Plat Wipe?

[Kyriath]

The new plat dupe has hurt the economy on many servers. How would you feel about wiping the slate clean for all characters? I vote yes but my main is a cleric...so I'm always broke, a plat wipe would only clear out the 136 plat I've got now.

[Gnomish]

No, but that's just beaause i have about 900 plat... and alot of it was given to me from my bf when i started... I am Poor... don't take my plat away.. too many lvl 65s kill the mammoths, and i never get at them...

[Bisuketto]

Um.... I think it would restart the economies, but I really disagree with doing a compleat plate wipe. It's taken me awhile to accumulate my wealth and its mainly used to keep upgrading my gear and to fund trade skills.

Its a nice idea, but the wipe would cause more problems then it would solve, i.e. player outrage for one.

[Saethori]

Plat wipe? No, everyone would just invest in gems and such to preserve their ill-gotten gains (laundering, in a way)...

I'm all for some serious cleaning though... banning everyone involved in the dupe (by key, account, credit card, *and* IP, not to mention deleting the characters so the names can be freed up)... and deleting all plat (and items purchased from vendors) transfered around..

But I don't think Sony tracks this kind of stuff, so the only means I see is a large-scale roll-back.

No matter what way you go about it, there will be players pissed off.

[Raven00x]

I'm going to say that an across the board wipe is not the answer. Why is an across the board plat-removal not the answer? It penalizes everyone who didn't have anything to do with it quite unjustly. Lots of people have massive hoards of platinum that they gained by buying low and selling high in the bazaar, that they gained by sending lots, and lots of animals to hog heaven for their skins, and whatever other reasons. A few people had massive impacts on EQ, but the whole should not be punished for their actions.

what can they do? SoE keeps logs of transactions, and can track down who has how much duped plat, and can remove the excess plat from the economies that way. Alternitively, they can also sit on their thumbs.

[Kaylen]

Doing a "plate wipe" is one of the (unfortunately many) most monumentally stupid ideas I've ever heard. Thankfully, SOE won't do this.. hopefully they haven't even thought about it.

They'd lose an amazing amount of customers.

[Dreleen]

They should how ever band CASINOS! or put a damn random fliters cause I got too many peeps on ignore because of it!

[Kaylen]

Casinos are fun, though.

[Dreleen]

Well then random filter PLEASE haha!

[Drakenred]

they could just impliment Grifons as player mounts, (at double the cost of that mutan lizard) and have the Bridele for them be unredeamable and make em unridable in zones without levitation

that will bleed off a lot of the plat right their

[Tiladien]

I figured out that one. Make a new chat window, filter randoms to it then minimize it. I do that with my Bazaar mule all the time. To cancel it just close that window and randoms will go back to the main window.

[Pike Tha Blodd]

nah, plat wipe no good, peeps would just switch it all to gold and copper before the wipe, and it would tick off alot of honest players. even for being jerks sometimes, SoE has (as far as i can remember) stated they would rather not penalize a possibly innocent person for the blatant acts of someone else

[Satarus]

Everyone would probalby buy peridots. You lose very little money converting them back into plat. There are also a few better gems that have less of a loss per sell back. I learned that trick in RM when i was soloing giants for exp and cash. I would convet all my coppers and silver into peridots and then sell them back at the end of the day, or keep a few for donations to clerics.

[DogEye]

I worked, i farmed, i didn't cheat, i now have 3000pp, it is the first time i have had that amount, and if i did use an exploit i was unaware and it wasn't intentional, a majority of my plat came from vendor junk and the dungons, the rest was more or less farming giants or silk to sell in the bazaar... and a cash wipe would crush my dreams of owning a horse. i would have to sell my most valueble things to get it back and after a plat wipe, that is not likly to be much.

[Satarus]

I finnaly have 11k in the bank, and most of that is from selling tradeskill items, and old gear that i haven't used in a while like my singing steel bracer and such.

[Stormewolfe]

Plat wipe would basicly hurt a lot of younger characters as higher levels ones (the ones that don't already of course) cruise through zones killing anythign for money. Rememebr, it would also destroy guild funds that are used for raids (buying peridots, coffins, etc.)

Looks like SoE did it's job in taking care of the evil-doers anyway, no sense punishing those that got their money in a legit fashion.

