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Resourse Exchange System in Albion Online
upalbion
Date: Apr/02/16 03:08:13
Views: 1529
Today we'll talk something about the Resource Exchange System. This topic is not meant to imply this system should be implemented but rather to spark an open discussion to gauge its pros / cons.
What is it?
Put simply it is basically a regulated exchange that would function beside the open auction house market and only entail raw resources. The system acts as both a silver sink and a resource sink depending on which way the exchange bar shifts.
How does it work?
The system functions on two main variables, the first being the quantity of the item on the exchange and the second being the base value price. At the start of the exchange there would be 0 quantity of every resource meaning players may not start buying resources from it until real resources have been injected. The base value price would be based on a value such as the transmutation costs. When players sell resources to the exchange, the system will buy the resource from the player and add it to the quantity. As the quantity goes up the amount of money paid to the player goes down. (Supply / Demand).
Chart Example A-1
Quantity 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
--> Sell 120 119 118 117 116 115 114 113 112 111 110
<-- Buy N/A 129 128 127 126 125 124 123 122 121 125
Lets pretend the above chart represents T3 unprocessed logs. Players who sell will increase the quanity which causes a decrease in the profits gained from the next sale but in turn decreases the cost of buying form the exchange. Players who then purchase from the exchange decrease the quanity which causes the increase in the next buy while also increasing the profits gained from selling. This mechanic is what regulates the exchange so players can withness true / supply and deman opposed to manipulated inflation due to price fixers in the open market.
Another benefit to this exchange is that it opens up the doors for players to move resources about city to city with a real chance to make profits but without the need of keeping personal spreadsheets tracking resources in the open market.
What about the resource and silver sinks?
The silver sink occurs at the point where players begin buying resources at prices above the transmuation costs. Since the market always costs more money to buy resources then to sell them, players who continue to buy off of the market are losing silver to the system. As a limiter, the exchange has a quanity limit so once the quanity reaches 0 the N/A cost applies to prevent the player from buying anymore.
The resource sink occurs at the quantity Max which would be given to each resource. Lets as an example say the Max quantity is 5,000. A player would begin selling resources until the price drops to 1s per resource sold. They can ofcourse continue to drop in resources to make that 1 silver but each time they do so it increases the quanity until that max of 5,000 is reached. At that point every resource cast into the exchange vanishes as a resource sink. (As an added safety though a limiter could be placed that prevented players from seling past the quantity max. This eliminates the resource sink but would still allow the exchange to do its main job of regulating supply & demand.)
How would this system be implemented?
At each Auction house there would be the main tab for the Open Market which functions exactly as it does now. Players setup buy and sell orders and trade any item. There would then be a tab for the Resource Exchange which would bring up a list of every raw resource with its current buy and sell values. Just like the auction house, the resource exchange is localized to every city. Crops could also be given there own potential market.
PROS
- Regulates the selling / buying of resources to combat price fixing
- Gives gatherers a sure way to earn instant money for gathered goods (Crafters earn silver by salvaging, Combat users earn silver by killing silver mobs.)
- Makes global market trading easier for players by eliminating the need of spreadsheets and supply / demand tracking.
CONS
- Counters price fixing and adds regulation to the sandbox. (for those into price fixing this is indeed a real con)
- Could be tricky to code since every sold or bought resource would need to update the current buy / sell listing. If 100 players were at an auction house buying and selling in real time I cannot imagine the chaos of the screen.