Oct 30, 2011

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Blasters, Beggars & Credits: A Deeper Shade Of Craft

Some players do it for glory. Some do it for infamy. Some like to accumulate the most points, or explore the far reaches of the worlds they inhabit. This, however, is not a column for those people. This is a column for those people who, quietly or not, enjoy making money so that their digital avatar can sleep on large piles of cash.

Some of the info from the press embargo was more or less known to us already, but perhaps a big change: reverse engineering has been confirmed to teach rare patterns! This may alter some plans, so make sure you check out the article on Massively. This of course, raises numerous questions, and offers some tantalizing glimpses at a crafting system much deeper than we had been led to believe.
While reverse engineering had always been present, this presents de facto confirmation that it is the main way outside of training to learn new recipes. Considering the variables set forth, the things that I wonder about are: what is the frequency of learning new patterns? What are the chances of creating an “exceptional” version of the item?

This might, for the most dedicated crafters, create a whole subset of activity. Obviously, crafting a green item countless times will not be tremendously difficult; but depending on how often you get an enhanced recipe, people might go over the top in creating lower-tier items. Also, IGN termed it “break down,” so I’m also going to assume that you get a small return on the original materials invested. For completion-oriented players, this might prove to be a great challenge – learning every version of each item that can be reverse engineered. While not necessarily lucrative (certainly not in the short-term, at any rate), I could see some people churning out items in hopes of learning the finer recipes.

Coruscant - future playground.

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Oct 7, 2011

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Blasters, Beggars & Credits: Heart of Darkness, Or Why I’m Playing WoW (For Now)

Some players do it for glory. Some do it for infamy. Some like to accumulate the most points, or explore the far reaches of the worlds they inhabit. This, however, is not a column for those people. This is a column for those people who, quietly or not, enjoy making money so that their digital avatar can sleep on large piles of cash.

So, this article is totally about Star Wars: The Old Republic. I promise. But first…

Let me preface this by saying that I know not everyone reading this cares to read or otherwise have contact with “the other MMO.” I’ll give you this chance to politely decline to read because it will contain extensive allusions to “the other MMO.” We know some people are allergic and break out in hives at even a mention of it, and we are greatly concerned for your health, so please, hit the back button now. You have been warned.

I’m back playing World of Warcraft, for two reasons. First, because my girlfriend missed her dragon. Second, it’s because I wanted to practice auction housing again so I wasn’t totally out of shape.

On my first day back I didn’t resume using all of my add-ons. One of those I left off was Auctioneer (a fine mod, to be sure). And it wasn’t because I didn’t want to. Trust me. That thing basically makes you a gold printing machine.

The server I’m on is (as many realms, these days) seeing a population contraction. That means less people buying, and we’re also nearly at the end of a gear cycle (though the Firelands nerf might mean an uptick, for a time), so it’s going to be hard selling the day-to-day raiding items that people rely on. Plus, the auction sharks are already there, cancelling and undercutting by a copper, fighting to get sales (which, for the record, have ridiculous profit margins over what some raw materials sell for that you would be silly not to bulk buy and prospect). The auto-cancel part is especially hard to deal with as it essentially forces you into the no-win scenario of trying to snipe sales on popular items, leaving you entirely at the mercy of the market.

I love the smell of credits in the morning.

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Sep 16, 2011

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Blasters, Beggars & Credits: The Alt Stable, or Mules Incorporated – A Subsidiary Of Momus Corporation

Some players do it for glory. Some do it for infamy. Some like to accumulate the most points, or explore the far reaches of the worlds they inhabit. This, however, is not a column for those people. This is a column for those people who, quietly or not, enjoy making money so that their digital avatar can sleep on large piles of cash.

The concept of the mule is one older than MMOs – it’s a dummy that’s carrying your valuables, usually not aware of its purpose (whether running illicit material through customs or holding on to those nice crafting mats). Frankly speaking, they are a valuable addition to your repertoire, as well as a source of fun. Who doesn’t like a bank alt in a tuxedo and pimp hat, for instance?

However (and this point might be controversial for some with limited time) I would make the case that your mules can do more. While a low-level bank character is nice (and, as an aside, everything leads me to believe your bank toon will be level 8 or so at best), even better is one who is a high level crafter. The hardest part, of course, is the time commitment – it’s no small matter to level characters. If you enjoy the process, so much the better – but, all-in-all, you will be a happier auctioneer if you have multiple areas of crafting to pull from.

Look, if you aren't buying, I'll just go get my Bio-chemist and make a truckload of dough there. No, really - talk to the hand.

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Aug 31, 2011

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Blasters, Beggars & Credits: The Item Modification System And Role-Players

Some players do it for glory. Some do it for infamy. Some like to accumulate the most points, or explore the far reaches of the worlds they inhabit. This, however, is not a column for those people. This is a column for those people who, quietly or not, enjoy making money so that their digital avatar can sleep on large piles of cash.

