The Economy!

[Dren]

I probably won't make it to 60 on my main before the next content patch (lvl 51 now,) but I can tell that if I did it wouldn't really matter.  It would basically be like UO for me.  You just keep rolling new alts and trying out different things.  Plus, you can use your 60 main to help with that, so it isn't quite so painful in the painful areas (always poor, missing components, etc.)

The other "game" I liked to play in UO was just working on the best stuff or the most amount of cash.  Plus, helping friends is very satisfying to me.  If you have a whole gang of higher level characters, you can help your friends and guildmates out a ton, which for some is a great deal of content in itself.

If people want to have the game stay the same for them from beginning to end with that constant "high" of adventure, new experiences, new levels, etc. then they will churn through MMOG's every 2 months or so.  Either that, or they need to go back to buying individual single player games once or twice a month for more than $29.99  a pop like the "old days."

Your play style does have to change as you level in MMOG's or you'll burn out and get bored at the top end and quit.  If you can't adapt you'll leave.  No amount of programming genius will solve that.  MMOG's require a bit of self generated content in the long term.  I do not see that ever changing.

[Train Wreck]

My only experience with the economy so far has been trying to sell crafted copper and bronze armor/weapons at the AH.  Only magic items seem to sell at all, but that's to be expected.  There does seem to be a lot of useless equipment in WoW that can be overlooked, but the fact that you can bypass it means that it's more of a trivial design issue, and has nothing to do with the economy.

I've been selling large bronze knives and stacks of copper for about 30s and 50s, respectively.  The copper does seem to be overpriced, as I can gather it in about 10 minutes if there aren't other miners around.  The knives make far less money, but at least I am raising my smithing skill.  The bronze pearl knives are a big joke, costing about 30s just to make, and being just barely more effective.

The only possible indication of inflation I have seen so far is that people pay so much for copper bars:  If they are dumping it into a craft skill, that would be a sign of a oversupply of money.  However, if they are able to craft it into goods and get a return on their investment, it would indicate an economy that's running smoothly.

I noticed a very large supply of copper yesterday, with no bids passed the 30s range.  It seems that the market responded to a copper shortage by several people deciding that selling the copper was the way to go.  If that's really the case, then this is as it should be.

[Train Wreck]

I auctioned a stack of 20 copper bars on Tuesday, starting at 3s just to see how high it would climb in 24 hours.  With one hour to go, it had only risen to 5s.  I checked the market, and sure enough, copper was available in abundance.  Since I have barely been playing for a week, I don't know if this is a cycle or if last weekend was a temporary spike.  If it's the former, then a lot of money (for a n00b) can be made by buying copper for cheap during the week and selling it back on the weekend.

It could also be that the supply was so low, driving the value up to 40s per stack, that everybody and their grandma wanted in on it, resulting in complete market saturation within a few days.

Either way, the resource market at least is functioning the way an economy should.

[Dren]

I think it was a delayed reaction to what happened last week.  Most people stop mining copper as they level, but it is damned easy to go back and get some later.  I could rack up 60 bars within 15 minutes and have in the past to make newb stuff for friends and alts.

People saw the prices spike and thought they could make a killing by throwing a bunch on the AH, but by the time that happened, everyone knew about it and were doing it themselves.

It would be smarter to wait for a couple of weeks and let people get lazy again and then dump some copper on the ah for big gains.

[Train Wreck]

That's what I was thinking, though I wasn't completely sure because it was my first weekend in WoW.  (In SWG, resources always sold out on the weekends.)  Luckily, I was crafting big bronze knives by then, so my income hasn't been completely castrated.

I'm currently grinding out rough bronze leggings and letting my chanter alt tear them apart for teh magic.  There must be some kind of comparable quest item out there or something, because they are a pretty decent peice of low-teen armor from what I've seen, yet nobody bids on them.

[WayAbvPar]

Crafted items never sell as well as drops- I think everyone secretly feels they are getting ripped off or something. I know I always price check for awhile before I buy any crafted item to see if someone else will beat the price.

[Calantus]

Crafted items never sell as well as drops- I think everyone secretly feels they are getting ripped off or something. I know I always price check for awhile before I buy any crafted item to see if someone else will beat the price.

There are exceptions here. You can never move alot of anything, but some craftables do sell. Within blacksmithing bronze daggers go ok since they are fairly good for a rogue of that level. Green Iron Helms also go well because they are the first helmet that looks likea helmet when you put it on. Green Iron Hauberks also go well as they are fantastic for their level. That's all we've noticed really... most of the time we make whatever uses the least metal and sell it to a vendor though.

[Paelos]

Truesilver Champion 2H swords sell all the time at about 30-35 g on my server. I couldn't tell you the assumed profit since they are complicated to make, but if you mined the metals yourself, it would be fairly lucrative. Of course, that's a higher level weapon. I agree that most other items do not sell as well as drops before you get to the upper tier. Great armorsmithing items are rarer because the grind to achieve the armorsmithing status is harsh.