Ways to Remove High-end Items from the Game (To Curb Item Inflation)

I suppose if cheap and easy to obtain items are considered fun... then this will not be a problem.

Also, yeah, I suspect most people will hoard their wealth in their stash / shared stash.

An easier way may be to allow players to sacrifice an item when they use higher end currency items. The mods and stats of the sacrificed gear would then have a small influence on the effect of the currency item.

Similar to the Iron Golem in D2. You have to sacrifice an item every time you summoned one and its mods and stats would be influenced by those of the item. The better the item you sacrificed, the better your iron golem.

For example, the Chaos Orb allows you to randomly reroll the mods on an item. If you sacrificed another item when you used the Chaos Orb then each new mod will have a 10% chance of coming from the sacrificed item instead of being completely random. The more powerful the sacrificed item, the larger the influence it can have on the outcome.

This gives players a little bit more control over the item crafting process (even if that influence is pretty minimal) while also helping to sink items out of the economy. At the same time, it's important to give the players the choice of sacrificing and item or not.

Even low end currency items could use this mechanic. Sacrificing a sword when you use a Whetstone could make it more effective (either by biasing the roll higher or increasing the maximum value of the roll or both). Similar for sacrificing a piece of armor when using an Armor Shard.

Make items have a durability that when players die all equipped items suffer durability loss.
This type of durability can never be repaired. So when the item reaches zero it is destroyed. Death will be feared and it also solves the problem with having too many items in the mix.

Or they could just do it like everyone else and bind items on equip.

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While talking about the game economy, it’s worth noting that we’re strongly opposed to any form of binding of items. Some games cite it as an effective item sink, but we believe that the inability to trade an item after use greatly hinders the economy. We want players to be able to trade for an extremely valuable item without taking a massive hit to their net worth by equipping it.

The devs have noted that they are getting rid of gold sinks like item repairs. Also i think they would alienate the player base if you accidentally died and lost equipment you've been working on for a couple months.

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Chris wrote:

Having an NPC turn items into currency items and vice-versa is basically having an NPC perform trades. It's something we'll be talking about soon.

It's also worth noting that a major sink in the economy is the fact that some players just stop playing. Their items sit around on their accounts not taking part in the economy.

So my assumption is that GGG will make these NPC's limit certain currency items... I assume the team is going to track the intake of certain items and currency to deal with an ever so changing in game economy then? Because if this is the case, it seems like a damn good idea. An economy that changes prices depending on whats selling and/or traded... much like the NPC's (traders) in guild wars :)

and Katana thats a dumb idea. Action RPG's focus on loot the most annoying thing would be to lose these gear

Actually, the best way to eliminate large quantities of high-end items is to release new content.

New zones, new loots, new skig drops, etc. Works especially well if you add like 5 levels to the maximum. Gear gets *slightly* better, but enough to where the best high end gear in the game just doesn't cut it.

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Chris wrote:

Having an NPC turn items into currency items and vice-versa is basically having an NPC perform trades. It's something we'll be talking about soon.

This would work, it's in a similar direction of what I was thinking. It could work, it would require a little iterative designing is all though.

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Chris wrote:

It's also worth noting that a major sink in the economy is the fact that some players just stop playing. Their items sit around on their accounts not taking part in the economy.

It's true, some players will just stop playing. But that shouldn't be the item sink that you look forward to. I mean, I don't take this as you guys wanting people to stop playing your game after amassing a lot of wealth. But, I wouldn't say that this is the most effective sink to look forward to. I'm sure you can think of other plans to try and sink high-end items from the economy.

Also, because I do believe this game will be popular, I really do not believe that enough wealthy people will stop playing the game to make this an effective sink. (I know that's not exactly what you meant).

I would say, just plan fun ways to sink items and keep the economy from inflating.

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FruitLord wrote:

Actually, the best way to eliminate large quantities of high-end items is to release new content.

That's not actually "eliminating gear," adding new content only refocuses the economy on the new gear. The old gear will already be inflated. That will still be a problem. Then over time, the new gear will begin to inflate.

Edit:

Also, I know you guys are pretty hard-lined against Bind on Equip items... but let me ask you... is it not an interesting choice to make for a player to decide between having wealth or having power?

By power I mean character-power, your character getting tougher and killing enemies. Or wealth, and the ability to purchase other items.

If the player uses the item, it binds to their account, thus they will have power. If the player sells the item they will have wealth.

That's how I see that mechanic.

Is it less fun? Well, I would say it's much more interesting.

Enough with this nonsense. Even in the real world there is free market and there's a good reason for it.

Ways to remove high-end items from the game...

Why?

There will be so many...

There will be so many players either. There will be new content. There is a rendomized complex item system. There will be players who leave the game. There will be crafting failures.

Also, people will play this game like a madman to collect those items and they will have to remove some of them because of the game's general economy? Are you kidding me?

I can't believe there are people discussing this nonsense.

BTW bind on equip or pickup don't remove high-end items from the game. In fact they exactly do the opposite.

Edit: It also makes me laugh, you're criticising Chris' all ideas and showing which of them is on the right direction and which of them is on the wrong direction. Thanks.

I hope that I'm giving constructive feedback...

At least that's how I hope it's viewed. I have nothing but respect for what Chris does. He makes a valiant effort to manage this community and give responses to people and potential players.

I'm not criticizing Chris, I'm simply putting forth my thoughts on the arguments being made.

Permaximum If you don't believe this is a worth while topic, then that's fine. If you believe this is a non-issue then that's fine also. I'm not arguing with your opinion though.

I believe item inflation could be a problem, and that's all.