Feldon 
For the latter part of last year and into this year, I’ve been raiding Saturday mornings in mostly x4 EM content. Outside of that, I’ve done mostly Advanced Solo content and just a smattering of group zones. From that gameplay, via selling shinies, masters, drops, crafting spells for other players, etc. I’ve been able to accumulate more than enough Plat for my character needs.
I am currently the co-owner of a Tier 1 level 62 guild hall with max amenities. I also have five level 95 characters (although my Ranger will always be my main). Between Reforging and Adornments, there are certainly some expenses to be considered, but I’ve always managed to make do without grinding Protector’s Realm, Shard of Hate, etc.
That said, I admit that ever since the announcement was made that Coin was being changed to be an individual drop and that PR would only reward about 1-2 plat per named per person, I have been running PR on a regular basis. Why? I suppose it’s like a mouse with sudden access to unlimited cheese. I couldn’t help it! I suppose it’s like if an ATM starts spewing money. Would you grab some? Is getting 150 plat for 10 minutes effort “theft” since it’s obviously not intended? The zone was designed for raiding, and only through growth in player power is it possible to now duo or molo it.
So, did I need all that extra plat? Probably not. Just running Kunark and Sentinel’s Fate era quests awards 35-50 gold per quest. The new Cobalt Scar quests reward a whopping 1 plat 34 gold a piece. And while much has been said about the new Siren’s Grotto Advanced Solo zones only awarding 30-40 gold per named, it seems a few players have discovered that there are also breakable items within these zones that add another 1-2 plat to the pile.
It’s easy to forget that most of the changes in Game Update 66 were a direct result of player feedback. Most of the changes were improvements in how classes are played, and a lot of annoyances were stomped out. So it’s not outside the realm of possibility that we’ll see some bump ups in the amount of coin from solo and group zones to further bridge the gap. It won’t be 50 plat for running a solo zone, but it might be closer to 4-5 plat. With all the other items that drop in the course of playing EQ2, even with five level 95 characters and half of a T1 guild hall to maintain, I think can live with that amount.
“but it might be closer to 4-5 plat.”
This would be more reasonable. There should still be some adjustments on plat sinks that were meant to compensate for PR type activities, but 4 – 5 plat would be reasonable to work with in the game. Right now there is little to no incentive to go to the zones if you are raid geared. The money you can get is what makes something desirable. People have different reasons to run zones, and taking away a major one just gives people more reasons to quit the game.
The best way to look at a game is to provide the most incentives overall to keep the player base coming back for more. If you are seeing gear that is below what you have with no other incentives to run the zone, plat becomes a draw. People did those zones because it had a draw, not because it was fun or anything else. So if they want people to do the zones there must be a draw.
Of course at this point it is up to SOE to figure out that draw. And no matter how interactive a zone is, eventually it will get old and people will settle back in for the quick run. Look at Unrest. Massive interactivity, puzzle based system, great reviews and excitement when it came out. Now, no one wants to go there because it takes to long and to many things you have to do to finish the zone. But I guarantee if there were other incentives to do it, people would go back.
So hopefully SOE does something to keep the interest going.
I would agree – 4-6 plat would be reasonable for Adv solo, and something along the lines of 25p would be reasonable for heroics.
I know I’ve complained bitterly about this change but as someone who rarely ran PR anyway, I’m less upset about the loss of that “free money” as I am about the ridiculous disparity between actual plat drops from the “adjustment” and how it was advertised.
I used make 200 plat a week without doing PR (which I can’t solo because a palli can only rez in group)by grinding and selling items.
But then the broker went whacko and it seems anything I can price at 5 plat or more drops to 10g within a week.
You can solo grind trash mobs in any zone from DOV onward for 10 plat an hour from coin drops and dumping bags to a merchant.
But who has time to spend 20hrs a week playing anymore?
With the end of Live Gamer and real money profit I see no reason to be so stingy with the coin drops.
