Star Wars: The Old Republic II: Hutts don't have feet!

[The Glyphstone]

2 Black-Green crystals, a full Containment Officer suit, and a Crimson Rakling for me. Used one crystal myself, gave the other to Xalek because it looks awesome.

[Sith_Happens]

2 Black-Green crystals, a full Containment Officer suit, and a Crimson Rakling for me. Used one crystal myself, gave the other to Xalek because it looks awesome.

Nice. I had enough DNA for either a second crystal or four customization lockboxes, so I opted for the customizations. My plan if I had gotten two crystals would have been to use one myself (or more likely on a companion) and keep the other unbound while I watch how exorbitantly high its price gets over time. Since I just ended up getting one though, I'll be keeping it.

As far as the Infected Customizations, anyone else notice that all but one of the companions who could get such a customization are romanceable? I give it a week tops until those YouTube videos start showing up.

[Squark]

2 Black Green crystals here, Pale and Crimson Rakling spread of 2 characters, Full suit of containment armor on Hessar, and partial suit of containment armor on Volner. Oh, and the containment officer title on HEssar.

[HalfTangible]

...

Nothin'.

SHUT UP!

[GungHo]

time to make my alliance side character
who has the best story on that side?

Probably the Jedi Knight overall. As Squark notes, it's very big on the "Very Special Jedi" themes, but it's definitely the story they wanted to tell the most.

The Trooper starts strong and fades. If you put their Act 1 with the Agent's Acts 2 and 3, no one would play anything else in "story mode". It's that satisfying. The problem is the Trooper's Act 2 and 3 are rather generic and the ending is a big let down.

Spoiler

Show

If you play a straight light sider, you have to let the evil general go, when doing so is clearly stupid. However, there's no real reason the evil general should really be your nemesis except for him killing Jaxo.

The Consular stats slow and builds, but it's even more "chosen one"-ish than the Knight story.

The Smuggler's good as a one off, but it doesn't fit as well into the other stories. It's basically analagous to the Bounty Hunter story... it's hard to understand why you're helping anyone out when your motivations have nothing to do with your faction beyond "these people will pay me".

[Neftren]

I didn't really like the Jedi Knight story to be honest. The entire progression was basically...

Spoiler

Show

Find superweapon! Oh look, another superweapon! Oh by the way, we need you to take care of this superweapon! Oh, you just faced down the Emperor, here's another superweapon (or ancient problem) to take care of!

I rather enjoyed the Jedi Consular Act I. Act II felt only tangentially related, but it starts to all fall together for Act III. They maybe mucked up the pacing a bit though, but so far, Consular has been pleasing.

I'm about halfway through Act I on my Trooper. It just seems really cliche and predictable right now. Smuggler is in the same boat, with a similar feel, but there are a number of awesome, well-delivered lines, and great alignment options...

[Salur]

As a Marksmanship Sniper, my reaction to the patch notes today: .

In more important news, the GTN for both factions (and the currently dead neutral GTN) will be merged (at some point "soon", maybe 1.3?) into one big neutral GTN system, which I think I'm a fan of. It makes it harder to corner the market on a particular good, but I'd rather have the increased selection and customer base.

[Sith_Happens]

In more important news, the GTN for both factions (and the currently dead neutral GTN) will be merged (at some point "soon", maybe 1.3?) into one big neutral GTN system, which I think I'm a fan of. It makes it harder to corner the market on a particular good, but I'd rather have the increased selection and customer base.

Link? Ten characters.

[Karoht]

As a Marksmanship Sniper, my reaction to the patch notes today: .

In more important news, the GTN for both factions (and the currently dead neutral GTN) will be merged (at some point "soon", maybe 1.3?) into one big neutral GTN system, which I think I'm a fan of. It makes it harder to corner the market on a particular good, but I'd rather have the increased selection and customer base.

