I have rewritten this post because I made a tremendous error. I simply reproduced the format of another thread out of sheer laziness, and it started spiraling on to old topics and arguments, and for that I'm sorry.
Now to approach this in another way, and hopefully staying away from old arguments and debates, and keeping it in the spirit of suggestions:
General Question:
Do you think that the in-game economy and trade can be improved prior to the re-launch of the game? If so how?
Specific Questions:
- Do you think the GMS could be improved upon? (Including the player shops). If so how?
- (In regards to camping): Do you think drops could be replaced by other long term methods of acquiring an item? If yes, do you have any suggestions?
- (Hypothetical question): If the reward system (including loot tables) were changed, do you think more items should be NODROP, to motivate people to go and team up to acquire the item, instead of purchasing them? Or should it be in the reverse? Less NODROP tags on future items, to promote more trade instead. Please motivate.
- Should *token systems be introduced into some aspects of the game, where you roll for the NODROP token instead, and later trade your tokens for the item you want at vendor or shop? Or do you think it should be geared more towards a gambling system where loot tables determine the drop of an item? Please motivate your answer.
- Do you feel that the whole Rubi-Ka mission system could be improved? If so how?
Attempt to put yourself in the shoes of a new player, that just purchased the game because of the re-launch marketing efforts paid off, when answering the following:
- (This ties into the question of NODROP above): If you are a new player, what would you rather see; a system where if you go do the activities yourself by teaming up, you attend dungeons and events to get rewarded? Or alternatively a more trade based economy where farming a certain item(s) over and over and selling them to be able to purchase the item you really want is preferable? Or a balance of both? Please share your view.
- (This ties into the token system above): Could the new player experience be improved by introducing rewards over time? Say for instance, if we reused the the research window for a reward over time window. The reward over time research (so to speak) can be based on activities such as how many dailies you have done, or what parts of Rubi-Ka and/or Shadowlands you have explored. You gain rewards over time points (similar to research except you don't gain perks but reward points) to purchase a weapon or armor so that as a new player you can can continue later on with a bit better gear.
- What do you think would be the single most deterring aspect (if any) for a new player in regards to in-game trade, and economy? And how do you feel this aspect could be changed (if you feel that anything should be changed at all)?
*The token systems in this context refers to a similar system to what other games have implemented where you go to finish an encounter and in the end you roll on NODROP tokens. You then save up these tokens and trade them in for a NODROP armor, weapon etc. A close example to this would be the OFAB armor.
Reference:
Some interesting links to Virtual Economies:
- Economic Theory and MMOGs - The comments in the PPT are the interesting part, although very light.
- Designing Virtual Worlds - The link has a synopsis of the chapter. The chapter can be found online.
- Virtual Economy Research Network - Insane amount of information, search is recommended, but many articles also deal with the totalities of in-game currency.