While I am not one to base server choice solely off where I can think I can make the most money, there is (perhaps) an angle on the recent mod announcements that people are not necessarily connecting.

Now, this regards two relatively important announcements about crafting from PAX. These may be more or less known to most people, but official confirmation is always welcome. The first point, from James Ohlen:

“The thing about moddable gear is you can mod it with mods that are at the highest level. So you can, for example, take 10th level Jedi Knight robes that look like what Obi Wan was wearing on Tatooine.”

That’s really important, for role-players. There will be quite a few people who want to retain the iconic Jedi look – the plain brown cloak and simple undergarments look – and the modification pieces will allow them to do that. Think jewelcrafting in WoW – same concept, really, except that the stats are completely dictated by the implanted items. One of the sources (hopefully the primary source), until raiding, are the crafters, and indeed, even after as the crafters who raid will gain access to make those. This leads into the second quote, also from Ohlen:

“Crafters can build Operation-level gear with operations mats.”

This is my hat. There are many like it but this one is mine (for 25 levels).

To wit, you can mod your level 10 standard Jedi robes with the best possible operation mods made by a crafter who has access to both raiding and the materials from raiding. This is a cash bonanza, if you are that crafter. Given the admittedly easy entry into the raid game, and the natural desire in this game for alternative characters, alt farming raids to gather mats to craft the best mods and materials will surely be present.

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Aug 10, 2011

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Blasters, Beggars & Credits: Investment Versus Speculation

Some players do it for glory. Some do it for infamy. Some like to accumulate the most points, or explore the far reaches of the worlds they inhabit. This, however, is not a column for those people. This is a column for those people who, quietly or not, enjoy making money so that their digital avatar can sleep on large piles of cash.

One topic that comes up a lot in connection with TOR is “speculation.” In fact, most all of us are participating in speculation right now: we’re making educated guesses on how things will go in the game. And that speculation will never cease, in at least some way: speculation about the future, about the high-water mark of subscribers, and so forth. But speculation also has an economic twist: it also means to spend money on a venture that isn’t a sure-fire vehicle to return on that initial expenditure, with profit. And it’s something that we do every day, even if not in the same financial sense.

Speculation is a fancy way of saying you’re taking a gamble – you are, in effect, betting that the market for an item will generally net you more money in the future. In some way, as the paradox of the oracle goes, you’re sort of fulfilling that idea because you are purchasing an item (or holding onto one) and removing it from the market until a future date – and, all things being equal, removal of one item for a time will, according to laws of supply and demand, fractionally decrease supply, thus increasing the price (slightly). Of course, the word speculation has more meanings – and speculation isn’t held only to the realm of money.

Supply and demand - like a law, only cited more often. Image courtesy of wikipedia.

While most people understandably don’t like the system (you are increasing the cost of a certain good or item while contributing virtually nothing – the only net in this trade is the small amount of profit and the even smaller amount of [potential] inflation), it is going to be existent in a free market society. It’s one of the ways money is made (via loans) in the real life system – and it will be present in Star Wars: The Old Republic regardless. “Buy low and sell high!” the refrain goes.

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Jul 27, 2011

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Blasters, Beggars & Credits: Schubert Says No Infinite Money

Some players do it for glory. Some do it for infamy. Some like to accumulate the most points, or explore the far reaches of the worlds they inhabit. This, however, is not a column for those people. This is a column for those people who, quietly or not, enjoy making money so that their digital avatar can sleep on large piles of cash.

Hi all, I’m Momus – long-time reader, first time author. My main focus will be on economics, though as with any MMO, all systems tie into each other. You might see tips and strategies you find interesting no matter what your level of dedication to commerce is; certainly, we’ll be focused on making money off the trends of what players are doing with their time in-game. But what do we do until then? Speculate, of course!

Every so often, the developers smile upon the poor, downtrodden economic players and give us a juicy tidbit. Mr. Damion Schubert, Lead Systems Designer for The Old Republic, did us that favor recently (twice, actually).

To list the important points:

  • Cost of sending companions on missions exceeds the vendor cost of materials returned
  • Anticipating supply/demand economies (not a huge reveal there, I’m afraid)
  • Won’t be able to just gather with all companions all the time; will run into money problems
  • More economic to do it by hand (i.e., traditional farming)
  • May or may not have a mission to gather it anyway
  • HOWEVER, certain rare materials come only from companion gathering

These are some fairly heavy tidbits, and they are very telling about the system they are designing. The crew skills are not intended to simply be, “Send people here and make money,” but we already knew that, considering the costs of sending your people on missions as seen in the previews. Instead, now we know that recuperating your costs through vending items will not be viable, save for very rare instances. To turn any profit, you will have to look to the open market for materials or products, which can be both good and bad.

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