Quick suggestion:
Make weapons fissionable, with a one-off option to create an item with the same image but no weapon stats?Ierosbats wrote:If you have a collection of teeth/bones, like me and Ty, then it's frustrating when an unusual item that fits that theme is released into the battle system under battle prices.
I shouldn't start rambling about this, because I talk too much at the best of times and I don't have a thorough grounding in this either. But yeah, it's broken. And I think I know why: because the vast majority of money moving through the site has nothing to do with the game. Subeta has two ways to get very rich very fast. One is to pump in cash—buy CSC, sell for sP—and one is to sell creativity. I honestly had no idea how big that second market was until I got into it, but it's insane. I have literally earned more in one job—this is maybe an evening's work all told, right—than I had ever had at one time before. In, what, five years on Subeta? It blows my mind.Ierosbats wrote:I don't get how economies work, but I feel like this one is broken and at times that's scary.
And both of those markets are fundamentally unregulatable. (Not to mention a total afterthought when it comes to presentation on the site. Profile-selling is such a second-class citizen I have to make a dummy trade every time I want to do a money transfer.) Subeta can't force artists to sell more or less art, or try to control prices—they could ban the graphics market entirely, I suppose, but let's face it, we would all be up in arms. They could decrease the sP value of CSC, but they're not going to. Of course they won't. And they're sure as hell not going to clamp down on the CW system; it's practically printing money! Staff can adjust the rarity or the availability of a few desirable items, but the amount of control they have over the vast majority of GDP is effectively nil, and no number of sP sinks or item-junking mechanisms will change that.
Sure, all that sP has to be earned by somebody before it can change hands for user profiles or custom wears. And it can be done; god knows I don't try to restock without an autopricer, or do my seventy-five profitable quests every day. But I don't think it's unreasonable to assume that the people who do are a tiny minority. And in an artificial economy, beyond a certain point, just the ability to move money around becomes inflationary. Millions in bank interest in a day? Are they for real?
Given all that, and the fact that the site has to be geared toward the richest users, I suspect the economy can't be fixed and won't be fixed... unless the process of making a living by actually playing the game becomes somehow interesting or enjoyable. You can put your own odds on that.
I know this is a base-engine issue and that that kind of thing will be waiting 'til after the recode if it happens at all, but I would flip for some kind of skill tree or moveset or crafting system. There are the obvious perks—deeper strategy, is fun and engaging (never underestimate the draw of new and interesting skill names or combat messages!), breaks up the monotony you're trying to avoid by varying weapon strengths/availability—but it can also be a really great community-building mechanic. Something like Star Wars Galaxies (RIP. What a good game), where players could teach skills to other players, or specialize in crafting or support functions. It encourages cooperation and everything! That, and if it maybe, just maybe, extended to some other parts of the site, it could do a little to alleviate the interesting-or-enjoyable issue... Is there anything like this in the pipeline?Cranberry wrote:But I am always up for suggestions of how we could improve things, especially for people in tiers below 11 or 12. I mean it.
(Also, and this is completely petty, but it's been bothering me: What is with the scaling on the opponents' stat bars on the challenge page? It's kind of useful to see their builds, I guess, but it makes it hard to, like, compare one opponent to another. And why on earth is the EXP payout scaled with the rest of the battle stats? I mean, I understand if the sheer size difference between the high and low ends would make a uniform scale infeasible, or even if it would just be complicated to change... but it's so silly!)