Gold Sink Suggestion

[Vogar Eol]

I propose that being able to "level up" should cost more than XP. It should have a gold sink built in. This would quickly add real value to gold, and help represent the living expenses (food, lodgings) of a character as they develop.

I feel a reasonable and fair way to do this would be to institute a cost equivalent to (character level X 1000). So a level 1 (non-ECL) would cost only 1,000gp to level up to level 2 when they earn enough experience points. We already give that much gold to level one characters, so the first level up is largely free.

Sure, it gets expensive quickly at higher levels or for Non-ECL characters, but no gold sink is perfect. Besides, a level 20 character should have been able to gather 200,000gp as they leveled, and 500,000gp total is nothing by level 30, considering all the chests looted.

Plus this suggestion has the advantage of making +1 and +2 items valuable again. Being cheap on gear would mean quicker levels.

This would probably best be paired with gold loss on respawning from death. I propose a percentage of gold equal to character level should be removed. So a level 1 would lose only 1% of their wallet. Meanwhile a level 30 would lose 30% of theirs.

Boom! Economy fixed

[CleverUsername123]

(deleted)

[artemitavik]

Believe it or not, not everyone at level 30 carries millions of gold around all the time.

When I was leveling, I was lucky to have 50,000 while in the mid-20's, despite all the chests I looted. It's taken me literally 2 years of grinding to get the high-end equipment I've got.

If I had to pay for levels, there'd have been no chance. Especially for those people who have RCRed.

[Vogar Eol]

Is there anyone else poor out there who thinks this idea is bad? We could always adjust the amounts a little to improve the concept.

[adobongmanok]

I WAS poor. I gotta admit, when I got my first lv 30, my total asset did not exceed more than 100k. I was lucky enough to find a dusty tome early in the game, but I didn't sell it since I didn't know what it was and it costed -4999 Gold to Sell (LOL). Otherwise, I doubt I would've been able to reach 30 at all if you imposed gold to level up. I wouldn't say it is the worst idea I've heard to gold sink at least...

[V'rass]

Could always add in a hunger, thirst, and fatigue system which requires you to spend gold to get food, drink, and rooms at the inn?

[Sapper Woody]

This idea adds to the "grinder" mentality. It pidgeonholes people into running dungeons for loot. It basically totally negates getting RP XP, and takes away options from people.

In addition to that, it actually does nothing to add value to gold. Those who have it will still have it. Those who don't still won't.

[Vogar Eol]

We could fix that by having 100% gold loss on respawn. That and setting a hard gold cap of 1mil per character.... in case someone is too careful.

[adobongmanok]

Economics...

Rate of inflation can be decreased in 2 ways:

1) Aim for the source. Lessen the gold that is being added to circulation. ie: lessen the maximum gold that the NPCs will buy those +3 gears. Usually the prices for those are 1k~1.4k. If you drastically lessen it to 200 gold, you lessen the coin added to circulation. Less money in circulation, less inflation.

2) Apply tax laws. This will reduce the gold in current circulation.

Honestly, as long as there's infinite amount of gold added to circulation and the sink does not infinitely lessen it. It's impossible to stop rate of inflation. Perhaps, if there is a system that wipes out the gold in circulation every certain amount of time...but it gives people within certain wealth brackets some sort of a reward...that might just work.

[Vogar Eol]

I've played places that capped the the max gold per character at very low amounts. I've even played one place that linked all characters on an account to the same databases wallet to prevent spreading gold to other characters. If millions in circulation is a problem, Nexus scripts can prune the tree on login.

[MKhael]

How very 1st edition!

Back in the day when you had enough XP to level you had to find someone to teach you....and pay for the privilege.

The previous responses cover why the mechanic disapears in later editions

[aaron22]

i would think if you want food rest thing to be something, i would not propose a debuff if you dont eat. try a small buff instead.

ex.
tier 1 food: cheap. gives 5 HPs and +1 to survival, lore nature, concentration for 2 hours
tier 2 food: less cheap. gives 5 HPs and +1 survival, lore nature, concentration for 4 hours
tier 3 food: costly. 10 HPs and +2 survival, lore nature, concentration for 2 hours
tier 4 food: more costly. 10 HPs +2 survival, lore nature, concentration for 4 hours

with variations that had differing skill bonuses.

this would be a solid avenue to take crafting when/if it comes.

this would provide economy.

economy > gold sink

[Valefort]

Alternatively we can stop making bad sugestions like the app changer charging gold, this one (the biggest flaw here is that it doesn't affect level 30 and punishes new players, though costs can be scaled appropriately) or new epic shops and let gold pile up as it's not a big problem in itself.

[metaquad4]

Consumable items are a really good idea for gold sinks. They need to be USEFUL though.

Items like potions, sold in stores at a high markup could be a good start. Maybe 2 or 3 times more than a player could produce them for.

CL 30 potions, too. They would be mighty expensive at that rate (2-3x the cost of what a player can make them at), but would be useful. Elixers as well, why not.

Perfected Acid Flasks, which players cannot produce, would be good as well.

"Mercenary" summons that you can buy would be nice as well. Maybe they last for 24 hours, or somesuch.

This kind of stuff would be for the players who don't really have gold to spend any more, or want an early leg up. It gives them a way to keep spending.

[Mance]

Well. Surprise, not all people grinding 99,9% of their playtime. Most of people here more focused on RP. Which rarely brings any money. But exactly opposite its drains money. Props and other stuff. Plus not every people making power build characters to one shot every boss in game solo. I cant solo endgame bosses. Why? Cause i'm not playing powerbuilded character and not playing 20\10 barb or 30 druid.