macskull

You answered your own question right there, kiddo.

Let's try a supply and demand exercise, and assume for our purposes that purple drops aren't weighted (as we've never been told whether they are).

100 Fortunata Hypnosis recipes drop. 100 Apocalypse recipes drop. How many characters can slot that Fortunata Hypnosis recipe? Only characters with sleeps in their powersets - i.e. some Controllers and Dominators and only a few others. How many characters can slot that Apocalypse recipe? Every character with ranged attacks in their powersets - that's 10 of the 14 ATs right there, ignoring that the other 4 ATs get access to ranged attacks via epic/patron pools and some of them even have ranged attacks in their powersets (SS, Spines, Kinetic Melee). Basically, by level 50, almost every character has a power that can slot that Apocalypse recipe. Therefore there are a lot more people competing over the same supply so prices go up and fewer items sit on the market. Meanwhile, only a few people can use that Fortunata Hypnosis recipe, so there's an excess of supply and prices stay low while items sit on the market for longer periods of time.

Economics 101 - it really is that simple.

It's not. The simplest solution is to up the drop rates, but the devs have already said they won't do that.

Yes.

Hm. There's a difference between being a dev fanboy (most people that post constructively on these forums are not, actually) and accepting something the way it is, regardless of whether you agree with it. I may not like the drop rates the way they are, but I understand why the drop rates are like they are.

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If you don't want everyone to have it, don't put it into the game.

Monopoly is not an MMO. Monopoly doesn't require anything special, any carrots on a stick, any gimmicks, because every player starts off on exactly the same footing and it's really a matter of luck as to where you land and can develop properties. Certain items are hard to find or expensive because they are intended to be rare. The game is largely balanced around SOd characters - if everyone had purpled-out high-end builds, that balance would be thrown out of whack, and the game would need an extensive rebalancing which would almost certainly involve huge buffs to NPCs and harsh global nerfs (a la ED and the GDN). Somehow, I don't think sweeping global nerfs are your idea of fun, so I'll let you take from that what you will. Certain items will remain rare or expensive because they give the more hardcore players something to work for, and just like in real life, if you want something good you need to be prepared to work for it (or win the lottery, which is the equivalent of getting, say, one of the purples you needed as a drop).

What's funny is that the alignment merit system (and to a lesser extent the reward merit system introduced in I13) were introduced partially to help people like you (the "IT'S NOT FAIR! I SHOULD HAVE EVERYTHING WITHOUT WORKING FOR IT!" people) obtain the items you wanted simply by playing the game. Obviously that's not good enough for you, and I'm not really sure what to tell you at that point.

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If farming is a problem then address farming.

I don't think the developers have ever regarded farming as a problem, except in specific cases (usually specific tasks or NPC groups). Exploiting, on the other hand, is a different matter, but the two are not generally related. The drop rates aren't limited because of farmers, they're limited in order to keep rare items rare. Besides, "casual players" aren't worried about building their characters with PvP IOs and purples. The minute you start working at something like that, you're no longer casual and you need to start putting in the time to obtain the items you want (note I said "want" there, not "need," as the only thing you need in this game is an SOd build).

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Enough with the gimmicks and time sinks

Time sinks and gimmicks are an integral part of any MMO, because otherwise players will blow through the game quickly, get bored, and move on, meaning the money spent developing that content isn't getting recuperated. The lack of level 50 content in this game is an issue that's been acknowledged and is being worked on for the new few updates, so that's a moot point now. Regarding inclusivity: this MMO is very casual-friendly. None of the gear is required to run anything. What's even better is that everyone has exactly the same opportunity to get the stuff they want, provided they're able to dedicate the time to do so, whether that be farming for hours a day or sitting at the market for 5-10 minutes each play session. The tools are there. If you don't want to use them, don't complain. It's like whining that the screw in the computer you're putting together won't tighten all the way when you're trying to use your fingers and ignoring the screwdriver sitting right next to you on the table.

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If it taking someone YEARS of task forces and regular gameplay to slot one purple IO set, then your ratio blows.

Random number generator. Random. Are you getting it yet? 1 per 1500 kills does not mean you are guaranteed one per 1500 kills, it just means that's an average rate. Your problem is you're trying to slot entirely off of drops, which is an incredibly stupid thing to do for rare items. You can obtain the inf to buy an entire set (hell, set an entire character out) in a few weeks if you know what you're doing and aren't lazy. But hey, if you're lazy, you've got no right to complain. "But I don't have time!" you say. Bull - 5-10 minutes at the market is all you need. The guides are there, use them.

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PVP IO's does not do PVP any favors.

PvP IOs are already available to everyone. There's the market, for starters, there's the alignment merit stores, and there's actual PvP. Your problem here is with the I13 PvP rules, which shifted the PvP balance from skill to build.

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And lower the cap at the market.

The price cap is actually 2 billion. However, suggesting lowering price caps is laughable because it means you don't understand basic economics and have no right to be talking about what's wrong with this game's market and economy. For example, did you know that price caps will actually decrease supply and make items harder to find and more expensive, because people will sell them off-market for X inf instead of being capped at Y inf by selling on the market? Take a look at the +3% defense PvP IO. It sells for 2 billion on the market, there's a 300-bid waiting list and often none for sale, but if you have 3-5 billion on hand there's almost always someone willing to sell you one off-market.

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Don't we already have enough penalties to players?

"Real casual players" won't care that they can't get PvP IOs and purples. 'Nuff said.

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If it is not fun for the people who pay for it, you are doing it wrong

See ya!

Dunno what market you're using but the prices on those IOs have been fairly steady since the market settled down after the merge and GR launch.

I won't comment on the drop rates of purples as those seem to be working as intended (about 1 for every 1500 kills was the last estimate I heard), but as far as the drop rate of PvP IOs go estimates put it at about 1 per every 60-70 rep-valid PvP kills. The problem is not with the drop rate but rather how those recipes are generated. Removing the silly rep timer from the equation would bring prices back down by increasing the amount of supply, and PvP IO prices would probably go back down to the point they were at when they were new (when the +3% def one sold on-market for 500-700 million inf, instead of selling almost exclusively off-market for 3-5 billion inf).

Phase has always been better than Hibernate, and still is despite the ability for other players to phase after you. Traditionally builds would only take Hibernate if they couldn't fit both phase and perception into the build, which will no longer be the case on almost 100% of builds come I19.

Your comment about "widows can't heal" means you look at hibernate as a heal tool rather than a phase tool, which is easily replaced by a few greens or an Emp/Therm/Pain. I can't think of a single situation where I'd rather have Hibernate over phase because 1) Hibernate is like a giant "FREE KILL HERE" sign in zone PvP, and 2) Hibernate doesn't allow you to react after you activate it meaning the spike you hit Hibernate to avoid may well kill you anyways because the hit rolls were already made.

Nothing needs Hibernate (hell, or phase even) but in the current version of PvP - regardless of whether heal decay and travel suppression are in play - you're a significantly easier target if you don't have one or the other, and of the two you're an easier target if you have Hibernate instead of phase.

That and the set bonuses are crappy except for Posi's Blast.

You are seriously overestimating the difficulty of making money in this game. If it were any easier it would literally rain inf. I can make billions of inf a week with only a bit of time spent at the markets and without having to farm at all.

I, for example, have dozens of well-built PvP characters across multiple servers and I've never even thought about resorting to RMT to fund even the most expensive of those builds.