I've seen a lot of threads lately concerning the Economy, or rather the lack of one, the 'nerfs' (dontcha just love that word?, almost as intelligent sounding as 'uber' :/) in the pipline and the total lack of the war that's supposed to be going on. I've been in Istaria well over 2 years now and have seen a lot of changes I thought were really knee-jerk reactions. I didn't agree with them then and don't agree with them now.

Remember when we first saw the Vielo? They had stocks of items we could not get any other way. Ok, I can live with that, especially when one considers that they had a very limited stock, they were expensive, they appeared in random locations and they would disappear without notice. Well, some folks complained that because of time zone differences they were left out. Valid complaint. The fix? Give the Vielo permanent residency and unlimited stock. What ecomony we had started swirling in the bowl right then and there. Wouldn't it have been easier to just randomize the timing of the Vielo's appearance? Then every time zone has a chance for first shot at the Vielo. Sure, some will complain even at this. Ever hear the phrases "Patience is a Virtue" or 'Wait your turn" ?

Remember when you could pawn your wares or loot in unlimited quantities without the price changing? Why did we do this? Two reasons come readily to mind. First was the Form and Tech Auction Madness. Thankfully this particular phenomenon has long ago died a natural death. The other reason? Well, with a permanent pack of Vielo with unlimitied stock it was to buy stuff from the Vielo, primarily Nadia's comps, what else? The fix? The pawnbrokers now only pay full price to a certain amount then the price paid falls away rapidly. Did it fix the economy? No but, it's swirling faster in the bowl. Did it slow down the shopping at Nadia? Not even a nudge. Wouldn't it have been easier to randomize the timing and location of Nadia's appearances and randomize the content and amount of her stock? Sure, some are gonna howl that the rich are gonna buy out all the good comps and either keep em or sell em for outragious sums. True, they'll buy em, they may stash em and they may sell em. And if someone pays that outragious sum...well... If Nadia is completely and utterly random think you for one minute that the hunters won't be out in force hunting those good comps? You bet they will, they can compete now and obtain a fair wage for risk taken and time invested during the hunt. And they will quickly make the buyers of Nadia's entire stock look very foolish.

Remember when Novians could be traded or sold? Sure, you had what you have now, folks buying and stripping plots for Novians. So what? They buy the plot fair and square don't they? Yes. As owner of the plot they can do with it as they wish can't they? Yes. Do they sometimes buy and strip plots containing shops near resource fields? Yes. Do this cause howls of anger? Yes. "Somebody bought So and So's plot and stripped it for Novians!" Jeez, you'd think the complainers here thought the plot and structures on it were theirs. Not so. I say that if the complainers are so worried about a given plot disappearing with it's shops and machines, then THEY should buy it. Already own a plot? Waah. Open another account and buy it, sell current plot and buy it. So what happened? Novians are now attuned. Did this slow down the buying and stripping of plots? Not a bit, sports fans. All it did was make the economy swirl faster in the bowl. Wouldn't it have been just as easy to leave the Novians as they were? At least we had some buying and selling happening.

Remember when there was a player base worthy of the name? Once upon a time, WE HAD NUMBERS! Now we don't. No numbers, no economy. We have a barter system at best now.

And then what economy we had reached the bottom of the bowl and disappeared from sight.

Remember when you first heard about the War? Then remember when you first said "What war?" What war we have is pretty much event based now. That ain't a war folks. I don't know what you'd call it but it ain't a war and that's for sure and for certain.

Remember when most, if not all, resource fields were guarded and had finishing machines nearby? IMO, this needs to return. And with a vengence. Remember the Golem Keepers? Bring em back and have em for every tier. Treant Keepers could be made, bring back the enraged wisps. Put mundane guards in ALL resource fields with a named Leader type Guard and the special guards. Put back the finishing machines. What will this do? First, it will resemble a war. Second, it will make crafting riskier and hopefully causing crafters to think twice about doing a job for free when they consider the risk. Ok, I know the pure crafters and low adventure crafters are going to scream bloody murder over this. Well, too bad boys and girls. Wars don't just inconvenience or cause risk to those who wish to participate. Wars are risky and inconvenient to EVERYONE! I have studied The Arts and Sciences of Warfare for over 30 years and I can tell you without hesitation that wars ALWAYS bring risk to non-combatants. So what's a crafter to do? Ask an adventurer to clear an area in the spawn. This works, it will give the crafter a 30-45 minute window to happily craft with little to no interference from the guards. The crafter could pay a little more attention to his surroundings. You know guards spawn there, watch out for em, if they get too close move. The crafter could also ask the adventurer to remain in the area as a bodyguard. Offer payment, services rendered etc. Often the adventurer will be satisfied with the loot he gets from killing the guards. All of this DOES require the adventurers in Istaria to be willing to help the crafters and I think most are willing. Of course, there will be times when adventurers are simply not available for guard duty. Kinda sounds like a real war doesn't it?


Remember when you got your first Death Penalty? Was sort of scary at first until it was discovered to be a paper tiger. Death and Death Penalties in Istaria are toothless. The proposed changes give em teeth and sharp ones at that. With the proposed Confectioner change, this may stimulate a resurgance in an economy on a very limited basis.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The Vielo weren't really broken at first, just needed some fine tuning. Well, The Vielo are 'fixed' now. The pawnbrokers were never broken but they sure as hell are now. The Novians weren't broken and the 'fix' didn't fix them but, it broke something else. The player base has shrunk, probably because 'broken' things were 'fixed'. The War has been broken since Gawd Knows When.

I fully understand that ya can't please all the people all the time. Judging from the threads I see, not much of anyone is pleased. The above is what I see as the reasons why. And yet we continue to pay our monthly fee to play a 'broken' game. Why? Certainly the Community is the finest bar none. And the promise this game holds, the potential if you will. Inspite of the 'fixes' and existing bugs it's still fun to play. I for one, think it's high time to address and enhance the game's strong points and stop fixing things that were never broken to begin with.