Economy in Agonia

Fairly soon, it seems Ancient Relics will be taken off the NPC market in cities. A lot of the reasons regarding this are quite valid:



1) At a price of 1500g each, they're one of the only things people buy with gold.


2) The devs plan to give people 50g a day for voting on the game, and with that, it will be too easy for everyone to buy relics that give 2000XP each.


3) Relics are overpowered as they let people spend lots of money on them to improve general skills while they focus weapon skills.


These are all valid concerns that need addressed. However, I'd like to make a few counter-arguments against pulling them totally off the market and give my own suggestions.

For one, before the NPC market was even a thing, the sad reality was, no one used gold. There were efforts by people like myself to try to get folks to trade in it, but it essentially was money with nothing legitimate backing it. Once the NPC market opened up, the gold trade finally began, and the prime reason for that was relics. Because relics gave the gold currency consistent value. Think of gold in this game less like gold and more like paper money. Ancient Relics are like the bullion that back that money.


It's not hard to see why. Everyone needs, and will always need, XP. Relics give that XP. Therefore, as a stable and constant requirement for every player, and one set with a flat price, that gives value to gold. And consequently, it allows other items to be evaluated in worth based on that. Because people know what a relic is worth, they can better determine what a ring or a piece of armor or a weapon is worth. Now people are able to put a reliable price tag on other goods because of the set value of relics.   That’s why when I hear the claim that no one uses gold for anything but relics, I can’t agree. It’s precisely the opposite. Relics are what gave value to other things being traded using gold.

Many of us Free Folk, who don't have the luxury of being given items for free by faction allies, trade in it constantly. I purchased two t3 swords for 1200g each. I purchased an amethyst ring for 1000g. I've seen t3 armors and talismans offered in cities, and I'd easily have purchase them for the prices displayed if I had the gold on me (and often I do). But those items would never have been valued at that amount of gold or may not have been offered up on the market at all were it not for relics.

Sure, you might argue some other items on the NPC market, like raw gems, give some value to gold. And to a degree they do. I certainly purchase them from time to time. But it's not nearly enough, because armor, runes, accessories-- these aren't a universal need for everyone in the game, not like XP. It’s not something a currency can be based on alone.

And that’s why I fear if you take relics off the NPC market, what is likely to happen is that the value of gold will collapse and return to where it was before the NPC market existed, that being to nothing, at least for the average player. For mayors, they may still want gold for projects like roads, bridges, or the arena, but that’d be about it.

So what do we do to address the current problems? Well I don’t think just removing Relics is the answer. In fact, combined with giving people 50g a day for voting on the game, this seriously runs the risk of further devaluing the gold currency (and I’d recommend finding other ways to give people gold than this and make the amount given for voting far far less by that's another issue).



Below are some possible solutions:



1) De-buff relics. Rather than removing them, create some limitations. Perhaps reduce the XP gain if you feel it’s too much or increase the NPC market price. Personally, I’m a fan of this. I don’t see the problem with folks being able to buy relics and the relics do a lot of good giving value to the market. What’s more, if there’s no other way to earn relics after doing the quests, what point will the temple and guilds serve? By keeping them on the market, you give players goals and a constant quest to fulfill there while also keeping the gold value intact.

Why fix what isn’t broken? If you’re going to give people more money in their pockets through voting, just raise the price of relics or limit the XP gain for them to compensate. That should be incentive enough to encourage folks to buy other things on the market without throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

2) Remove the relics but replace them with something or somethings else that can give value to the gold currency.
  You could do this by putting an item on the market that fulfills a need for everyone, in the same way relics did, or you can spread this out among multiple items for different types of players.

Raw gems and tin rings/necklaces are a start but I think you’d need to offer more. Runes, herbs, ores, smelted bars, sulfur, tools, higher-grade weapons or armor, maybe the occasional rare article at a very high price that occasionally shows up. You don’t have to offer everything, and I’d discourage that as much as possible as you’d replace the player market with a totally NPC one, but to replace relics with nothing would also tank the economy. It’d require the right balance.

3) A combination of 1 and 2. De-buff relics, then slowly start replacing them with other things of equal or approaching equal value for the player community to spend their gold on, then if you’re dead set on it, you can remove the relics later at a different time, without disturbing the economy.