I’ve been back in the game for about a month now, and occasionally hear people ingame or on forums describe the economy as broken. I’ll claim this is false. You can sell things as long as it’s in demand, and you can buy things as long as you pay a price according to its supply. If you’re asking or offering an appropriate price, these trades are actually quite quick. The economy is working. It’s just the economy of a very mature game.
People have exploited and duped and gotten rich, you say? Well, maybe some have. Maybe some buy credits off goldsellers. But you know what, if you’re actually playing the game to aquire items, or finding your own way to make money, that doesn’t affect you. In mature games there will always be many with a lot of money, as playing for a long time means you acquire a lot of wealth. Saying cost of lootrights is indicative of exploiting is an exaggeration. As an example, I gave away items and credits with current value of 15-20 billion when I left the game early 2006, and I acquired all that through legit playing. (Although I’ll admit way too much playing). Those with money will pay for convenience, be it with real or virtual cash. I should also mention that many sell lootrights at very reasonable prices if no one bids huge. Can mention dread loot and beast weapons at 25-50mill, WU at 20-25m.
Yes, missionrewards and creds from selling pearls and loot to shops are of little value anymore. Still, the items you get while playing, is worth a lot more. Even many common items. As buy-prices go up, sell prices go up as well. In fact, with all the top-tier nodrop armor, symbs and items these days, many of the very good items are relatively cheaper than before.
Let’s look at prices 10 years ago vs now.
Rollable nanos: 2-5m vs 20m
Hardcore CPU upgrade: 1-2m vs 50m
Concrete Cushions: 1-200k vs 2m
Combined Commandos: 1bill+ vs 500m
Other combined: 500-750m vs 300-400m
If you make your money off rolling nanos as an example, you now need around 15-25 nanos for a combined piece, while you used to need a few hundred.