If you ask me...the only "probable" motive that MA has in implementing these recent changes is to facilitate the spending of peds. To make it "easier" for you to use up your peds and reduce their "contingent liability" (as per in their
annual report).
Duh. It only makes sense for them to motivate players who are online to spend. Servers cost money to run. Players who spend while on them are 'good for the game' so to speak. Not different now than back in 2006...
* What is the average cost to play EU for an hour? average cost per month?
MindArk's business plan states that we aim for a cost of 1 USD per hour.
Recent changes cause that 1 usd per hour to actually be lower than that for some, but more than that for others... It's a balancing act.
Shrapnel in hunting? This is just to make your hunts last longer and with you ending up with even less disposable peds than before it was implemented.
Makes hunts last longer, true, but also makes you end up with less crap - i.e. stuff that may have markup over 100% but that you'd probably TT anyways since the cost to sell it on auction or to others is too much of a damn hassle for the small pec amounts you have across the board on each... and this way you at least get 1% for it instead of just 100% as you would have before.
Explosive BP? Caters for the "gambling" players looking to hit high HOFs (without having to pay any MU...plus no "down time"...continuous spending).
What's wrong with allowing crafters the ability to actually play the game without having to pay markup? Hunters and Miners have had that ability since the very first TT was first opened. Why should the other major profession in game have to rely on increasing the ped value of other players 100% of the time every single day logged in? Yes, trading still exists in game. It's not like explosives are THE ONLY blueprint left in game. It may seem like it from time to time, but look around. Folks are crafting other things too. If nothing else, look at how many UL grenade launchers are in game and what the eco is on them... Who do you think is looting all of those L grenade launchers - hunters usually... All these explosives give those hunters looting those guns markup while the crafters are only getting lousy 101%-102% on the explosives to load those guns... Crafters have always been 'gamblers' from time to time... but anyone searching for loots of big mobs or digging deeper in to the ground to find loot are too.... How much markup did the hunting HOF guys pay on the ammo used to get those hofs?
And coincidentally, this also affects mining mu and "extinguishes" (almost?) any chance of players looking to "recover from the red" and thereby "incentivising" them to deposit even more.
This just comes across as you sounding like a miner who is now grumbling a bit since it's harder for you to move your stackables than it was before as demand for them is now a bit lower... (for you that may actually increase your markup as daily auction listings for your stacks will go down, leaving you the ability to later be able to price it with higher markup later when the market is ready? - look to long term gains/losses instead of to daily losses. There are reasons the markup history screens show monthly/yearly and not just daily prices...)
Across the board the price to craft has been way too damn high for several years now (i.e. miners have had it way too damn easy for at least 5 or so years lately as they are draining the peds from other folks in game, nickel and diming the crafters in to not being able to play more often and having to log in only every so often so that they can afford to play instead of logging in daily like the hunters and miners usually do)... In a lot of different chats and forum talk the last 2-4 years I've seen people suggest that mining is the 'best bet' to go with for long term profits as people were 'paying markup on all of the loots' and not just some of them as they were with hunting/crafting. That is now starting to change due to the balancing manager taking notice that one of the professions was unbalanced vs the others, or so it would appear. That is a good thing. It allows more folks to participate in all of the professions instead of unbalancing it to just profit one of them.
I know it's a bit of a bug from a while back, but I still look at the below image and think to myself perhaps some coder who allowed this bug to happen thought that the maximum markup on any item in game should be 127 ped. If that was the case (which I'm sure it's not in reality as the bug is really due to the screen not showing one digit off to the left) this would actually be great for the game as it would allow the average casual gamer the ability to play this game for hours and hours and hours and hours.... which would be great for the game since it would allow many, many, many more people with average incomes to participate in the game and fill up the servers, and make the place seem a lot less like a ghost town - which it really seems like it is nowadays if you visit many planets other than calypso... Recent changes to the game over the last year or two seem to be driving markup down a little to where perhaps this 127 ped max markup may be possible in another 10-15 years? Would that drive out greedy ass whining bastards that only are here to look at markup growing in their pockets from playing while keeping folks in game that are more interested in daily participation in a great online community and 'playing the game' daily? I think perhaps it might... Maybe some dev can look at the below pic and this post and see the potential for the future where millions of players really are online and playing this game daily instead of just a several thousand that keep the game alive today?....
I know long winded post... but perhaps now you can plan your "future gaming priorities accordingly" as I doubt a dev really will reply to this thread? (maybe they can prove me wrong?
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