[Kudane]

They should how ever band CASINOS! or put a damn random fliters cause I got too many peeps on ignore because of it!

you can now tell /randoms to go to a specific window... i have a window that stays minimized that i filter this crap too while in the bazaar.

And Yea, a Plat wipe is not the answer.. they are doing it the right way.. and the economy will recover, it will just take a little time..

/bow

[Mordican]

I have earned 60k the hard way... alchemy and baking... I'm saving up for a 100k horse... If SoE takes away my in game money they can kiss my out-of-game money goodbye.

SoE knows who these people are, they can track the transactions, etc... It would be a dedicated job for someone to do, but I doubt they are willing to do that. Everyone knows the EULA is meaningless in EQ... For every account they ban and wipe one more will be created. The farmers know not to use their mains, always twinks on seperate accounts. In the end SoE has a bottom line and the farmers have a bottom line... So long as SoE's doesn't go down as a result of this then they will do what the must to keep the clients and nothing more in these situations.

DiabloII tried somthing with their new patch to get rid of most the dupes, maybe one companies expereices could prove useful to another.

[Sarius]

I dont play anymore my account got mysteriously cancelled... im kind of annoyed because i wanted to give all my stuff to a person who had helped me, lower level but plays it more often and gave me loads of cool stuff.

still i once spent like a week solo-ing in rathe and foraged around 11k. If that had gotten whiped because of a platt whipe because of duping. I would soon quit never to play again.

not like im going to now that i have FFXI, but EQ was sweet while it lasted

[Dark Tyger]

I'm going to say an across the board wipe would cost them at least half of their player base as people quit in frustration. There are people who've legitimately amassed fortunes over YEARS of play, and to have that wiped will seriously tick off a lot of people.

[Zinj]

Absolutely not.

What this will result in is penalizing all those people who have been saving forever for things like Fungi Tunic, CoF, Staff of Flowing Water, etc.

All the uber players will decend to the easiest level of platinum mining and shut out all the lower level players. Nobody would be able to kill a giant until level 65 since as soon as they popped, one nuke or melee attack and they would be down; leaving you to watch them scarf up the 5 to 50pp they drop.

Zinj

[Dark Tyger]

DiabloII tried somthing with their new patch to get rid of most the dupes, maybe one companies expereices could prove useful to another.

D2's "rust storm" that came with the 1.10 patch was meant to hit only hacked/duped items (apparantly, something about them stood out from legit items that the software could spot), and wiped those items. Unfortunately, I hear it hit some legit items, too... But most legit items were untouched.

[Kyriath]

I just wondered how playerswould feel if it came to a complete monetary wipe. It would have to be a plat, gold, silver and copper I would think.

I just want the cheaters outta our game.

I mean these aren't hack codes being entered into a Nentendo console game. I think it is weak for a player to buy plat from Yantis and his ilk. But I see alot of comments along the line that as long as there are buyers of plat there will be sellers there will be sellers of plat. It just saddens me to see the economy in the toilet like it is.

[Lirren]

I've spent, quite literally, over a year saving up money from my tradeskilling. I'm finally to a point where I'm actually able to make enough to outfit my characters with good items. If all that money got wiped, not only would I lose a good size nest egg - which would infuriate me to no end - it would also take away my main way of making money for a good long while, since no one would have money to spend on my crafted items. If SoE did that, I would simply cancel both my accounts and walk away.

maybe somthing like DiabloII's soj problem could help?
Having the players pool money, to try and unlock somthing like the Uber Diablo, that way its clearing most of the excess stuff, while only getting little in return.

[Wolf]

NO WAY! A plat wipe would be horrible. Many people who have been saving up money for things would quit. Also it doesnt work for me. I have been given free stuff that i sold and i have good money for my level. At my beastlords level (27) I would be lucky to have over 100pp if the plat was totally wiped. And that wuold only be if i picked up everydrop, every kill, all day. I honestly can say if teh plat got wiped i would probably quit. I have around 5k right now and I use it for many people other than myself. Did SOE even suggest a plat wipe? God that stupid aol frog hiya commercial is on so im gunna go get a rock to throw at the tv, cya.

