The EconomyFollow

LOL crystal prices are pathetic. REAL pathetic. Hunting elementals used to be worth it but not anymore.

The economy is actually in pretty good shape right about now. The only problem is that it just won't flatline...

It needs to settle into a niche where there is either slight inflation or slight deflation so that when people buy something they don't have to fear losing gil if they ever have to sell it.

Methods of acquiring gil are still there... you just have to go do it. Farm items used by crafters to make consumable items, get some friends to do Prime Avatar battles (10k a pop), or get out there and do some Assaults and use the points to buy items to put on the AH. On average, every 1k Assault points equates to 10k "worth" of sellable items.

And then of course there are BC/KS seals that can be used on battlefield monsters. Not as lucrative as they once were, but you can still easily make gil by using these.

The trend by SE is clearly to decrease the value & utility of gil in the game... there are many instances of this in the ToAU expansion (Runic Portal warps, W. Turban, Assault, Salvage, etc.) and you can expect more of the same in WotG.

The economy is definitely in reasonable shape right now. Actually the fact that goods are so low is proof that fewer and fewer people are resorting to gilbuying. The gilbuyers are the ones who spend freely at highly inflated prices; after all, to them the gil is free and doesn't require effort. If making 1M takes you a month, you're going to be a lot more careful how and why you spend it than if you spent $70 on IGE.

I agree, it does need to steady out. It's showing signs of doing that though. This economy is actually far easier for an up-and-coming farmer than it was a year or two ago. If you compare peak prices on most of the "in demand" items like Haubergeon or Scorpion Harness, it's actually easier to farm for them now than it was a year or two ago. You also have an added benefit -- prices are so low, a lot of older players just feel lazy and unmotivated about farming, so there's not as much competition. I don't routinely see half a dozen people camping Spipi all that often anymore.

Only two more points -- the first is that it *should be* hard to earn good items starting out. Nobody can afford all that fancy +1/+2 equipment on their first job if they're earning their gil honestly unless they're putting weeks into farming. It's the way the system is designed and it makes sense. This is compounded by the fact that most people level a ton of jobs early on. Lack of a decision on what job to level really hurts a lot of players financially. And don't even get me started on people who make the decision to level NIN or RNG as their first main; you might love them but you'd have to be insane to try and support them well without a lot of cash.

Second being, I am a high level player (well, by some standards - I am 75 BLM), yet I have absolutely no problems earning a living. That's without a ton of farming, without more than a sporadic, once every month or two KSNM, and without a HNM shell to speak of. All it takes now is being careful and putting a little thought into your spending.

Bottom line -- look at all your options, be willing to put the work in, and make sure you don't over-extend yourself. Some patience and the normal amount of luck and you'll do just fine =)