Why I Feel Health Potion Prices Should Scale Harder.

TL;DR: By increasing potion cost it is viable to reduce the inflation that will inevitably plague wynncraft due to the theoretical unlimited amount of currency in the system. It would function as a minor current relief that is very viable and easy to implement.

So, before y'all get upset at me for wanting to burn through your LE faster at endgame I want you to watch a thing.



For those of you too lazy to watch the video above, it discusses the difficulties of managing an effective economy and controlling inflation in an MMO through various means. These means are various systems that take money out of the economy. An example from wynncraft is item identifies and potion purchases. Now, inflation hasn't currently been much of a problem but before the level cap was increased, I feel as though wynncraft was in its worst economic state. When I begun playing, the standard endgame items were being sold for roughly half the cost they sold right before the update. We need a more effective way to pour currency out of the wynncraft economy through various means. Currently, the only huge ways to pour currency out of the economy is through guilds, item identifiers, and statistical boosting potions. The only required purchase of any of these things is the identification of items which honestly isn't that expensive considering the increased income with the current system we have in place. Therefore, I believe creating a near required purchase that has the capability to at least hinder the inflation mildly will be very effective. With the insane nerfs to hp regeneration and life steal, potions are the most purchased items in the game that can act as money sinks in the current game. Now, I don't propose making the prices ludicrous such as those for high end stat potions, but perhaps making the potion cost per level function in an exponential curve would be a good solution. This would cause the new players to be able to purchase potions easily and increase play duration by enabling them to allocate less funds to their small budget to potions. Me and other endgame players would have larger costs, thus pumping more of our currency out of the economy and helping to balance the economy slightly and slow the inflation that will inevitably happen with wynncraft due to the nature of it being an MMO.

Some Questions I Expect to be Asked

• How much to you think high end hp pots should cost?

So, level 100 hp potions cost 62 emeralds. That's astonishingly low for how much you can earn by solely selling useless gear to item buyers. Therefore, at endgame a multiplier of 2-3 should be applied in my mind. Now, keep in mind, if the costs become an exponential curve, Then early game pots would be even cheaper than they are, which would allow new players to survive longer and have a better new experience. Pots at roughly level 50 would be equal to what they are now and from their the prices would deviate upwards or downwards depending on where they fall on the curve level wise.
I now have an equation for the potion cost that I got through running a regression function based with what I believe potion prices should be to curve the rampant inflation.

Spoiler: The Huge Function

Cost in Emeralds=1.06774346*e^(0.05486923*Level)

Spoiler: Potion Costs on this System (Plz dont kill me)

Level 50=16Emeralds
Level 60=32 Emeralds
Level 70=50 Emeralds
Level75=1EB
Level 80=1.2Eb
Level 85=1.8Eb
level 90=2.3EB
level 95=3 EB
Level 100= 4EB
Yes, the level 100 cost is pretty outlandish but it could be compensated by enabling additional charges. It could be in its current state but with an additional charge.

• Why not create a money sink elsewhere besides the potion cost?

Well, the potion cost was what immediately came to my mind as a solution to this problem. I wanted to create this thread since I noticed the problem but that was before potions became vital, so I had no solution. Now, I have realized that this is a viable way to dampen the inflation in the wynncraft economy. I would have recommended a death based inflation control system (see the video above).

Other Questions I've Been Asked

Spoiler: My Response

Then this won't impact you. Obviously this isn't a perfect solution and even said it was just a temporary delay on the inevitable. In order to create a system that would truly provide a control on the economy it would have to be a required purchase, such as a death penalty which I don't feel suits wynncraft. This will be a problem that has to be adressed at some point though.

Other Random Points That I Responded to People With

• The real issue in an MMO is that unlike in reality, currency circulating from person to person isn't necessarily the end goal. You want to balance out the currency among the players in a way that keeps the total amount at a certain point so the currency per person is lower thus increasing the buying power of a single emerald. Therefore, the true goal of the economy and in game systems should be to attempt to filter out a certain amount of currency per person.
• Another potential concept would be to add a small tax to trades. I thought of this in the shoutbox with some other people but if a small cost was added to trades where the person giving items had to pay a tax equal to the average level of gear being given then that would be another potential money sink.

