So you think CE prices are too high, that OOO is some kind of greedy awful, and that something is wrong with the economy? And you think that you can somehow change the world by writing threads like 'omg you guys actually like this???' And you expect them to work?

Well I was once like you. I sought to change the game for the better, and I liked the idea of doing all that, and of 'helping to make better suggestions' etc. I suppose thats why I played the game in the first place. I liked the way that the developers restricted the players, hurt them, and I wanted to see what they could get away with. I wanted to see just how far they could do, and what the players were willing to do to get back at them, and of course, the overall question- how will it all end? How will the developers kill their game? Will the playerbase hang onto it? And of course, I'm still waiting on that one.

But of course, you're thinking 'but I don't want it to end!' because you like spiral knights. Kind of and vaguely, in that you don't like how its economy works, but do like it in general. And thats why I'm writing this thread.

The economy

First of all, you're going to need to understand the economy if you honestly want to compete. I'm not going to go over all of the terms here, so I hope you have the courage to google them or ask someone if you don't get it.

Part one: The main exchange

The bottom line is that crowns come from playing, and that energy is used when said playing happens. This is driven by mist, which is used primarily to play the game. Mist is of course, used to craft gear as well, and to reduce the crafting prices. You probably knew this, but then there are the more subtle implications of such a system.

As the price of energy goes up, the percentage of mist being used on the clockworks goes up, which in turn lessens the effect of mist being used to reduce the energy price- although it does make that mist more valuable in that the price of an equivalent amount of CE would cost more. Oh, and the profit from doing a level also goes down, to form an equilibrium. In other words, the higher the energy price, the more crowns coming from FSC impact the game, as the players farming it must continue to do so.

Part two: That other stuff

Materials are also flooded into the system as the price of energy goes up. The less energy costs, the more materials cost, which in turn makes energy even more valuable. The more crystal energy costs, the less recipes cost in comparison, making P2Pers rush through the game, opening a gateway for more FSC players to dominate the economy.

Part three: Expansion

When the game has a low price on CE, it allows F2Pers to enter in and play the game for free at a far faster rate than it allows P2Pers in. When the game has a high price on CE, it allows for P2Pers to enter in while blocking out F2Pers indirectly, creating a more profitable playerbase that expands slowly. When CE is not so high, it creates a low paying, rapidly expanding, playerbase. If CE costs remain low for long enough, the number of paying players will rise. If CE costs remain high, OOO will make more money in the short and long term. Why the long term? Because they don't have to create new content for us so often. They can just make one update a year and create other games as long as they throw out some accessories and reskins twice a month.

Part four: Clarification on "high" and "low"

High and low refer to the prizes coming from popular T2 levels. If players can farm these for crowns at a rate that keeps them entertained, they will be far more likely to stay to become T3 players.

Part five: Rich people

You might think that rich people are in control of everything, but for them, using their riches to control the energy market means a substantial loss of profits. They can either play the market, or they can play with the market, and they wouldn't be rich if they played with the market. Or as rich. Unless they bought energy. In the long run, the market will balance out at a higher price than it is currently at, so when they do play with the market, it is more likely to stay that way.

So how do I actually fix the game?

You can't, or at least not directly. But OOO can, because they have control over everything. And if you can get OOO to do things, then you can get the game to work. Now, Nick isn't going to waltz into general, say "F2Pers aren't happy??? OH NO!" because he already knows by now. The game was obviously designed to gain OOO money, so thats how you would have to hurt them to get short term change.

Lets say that OOO nerfed your favorite bomb and gave a certain member of EoS a lifetime pass to punch <69. You obviously don't like it, and are going to voice your opinion somehow, but you know from all your past experience that that won't work. What would work, would be building up awareness. The players in the game for the most part don't care about things like balance, they just want crowns and energy and a good time. So you've got to reach out to them. Prevent them from buying energy, and get enough support to actually accomplish something.

Which brings up a good point- the forums are small! Thats right they are. And they have no real say because of that. Even if you got all of the forums to go on strike, you still wouldn't win. You'd need to get players from in the game to support you, which is why you're going to need a guild. Guilds are supposed to change the world, and that is their main function in the game. Oh, and they almost never do it. So once you've got a guild, you're ready to go. How big of a guild? Several hundred members. Right now, there are very few guilds in the game that have the power to actually pull something of any magnitude off.

So you've got your guild, and you know what you want to do. Boycott the energy system, right? No, don't do that. Boycotting the energy system will do nothing. What will do something is purchasing massive amounts of CE with crowns. Why? Because it is the only thing that many players see. They look at the energy market and say "oh no!" and then start to flip out for two reasons- the first being that they just don't like it to bat, and the second being that it has started to rise, and they think something terrible is happening. So if you want to communicate with them, the best way would be to raise the price of energy. Make them come to the forums, and set up a thread for it. Title it something like 'why the ce prices are so high'.... then once you get them to favor your ideas, get them buying energy. Its a self repeating process, and it will eventually lead to ruination of the game- forcing OOO to actually do something. And thats the part where you get to write something. There are a number of things that I've mentioned that will carry you through if you get enough people involved, like the FSC people, and the T2 players.

Wouldn't that mess up the game?
It would cause OOO to have a profit drop for a silly reason that they could avoid by giving in, and would not hurt the economy in the long run... provided that OOO buys into it. Lets say that it suceeds, and that OOO changes something due to player driven protests. After that, there would be no reason to hold onto the energy, and many players would sell it off, or immediatly purchase energy, pushing the economy back onto its feet at about where it left off.... although it would take a while for everything to get balanced again.

So why aren't you doing this?

I have a guild, and if I could get enough support, I would. But right now, I'm out of time. My life has gotten substantially more interesting, and substantially busier. But I see a lot of these "We need to do something" threads, and I thought that I would write about my ideas, so that people can see them when they look. I don't expect them to be popular, or for anyone to agree with me. But perhaps.