It also means that if there is any kind of market imbalance, it takes much longer for it to correct itself. I've been on small and large markets in that other MMO, the small markets fix themselves much faster if something is out of line. The large ones take vastly longer to correct.

Yes, there are more people who can undercut, there are also more people who can snipe the undercut product and relist it at the inflated price. Larger market means more people doing so. The only people who really benefit in such an environment are the sellers. The buyers get screwed. A lot.

If this goes through, expect some inflation to occur. Trust me.

[MCerberus]

I'll be getting the pet but not the free month (level 49 now, gained two levels off the world event). Of course, it's the pet that's important anyways.

In other missing-it-by-that-much news, since I started the dailies for the world event too late into it it seems that I will be unable to complete the Containment Officer armor set.

Meanwhile, in Inquisitor Land:

Spoiler

Show

I think I might have missed the boat with Ashara. During the "Familiarity" conversation I picked the first [Flirt] line (the "You are wise for your years" one), but all the others were some combination of out-of-character for me and creeper-tastic, so I didn't pick them. Apparently though, I did have to pick one of them to actually trigger the romance plot at that point. I didn't think much of it at the time because I figured I'd get at least one more chance.

Well, four conversations later and not a single [Flirt] line in sight. And it doesn't help that non-romance Ashara gets the minimum amount of affection off of any gift type that she likes in the first place.

So basically, anyone know if I get another shot later, or have I permanently deprived myself of any and all Ashara action? She's at ~3800 affection right now in case you're wondering.

Do you have a legacy level 6+?
Because that's how those with CRIPPLING ALTITIS get the free month.

Inquisitor - Ashara

Spoiler

Show

Ashara... fills in everything with her own assumptions. She's annoying as hell, and the Inquisitor themself makes a better LS Sith potentially.

Inquisitor - Story Thoughts

Spoiler

Show

The Inquisitor drags in act two, but is otherwise a good coming of age story that loves to wallow in the ridiculousness of the setting. I mean (and spoilers here)

Spoiler

Show

Your master and mother figure spends most of the game inside of the body of a force-eating monster.

You eat ghosts and as a side-effect you have to visit a Rakkata machine that created the whatsits from Belsavis. Then you do a ton of drugs while the voices in your head tell you to burn things.

The Correllia showdown though was pretty good high drama. Drawing your saber while the two of you recite the Sith code was amazing, the last act of a desperate Darth that realized too late his views hold back the empire.

It has a lot of character if you don't play straight-dark in which case: I SMOLDER IN GENERIC RAGE! THE SITH SHALL BE SUPREME! BRING ME A PUPPY TO STRANGLE ARGLBARGL!

[Blackdrop]

You're joining Jackal on the Downer List, Karoht.

Hurray! Helmets will Unify with the rest of your equipment now!

[Karoht]

You're joining Jackal on the Downer List, Karoht.

Hurray! Helmets will Unify with the rest of your equipment now!

I'm not a Debbie Downer I'm a Realistic Rick. Worlds of difference. For example, Realistic Rick speaks from experience, Debbie Downer just assumes that everything will go poorly.

[Calemyr]

I'm not a Debbie Downer I'm a Realistic Rick. Worlds of difference. For example, Realistic Rick speaks from experience, Debbie Downer just assumes that everything will go poorly.

"I don't think we're screwed. I know it."

[MCerberus]

It also means that if there is any kind of market imbalance, it takes much longer for it to correct itself. I've been on small and large markets in that other MMO, the small markets fix themselves much faster if something is out of line. The large ones take vastly longer to correct.

Yes, there are more people who can undercut, there are also more people who can snipe the undercut product and relist it at the inflated price. Larger market means more people doing so. The only people who really benefit in such an environment are the sellers. The buyers get screwed. A lot.

If this goes through, expect some inflation to occur. Trust me.

Yah, I went into a whole thing about the law of sticky prices and general economic theory with someone who was yelling at me about undercutting by 10%. Big systems are easy to game, especially with MMO style markets. You can see this every time your auction is undercut by one cred! Increase in supply with no decrease in price! LOVELY.