Sorry for the long read. If I think of anything else or see any good ideas elsewhere I will throw 'em up here.

 

Question you weren't expecting to be asked:

What if I don't even use potions anymore? Archer lvl 93.

 

Finally, I was hoping I wasn't the only one that thought this was an issue!

 

Then this won't impact you. Obviously this isn't a perfect solution and even said it was just a temporary delay on the inevitable. In order to create a system that would truly provide a control on the economy it would have to be a required purchase, such as a death penalty which I don't feel suits wynncraft. This will be a problem that has to be adressed at some point though.

 

Well, though this would help, a lot of people travel in teams, with guilds, parties, and groups of friends, and these all usually consist of a person that ends up being the mage that heals everyone. Due to most mages having a intel-based build that allows them to use heal very many times before the player needs to regen their mana, which would render this solution basically useless to that entire group. I personally pay people to stalk me along and give me heal whenever I ask when I have to do hard quests. It's cheaper than potions in the long run, and it keeps the money flowing from person to person. Though I do see how this could help, I think that this might need to be expanded upon a slight bit more before it can come close to affecting the majority of players.

 

The real issue in an MMO is that unlike in reality, currency circulating from person to person isn't necessarily the end goal. You want to balance out the currency among the players in a way that keeps the total amount at a certain point so the currency per person is lower thus increasing the buying power of a single emerald. Therefore, the true goal of the economy and in game systems should be to attempt to filter out a certain amount of currency per person.

 

True, but, akin to a real economical system, you can always do what I do to keep one player from having a lot of money, or in this case, emeralds..
You simply trick them into thinking that stalking you and healing you whenever is only worth 10 EB.
c:

 

Some people who need health potions at end game levels may not have that money.

 

Pot lvl 90 = 55 emeralds :/
You are right

 

If this is implemented it wouldn't be the best balance for players since Mage would have more money than others.

 

Speaking as somebody who solos frequently with a mage as their main, I assure you, we burn through plenty of mana potions during boss fights and the like. When you take into account that we barely do any damage (compared to our counterparts) without using spells (Meteor, Ice Snake, Teleport), mana gets burned pretty quickly. Every heal you make is a meteor that you didn't, so to speak.

In short, mana potions are health potions to mages.

 

Trust me, I know what you mean, mage is my secondary BUT all you have to do to counter this is go for a water mage with mana regen.

 

Could the mana cost of a heal be slightly increased to compensate for this, then?

 

If you have high intel it costs 2 mana

 

I'm not saying we buff the prices to insane amounts like the statistical boosting potions but at endgame potions should be 2-3 times more expensive. A 3eb potion that is level 100 isn't a massive expense with how much money can be made selling useless gear to item buyers.

 

lel i am watching their latest video

 

ty for the clarification. I agree

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I feel like wynn could use some more consumable options in general.
Maybe a variant of health and mana potions that acivates instantly and all at once instead of over a few seconds, but only has 1 use?
How about potions that are expensive but restore soul points?
Or a potion that allows you to set a waypoint anywhere that you can teleport back to ONCE later on? Like a checkpoint?
And potions that raise loot bonus?
Maybe wisdom potions that you can buy as well, but are extremely expensive!

 

On the topic of health potions being cheap, here is a snippet fromSalted's massive information sheet on how the Health Potion curve went...

"Health Potions are necessary, so their price are low and they are very easy to find with a low price. The price gets higher, but technically gets lower since as you get higher level, you make more money."

The idea is that Health Potions were never meant to be super expensive at all; anyone around the level that a potion is for can buy them easily because of this. Making them a money sink goes against this. Honestly, my only complaint is that they do not come down to a round 64 emerald cost at Lv 100, and that is just a personal little nag.

 

Not to be rude or anything but doesn't their currently super cheap state make them more of a hassle rather than a real useful consumable that should be thought about use before throwing one back? Also, the fact that level 100 pots are 62 emeralds pisses me off too.