Ariane VoxDei
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Posted - 2010.03.18 13:34:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: LHA Tarawa
I'd like to have one thread where those in favor of keeping T2 BPOs lay out cogent arguments as to why the game is better with them than it would be if they were removed.
As you will have found out now, you won't get that kind of arguments, for the simple reason that none can be provided and every false one can and - this being Eve - will be proven wrong.
You will get smeared for posting (in public) a thread that suggests that "the haves" actually "have" and even should argue why their exclusive, practically unobtainable "having" is not bad for the game, i.e. everyone else.
While what everyone else is really thinking: why should we keep rewarding them for having a advantage we cant take part in, when they provide no benefit from having said advantage.
Originally by: LHA Tarawa
There are countless threads where people making such suggestions are called whining babies.
This should have given you the clue.
It boils down to some simple facts.
T2 BPO holders are in possession of unjustified strong competetive advantages over inventors. Advantages that can no longer be obtained.
In a computer game, where equal opportunity is important, people can in fairness expect that any advantage is eventually obtainable by all that put in the required effort or it is removed/phased out.
T2 BPOs are one such advantage that is not reasonably obtainable, and certainly not by all, given that they are not out there in tens of thousands for each possible T2 product.
What justification there may have been for a transition period has expired a long time ago, in that those people have had very long to profit from it.
And no, holders, noone, really noone, cares that SOME of you bought yours for billions of isk, from someone else who got it nearly for free (lottery, piracy, spoils of war, corptheft, scam).
Don't make the mistake of buying the premise of t2 BPO helping keep price down. As many in MD and SI will tell you, if they were honest for 5 seconds, is that keeping price UP is what they want.
Remember 700+M hulks before invention anyone? etc.
No, what the BPO holder really does, is let the inventors, with their extra costs and their bad ME levels, set the price, then price theirs just low enough to snipe, scoring both a sale and the savings of having zero invention cost and (even by default) better ME and PE.
Inventor:
datacores
T1 BPC copy time or cost.
item cost
encryptors
interfaces
optional stuff like Classical Doctrine, etc.
invention time + needs a invention pipe.
=== sums up to: T2 BPC with negative ME, uncertain PE.
Only then he can begin producing from that BPC.
On the other hand, the T2 BPO can skip all that and has a better ME (0 or greater).
Not hard to spot which is the better deal and who makes much more at a given price level.
If extra costs and the worse quality BPC associated with producing via Invention were neglible and not the big deal it is, then people would not think it worth the bother to compain and just get on with the game.
But it is rather a big deal.
In some cases the deal is so big that practically only the BPOs are providing the T2 items.
One of the QENs touched upon it, underlining how much power the BPOs still have on the markets, because the invention hurdle is simply too large a factor in some cases (i.e. it becomes cheaper to go to meta4/faction, or where demand is low enough that BPO can corner the market through their less costly production, driving inventors into to a loss-loss situation).
If it was up to me, we should go one of 2 ways:
1) remove invention (for t2 at least, keep for T3) and begin issuing T2 BPO from LP stores.
Example cost: cost X LP and a mix of datacores (instead of tags), possibly some of the hacking site invention enhancement items thrown in as a requirement as well.
2) keep invention and remove T2 BPO completely.
Similiar to #1, but instead of BPO begin issuing BPC from LP stores.
Store BPCs set to 0ME.
Ramp up the invention ME by 5 or so over current results, to give them a little edge over LP ones.
In this case I would mainly try to balance it so invention is preferred on big items (almost all ships and most large weapons) and storebought can take over on the smaller stuff to keep the market supplied.
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