Archer en Tilavine
Ryoga Lonely Hearts
Lotek of New Eden
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Posted - 2017.03.21 22:40:01 -
[1] - Quote
(Note: I have not read the previous posts, so I am replying in a standalone fashion)
I am 100% for consolidating PLEX and Aurum. The end result more closely resembles Aurum than PLEX but uses the PLEX name - whatever. Personally I would go a step further to create an more generalized intercharacter currency vault where ISK, PLEX, AK (Analysis Kredits), and LP (Loyalty Points) can be easily transferred between characters while logged into any other character on the same account. ISK and PLEX can already be traded, so perhaps AK and LP can be traded, too, at least across characters on the same account if not with non-account characters. (I can understand why some people would argue against LP being included, but I think it's safe to say that, if it isn't already, AK should be global across characters on the same account)
I understand both sides of the debate of ganking people who ship PLEX in less-than-ideal ways. I want to point out one major but clearly overlooked detail, though: there is a HUGE difference between taking advantage of a stupid person (ie. one who should have known better) and an ignorant person (one who would not have known better). We should not take advantage of young and naive capsuleers who have not learned EVE to the extent that they are aware of the risks of shipping PLEX, know how to mitigate the risks, and are aware of alternatives. There are many honorable pirates in EVE who will compensate victims well over the loss of their ship and give them advice, but not when it comes to PLEX. I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of "stupid people" who lose PLEX by shipping them in ill-equipped ships are not, in fact, stupid, but newbies. There is no shortage of stupid people of all kinds with whom to decorate your killboards with, so the proposed changes are not going to change this fact. This proposal will spare the newbies and their real life wallets with only a minimal impact on ganking poorly defended high-value targets. And there will be no shortage of poorly defended transports shipping high-value goods. If we have to choose between protecting our right to kill a very small segment of the population of stupid people and defending people's hard-earned real life money, I'm going to pick the latter every time.
Oh, and please convert ALL Aurum to PLEX, not just balances over 1000. EVE will recover from whatever one-time market shock you throw at it. There are so many ways to handle this gracefully, but even the worst case scenario isn't all that bad. One option would be to gradually phase everyone's PLEX into Aurum by a fixed or percentage amount every day or week. Another option would be to create a dedicated currency exchange feature/window where PLEX (and perhaps in the future AK and LP) price controls help mitigate market shock to currencies but NOT to the market in general, as this would be implemented as a separate feature. I know the last time I played Runescape back in 2008 or so they implemented price controls on their auction system that let you place buy/sell orders within a relatively generous percentage range of the going rate to control market shocks. It was a novel feature in that no other MMO had anything like it, and it definitely stabilized the market for the better. Trade skyrocketed as buyers found great deals and sellers made great profits, a win-win for everyone. I am NOT proposing that such a feature apply to markets in general, but rather be restricted to PLEX and other form of currencies down the road. |