*Note: When referring to omacaz pots, I'm referring solely to the Sinuous Spirit of Omacaz found in the Deathly Chest of Omacaz.
This is an open letter to HCS.
Hi guys.
I've played this game for over 5 years, and I know (better than most), that when you do things for the game, you do them with the game's future in mind. While I have offered some criticism at times, I tend to make that criticism constructive, and do it with the knowledge that you will do what is best for the game because it is your (metaphorical) child. That is what I will try and do here.
As you may know, I've been here a while, and I've been merchanting for nearly as long as I've been playing. To say the least, that's given me a sense of how the FS economy works, and it's given me a pretty accurate ability to guess the future of the FS economy. Now, I wasn't here when the first round of omacaz pots were released, but I sure was here to see the aftermath. I think you and I both know pretty well that the price of epics fell DRAMATICALLY after the omacaz pots were released. As a point of reference ... the dragon draped sabatons that used to go for over a thousand FSP are now down to 600 FSP at times, while other times they're cruising at 800. That is largely due to the fact that people can invent 2 or 3 (I even know someone who got 5 from a single armor) with the omacaz pots, and excess supply with low demand means that prices plummet.
However, the sabatons aren't the only things that have fallen. After the first round of omacaz pots were released, the price of Fang(s) of Meng Zhang, Bottle(s) of Gorgon Tears, and Bobanarts(') Crystal Skull fell quite a bit. This was because people were not only saving ridiculous amounts of these items, but also because so many people were inventing the epics the market became severely flooded, which drove the price a good bit lower than it is now, if I'm not mistaken. If I have my chronology correct the newest set of RP epics came out after this, but they never managed to make it to the legendary prices that the first set of RP epics did, largely due to the omacaz pot that can allow people to essentially mass produce the epics.
Now, you may be wondering why it is bad that these epic prices are down. I mean, cheaper epics means that more people can afford them, right? While that may be true, there are much greater consequences of this action. People always talk about new player retention; one of the best solutions (in my mind) was the RP items which allowed low levels to gain a decent foothold in the game. With the removal of plant farming as a viable source of cash (after resource finder was introduced), GvG is essentially the only way a free low level player can make any decent amount of FSP. As the price of the RP items drops from the godly 2k per Fang of Meng Zhang that it was originally, payments for GvGs become lower and lower. Combined with the cost of starting a conflict, a couple inevitable losses and the taxes/fees that most RP farming guild's leaders collect which are all constant, the price decline comes straight out of the payment that goes to the GvGers. Since the cost of upgrades doesn't scale with the price of the RP items, it means that less upgrades can be afforded over time, which ultimately would lead to less players in the game (as far as I can tell).
Additionally, by devaluing epics with the omacaz pots, people will be less inclined to purchase FSP. I'm not sure what your finances say about this matter, but my guess would be as stated. See, when the price of epics drops, it means a couple different things. First, it means that players need to spend less to purchase the same epic. So, assuming 10 players were looking to purchase Ridged Legion Breastplates, which sell at roughly 1000 FSP each (down from the 1.5 - 1.6k prior to the release of Omacaz pots), you've just lost out on 5000 - 6000 FSP being purchased. To offset that, there would need to be a 150% increase in the amount of players purchasing FSP which I can only guess hasn't happened.
Furthermore, cheaper epics devalues stamina gain. With the release of the +3 and +4 stam gain invented epics, it is possible to gain up to ~30 extra stamina gain per hour at the higher levels across all 9 slots, at a price that would previously have only bought ~10-15 stam gain in epics. Assuming they're worn 9% of the time during the year, that's an additional roughly 80000 to 120000 stamina that players are getting for no added cost. That translates to less money for you, HCS.
Also, when epics are cheaper, players with large sums of FSP can control more and more epics. When there are only a few epics for sale on the AH, that means that those players with large banks can manipulate the economy to a much larger extent. When the epics cost much more than they do now, people could afford to purchase significantly less epics at a time (in terms of merchanting). Speaking from experience, I could previously only afford 1 high tier Epic at a time, if I was lucky to get a great deal. Now I can afford significantly more than that; generally 2-3 at any time, and that's just from pocket change. The point is, when you make epics cheaper, you put a lot more power in the hands of merchants who gain the invaluable ability to basically dominate and corner the market. Of course, I haven't seen many examples of this being abused in game, but it is a possibility that needs to be considered.
Now, I realize this might come across as a little angry, or maybe even condescending and outright rude. While I do not mean to be rude, I am a bit angry that the mistakes of the past are being repeated as you read this. Ideally, you'll rollback the game to before the donation offer, and refund everyone their cash. While I know this is basically not going to happen, what I do realistically hope for is that you NEVER release the omacaz pot again ... for everyone's sake. I know I'm not the only one that feels this way, and so this letter isn't just from me; it's from everyone.
Thank you,
A concerned FS player
But yeah, i don't get why when there's still a nice profit margin this is so terrible... Still a net gain, still potnetial for solid profits on all sides. Components and recipe parts will get bought up anyhow. Imo that helps Arena players nicely to a degree as they can take another stab at making arena gear on the fly as well because everyone wnats to sell their crap parts for inventing recipes, lol.