At least ToR doesn't have an Auctioneer style add-on. Man that thing was terribly easy to abuse to drive up prices.

[Valaqil]

As a Marksmanship Sniper, my reaction to the patch notes today: .

As someone who has just started one, any tips?

I know there will be problems associated with it, but I'll be happy to see cross-faction trading. It will be nice to sell to a larger audience. It seems like one faction sells better than the other at times. And I agree that it's at least not as bad as the Auctioneer add-on for WoW. That thing was both great to use and horrible to have around.

[Karoht]

At least ToR doesn't have an Auctioneer style add-on. Man that thing was terribly easy to abuse to drive up prices.

Pffft. Auctioneer was for lazy people. I cornered the market on enchanting mats in WoW inside of a week, no auction house addons. All it took was a few well timed undercuts, followed by buying all the undercut merch that others put up to compete with me, and relisting it all at 50% markup. And I'm not that great at messing with the market to produce the results I want, but I'm still making crazy money. Seriously, on my server, I'm the guy selling about 75% of the enchanting materials (by volume, not by individual listings), and we're one of the top 20 servers for population size and progression. Granted, this is one material type, but if I can do it without addons, others can do better, market size is irrelivant, unless the search engine is utterly terrible, which it isn't.

[NEO|Phyte]

You're joining Jackal on the Downer List, Karoht.

Hurray! Helmets will Unify with the rest of your equipment now!

Yeah, unifying helmets isn't all it's cracked up to be.

Spoiler

Show

[MCerberus]

Pffft. Auctioneer was for lazy people. I cornered the market on enchanting mats in WoW inside of a week, no auction house addons. All it took was a few well timed undercuts, followed by buying all the undercut merch that others put up to compete with me, and relisting it all at 50% markup. And I'm not that great at messing with the market to produce the results I want, but I'm still making crazy money. Seriously, on my server, I'm the guy selling about 75% of the enchanting materials (by volume, not by individual listings), and we're one of the top 20 servers for population size and progression. Granted, this is one material type, but if I can do it without addons, others can do better, market size is irrelivant, unless the search engine is utterly terrible, which it isn't.

All I claimed was it takes a tool out from the jerk toolbox. For those of you not aware, Auctioneer is a wow addon that tracks prices. Unfortunately, it did not filter out outlying listings. So someone can just put a piece of silk out there for 500000g and it'll keep getting scanned and keep driving up the average. And sellers as per the law of sticky prices just refused to list anything lower than what auctioneer told them to.

[Neftren]

Nice. I had enough DNA for either a second crystal or four customization lockboxes, so I opted for the customizations. My plan if I had gotten two crystals would have been to use one myself (or more likely on a companion) and keep the other unbound while I watch how exorbitantly high its price gets over time. Since I just ended up getting one though, I'll be keeping it.

As far as the Infected Customizations, anyone else notice that all but one of the companions who could get such a customization are romanceable? I give it a week tops until those YouTube videos start showing up.

Yeah, I ended up with Vector and Andronikos appearances. I only have a Shadow and a Sentinel so far.... yippee?

On the bright side, I picked up a +41 Black-Green Crystal for myself, and have two more of those in the bank, and two more +41 Expertise crystals as well.





What are everyone's thoughts about the current marauder/sentinel rage going around?

[Salur]

Link?

It's on a podcast, at the -25:40 mark or so (at the time of the message above I hadn't actually listened to the audio myself, hence the lack of detail. Actually, I still haven't, other than to locate when he says it).

It also means that if there is any kind of market imbalance, it takes much longer for it to correct itself. I've been on small and large markets in that other MMO, the small markets fix themselves much faster if something is out of line. The large ones take vastly longer to correct.

