Hey there party people, it’s me Kyle Melberg, Narrative Director for Eleventh Hour Games and I’m here to talk to you all about one of the most riveting aspects of a high fantasy, monster slaying, dungeon delving, loot hoarding video game…. THE ECONOMY!
Player economy is one of the most enjoyable aspects of this genre for many players and we want to do it justice In your hub city, a floating remnant of your old home that now rests in the darkness outside of time, other travelers like you have set up a place to trade and barter between themselves: The Bazaar! The Bazaar allows players to anonymously buy and sell items from other players using the gold they’ve found while on their adventures through time and Eterra and its various aspects will address three main concerns that have plagued the genre for years:
- Giving players the tools they need to trade effectively without having to rely on third party sites by supplying adequate search and filter tools and enforcing a standard currency in gold.
- Keeping gold meaningful by ensuring it has an important use as the standard currency while at the same time draining it from the economy and making it difficult to trade hands in unsanctioned ways.
- Deter Real Money Traders from both plaguing the community with spammers and giving players a way to buy power rather than earn it by rendering the “best” gear untradeable and designing the Bazaar to make coordinated trading difficult to accomplish.
As a buyer, you will be able to search through all of the items within the Bazaar using an extensive filtering system to narrow down your options and help you find the exact item you want. Once you’ve bid on an item, the gold you’ve bid will be removed from your inventory and if someone outbids you this gold will be returned to you. If you have the current highest bid on an item once the auction closes, congratulations! You won the item! Be wary to not get too caught up in bidding wars though, the Bazaar charges a fee on your transaction based on a percentage of the gold you’ve bid if you win, and this percentage increases as the listing’s closing time draws near.
We are designing this system very carefully to ensure that while the Bazaar can be a fantastic way to find certain items, it will never overshadow the rewards of engaging with the world yourself. In the world of Eterra certain items will be untradeable, such as particularly powerful uniques known as legendaries, gear crafted using rare and potent materials, and relics to name a few. We want playing the game to be the core focus of Last Epoch, not maximizing your trade skills, even if skillful trading can help fill holes in your build.
Fear not, friends will be able to freely gift items between each other as long as they have been friends for a reasonable amount of time and both own the full game. The definition of “reasonable amount of time” will be a function of the level of items you are attempting to trade and the length of time you have been on each other’s friend list. In addition to this, gold will not be giftable to other players.
As a final caveat, we are still in Pre-Alpha and as part of that, plans like these could very possibly change if we discover dire flaws or other issues with the system, in fact, feel free to comment below so we can hear as many thoughts on the matter as possible! We are all gamers, we want to hear what you all think!
Thank you all for reading this thrilling economics blog, for now though, adios Travelers!