The raid gear sucks so bad they might as well make it 50p per solo just so people will be able to afford PoW farmed gear after this catastrophe of a loot table. I realize this wasn’t an expansion, but 6 months of seeing mediocre gear in CoE, I was expecting much much more. Plat is better, but an average of 1g 50 per body drop is not much different than the 1g 25 we were getting back in TSO. Not a single corpse (that actually contains money) in level 95+ content should have less than 10 gold in my opinion. THAT would be right on par, not 1 gold and some silver.
The trash loot that drops in the solo zones is not to be underestimated. I often get 2-3 items that vendor for 3 plat each for each solo run.
I wonder if that chest in the Anchor of Bazaal(name?) is still giving out the 17 plat too.
But overall I don’t see the plat being a big deal, the fixed costs (reforging) are manageable, and if they make plat a bit harder to come by then the broker prices will just drop anyway in time.
Obelisk of Ahkzul is still giving out a 5-15 plat chest per run, but the zone timer is still at 18 hours.
I don’t run PR because time is limited, haven’t had much of a money issue but never have money to spend on something like SLR stuff due to the inflation on plat I’d imagine. The plat added to zones I get to is welcome, I’d say it could be reevaluated and adjusted. But they still need to get a way to get plat out of the game. They should offer something stupid crazy for a limited time like xp potions or a mount or whatever, just to pull a bunch of plat out of the game.
If they want plat out of the game, offer unadorners. lol
they did, for 1000p, i guess that didn’t work well enough…
I am just glad I got rid of my elite merc a while ago!
sorry, meant unattuners
well went to new raid zone today and I am still wondering how gear went backwards instead of better? Harrows (spank and tank) drops loots with 187 stats and the new zone harder (where u actually have to follow the script and need to actually Use strats) and drops 185 stat items both easy mode zones. Totally disappointed. Even solo zones are dropping gear that is worse that is isnt as good as obol zones… as far as the pvp gem its not just rare but UBER rare it seems. The Zone looks pretty tho 🙂
ops and plat was like 4plat per mob in raid zone in solo was 1.5 to 2 max
yeah loot is a joke, plat isnt high enough by any means, bugs are expected, but downright insulting amounts of gold.. bc really you dont get plat from anything unless you have 6 people for a group even then its 1 plat and like 12 gold and then 24 to get 4 plat in a raid zone lol.. this plat debate has been beaten to death revived and beaten again.. and yet they still can not get it right.. 26 plat on a mob with a 5 minutes script in a solo zone is no worth my time or anyones time.. i can literally mentor down to 65 and run through SoS and get more gold in 5 minutes than i can in an entire AS zone which takes like 30-40 minutes, because of all the slow scripts.
They were very specific and said it wont effect your play style. However this does.
I have over 18 level 95 alts on 2 accounts both of which I pay for with Kronos,its not unusal for me to spend 20 to 30k SC a month funded via plat farming. I raid in 3 different guilds and have reasonable about of plat hoarded away.
Due to this change my SC purchasing for my many alts including pink cow mounts and various other items for my many houses will stop.
I will then have to reduce the amount of alts I have over time as it will be a huge plat sink that wont be replacable.
You may think this is unfair to expect someone to complain but the amount of time and energy to do this is significant and I have the same right to play this way as you choose to play the way you do.
This is an attemped for SoE to stop the hard core raiders that use kronos and SLR to fund their game play as it is mine to have a mass of alts and use SC. I trade my time to obtain plat so others that dont have time use their RL cash to obtain what they want.
This will only end in less Kronos and SC purchases and maybe less accounts people use.
Basic inflation…
If there is less plat in game, prices go down.
More plat in game, prices go up.
Why do you want more plat?
there is a differnce between reduction on plat in the game and strangulaton of plat, I have no issues with a reduction but it needs to be a bit more balance that what it is.
EQ2 has a player base of veterans that understand and know what things have value and what they should be sold for. We don’t need a wall street mindset to tell us that Ebofu. It doesn’t take a f***in rocket scientist to figure out 200-500 plat has always been the price of raid gear in auction channel for the current tier. And actually it use to me be more expensive for things like the chest piece from Rallos Zek or the other early DoV raid mobs. I remember paying 1200 plat for a tank chest with 123/123 stats.
