I took a peek into the Market Guild on an alt yesterday. If one would want a Unique’d out build, as long as one had the Favor and Rank, no problem.
Rares, even lowlevel stuff, starting at 30k Gold, even with utterly unlogic stats on them.
As general ‘reply’, I got stuff like ‘At 600+ Corruption, you get so much gold just from the Echo end chest, 30k is no problem.’
So, the stuff is sitting on the shelves like lead, not moving, and it feels as if the Merchant Guild is more like an extended Stash for some.
Now, I do not want to suggest maximum prices or the likes, but my suggestion is something different alltogether.
In another MMO (TERA), when it was still active and had a living, interacting economy, the local Auction House had a system called ‘Honest Money’.
To list an item, at buyout/instant buy (what the Bazaar is basically), there were 3 ‘fees’ in the game.
- Broker Fee list in the first place, from the one who was listing it. This was based on the asking price and the duration of the listing. Last Epoch has this covers with Favor to list.
- Broker Tax. Based on the price. I am not sure if it was subtracted from the payout or if it was used like iRL VAT. We have this covered with Favor for buying, too.
Now comes the kicker, which I am aiming at.
3. ‘Honest Money’ as it was called. On listing, the seller had to put down a deposit of 10% of the asking price. If something was listed as an Auction, it was 10% of the starting value, if something was listed as Auction with optional Buyout, it was 10% of the Buyout price. In Buyout only listings, obviously, 10% of asking price.
This Honest Money would be kept by the Auction System, and on a successful sale, would be refunded in full. No Taxed or fees levied. If one cancelled the Listing, this money however would be lost, in case of the Listing running out, this Money would also be lost forever.
Now, my suggestion is to add an Honest Money system. Due to MG related dupes, exploits and outright RMT (Goldbuying), the economy is a mess, inflation going crazy. Now, with an ‘Honest Money’ system, people listing an item for, say, 2 Billion Gold, would end up having to front 20 million for the listing themselves. If the item sells, good for them. If the item is not sold, diminish the amount each day until at 10 days, it is gone.
Now, people might go ‘But Gold is lost when you buy’ - No, Trade is not a Gold sink unless the Gold itself is taxed on transaction. It is a transfer. A sink removes the gold from anyone.
This would discourage the use of the Stall as a stash, and might even curb inflation a little bit.
Obviously, this is nothing for the existing Cycle, since RMT, Dupes and broken/bugged builds have already ruined the economy. But it is, in my opinion, something for a future Cycle.