Quote:
Originally Posted by Syko
Blizzard is not a dumb company and I am sure if there is anything that they learned about gold from D2 it is that it needs to have actual value, and I am sure they are already brewing something up in that department.
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And that's essentially it. No more, no less. No need to enter into weird stratagems that essentially won't work because the core problem hasn't been solved.
A slightly big post... have fun if you will
Gold intrinsic value needs to raise considerably for it to become an attractive currency. This is however not an easy matter. Players will need hints and be gently pushed in that direction.
For one, an in-game economy is successfully ran by creating a balance between what is called money sinks and money fountains. These are essentially the ways money can be spent and gained. Increasing money sinks and reducing money fountains, raises the value of money and helps establish this as the in-game currency. However it must be done with care, or money can become too expensive and result in general deflation (which may lead players to look for another currency).
Money sinks in D2 were very few. And in here was the problem. Money uses were essentially limited to gambling, equipment repairs and shopping for those high level mods (cruel, whale, etcetera). In contrast it was available everywhere. Monsters dropped it almost always and in great quantities. The %GF modifier complicated matters even further. So, money was essentially valueless. There was too much, and very little one could do with it.
Now, let us imagine for one instant gold was also needed in D2 for leveling a character, to craft items, to be a part of many cube recipes, to fill sockets, to use free skill points, et cetera. Let us reduce slightly gold drops and let us cap %GF at something like 20%. Suddenly gold value would increase considerably. And you would have seen the birth of a currency.
Certainly I'm not advocating these changes to D3 in particular (neither I am against them, mind you). But the important idea to retain here is that without ways to spend money (and spend it in meaningful/valuable ways), there won't be a value to it. Contrary to items which have mods, rarity, usefulness, cool factor, and whatever else you can think of, money doesn't have any other property than its intrinsic value.
Now, this isn't usually enough. I've coded, ran and administered a few MUDs in and around the mid 80s to the mid 90s. On these MMORPGs forefathers, economy was everything. It was essential that players used in-game coin as the primary currency. But the operative word here is "primary". You really can't -- and you shouldn't -- stop direct trading (items trading) from also happening. This is essential since it pleases players the fact they can just trade an item they want for an item they don't want in one simple transaction and skip the middleman.
On many MUDs, game economy was (still is) a much more complex matter than on any MMORPGs in existence. We had to resort to tricks to hint and nudge players into trading through currency whenever possible and make direct trading an optional, but potentially more expensive matter. For instance, we could code Auction Houses or Markets, in which players could potentially make much better deals with their items, and we could tax direct trading.
So in essence D3 needs gold to become more valuable. That is the top priority. Note that it doesn't even need to be made less available. What is needed essentially is for money sinks and money fountains to balance nicely towards some expected inflation level (these calculations can actually be made with reasonable accuracy before the game world starts). And there is a need for certain mechanisms to be implemented in order to push players in that direction.
If this is achieved, money fountains and money sinks (especially money sinks) become completely controllable by the game administrators and the only game aspect they ever need to make minor adjustments if it starts to look its becoming out of hand (raise or lower prices, taxes, et cetera).
On a final note, I did use the word MMORPG ostensively on this post. It's not that I'm comparing Diablo 3 to an MMORPG. Simply that MMORPGs trading systems are useful basis for this discussion.
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