Ebofu , more plats ingame does not mean prices go up
what goes up are players *willing* to pay more to get what they want
price drops when near new Xpac
Sando,
Prices are based on supply and demand and what coin people have avaiable. The more coin people have and the easyer it is to replace it people will spend it. but yes over time prices will drop and the demand for the item will be less as more people obtain the gear.
Though the less coin people have the less they will be willing to spend it and price will go down.
Yes it does. That’s a basic economic concept.
That’s because there’s more plat in the game, idiot.
Anybody want to address the loot in Scar, and Grotto? I got to say your fighting level 100+ mobs and they are dropping 1 gold or less? The the items that drop off the final boss have worse stats on then that what you could get in COE instances? Not to mention the level 92 and 93 Item rewards for fighting level 100+ mobs?
Does anybody not think this is out of wack or is it just me.
You really think this change was done for this reason instead of the reasons they stated? What possible sense does that make? A gold subscription costs $14.99 a month. Instead of paying SOE $14.99, you choose to farm plat, (which doesn’t cost them or pay them a cent) so you can buy Krono. But the cheapest anyone can get a Krono, even buying them in bulk, is $16.99. Which means SOE is receiving $16.99 a month for each of your accounts from whoever bought the Krono in the first place.
You really think they made this change so that they would either convince you to go with a gold account instead so they could get $2 less a month per account, or to switch to F2P/quit, which would get them even less?
Or is it possible that maybe, just maybe, this change was made for the reasons they stated?
At last… Azkuhl is not changed…
I only have to do it once a week to pay the dues of my T2 hall guild.
@Dethdlr
Obviously, the change was made for the reasons they stated, but solo’ers will find it much more difficult to make coin now. This is clearly healthy for the game in the traditional sense (in terms of rewards, raid > group > solo is important for MMOs), but how will it affect Krono sales?
Solo’ers will have more incentive to sell Kronos (for plat) but less ability to buy them (with plat). Raiders are getting more plat, meaning they have less incentive to sell Kronos (for plat), but will they be more likely to buy them (with plat)? I would guess they already had plenty of plat from SLR and such.
If supply holds steady but demand drops, the equilibrium price (in plat) will drop but so will the equilibrium quantity, meaning SOE makes less money?
Look at what you just said Quabi.
-This is healthy for the game in a traditional sense
-SoE will possibly lose money
Sounds like they are doing a good thing for the game at their own expense.
Nice.
I just want to understand this from the viewpoint of the “reasons they stated” I’m not trying to be dumb, sarcastic or cute. I really just want to understand the intention here.
This was meant to get rid of the “Unnecessary Need” to mentor down and farm 5 year old Raid zones. Am I correct on this? It’s what I read, so i’m assuming this was their reason and not just a verbal you know what… Also there was some talk of smoothing out the economy of the game.. or something
So now I figure that I can just farm 5 year old Heroic zones instead,(Moors Zones) and make more plat than the “new” Advanced Solo instances, which would take up more of my overall game time to get the same level of plat and leave less time for me to enjoy myself at playing this game, which I love with, my 6 95 Alts.
Less Fun time for me doesn’t sound like i want to keep shelling out my monthly subscription cost… ESPECIALLY after playing for 6 years and working all of my toons up to this level and playing potential.
I’m not going to just ignore or delete my other toons, or give them less of a playing experience by buying them crappy ranged ammo, potions & food now. I have certain expectations out of my toons and if i’m not able to provide for them all at the SAME level i have been, then that means this game has just become less of an enjoyable experience for me. Call me a whiner, i don’t care. I raid 6 out of 7 days per week, have HUGE costs in repairs and upkeep PLUS an alt guild to manage.
I can see if I wasn’t paying a monthly fee for this game with my hard earned cash, but I do. Heck, i even go out and buy a SC card once in a while.
and please, I don’t care to hear your idea of an economics model.. THIS IS A GAME FOR GOODNESS SAKE and you play it too, so you aren’t getting any Nobel prizes bub.