[Minwee]

Wiping platinum would just make things worse. Even if they tracked everyone who used specific exploits and banned or disposessed them that would leave everyone they bought from, sold to, or just gave stuff to untouched. If they cracked down on all of _them_, they would have a mutiny on their hands -- Could you imagine being banned because a complete stranger handed you a weapon, or gave you a fistful of platinum for showing them around town?

If it was just a one or two day thing then they might be able to do a rollback, but the last time they tried that _on Test_ there was an armed revolt. The only thing they can do now is ban the players who abused these exploits and just suck up the fact that their economies have taken a pounding. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.

[Tenolein]

Very true. Like someone said before, just find the 'hackers' and boot em forever. The economy will go back, it just will take time.

Until then, we just have to wait and do what we have been.

[Wolf]

How can the economy go back if thousands of plat have just been added. People arent just gunna stop killing mobs since there is an overflow of money. It might turn to "normal" in awhile. Everything will be priced higher than a year ago, there is no doubt.

[Tenolein]

I don't understand how/why the plat would be added.

I'm saying, if they take out the 'dupers', there would be, eventually, significantly less plat flying around the Bazaar, hense, the prices would EVENTUALLY go down, due to the higher value of plat.

[Bisuketto]

They probally ment the "legal" plat influx that happens naturally Tenolein.

[Filan Fyretracker]

problem they have is they can only ban by account. IP bans are just plain bad and dumb(imagine if you had the same ISP as a cheater and got their IP one day from the DHCP and suddenly cant play)

[Keaolien]

there is this guy on my server (saryrn) that sells things at HUGE, rediculous prices, and his reason that he has stated? He wants to see how badly he can throw the economy out of whack. Isn't that cute? heh. Any saryrn players out here may know who I'm talkin' about, but I will not mention his/her name, just out of common respect and such.

[Nikoryn]

haha no way, a plat whipe would definatly drive a large amount of people away from eq for ever, including myself. I have well over 2mil plat in the bank, because I used to spend a lot of my time farming "uber" mobs for cash loots. A plat whipe would only mean that i wasted that much of my life and have nothing to show for it. (even though i dont play eq anymore as of last month)

[rayfinkle]

no i dont support the Plat wipe i have scrimped and saved my hard earned plat from 35 lvls of play and finally have 1500pp thats set aside for my next upgrade (whether armor or weapon). so no i dont support a wipe.

[Min the Druid]

Keaolien, I know who you are talking about. Sad thing is there are some people that see his prices and adjust accordingly for no apparent reason . . .

I would not support a plat / money wipe because I finally have what I would consider a sizeable bank account (36k) and have made all of that by working for it in a legit fashion. I don't permacamp mobs, don't overprice things, don't buy things for resale. Simply kill things and sell drops I can't use if they are worth something to someone else.

[DocBobo]

Personally, I don't think has been been hit by the dupers so hard. There are a few things that happened that make the economy seem to have gone out of whack.

In the summer a flood of items washed through the bazaar. I blame this mostly on the school summer break. As soon as the vacation stopped, the influx began to dry down, but left prices at an all-time low. Then LDoN came out. The influx of farmed itmes seriously grinded to a stand-still, because everyone (especially hi-end guilds) was either busy in the end-game or doing adventures. Still no farming for items. And so the prices began to rise again.
The plat farmers of the bazaar have their share in the price hike that ensues now. Many of the wanted items are scarce to come by, and to get them you have to pay through the nose badly.

Just for an example, in the summer a crown of Narandi was 100k. Yesterday it was 275k, 25k more than last time I have seen it and another 25k more than the time before that. Maybe the dupes have helped inflate prices, but I believe it's only for the very hi-end bazaar items anyways.

Am I for a plat wipe? Honestly, no. All the good and sensible reasons have been given already. I couldn't care less if my 600k in the bank were wiped or not, but I have two friends who still have to work for their money and they would be hit hard by a wipe. So, for their sake, I'm against it.

edit: there are reasons that peoply adjust their prices upward to meet prices you would deem ridiculous: people will buy prices at the cheapest merchant - at any price. Example. 2 weeks ago I bought a pair of velium encrusted gloves for my ranger for 100k, which was 20k higher than I wanted to spend. Instead of equipping him with it immediately I put them on my bazaar mule for a night, at the price of 120k. I went to sleep, knowing nobody would be so stupid to buy at that price.
Next morning a player had bought the gauntlets, plus some other items that added up to the whopping sum of 430k. That was a valuable lesson, in many regards.