I haven't really played other MMOs extensively, so why would this be? Is it because most people tend to list items for what they see as the going rate, so there are fewer times on large markets when the market is empty (for that good) and the price can reset to "normal" levels? Or is there some reason I'm not seeing that makes it easier to manipulate a larger market even ignoring that factor (if it exists)?

As someone who has just started one, any tips?

What level are you/what do you want to know? I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have.

[Sith_Happens]

I haven't really played other MMOs extensively, so why would this be? Is it because most people tend to list items for what they see as the going rate, so there are fewer times on large markets when the market is empty (for that good) and the price can reset to "normal" levels? Or is there some reason I'm not seeing that makes it easier to manipulate a larger market even ignoring that factor (if it exists)?

Basically, not only will most people list their stuff for whatever the "going rate" is, but if someone tries to undercut that price then you can just immediately buy that item and relist it at the current market price for a tidy profit. Ergo, lower-priced items are both too rare and don't stick around long enough to actually affect anything.

[MCerberus]

What are everyone's thoughts about the current marauder/sentinel rage going around?

Marauders no longer merely tickle and healing sorcs are no longer deathless gods of healing. PvP makes me sad.

Except on my Vanguard. PvP tank is so troll-worthy *taunt*

[Karoht]

I haven't really played other MMOs extensively, so why would this be? Is it because most people tend to list items for what they see as the going rate, so there are fewer times on large markets when the market is empty (for that good) and the price can reset to "normal" levels? Or is there some reason I'm not seeing that makes it easier to manipulate a larger market even ignoring that factor (if it exists)?

A smaller market is easier to correct. Buy everything out, relist, start fresh. A large market is much harder because it takes more capital/resources to market correct. The larger the market, the more capital/resources it will take to correct it.


IE-Widgets
Lets say Widgets are selling at 2x the normal price (100). The easy way to correct this is list a large number of widgets at a lower price. The more expensive Widgets don't sell, the seller takes the hint, all is well. However, this can backfire.
If I sell my widgets at a lower price (50), the guy who listed them at the higher price can buy my widgets on the cheap, and sell them for more (100). In fact, it's in his interest to do so, because it legitimizes his higher price. Undercutting him essentially does nothing but give him free money, so long as demand exists enough that he can sell them.
In a small market, it isn't difficult to bury him in so many more cheap widgets that it's not worth his time or money to buy them all. Or you can buy them all up. In a larger market, you might list them cheap (50), a third party might buy them and relist them at a markup but still cheaper than the expensive guy(99.99). The price stays artificially higher for longer as a result. Hence the difficulty in correcting the market. The price remains inflated for longer, and other goods and services do start to trend upwards shortly afterwards as a result.

IE-In WoW, when Jewelcrafting spikes upward, enchanting stuff spikes upwards. If Jewelcrafting prices inflate, enchanting stuff will usually inflate with it. This is fine except that everything related to the two start to inflate as well. Ore and raw gems for the jewelcrafter goes up, all the enchanting materials go up. Raw material costs are higher, so value added services (cutting the gems, creating the enchantment) goes up. And so forth.


More providers of goods or services doesn't necessarily mean prices go down either. If I know I can sell my goods at higher than average price and demand ensures that people will buy, I have no reason to undercut. In fact, I have every reason to buy out anyone who does undercut, in order to secure the high price and to increase my stock to sell.

Add in the typical internet jerkwads taking advantage of the stereotyped nice people in games, and the effects increase with larger and larger sample size. To make it worse, just about every guide on how to play the auction house in game XYZ basically says the same thing.


This is also why it is highly beneficial to have enough alts to cover all the professions, so that you can always provide for yourself, no matter what happens to the market. It's like sustainability but for gaming.

[Sith_Happens]

Do you have a legacy level 6+?
Because that's how those with CRIPPLING ALTITIS get the free month.