I should be able to play it like i want without having to find other ways to compensate now that the plat tables have been adjusted.
The saving grace to my rant is 2 fold.
1. If the broker prices come down ALOT, then i guess you are all economic gods and need to be in Government and pump some of that Austerity talk.
2. If they increase the plat drops from the newer zones more, then I guess that would make me happy. (But i’d still be doing old heroic zones if they drop 6-12plat in a chest for 5 mins work)
I don’t have alot of time to play this game and when I do play, i don’t want to be burdened with having to run through an advanced solo zone time after time after time in order to pay for upkeep.
With these new plat changes, I can actually spend LESS time farming for plat and still earn MORE plat. I very rarely farmed plat for the simple reason that the hourly rate of farming enough platinum to pay for one Krono (assumed price of $15 to replace a gold sub) was less than my current employment (and less than minimum wage). It was not to my advantage to “work” inside this game so I could “play” on weekends with my guild. Now I can earn platinum while playing the game the way I want. I no longer have to work for my platinum. How can that be a bad thing?
@Elderon: For a second, lets remove the need for farming and just pretend you have an unlimited supply of plat coming into your bank from some magical place. What would your play time consist of? You mention that having to farm more means less fun time. So what do you do in that fun time?
I keep hearing people talk about how they have to farm plat in order to support their play time. But what do you DO during that play time? Hardly anyone seems to be factoring in the fact that you will be generating plat now by running current tier heroic and/or raid content now. If all you did was solo before, you’ll be generating plat by doing the advanced solo zones now too.
However, if your playstyle before was to log in, farm plat, and then go sit in your own personal guild hall, sorry, that playstyle will probably be affected.
@ Benj – if you are seeing more plat than you used to and can maintain the upkeep of your toon, then the new system works well for you. However, in my particular situation, I will end up spending more time farming for less plat.
I don’t even mind doing the advanced solo’s once or twice per week on my toons, it’s just that to make that work and continue the upkeep of my toons that i’m used to, i WILL have to “Work” inside the game. How can doing Advanced Solo runs back to back not be work?? After 5 times through those zones and i’m sick of seeing them. At least i only had to look at PR once per week…
@ Dethdlr: Good point, no one should be sitting idle during their play time, however that’s not what’s happening in my particular situation.
In the perfect scenario, I would log in after work, check my broker, restock my perishables, chat with guildies for a little while and then set out to find a Heroic group or 2 to run with some competent individuals and then raid for a few hours more until i need to go to bed for about 5 hours of sleep 😉
However, we both know that the perfect scenario doesn’t always happen. You could be at that “Find a Heroic group to run with some competent individuals” spot for a while… sitting idle waiting for the right group and then poof, someone goes LD and you have to start over and wait some more.
I’m just bitter… don’t mind me. I’m pretty sure I have OCD and i had a particular micromanaged style that was working. So i built up many toons that are all valuable for raiding while I could. All i’m saying is now I can’t keep all that upkeep anymore in the time I have to play.
I guess it’s just me, sorry 🙁
and no… i’d never want an unlimited supply of plat without having to do something for with my time. That’s not what i’m implying here
@Benj What you are saying is impossible. Everyone’s plat earning potential is cut by at least 75% to 90%. Regardless of how you get your plat, the vast majority of that plat originally came from PR.
@Dethdlr The amount of plat generated by running current content is a pitance. It is no where near enough to pay for multiple alts and a second account as Elderon says he has.
This game is about having fun… One way for many to have fun is to acrue lots of plat by whatever means they choose. They sit on it and buy stuff for all their toons – sc cards, pink elephants, whatever you want. Other ways of having fun is running 1-2 zones a day, buying occasional loot from slr or broker if you want it badly.
The issue is they took 90% of incoming plat out of the game and replaced it with a pitance.
What playstyle doesn’t get hurt by this change is the better question.
What SoE accomplished only hurts themselves. The poor are now incredibly poor and no one will sell SC cards or Kronos for 1-200 plat. The rich are now unbelievably rich and will stay that way for a very long time. People will stop playing the game, stop buying/selling kronos for friends/alts/family. There is nothing positive about this change from SOE perspective.
