Inflation - the increase of the price level of items over a sustained period of time, it erodes your real purchasing power.

So, the story is, I was gazing at this ammy in the AH. According to my DPS calculator, it will increase my DPS by 11,500, or 7.8% increase to my existing 147K total DPS. The listed price is 60m. I compared a few similar, and could not find any bargain. I was having a tough call, should I spend 60m on this ammy? Do I really need it, since I only farm MP0 at already 147K DPS? If I keep my gold, will I be able to afford a better ammy next time, or will it become cheaper next time? For that ammy, I don't know the answer.

In D3 we are lack of both gear sink and gold sink. Let's say we group gears into 3 categories:

1) Low level gears which can help you progress through inferno, but bad at farming, and is now hard to sell for even 10-50k at times
2) Mid level gears, something I am wearing now
3) High level gears with perfect stats

Inflation happens when the supply of gold > supply of gears.

Category 3) is subject to inflation heavily, since gold keep added to the game via farming, but the chance to roll uber stats is rarer. Inflation doesn't happen to Category 1), in which the prices of gears are already plummeting towards vendor prices. It also doesn't quite happen to Category 2), in which more and more gears of such quality are found, or being resold cheaper by players who have obtained a better upgrade. For a fact I know that I am in Category 2), since I have difficulty reselling my gears even at 40% discount, and I have sold a few of mine at a loss (in millions per piece).

For players who are around 50K DPS, it would become cheaper and cheaper to upgrade to 100K then 150K DPS. 150K DPS is where I am now, and I can see that the market prices of my gears depreciate day by day.

So, do I mis-state anything above? Does inflation bother you? What are you going to do to beat inflation?

1) Just play the game. Don't use AH. Ignore trading element.
2) Farm gold like crazy, hope to beat inflation.
3) Keep gold and don't spend, hope the price of gears (Category 2?) will fall.

For players with lowish to mid DPS, I would say farm fast, upgrade fast so that you can farm faster for uber gears. There is a point that you would be satisfied with your farming efficiency and need not upgrade further unless you find a bargain.

What do you guys think? You could be at various stages (of DPS level, of gold level) and observe different things. I can keep accumulating gold but I never know what will I be spending them on next time........could be a few upgrades when all their prices have come down due to oversupply, or I could never afford the best gear (unless I have accumulated 2 billions and the best gear in the GAH is capped by 2 billions buyout....for me to see only)

I'm not answering your question but I've been thinking on the AH for some time. and this is why the AH in hardcore really works as there's a constant & random sink where big value goes (players with expensive items die) and people creating new chars need low level items and also mid level gear so in general the market is more active across a broad range or products & price points. Softcore it really small margins on commodities or absolute luck on a good roll.

Since I was late to the party and didn't start playing really until mid-July I'm still working on #2 - having just recently broken the 50k dps mark myself.

Instead of farming gold, however, i'm playing auction house tycoon and trying to make my money flipping items. I've found my niche (zuni pox rings) and have flipped over 100 rings now.

I'm basically up to around 50M gold. When I hit 100M gold I'll look to make my first "big" purchase - spending anywhere from 30m - 60m gold on a decent upgrade and hoping to take my dps to 75k. I don't want to use all the gold as I need a decent base in order to keep flipping items - though I'll most likely need to find a different item as the price of "basic" zuni rings has dropped from 900k when I started to around 400k now, and are even cheaper if you play the sniping game as you can get a good deal in the 250k - 300k range.

Also I'm certainly willing to accept hand-outs if anybody finds anything that will upgrade me that they're finished with and wish to pass on.

Trade your SC gold for HC gold and start playing HC :)

That's my solution 3mths back

Posted by ctng81 at 12/20/2012 07:35 AM

Trade your SC gold for HC gold and start playing HC :)

That's my solution 3mths back

I've thought of that, but if I do HC then I'm going to do it the right way. I'll start on MP10 and only do self-found items - no AH, no gifts - just play the game through without any help what-so-ever.

Posted by baccarat0809 at 12/20/2012 06:03 AM

Since I was late to the party and didn't start playing really until mid-July I'm still working on #2 - having just recently broken the 50k dps mark myself.

Instead of farming gold, however, i'm playing auction house tycoon and trying to make my money flipping items. I've found my niche (zuni pox rings) and have flipped over 100 rings now.

I'm basically up to around 50M gold. When I hit 100M gold I'll look to make my first "big" purchase - spending anywhere from 30m - 60m gold on a decent upgrade and hoping to take my dps to 75k. I don't want to use all the gold as I need a decent base in order to keep flipping items - though I'll most likely need to find a different item as the price of "basic" zuni rings has dropped from 900k when I started to around 400k now, and are even cheaper if you play the sniping game as you can get a good deal in the 250k - 300k range.

Also I'm certainly willing to accept hand-outs if anybody finds anything that will upgrade me that they're finished with and wish to pass on.

100 rings? Achievement unlocked.........."Lord of the Rings"!

Posted by baccarat0809 at 12/20/2012 07:48 AM

Posted by ctng81 at 12/20/2012 07:35 AM

Trade your SC gold for HC gold and start playing HC :)

That's my solution 3mths back

I've thought of that, but if I do HC then I'm going to do it the right way. I'll start on MP10 and only do self-found items - no AH, no gifts - just play the game through without any help what-so-ever.

That's a nice challenge for yourself! i personally find that very very hard to stay alive T_T