I was talking to a friend the other day about some of the changes taking place in the loot tables on different mobs.
He was concerned with his recent inability to hunt anything that dropped good items.
He is a smart guy and although we don't always agree with each other, He always has good reasons for what he bases his theories on. Anyways it got me to thinking about it, so here are my thoughts.
The two traditional mobs for grinding economicly on are Argo and Drones. Drones because they drop a high volume of Gazzurdite which has a decent markup, and Argo because of the iron they drop.
Iron prices have gone from 110ish% to 103ish% (basically tt) since the Argo missions were introduced.
Gazz has held consistantly at 120-125ish% for a long time. It was as high as 130+% a couple years ago when I was camping them.
Both of these mobs also drop or dropped armor and guns in higher tt loots. (minis & globals)
Argo dropped CB19(L)s and Knight thighs & Paladin masks & Kanga masks.
Drones drop Bear(L) armor pieces and LR41(L)s
Lets consider these larger loot drops.
Knight and Paladin is actually fairly decent unlimited armor somewhere between shogun and gremlin in usefulness. But because it was so common and because the other parts for the sets were less common, people automatically just TT'ed any they got in loot.
The same is true about Bear(L) armor, its actually more eco to use than shogun or gremlin with good protection, but because it was so common people TTed it after every run.
The guns as well are good options for the right level of play, cb19+beast or lr41+A104 are both good gun/amp combos and economical to use. But because argo and drones are hunted so heavily the guns became so common that there was little to no markup for them. Once again, people have TTed an uncounted number of these items even though they are actually very good for what they are.
People have been upset about the recent removal of armor from the Argo loot table. But if I was grinding argo, I would have actually been pleased with this. 103% on iron or a couple % on cb19s is much better than tting armor after each run.
After considering it for a while, I think that while these two mobs drop good items, but they are so well balanced that the hunters perception is that they are not good based on the markup they could benefit from them.
Based on several peoples studies over several years we can assume that the average cost (loss) vs. the TT value of input and output for a given activity will be around 10% of what you spend.
Combine this knowledge with the fact that this is a Real Cash Economy which is always seeking to stabilize itself, we can assume that the markup of items will eventually stabilize at less than the cost to loot them.
As consumers we should seek to buy and use items that are in balance with the system. (low markup)
As hunters, miners, and crafters though we should always be looking for the imbalances in the system and 'exploiting' them.
There are many possible reasons for there to be an imbalance in the system, and when analyzing rather it is something you should attempt to 'exploit,' you should consider if your own actions will affect that balance drastically enough to prevent you from benefiting from it.
Gazz from drones is an example of an imbalance in the system that you can probably 'exploit' without affecting the balance much. It is sold for a high markup in high volumes daily.
It is possible that you find a rare (and useful) armor that drops from a mob that isn't hunted much. You discover that you get one every time you global and it has a tt value of 50ped and a markup of 200%. Historically one has sold in auction per week for the past year. If you start camping these and looting 2-3 of these armor pieces a day you will likely out supply the demand and the markup will drop.
In this case though, I would for sure hunt these as much as I could and sell as many armor peices as I could until the price did drop. Maybe even at 150% I could break even or profit for a while. Say I got a global every 500peds cycled on this mob. That would be 50ped of markup for every 500 at the beginning, and 25ped markup when the price had dropped. That is 10% and then 5% not even counting the few % that I can make on the rest of the loot.
The RCE aspect of this game makes it highly competitive and because of this the markets will always try and stabilize to a point where the item is sold for less than the cost of producing it. What we as players try and do is recognize the opportunities in new items as well as in changes in the loot system. What worked for someone yesterday will probably not work for me today, and what works for me today will probably not work for you tomorow. (or for me)
I am excited about the upcoming changes and improvements that SDS will be bringing for Calypso, NDS for Rocktropia, David Post's team for Next Island, as well as the new planets Arkadia, Cyrine, the Spanish Planet, the Arabian Planet, the MJ planet, etc....
Each of these changes will bring new imbalances into the system and allow players both old and new the opportunities to 'exploit' the markup of items.
Link to my Drone Camping Logs
Recent thread discussing the economy of drones
Good Luck on your quest to exploit the economy :p
narfi
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