A pitance or just not what you were used to with the PR ATM? I was getting 2+ plat per chest last night in a current level heroic zone. That doesn’t seem like a pitance to me, but that’s just me. It’s not the PR ATM but I also disagree that the PR ATM was “needed”.
I think some people are suffering from Post Traumatic Plat Farming Disorder. Try reading this, it might help. 🙂
“I was getting 2+ plat per chest last night in a current level heroic zone.”
Which means you have to kill 13 heroic Names to afford one piece of Steward gear. Is the drop rate on spirits/essences worse than 1/13? If not, someone gearing up in heroic zones will have to … go elsewhere and farm plat! That’s assuming they spend plat on NOTHING else (no merc, no repairs, no help-the-guildhall, no crafting stuff outside of writs…) If they have to spend more, then they need the drop rate to be even lower to “break even”.
Raiders (~4p/Name) have to kill 250 names for an unadorner. Heroic-runners, 500 names. Soloers, 3000 names. (Granted, only the raiders need the non-destructive unadorners, but what the Brell is up with that kind of pricing if THIS is the current plat-drop rate?)
Soloers with Perrin/Kenny/Matri at their ~1.5 plat per zone have to run more than 2 zones in 30 minutes (counting travel time between zones), or they lose money just by paying their mercenary!
This is the standard “things are too high by 3x, let’s reduce them 17x to fix it” technique that SoE has used since time immemorial.
LSD i might have no clue know how economic works , but why call me idiot?
Just to test it. I’m on the Butcherblock Server if anyone at all would like to put a PR Raid together I’d love to take a full group in and just kill the first one or two named to see if with a full raid it still drops a 20+ plat chest.
If it does it just shows that all Sony changed was the plat per person drop in the chest not the overall plat itself (which is what they stated.)
PR never should have dropped that much plat for a solo/duo group it’s a freaking RAID zone RAID = 12 or 24 in almost every case.
Without running PR & SoH I am able to fund 2 alt guilds (a T1 & a T2) and keep 4 toons geared better than average. I do raid twice a week and we’re a new raiding guild so we don’t sell any of the gear it’s used to gear our guild toons. I made my plat by selling rares, collectables and by using my crafters to sell a few items. I put probably 3 to 5 hours a week into crafting, harvesting and gathering collectables. Sustaining everything except paying hundreds of plat for SLR gear is easily done without a major time sink.
Running the DC Solo I made 3p 21g for 8 minutes and that was with an ornate chest drop, had it been an exquisite I could have made another 25-150 plat depending on what time of day and what the chest had in it.
People tested PR and SOH on Beta. The Coinpurses are now individual_drop. Instead of a single 12-24 plat coinpurse that’s split between players present, it’s individual coinpurses for each player.
Thank you Feldon
And thank you both for all the work you do here!!!
My plat earning potential increased. I prefer only to run CoE Heroic and Raid zones, and maybe the new GU66 zones (haven’t had a chance on those yet). Before, these didn’t drop any coin. I can now loot coin in the zones that I am playing anyway. My plat earning potential is infinitely better than before this change (yes, it literally is infinite).
so bad actually for me.
I used to have 150+ plats every 4 days, running PR and SoH, and 13 plats daily doing Azkhul.
that covered my main expense, expenses for my alt, and leaving enough time to help newbees, and try hard at raid…
now I can afford that life anymore, as I earn only 3 to 4 plats a run in instance, wich leads to 45 instances to run every 4 days, which is impossible, and don’t tell me about group content, it’s only 12 plats a run, it still needs 5 runs a day, leaving me no time to live…
I would just like to come back and say that after running Raid Zones & New Heroic Instances over the weekend, I am VERY happy with the Plat drops now.
The issue of me thinking that I would not be able to afford the upkeep on my 6 toons was misguided after I made a tally of what i had accumulated over the weekend.
Thank you for putting up with my harsh criticism (Which was unfounded)
😉