prices on other items. Some people argue that the increasing prices are a result of natural inflation in the market. I?m sorry but whilst I have no formal training in how economics works, I do find it hard to swallow that an item increasing in price from 400k to 650k in the space of a week (seen it happen) is ?natural inflation?. Clearly something is amiss. I have had a theory over the last week that what I think may be happening.
PLAYERS ARE SCARED OF THE FFXI ECONOMY!
May sound ridiculous at first but I genuinely feel that the market is so unstable due to a number of factors (too numerous to mention but people buying gil thus having a lower attached value to it being a prime one) buyers are reluctant to exercise their power and are worried.
The idea works that if buyers refuse to buy an item at a listed price, the sellers must have to lower his asking price to sell it. This is not happening. Why?
Because all players hear nowadays is ?prices are rising on everything!!!1!!11!!1one?. So when they see 1 last Uber Item X listed on the AH with a price history 400k, but their attempts to purchase at that price fail, their initial instinct is not to wait for another to be listed at that price, instead they panic and stick their bid up to 450k because they fear that if they don?t buy it for that price now, someone else will and the process will repeat so that the next one listed will have to be bought for 500k.
The result is that Joe Buyer is kind of happy with himself as he feels he?s beaten the economy. ?I got it for that price and the next buyer will likely have to pay more? when in actual fact some grouped patience amongst buyers could have led to everyone getting the item for significantly less.
The reason I think this? Because it is what I feel myself. LS regulars probably know I am saving for an Elusive Earring (my gil currently stands at 660k). When I started saving last week the price was between 400k-500k. However in my process of saving the price fluctuated up to 650k and hovers between that at 600k. Last night 5 were listed on the AH. Not a great amount but enough, you?d think, to encourage a bit of price gouging among sellers.
Not one sold for 600k (100k more thn I wanted to spend considering the price a week earlier, but yes, I was panicking ). I left it at that point. Came back online an hour later and 3 had sold for 630k, 630k and 640k.
It?s sad and the problem is probably irrecoverable now.
Players have to decide if the problems with the economy are great enough that they inhibit the fun factor of the other aspects of the game. If so, your only option is to stop playing.
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