...do you need more reasons why some people try to break the record for the most insane price tag on any given item? Our server has two of those guys (and at least half a dozen who are almost as bad), and the economy is still not shot.

[tuckerpb2]

How about these ideas.
1. From swg (please don't hit me) houses. all houses will need a 10% of the cost a day upkeep fee.
a. basic house can be just a small shack you can put in low lvl zones, nothing can be added inside.
b. mid grade homes that can be places in low-mid lvl zones. able to lock the door, but someone with picklock skill of 150 can get in. can put items you can sit on and other nice stuff in. Also chests that are lockable same as the door.
c. high graid homes. need picklock skill of 200. if fail will have chance to spawn "guard" that is 5 lvl lowere then owner. Cost of guard increase the the upkeep by 5%. able to put personal forge, beer maker, sowing device in. If you are in a guild you can put in a portal stone to your guild house. one way only.
d. guild homes. Able to place a guild bank, and plenty of storage. Able to set up a mini bazaar for the guild to place npc vendors that guild member can place items to be sold into for the guild. require picklock skill of 245+ to get in and all the locks. guards in the building already (add 1% for each guard to the upkeep cost upto 20 guards) also eachtime picklock fails 5 guards spawn. lvl of guards is the adverage lvl of the guild to 5 lvl under max lvl) when guards are attacked a message is sent to all members about it. if you kill the npc vendors you get as loot all the money and items it has on it. same if you make it to the guild vault. which will need maxed picklock skill to open.
Also you can have an npc vendor that will automaticly buy items only if you have set it to.

Another idea comes from a game called neocron. have it so that all wepons/armor can have plans made from it and them someone that have enough skill can make a copy of it, but the copy will have a chance of having (slots) in it. that slots can have gems put in it to chage the effects of the weapon or armor.

These are just rough ideas. so if you see and thing you think should be change lets have it, and mabe we can send it to sony.

[Renix]

As its been said, the bazaar, like any other economy, is based on supply and demand. Considering that most EQ players have school or a job, there isn't much time to spend farming platinum and items.

That reduces the supply. New characters come around all the time, and people make alts as well. Not to mention with the holiday season, item supply is decreasing.

High demand + Low supply = high prices.

Even then, the way to get rid of platinum is to find some way for people to buy something where the money won't go back into the market (example: horses/drogmors), not wiping out all the platinum.

[danta]

i made about 28k this last weekend by selling loot drops. The prices are the same prices ive been selling those drops for for months (too tired to adjust the prices when i logged my trader in). Like many others i have honestly earned my cash and while 50k isnt much compared to many it is more than im willing to lose for no reason.

[Cerrena]

During the period when the plat bug/cheat was active my husbands and my characters were working really hard to raise money the old fashioned way. We made stuff and sold it in the bazaar. My husband's main is slowly but surely inching himself up to maxing out tailoring. Now we don't have that much in the bank right now because he just bought a bunch of level 63 spells and a good supply of some flawless hopper hides but at one point our trader mule had over 50 000 on her. I guess that on average we make a 50 plat profit so you can imagine how much stuff went into that hord. If they'd wiped out the plat at that point, I think we'd have both quit the game.

[Dr.Gonzo]

Correct me if Im wrong but I thought the exploits were from program maniplation and not from buying plat from a website. Both are cheating but the program is the offense that gets you banned right?
Personaly, I think that it is arguable that twinking and PLing is cheating as much as BUYING plat. Im not against any of it because as much my game as it is anyone elses who pays their monthly fees, but I feel the same about hacking( or whatever the dupe plat is called) as I do viruses. Hit them in the head with a brick, GRRRR. Getting plat out of nowhere means 100% profit for no effort. At least the peeps who buy plat with real money are paying what the earn for their RL time (hourly wage or whatever) for what they feel they cant accomplish in game time.
I make plenty of plat dishing out buffs in PoK, Im still not sure how that differs from PLing for plat except that I make more per hour in PoK.
I dont think there is anyway to "return" EQnomics to normal, mostly because it never was. Wiping plat is a quick fix and those never seem to work.
And, yes I have heard the "if you dont have time then you shouldnt play" and I dont think that statement is more offense than it is true. If a person likes EQ, they play the monthly fees and they play however they want within the rules, it is not up to you to discriminate who can and cant play. That statement sounds alot like "if you dont like get out of my country", everyone has the right to exist as well as play a video game.
I would like to say that I make it a point to follow all rules as best as I can discern them, and while I have heard that buying plat is against these rules and disagree, I have not done it.