Nope, my level 49 (only about 60k XP from 50 at this point though) sorcerer is my one and only character. And yes, I've been playing since the first day of early access. About twice a week on average for extended periods of time, I might add, not counting winter break when I was hardly ever not playing. I just progress through RPGs, really, really, reeeeaaaaaalllly slowly for some undiscernable reason (for reference, I currently have ~120 hours logged on Dragon Age: Origins while only being about two-thirds of the way through it).

Inquisitor - Ashara

Spoiler

Show

Ashara... fills in everything with her own assumptions. She's annoying as hell, and the Inquisitor themself makes a better LS Sith potentially.

Spoiler

Show

You know, I was expecting to find her annoying, but so far I'm actually quite interested/amused by her character arc. She talks like a Jedi, but the responses she gains approval for during her conversations tell another story. Sure, she's far from evil in any sense of the word, but at least for now she's becoming more and more generally Sith-like by the day.

What are everyone's thoughts about the current marauder/sentinel rage going around?

As a hybrid sorcerer, they're no more or less threatening or hard to deal with for me than they've been since launch. Sure, 1v1-ing them is a long, uphill slog requiring expert use of all my CC, or alternatively a hopeless fight if they catch me without my Static Barrier up (which is often), but they go down just like any other non-tank if I have even one teammate helping me.

Then again, I'm still in the 10-49 bracket for now, so things might be different once every marauder/sentinel I'm up against is guaranteed to have all of those fancy high-level cooldowns.

[MCerberus]

Nope, my level 49 (only about 60k XP from 50 at this point though) sorcerer is my one and only character. And yes, I've been playing since the first day of early access. About twice a week on average for extended periods of time, I might add, not counting winter break when I was hardly ever not playing. I just progress through RPGs, really, really, reeeeaaaaaalllly slowly for some undiscernable reason (for reference, I currently have ~120 hours logged on Dragon Age: Origins while only being about two-thirds of the way through it).

You get your legacy after act 1, what level is it at? You might be surprised.

[MCerberus]

-snip-

Market corrections take time, and the worst thing you can do is dangle free profits in front of someone. Don't make statements, you see a price is high, undercut it by 10%

Sell widget for 90
Previous seller can only make a 1 profit after the 10% auction cut, and it has associated risk from it not selling.

Someone else comes by and goes 'oh still too high, going to sell for 80'. If the lower price ones sell AND the higher price ones do, then you were wrong to begin with. Demand whether because of when they were put on or a general increase was there at the higher price. Otherwise the price will continue adjusting down. Even then higher-priced widget seller is there to deal with demand spikes, with risk eating away at his profit.


Where it breaks down is the sorting mechanism in MMO auction houses. Say Widget(e) is currently priced at 13,000. Then some wad posts at 12,999 just to gain a higher listing. Same price, really, just some wad decides to give the first lister the middle finger. Getting to ToR, this scenario is why there needs to be the potential for bid prices.

[Karoht]

Market corrections take time, and the worst thing you can do is dangle free profits in front of someone. Don't make statements, you see a price is high, undercut it by 10%

Speaking from experience in several games now, doesn't always work that way. Yes, market corrections take time. The larger the market the more time/capital/resources it will take.

[Salur]

Basically, not only will most people list their stuff for whatever the "going rate" is, but if someone tries to undercut that price then you can just immediately buy that item and relist it at the current market price for a tidy profit. Ergo, lower-priced items are both too rare and don't stick around long enough to actually affect anything.

Yes, but wouldn't that be just as large a problem with smaller markets? Arguably moreso, since, as Karoht mentions, it's easier to buy out and re-list everything when the selection is more limited?

A smaller market is easier to correct. Buy everything out, relist, start fresh. A large market is much harder because it takes more capital/resources to market correct. The larger the market, the more capital/resources it will take to correct it.


