Economy Management

This is another gameplay-related dev blog, where we want to share our plans and thoughts about the economy, which is another pillar of Selene, and one we take very seriously and take measurements for. In the upcoming weeks, We will unlock the Balanced Economy feature card with summarized information on this topic. # Currency (Mesos) Mesos (or any currency in a given situation), is both the core of the economy and yet the least important part to work on. Why? Because money by itself doesn't mean much, What is the value of 1 billion USD if you are alone on a deserted island? (Maybe you can burn it to generate heat?). There isn't much to say about mesos itself. Still, everything we will be altering is related directly to the total amount of mesos in the entire server, as well as the distribution of it between players. Don't get this wrong; we don't believe in Communism, the game needs to be rewarding to players who are willing to achieve new heights. However, a situation where new players come across a giant wall (that is hugely inflated prices, for example) - is something we would rather avoid and deal with from the first day of Selene. Ideally, without the massive inflation that other servers quickly experience, the overall server meso amount would be significantly lower. Regardless, the 2.147b cap that we're all so familiar with will be removed, meaning that items will no longer need to be used as currency, such as White Scrolls, Chaos Scrolls, and custom 'bil coins' that multiple servers use. **What is the meso rate?** You can look at it as 1x, but it's not that simple. Since we're focusing on balancing the economy, we don't want mob meso drops to introduce too many mesos into circulation. As a result, we'll be using a custom formula that results from our balance testing. # Drops While mesos is the least affecting topic, drops are undoubtedly significant, and altering the drop rate is a very effective way to control the economy. There are a couple of things to consider here: How often will items drop? How good will those items be for use? What will be the store value of the items ("NPCing")? One common issue in many servers nowadays is the ridiculous inflation of equips, making any item that is not godly completely useless. That also leads to the player's inventory filling up way too quickly, forcing them to return to town to get rid of their worthless items and clear space for new ones. We believe that equipment should have a higher value in the game. Every equipment should be valuable and can be used by players as a viable option. Bottom line: The approach we take is that equips are harder to find but are always viable for more than selling to the nearest shop. **What is the drop rate?** The untold truth many people are unaware of is that drop rate is quite an irrelevant number because no server has an accurate drop table. We are trying to make Selene’s drop table feel as equipments are rarer than common ETC drops but potions are pretty common. **What about the new players?** With low rates for both mesos and drops, we expect people to have less mesos to spare generally. This can be a problem for lower levels and new players who will run out of money quickly by merely buying potions and essential pieces of equipment. We have addressed this issue, and we will be giving a significant discount on low tier potions in both Maple Island and Victoria Island. We are also looking into involving more consumables as rewards for low-level quests that will help players survive through their days in Selene without having to spend 90% of the time sitting on chairs to heal. # Taxes "*The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets.*" Taxing is another option on the table to help us balance the economy by taxing any action taken by the player. We are looking into adaptive taxing that will change according to the economy's needs and will enable a steady, balanced growth curve instead of massive inflation. # ETC Value We are looking into ways to make ETC value higher, so it's worth collecting. Another focus is on ores. We have plenty of exciting ideas on how to make ores meaningful for gameplay and increase their value drastically. # Mesos sink There are endless ways to create mesos sinks that help to reduce the amount of mesos in the server and help fight inflation. A few ideas we have in our minds: - Adaptive prices on special items vendors. - Adaptive prices for ride tickets between continents. - Crafting System: more on that in later dev blogs… # Conclusion The economy is a hard topic to strike, and it requires a lot of attention to small details and planning as it changes over time. We will keep working on finding solutions to balancing the economy in Selene, and once everything has been wrapped up, the Balanced economy feature card will be revealed with final details about it. We are excited to share these details with you and keep on sharing more in the future. And as always, if you have any questions, suggestions, thoughts, or anything else, make sure to join [Selene's Discord](https://discord.playselene.com) and share those with us.