[Dr.Gonzo]

2mil plat in the bank, because I used to spend a lot of my time farming "uber" mobs for cash loots. A plat whipe would only mean that i wasted that much of my life and have nothing to show for it. (even though i dont play eq anymore as of last month)

Were you saving up for something or just hoarding?

[DocBobo]

Seems like I stand corrected.
Mobhunter (http://www.mobhunter.com/article.jsp?articleid=-1329052326) has an article on the current duping problem, and this poster (http://pub94.ezboard.com/ffirionaviefrm4.showMessage?topicID=4551.topic) hints at some exploits and the impact on the economy, as he sees it.

Having read this, maybe it will take some time before the economy returns to old pricing standards.

[Cerrena]

I thought the exploits were from program maniplation and not from buying plat from a website.

The problem being that the companies that run the buy plat web sites were useing the explote to generate their platnium. They then turned around a sold it a greatly reduced prices. Even if the characters/accounts that used the explote are frozen by SOE, that doesn't stop the fact that the plat is out there. I suspect that at this point there is no fair way to role back time and fix things.

Perhapes in the future SOE should think about putting something in place to encourage people to report these sorts of explotes as quickly as possible. For example: be the first to report a major bug/explote an play for free for a year, or get 100,000 plat or something.

[Kaylen]

I think the "use an exploit and get banned" thing they have going now works pretty well. People have been reporting these bugs. Whether Sony just didn't realize the severity, didn't have the time, or a number of other possibilities is the real question.

Unfortunately most people seem to like the "Sony hooked up with Yantis, it was an inside job" conspiracy theory seems to be one of the top runners.

[Naelaen]

Put simply a plat wipe would only hurt the average player and would just inconvenience the cheats. Whilst the legitimate players all have to scrounge their cash back up from scratch (bazaar prices could either rocket or plummit for a period) the cheats will just shrug and work on the next way to get quick cash etc.

Punish cheats, give players satisfaction when they get banned :)

[Enchanter]

that goes on the list as 'bad idea'

[KiTA]

I wouldn't mind seeing a new, new server.

A completely new server with NO ONE allowed to transfer in.

But here's the catch.

Have them change *all* the quest items and whatnot. Make different monsters drop some, and make others completely different, or add a interm step to get them. For example, make all the newbie monsters drop new quest items, and make the newbie quests require entirely different items to finish.

Would be a good change of pace from people using alakazam exclusively to do things in game.

[Cylestria]

Reading this is a bummer. Duping is what ruined UO's economy. I am sad to hear it has happened to EverQuest as well.

DAoC has a good player reward system. If you are the first to report a dupe bug (or other nasty bug), you get goodies! Not like game goodies per se but like play free, beta invites, and other such niceties. It encourages folks to do the right thing.

[Enchanter]

Kita you mean making a different game? I can imagine those changes would take forever.

[KiTA]

Kita you mean making a different game? I can imagine those changes would take forever.

Not really. I imagine someone could do them over a long weekend, if they had the current list of drops/quests and a sharpe marker.

I'm not talking about deleting and repopping the towns, I'm just talking about, instead of 1 Brick of Crude Iron Ore, 1 Young Puma Skin, 1 Snake Egg and 1 Malachite making your Cleric Shield, the guy (or even someone entirely different) asking for 1 Brick of Refined Iron Ore, 2 Spider mandibles, 1 Snake Jaw, and 5 Batwing Crunchies.

The refined Iron Ore would be a quest in and of itself -- you find someone in town and give him 4 ores, and he gives you the refined ore back.

That kinda stuff. I mean, doing something like that would definately breath a bit of new life into that server, ya know? Everything fresh and new again? No one printing out all of Allakhazam's postings about their class and hunting them down systematically all according to the paperwork?

Or maybe I'm just a loon? :)

[Rhiamon Fatesealer]

They did do a new new server, not too long ago. I'm blanking on the name of it right now, but I am sure Answer Panda will be along shortly with the answer :P No transfers were allowed for 6 months.