IE-Widgets
Lets say Widgets are selling at 2x the normal price (100). The easy way to correct this is list a large number of widgets at a lower price. The more expensive Widgets don't sell, the seller takes the hint, all is well. However, this can backfire.
If I sell my widgets at a lower price (50), the guy who listed them at the higher price can buy my widgets on the cheap, and sell them for more (100). In fact, it's in his interest to do so, because it legitimizes his higher price. Undercutting him essentially does nothing but give him free money, so long as demand exists enough that he can sell them.
In a small market, it isn't difficult to bury him in so many more cheap widgets that it's not worth his time or money to buy them all. Or you can buy them all up. In a larger market, you might list them cheap (50), a third party might buy them and relist them at a markup but still cheaper than the expensive guy(99.99). The price stays artificially higher for longer as a result. Hence the difficulty in correcting the market. The price remains inflated for longer, and other goods and services do start to trend upwards shortly afterwards as a result.

This is also why it is highly beneficial to have enough alts to cover all the professions, so that you can always provide for yourself, no matter what happens to the market. It's like sustainability but for gaming.

I totally agree on the alts thing, but let me think through this.

I guess my issue is this: If the price is more than the true value of the item, then people probably shouldn't buy it, if they have alternative means of access. For example, I've seen scavenging missions on my server where, if you calculate the yield, you pay ~600 credits per return. Or I could send my companions out on a scavenging mission, and pay ~200 credits per return, although I get the results much more slowly. It's up to me to judge whether or not that change is worth it. This is why, as you mentioned above, it's good to be able to bypass the market.

On the other hand, the times when you can't bypass the market are really the problem area. But even then, you have the option to just walk away. I guess, putting it simplistically: If a widget will provide you with roughly 50 credits worth of value, and it's available for 50 credits, people will buy it. If it's only available for 500, fewer people will buy.

If P(x) = the probability that a widget will be purchased at price = x, A is the original price, and B is the re-listed price, then a re-listing is only profitable when P(B)*B > A. Now, no one seeking short term profit will buy something and re-list at a lower price, so in that sense it can only lead to inflation, which does hurt the buyers (If 10 widgets sell at 100 credits, it's the same to the seller as if 20 sell at 50, but each individual buyer is hurt).

I think I agree with your logic, but the key lies on that phrase "if the demand exists". P(x)*x is likely to have a global maximum, and if x rises above that maximum, then the sellers should, in theory, start losing money. If the demand is held (more or less) constant, a higher price is better for the seller and worse for the buyer (obviously). Well, if the demand exists for 100 credits to be a sustainable price...why isn't that the normal price? It's worse for the buyer, sure, but if the price gets high enough that it's no longer worth it to buy something, and you'd gain more usefulness if those credits were spent elsewhere, then you have the option to spend those credits elsewhere.

This is all talking more or less in theory, on my end. I don't think that in practice there's enough clarity between cost of production and final price and/or benefit added vs. total cost for people to make the correct choice all the time. I just don't think that that issue can be fixed, no matter what they do with the GTN.

I guess reason why I'm in favor of the larger GTN (with the caveat that I don't have the MMO experience you do, Karoht, and I could easily be wrong) is that the major issue I have with the GTN isn't when the prices are too high; it's when what I'm looking for isn't available at all. And I think having a larger market can only be helpful in that regard.

Also note that I have never taken any sort of class in economics and there's a distinct possibility that I have no idea what I'm talking about.

I really do think an academic examination of MMO economies would be fascinating to read, though. Especially given how the developers could change the world inputs and supply to an extant not possible in the real world.

But I'm getting off topic...

[Squark]

So, we now have a guild bank on Rubaat Crystal. Just setting out a few ground rules here.


