Boiling Point!

The game's economy is pretty healthy. That is ONLY the case because in game currency is tied directly to real currency. Every item in the game has a real world dollar value attached to it that controls the inflation/deflation that normally messes up virtual economies. This is so because the Publisher is now the Gold Seller, they do it one step removed, but they are still Gold Sellers.

The game bombed, but it was in no danger of being shut down. This is alarmist revisionist history used to excuse the cash grabbing. The money to develop it had already been spent, there was no plausible scenario of it being shut down as long as there were enough butts in the seats to pay the upkeep costs. The upkeep costs of an MMO in maintenance mode are negligible. The only plausible cases of imminent shutdown were A) for a tax write-off or B) to mitigate brand damage from having (another) failed Star Wars MMO.

The game's currency is in no way tied to real currency. Game currency is created through player actions in game, namely killing things, looting them, and selling the stuff they loot.

While there might be minuscule amounts of credit at random from cartel packs, you absolutely cannot purchase credits for cartel coins.

The Cartel Market is a cash crop. Don't expect them to change it all that much when there are still people willing to be harvest..er..willing to pay for things that should have been included in the game from the start.

Yeah, while there are MMO companies that actually sell in game currency to players, SWTOR is NOT one of them. All credits (baring the random credit booms, which nobody get's wealthy from), come from in game activities and rewards. CM content being traded for credits on the GTN or via direct player to player selling is a zero-sum game in terms of in game credits. All that happens is credits move from one player to another with 6% withdrawn as a selling fee if it's via GTN.

And while it is technically possible to portray a conversion rate of sorts with respect to CCs and in game credits.. that is driven more then anything by in game player demand for CM items, not any sort of true peg exchange rate.

You can't seriously believe this.

You can purchase items for CC's and sell those items for credits. That is the "one step removed" from EA being the direct gold sellers.

Zero-sum result in total economy CCs though. Sure.. CM items encourage players to buy/sell to each other in game for in game credits.... but all that does is move the credits from point A to point B.

Whereas, direct currency selling does in fact inflate the player economy as it injects new currency into the player economy.

These are very different, with very different results on player economies.

If anything, the proliferation of CM items is mildly deflationary to the in game economy since it peels off 6% of every GTN sale. More CM items means more player to player trading, and that means more active GTN listings and sales.

So credits are tied to US$ because I can use US$ to buy them?

Therefore, every currency, real world, ingame, anything, is tied to the US$ because I can use US$ to purchase them, too.

Rational.

I just want to point out that this game's cashshop system is FAR superior. It doesn't sell stats or endgame man and offhand components in the shop like LotRO, and this is coming from someone who played LotRO from launch through the Rohan xpac and has a lifetime sub to the game. I loved lotro but it's just gone down hill.

To your other complaints, they sound very valid and I'm sorry your having issues subbing and connecting that really does suck

In any game that has no cash shop, you cannot buy ingame currency, either directly or indirectly. Therefore they are not tied to any real world currency because their value is purely virtual. This is why items remain extremely pricey in TOR, unlike in any other non-Cash shop game where everything eventually devalues to the point of being worthless.

And yes, every real world currency and real world good is tied directly to the US$, because every good or currency can be exchanged for US$. This is news to you?

I can answer all of these with one word: Artifice. The cartel market has made an absolute joke of the market for selling leveling crystals. It's taken quite a lot away from Artifice.

Cybertech: Can sell armoring, mods, etc, along with end-game variations. These are something that are always in need, because as long as the game exists, there will be a need for people to search for better gear.

Biochem: There will, similarly, always be a need for players to get better implants and replace the various stims they use.

Armormech and Synthweaving have large selections of orange gear to sell, along with augment things. Not replaced as often, but still something with a continued, viable market.

Armstech: Same as cybertech, but with barrels and hilts.

Artifice: Well, they can make end-game color crystals - which if we're honest, aren't a big deal for stats anymore, only for color. The market on these is very low, because once you have a crystal, you don't have to replace it. You can take it out of your weapon, store it, ship it off to another character with legacy items, and it's not going to get "upgraded" stat-wise. They can make enhancements, true, and that's a good market, but...uh... There's some augments IIRC, and....well, that's really the only useful stuff they can make a profit on. Isn't much, compared to other crafting markets that will have much more need. Leveling crystals? Cartel crystals wiped that out. Offhands? Go run the very first flashpoint and get an orange offhand. Orange weapons? Well, there's...a very scant few. Leveling weapons? Nope. If you're leveling in any way other than GSF, getting the planetary comms to upgrade orange gear won't be a problem. If you're leveling in GSF, you didn't need to upgrade that gear anyway.

So, in summary: The cartel market completely shattered 1/2 (1/3rd if you -must- count end-game crystals) of Artifice's viable, renewable markets. No other crafting skill has been hit like that. The orange armor from other crafting skills isn't buyable through the cartel market - you'll need crafters to get that look. Augments, stims, etc - not purchasable through the cartel market. Armoring and mods are, for two levels: 15 and 30, but the CC cost is high enough that you'd have to have more money than sense to take advantage of that.