buy/sell using gold, not product.

DISCLAIMER: This is my individual opinions and thoughts not that of the dev team or any other individual beyond myself. I will probably take criticism for this post but I feel its needed in defence of the small team that work very hard on an ever growing list of player requests in a massive project.

The use of gold will only take place when there are sufficient players in game to support a natural economy, and also players have a method of trading without the aid of trader ergol. Players have only recently aquired the global chat chanel and still there is very little trade taking place. If you want to trade you need something of value, gold has a value but it is insignificant compared to the value of materials in a game where everyone wants to build and craft. I can sell you armour but the price will be reflective of time spent, I can gather gold ore at 10g per tap, or 50g per click as I can craft coins at that rate. So if you would like a weapon that reqiures 4 wood for the handle and then another 5 ore for the weapon the minimum value is 100g in just time investment. Trader ergol will not pay that ammount and will resell for less so players will not buy from me. That does not even factor in the skill investment I have made, so why would you buy form me and why would I sell to you. This is all about ballance, and in a beta of this nature there is no ballance. Economy forms over time, using the simple mechanics of supply and demand. While there is an NPC trader in game undermining the cost of everything no economy will ever form, and this is why I have been asking for player based vendors since the open beta began, and in fairness Temko had been asking for it before that.

I may have a GM title on the forums and the tools in game but I am very much a player at heart. I have experienced many games in various developement stages and all have suffered economical issues prior to launch. Dawntide has a fundamental issue that wont be addressed in a hurry because of the size of the playerbase and the rate at which the dev team can add content. Trader ergol is required to remove unwanted items from the game, and to provide a turnover of coins. In providing this service it undermines the player based economy that relies on the distribution of skills amongst the playerbase, and true supply and demand economics.

It is my opinion that a skill in game is required to allow players to destroy items for a lowered ammount of base quality resources. All coins in game be minted/crafted by players. All NPC traders removed and replaced by a functioning player based system. All buildings to require a financial upkeep of some form even if very small. I can elaborate and go into fine detail about how I htink this should happen but I am not in a position to affect change other than to try and offer my opinions to the dev team. It is also MY opinion that beta testing is not for everyone and traders are not going to find suitable tools in dawntide at this current time, so not participating is everyones choice if they wish to make it. I also think that players wanting to trade can make a better impact by testing and participating while offering ideas and solutions.

Anarchist, in your post your commented about upgrading your equipment, a simple purchase of a skinning knife would offer you the ability to gather hides which you could trade for equipment, or craft yourself. Your decision to not participate in gathering and crafting is what has isolated your options and made you form the opinions you have about money. A little more time in game and speaking with knowledgable players would have revealed that allocating 50 skill points to skinning would have solved all of your complaints. While gold is the normal currency in a game and in real life, in Dawntide the value of materials is greater simply due to players wanting to experiment with the one thing in game that is truely functional and that is the crafting.

You also dont like the grind aspect of the game, well there is only a grind if you make it that way. Race to the skill cap and you can then participate in the world pvp that is turned off, or you can hunt the mobs that are far too easy for your skills and your starter equipment. I realise now that I am being a little aggresive in my post, but it is my opinion that your lack of patience and understanding is actually causing your frustration.

Dawntide is not a gear based themepark MMORPG where the challenge is to reach the skil cap and then be awesome and better than everyone else. Dawntide is a sandbox game in developement, and not even close to being complete. Trying to play an incomplete game will always result in frustration, testing, experimenting, exploring and learning is much more rewarding.

The simple fact is Dawntide was recently heavily publicised in a few places and was sold in a misleading fashion. I have tracked down the posts on a number of forums in multiple languages, and by more than one player. In none of the posts does it mention the development style of the game, the fact that its in a creative beta, or that its still missing key features. This brings new players into a game that is not ready for playing. Sure you can kill mobs and craft, you can even make buildings and boats, but its not ready for “playing”. There are key ballance issues that lead to problems with currency as you have found. There are combat issues that make pvp almost pointless, and the seige mechanics that have not even been put in game. All of these things have been left out of the widespread advertising that has seen the average server population double in the last few weeks.

There have been a number of players in game that have been very helpful and supportive in the last few weeks, that have assisted new players in finding their feet in Dawntide. I appreciate their help in trying to ease people into the game and answer the hundreds of questions every new player has. This is not a normal stress test beta, and its not for everyone right now. I completely understand that some people have certain expectations when they invest time into a game, and that right now Dawntide may not reach those levels.

I just hope that nobody thinks that people dont listen or dont care about what people think. If people rage quit, thats fine by me, I just hope they offer some feedback first and try looking back on Dawntide in a few months to see the progress.

@Anarchist :- I realise this looks like I am directing a rant or rage at you, but I am not. I am just a little frustrated that many people seem to have found this beta without fully understanding it. There are very few games developed in this style and it can work against the team in terms of negative press, and its really not deserved. I cant deny there are flaws, glitch’s, bug’s and missing features but its going to be that way for a while yet. Unfortunately some people who have joined the beta lately were not given fair warning in advance of signing up and downloading.

@The Dev team, if I have overstepped the mark with my post I am sorry but I think this needed to be said with the sudden influx of new players.

You can make gold coins now out of gold ingots, minting recipe in toolsmithing skill.