A whole new server (http://www.gucomics.com/archives/view.php?cdate=20030507)

[KiTA]

Strumm IIRC, but it had the old quests and stuff. :) The no transfers allowed was a nice touch, though. :)

<-- official imitation Answer Panda. Accept no other substitutes.

[Saethori]

There's a difference between a new server, and a new server with changes.

I mean, people can solo all the way to 65 in a week or two on a new server if they know what to do.. but alter the NPCs (it wouldn't take as big an overhaul as some people may think), move them around, change quests a bit, tweak loot tables, so on. It would really be an interesting experience...

I could even foresee alterations to most of the tradeskill recipes, so people can discover all over again...

...but I'm insane, so disregard my opinion.

[KiTA]

...but I'm insane, so disregard my opinion.

Yay, someone just as nutty as I! Lets start up a petition or something. ;) Oooh, I can see it now. "The New Vision Committe".

[Tenolein]

I know its a bit off topic, but if someone can solo.. Hell, if someone can just GET to level 65 in a week or two, thats not right.

If any of ya'll can do that, then I'll get ya my account, and for a few bucks, you get my 39 Ranger to 65. Seriously, thats just bogus.

I think that Sony, or whoever, really needs to change things up a bit if someone, ANYONE, can get a lowbie to 65 in 2 weeks. I dunno, thats just my 2 copper.

I dunno if it was in this thread or not, but I read that someone said that when they were in the mid-range levels(I'm assumbing lvl 35-45 range), they easily made 40k in platinum in less than a week. Thats another secret I want to know if thats true. I can see alchemy doing some decent plat farming, but not that much!

I'm just a frustrated mid-level range player that BARELY can scrape up enough plat for his level 14 Cleric spells. Then there's my level 13 Druid that I have to get spells for soon. -=sigh=- It's a vicious cycle, but I love every second of it.

[KiTA]

Someone had a Level 55 Froglok the evening LoY came out.

So yeah, it's doable, easily, if you have friends and can twink.

As for plat, I always found Blackburrow to be an insane way to get plat, and my friend who was level 27ish was always raving about Bandits on Luclin (something about weapons that sold for 3 plat each or something similar).

However, nowadays if I was gonna get plat, I'd farm Shadows from the kitty newbie zone. 50 PP a shadow? Yes please!

[Tenolein]

Really? If your plat 'secrets' hold true, I would love you forever.

As for the Froglok, like I said before, thats just wrong. I dunno... I'm the type of person that don't care how powerful or great I, or my alter ego's(aka characters) am, I much rather have fun than be driven to be the most uber -=put class here=- on the server. I'm naturally not a power freak, and if somone feels the need to be the best, most twinked, highest, uber character in the group/guild/server, then thats what they are.. Power Freaks. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just don't see a point in it. Granted, I wouldn't mind being level 65, but slaving at the computer literally for 10's of hours at a time to get a level an hour, not only turns me from the game, but I also don't have time for.. I play for maybe 2 hours a day, on average. The weekends vary.. Sometimes I don't see EQ on the weekends, other times I spend 4 or 5 hours a day in game.

Kinda makes me not wanna have a job, just so I can EQ all day.

*EDIT* By the way, what exactly IS the 'kitty newbie' zone? Shadeweavers?

[Wolf]

Wait, I dont see how that whole first thing to report a dupe thing gets free year or whatever, maybe a month, but a year? I mean come on, i would rather have the 100 bucks. People would start trying to make hacks just so they can report it and get the free year. Too bad im not a good hacker. Getting 100k would be awesome. If i signed on and there was 100k in my bank, my mouth would hang open, and i would start to cry.

[Bisuketto]

Huh, you get free time added for reporting a dupe first? Where you read that?

[KiTA]

I donno where, but I read the same thing, and associate it with DAoC, so...

[lymlym]

I certainly do NOT support it - I've Worked LONG and HARD to earn my plat. I certainly will not take the blame for someone else's cheating.

