EVE General Discussion

I get what some people are trying to say, the existance of PLEX does front-load the system, since people paying money for PLEX are going to be the same people paying for a subscription (because I like to think no-one would be dumb enough to buy PLEX for money, then use them for their sub), while the people buying PLEX for isk to sub their game, aren't going to be buying them for money too.

So in effect, half the players are paying for all the subscriptions, making the game less resistant to a sudden outflux of players (since people playing for free have no reason to stop their subs if temporarily unhappy with the game, so any outflux is going to be in the paying half, and cause double the hit). That said, since a PLEX bought today doesn't have to be used on a sub for months or even years in the future, CCP is getting their hands on a large chunk of sub-money early, and assuming they treat it as that (and don't just spend it as "free money"), the price and abundance/scarcity of PLEX on the market can give an early-warning system to CCP that something is amiss. If people stop buying PLEX, CCP can react before the supply dries up, using these "early paid subs" as a safety net to buy them time to correct whatever caused the outflux.

Vast amounts of stuff have been lost recently and both old and new uses for PLEX have been (re)introduced. It's hardly surprising if the stockpiles are running a bit low.

While this plex price explosion is a disaster for the causal non-rich player

But given that the null sec cartels are creating far more ISK than they could ever possibly sell, not sure how the pieces all fall together, and if their real life incomes are affected that much.

While this plex price explosion is a disaster for the causal non-rich player,

What the hell is going on.

Actually, its more the middle-class getting hit, the players who are rich enough (currently) to PLEX an account, as they now have to work harder for the same "income".

Player market controls price of PLEX ingame. No need for external regulation.

Since all PLEXs are introduced into the game by someone paying IRL money in some form, that part is externally regulated by CCPs pricing, and CCP doesnt need to worry about the ingame price of PLEX interms of their revenue from players maintaining account time.

I agree a rise in PLEX value ingame is to be expected in anticipation of the ship paintjobs.
This because PLEX is the ingame item convertible to AUR.

So there is a connection between the demand on AUR items and PLEX.

Again, there is no need for external regulation on this, because PLEX as the ingame item convertible to AUR, is only introduced into the game by someone somewhere buying ine with IRL money.

AUR, however, can also be purchased from CCP directly out of game.
So if it should happen that demand for AUR items raises so high that it raises PLEX to an unsustainable level (ie: where people are paying so much ISK for PLEX to either maintain gametime or purchase AUR, people will start buying the AUR directly from CCP instead, and the PLEX will devalue eventually to a point where it is more inline with peoples capacity to generate ISK for purposes of maintaining gametime.

So no need to worry, and no need for internal regulation. PLEX price ingame is player controlled. If rising PLEX prices make it harder for people to maintain their account time, that is simply because other playersmaremcharging more, and they will simply have to adapt either by playing harder or more profitably, or obtaining gametime by out of game means. Noteably, another factor is that the higher the value of PLEX ingame is, the more lucrative it is for people to buy PLEX from CCP and sell ingame, which again will serve to reduce PLEX price as supply increases.

TLDR: The more demand there is for AUR items, the higher PLEX price will rise (especially at this point where buying AUR from CCP is (to my perception atleast) still quite uncommon. The existing pool of PLEX ingame, will also drop, owing to people converting them into AUR now, as well as using them for account maintenance, which was the only primary PLEX sink at this point. So even as demand for PLEX increases (to convert into AUR) that also means a direct reduction in PLEX supply, which further increases the foreseeable price of PLEX in ISK.

The proposed current AUR price for paintjobs, is quite low. So low, infact, that converting a PLEX will get you more AUR than what most people even really have use for in terms of just buying the paintjobs. So though AUR items will drain some PLEX, its not likelyto be all that many in the long run.

Make no mistake though, PLEX prices will certainly spike noticeably as we get closer to an actual release of the AUR paintjobs.
I have no doubt that many speculative players can see this eventuality, and are either ensuring they get the PLEZ they need for upcoming months, now, before that happens (therefore driving price up now) but also those whonanticipate being able to sell PLEX in that spike period for substantial profit.

No cause for panic. Everything is as it should be.

I'm not seeing it. I see a 10 million increase in 24 hours... and though that is a spike, it's not the largest spike that has ever happened.