Tallen Ellecon
1946
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Posted - 2014.05.16 22:37:00 -
[1] - Quote
If you want to create one linked universe from the start you have to do it in steps. It appears the main means of making ISK for legion are from PVE exploring and contracts. Now we have no details on whether exploration payment is based off of drone bounties or selling loot on an open market, so for the time being I'm not going to assume either is chosen.
Economy Phase 1(no EVE link): There needs to be an open market from the start. It doesn't necessarily need to be geographical, BPCs can still exist and work from a lore perspective. Money is paid out from bounties on drones, this will be the base source of ISK within Legion. The secondary source (but majority) will come from public contracts. Contract and bounty rewards can be adjusted in order to help balance the economy.
Where will the BPCs come from? At the start there can be a base set for everyone when they create their clones if there are no starter BPO fits. The rest of the BPCs are looted from exploration. The amount rewarded can be adjusted by CCP based on the overall amount in circulation. Then these BPCs can be sold on the open market with other explorers and traded so everyone can get the weapons they want.
Notice there is no ISK sink yet in this system, since everything is generated but only gear is destroyed there would just be ISK piling up. This can be remedied with taxes on market transactions until more suitable sinks are found.
Monetization from this system, if it isn't based on gear should definitely be based on skill boosters. IDK the numbers on how much CCP actually makes on boosters versus gear, so I can't say how big of an impact it has, but it's thought by many that if you make boosters act like PLEX not only do you have a way of giving more to those who would rather grind than pay real money, but you help those on the other side as well. This of course would have to be taken into account for a new progression system. A person who can't/won't pay should still be able to have the same freedom, and not be held back.
I may not be liked for the next part but here's how I think the new progression system should be. Percentages are just for reference, lack of internal info and feedback make it hard for me to get a good estimate of balance.
66% of total potential SP is active, this is like what we currently have now, except the cap is rolling. It's continuous and doesn't reset weekly. When you create your character you are given a cap of about a weeks worth now, and the cap slowly grows over time at about the rate of passive SP. An active booster only increases the rate at which the cap rises and not directly increase SP payout. Why? So no potential SP is wasted, people can currently use a 1 day booster and cap out in a day (or 2 caps worth if they don't sleep), where someone who activates a 30 day booster who becomes inactive wastes all of it due to RL.
33% of total potential SP is passive...... but it has to be activated with a booster. The reasoning for this? With an open market anybody who is willing to grind in game should be able to afford the boosters. Keeping them lucrative but not necessary gives those of who are willing to throw in a lot of RL money a chance to do it, while not keeping anything behind a pay wall like the system we have now.
Again, in order for all this to work proper balancing between the ratio of passive and active SP is necessary, as well as adjusting the values of the boosters. The idea is those that don't pay will have to play more and create more content, while those who are willing to pay can keep up without having to have as much activity. No one can just create 10 free accounts, and have them slowly farm passive SP without paying RL money or buying passive boosters with ISK. From the start Aurum will still be the default cash transaction currency, but it changes in phase 2.
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