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Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
[Mount] Finite Market Problem
SabuMaru
Member, Alpha Two
Soooooo
based on Wiki and Game so far. the market for Mounts is Finite
there are 50.000 accounts on a server... lets say 2 Characters average per Account
average 3 Mounts ( 1Glider, 1 land 1 Aquatic ) per character.
aka there are on average 300.000 possible mounts to be sold
then within a limited amount of time the market for mounts will stall out.
( offcourse beast of burdens will go on, so out of scope )
as its Alpha ... we / i don't know what the changes in future will be .. but its time for feedback
Possible Solutions - Supply Side
- increase time to create/breed mounts
- increase failure rate on creating/breed mounts
- increase cost on creating/breed mounts
- increased complexity on creating/breed mounts
Possible Solutions - Demand Side
- mounts have X lifes
- mounts have X Milage
- mounts have X lifetime/age
in the end the Market needs to not be Finite, or it will cause a market ( partial ) Stalling
i would love to hear how others in the community look at this
based on Wiki and Game so far. the market for Mounts is Finite
there are 50.000 accounts on a server... lets say 2 Characters average per Account
average 3 Mounts ( 1Glider, 1 land 1 Aquatic ) per character.
aka there are on average 300.000 possible mounts to be sold
then within a limited amount of time the market for mounts will stall out.
( offcourse beast of burdens will go on, so out of scope )
as its Alpha ... we / i don't know what the changes in future will be .. but its time for feedback
Possible Solutions - Supply Side
- increase time to create/breed mounts
- increase failure rate on creating/breed mounts
- increase cost on creating/breed mounts
- increased complexity on creating/breed mounts
Possible Solutions - Demand Side
- mounts have X lifes
- mounts have X Milage
- mounts have X lifetime/age
in the end the Market needs to not be Finite, or it will cause a market ( partial ) Stalling
i would love to hear how others in the community look at this
0
Comments
I personally would rather mounts not pass but give breeders of mounts have other things they could make money with. Saddles that add 10% speed boost but degrades and needs to be replaced every 25miles. No graphical armor that adds defence but also degrades.
Also there could be a temporary debuff on a mount like sickness or injury that can only be healed by an expert in animal husbandry of appropriate skill for money. The chance for injury or sickness of a mount could be increasing or decreasing in relation to age and proper use. For example if you're always swimming with your horse it could get sick while an aquatic mount won't have any problems in water. But that same aquatic mount might get sick if you use it in the desert or simply on land too much.
Having to re-buy expensive rare mounts that one has obtained sounds like an extreme "Nope" to me. There is enough progression reversal in AoC with node sieges making you lose tons of progress (in materials) as a result of a lost war; adding more than that will 100% kill player motivation long term as the game will feel like a survival game where you endlessly grind the same loop to get the things you've already earned a hundred times before.
If there is no sense of permanent progression besides character level and artisan professions, then what is the point of doing anything else? Why would one stay in the game at all?
Animal husbandry is already supplying a lot of high end stuff: the assumed combat pets, mounts and the very finite beasts of burden, so I am not sure I buy into the argument of: "crafters need to be infinitely useful for each and every player", but if we're going with that being true then I am definitely going to vote for introducing the tedious system of old school Warframe... which is that pets/mounts etc needs to be fed to stay effective. No death penalties though (although that was a thing in WF).
Alternatively, gear slots for mounts with a finite durability (which someone suggested.)
As for people crafting armors/weapons etc, guess they could have ways of repairing gear. At the cost of node income (taxes), I suppose.
But as said, I am not really sold on the base argument at all.
The question should be, weather they degraded after a period of irl time(after creation) or after usage/distance travelled? If the later is used there is the potential to have mount that aren't the fast but instead real durable.
I wouldn't want to see mounts be permanently destroyed could put a bad taste in the mouth of some players, plus the idea of a second hand mount market is great. Grab an old horse for a steal.
I sold them to the npc vendor because I am so poor that i can't even pay attention,
Yes sure, there should be no reason that your expensive and rare mount would just up and die a week after you got it, whether you bought or won it as a drop roll, but if you want the prestige and utility of have a thing you need to do or pay something to keep that thing.
Simply down grading the quality, and the special traits tied to quality, every 4-6 weeks (real time not in game time) until the mount hits common quality would be fine, and even if it regresses to common it still looks like the original but could also be a way for the game to let everyone know approximately how long its been since you obtained it in the first place.
As to the maintenance cost, breeders could produce items that stave off or reverse one or more regression levels which helps keep animal husbandry relevant in the long term and forces players with high end toys and status symbols to actually pay for the provided benefits of that toy/symbol if they want to keep those benefits in the long term.
What is the point? Choosing to keep that progression and the utility and possible status symbol of that progression. Making money is so much easier and quicker than progressing both character and artisan levels. You keep playing to keep the things you earned by playing. Can it be a grind? Sure, but AoC already leans heavily on grinding so what does another grind matter.
It may be providing "a lot of stuff" now, but once you have one and then never need to think about it again, you don't need anything more from Animal husbandry, ever again, unlike most of the other professions whose long term demand will likely be more secure.
This would be a good idea to help fix part of the OP's concerns, as far as i see it. A mount gear slot makes that mount eligible to be dropped on death just like armor, weapons, and jewelry. As it is now there is no or very little risk of loosing your mount and therefor needing to buy a replacement from either an NPC (common grade, another small gold sink for the game too) or an Animal Husbandry Artisan. Which would keep them relevant and make you think about your equipment setup when you leave the "safe" haven of your node town/city. Do you want that greater speed that bad to take the chance you might loose it or is it something you don't want to risk loosing and only ever pull out when your safe? If you only use it when you are safe then it is only a status symbol to you and you need to do or pay something to maintain that epeen over the long term.