[rennen]

hell no

[Iiliani Seadream]

Yes, the kitty newbie is Shadeweavers Thicket. Not a bad zone, gets tough between level seven and eightish, everything seems to be either green or yellow/red.
I scrimped for every cp I got, worked up my tradeskills so I could sell goods in the bazaar, watched the marketplace closely to see what sold and for how much, and.... bah.
I don't want to see all that wiped out. I didn't cheat, so I would like to keep what I earned honestly thank you.
Around the mid levels, the giants in RM paid for my spells.
Now, I like hunting Nadox and Dulak, mobs drop between 5pp to 9pp each, and weapons that sell for 5pp with good charisma, plus the odd gem.
Tip for clerics around the lvl 55 - 58 mark, the Shrine Bruisers at the Nadox/Torg zoneline have 'a Peridot' as a fairly common drop. ;)

[Sorini McMarrin]

In now way at all did I financially benefit from the plat dupe so no way at all would I want my bank account cleared.

[Sumamael]

I voted "NO" because being an economist in RL I know that it would hurt more than it would solve :)

On a more personal level I don't care, I had as much as 800k (when the 'new' cultural armors came out) and as little as butt-broke.
Money comes and goes, /shurg I can live if SOE wiped my 100k right now, doesn't matter :)

Having lots of platinum in circulation means only one thing that economy shifts towards the "player-driven" state.

In an economy where platinum is scarce if you want lots of cash you farm mobs dropping PP or gems (for example sand giants).

In an economy where there is a surplus of platinum, you farm tradeskill items and dropable twink gear because people can't spend their cash any other way but buying those things. ----> the source of platinum are the other players.

So while most people only see that "omgosh, that item I have been saving my cash for months now costs double as much in the bazaar as last time, this is the end of the world!!!", it is not that bad if you are willing to adapt.

[Aruut]

Here is an idea for taking some money out of circulation, take all the high dollar equipment off of the banned accounts, and set them up on SOE owned merchants, at a slight markup of course. Then alll SOE has to do is make sure all that plat is destroyed. That way there is a finite amount of new improvements entered into the game that will require balancing, the items that the platinum buyers aquired will remain in community, instead of being banned with the accounts, and the PP will be pulled from the economy.

Another idea is to maybe set up NPC mages who will summon VERY nice no rent, no drop items for PP. Eventually the items will be destroyed, especially during patches.

[Tenolein]

Wait, I dont see how that whole first thing to report a dupe thing gets free year or whatever, maybe a month, but a year? I mean come on, i would rather have the 100 bucks. People would start trying to make hacks just so they can report it and get the free year. Too bad im not a good hacker. Getting 100k would be awesome. If i signed on and there was 100k in my bank, my mouth would hang open, and i would start to cry.

You see, they check IPs. You /report your own wrong doing, and they check IPs, track it back to you, and WHAM-O! Talke about a 'page 8', you'd be done, complete with a free pass OUT of Norrath.

[Pike Tha Blodd]

so ive seen this a few times and cant figure it out what is a 'page 8' ?
is it something like paginate? ive heard of that before but dont know what it is either

[Tenolein]

'Page 8' = Screwed yourself. Its a long story on how it happened, but it boils down to 'page 8'd' yourself means you just messed up.. Bad.

[Satarus]

It originates from a guy using 2 accounts to try and scam. On page 8, he logs in the wrong account and posts a message as though he was on the other account. In doing so, he gives away himself to everyone.

[Kordesh]

very simple way to avoid the plat wipe......just convert everything to copper =p

[Minwee]

so ive seen this a few times and cant figure it out what is a 'page 8' ?
is it something like paginate? ive heard of that before but dont know what it is either


Gather round the fire, lads...

This all happened a bit over a year ago on the Brell Serilis Rants message board, when somebody tried to run a scam and got caught -- with a little help from himself. Brell Rants has always had a strict "No edit, no delete" policy, so a single mis-posting by one of the scammers multiple personalities on the eighth page blew the whole thing wide open.

You can read about it all on the new Brell Rants Board (http://www.brellrants.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2734), and even download the entire thread (http://www.djmojo.net/sanornik.zip) that started it all. It's nearly THREE MEGABYTES of text, so make yourself some popcorn and settle in for a good long read. After you're finished, you'll understand this comic (http://www.gucomics.com/sonofabitch.php) just a little bit more.

It may help to have a friend chant "Jer-ry! Jer-ry! Jer-ry!" while you read it, just to get the atmosphere right.

"I hope someday you'll take to calling me "Darlin" again"