1) At present, everyone has pretty much full access to the bank. I would really like to keep it that way. So don't abuse it. I can see what you deposit and withdraw, for the record. Please, please don't make me actually restrict usage of the bank.
2) To minimize the chances of the bank becoming the "Vault of Misfit materials*," please do not create a stack of more than 99 of an object. If you really want to contribute those items to the bank, please put them up on the GTN and put your profit from them into the repair funds. The only exception to this is a hypothetical surplus of High grade medpacs and stims. Those we can stockpile. But I don't really see that happening, either,
3) Crafting materials should be taken as you need them, whether for crafting orange [augmented] gear for yourself or a guildmate, or just leveling up a skill. However, please use your own materials for profiteering.
4) I would prefer the bank not be used to transfer items from one person to another. Trade the item or mail it to the person instead, please.
5) Repair funds: I'm not going to set a hard and fast rule on when you can and can't use these. You're always welcome to use them during guild events, of course, and it's fine to use them for the occasional death while leveling. But the line should probably be drawn at deaths incurred while doing a daily quest or the like, particularly if said death was strategy related. But I probably won't know exactly why you died. This whole thing is on the honor system. Please respect that.




*I like to amuse myself with titles.

[Karoht]

Yes, but wouldn't that be just as large a problem with smaller markets? Arguably moreso, since, as Karoht mentions, it's easier to buy out and re-list everything when the selection is more limited?

When the server size is smaller, yes. However, there is also less demand at play as well. Smaller servers tend to sell things very slowly, and at lower prices overall because of this trending.

On the other hand, the times when you can't bypass the market are really the problem area. But even then, you have the option to just walk away. I guess, putting it simplistically: If a widget will provide you with roughly 50 credits worth of value, and it's available for 50 credits, people will buy it. If it's only available for 500, fewer people will buy.

I never thought for a moment that a quick skill up would be worth paying the cost for a boatload of of materials that I didn't want to farm myself. Then I leveled blacksmithing in WoW.
The "**** it factor" as I like to call it tends to take demand for an object and make it harder to track in terms of credit value, and far more spikey and random.
It's less likely to occur in this specific instance, because you can just send your crew off to handle things while you do something more fun, meaning people are more patient and laid back about these sort of things.
Then you have the person who wants to change their professions, right the heck now, because the latest patch notes made X nerfed or Y buffed or both.

...but each individual buyer is hurt.

I'm quote sniping a bit here. But I'm using this because it reminded me of something. Some people 'corner' the auction house systems and consider it an act of trolling. Hurting the buyer as well as other sellers is sometimes someone's direct intent. Larger markets tend to be more susceptable to such issues. More harm to go around. More buyers to harm. More sellers to harm. One good crash of a given commodity can hurt WAY more players in a larger market than a small one, but this is also entirely subject to trending and activities of buyers and sellers.

I think I agree with your logic, but the key lies on that phrase "if the demand exists".

You would be utterly amazed at what can and often does drive demand.

Well, if the demand exists for 100 credits to be a sustainable price...why isn't that the normal price?

Same reason milk doesn't cost $20 bucks at the store. People won't pay it. In a game world however, the disconnect between the in-game currency and the value of in-game goods is entirely different. We're talking about a world where money literally comes from no where. If that happened in the real world, you would see $100 milk.

I guess reason why I'm in favor of the larger GTN (with the caveat that I don't have the MMO experience you do, Karoht, and I could easily be wrong) is that the major issue I have with the GTN isn't when the prices are too high; it's when what I'm looking for isn't available at all. And I think having a larger market can only be helpful in that regard.

The same arguement was made for globalization, but to discuss that further would risk a thread lock.

Also note that I have never taken any sort of class in economics and there's a distinct possibility that I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Actually, you held you're own pretty good there. I will humbly admit that I'm only drawing on experience and making some extrapolations based entirely on my limited sample size. Your Mileage May Vary and all that jazz. It's also entirely likely that Bioware has already crunched some numbers and done some maths, and may even some ideas on how to handle it if the situation goes awry.

I really do think an academic examination of MMO economies would be fascinating to read, though. Especially given how the developers could change the world inputs and supply to an extant not possible in the real world.

Someone did this back in the everquest days, but it was never given any serious consideration. I remember it being a good read though. There was an article about the study in Wired magazine if memory serves me correctly.