It never fails to amaze me how many people, especially those who love to brag about how tough their character is, blah blah blah, fail to grasp the fundamental nature of an essentially free market.

First let me start with this preface: I feel bad that cards for clerics, etc are so expensive. I don't have the same need for cards, but it's hard for me to afford what I want too. I feel your pain.

However, empathizing with that is not enough to change some of the realities of a game economy.

Here's a couple quick tips to think about before you start your next rant on OMG THE GAME IS TOTALLY MESSED UP NOW BECAUSE I CAN"T GET EVERYTHING I WANT WAH WAH WAH.

1) The most important thing to understand is THERE IS NO SET VALUE FOR THINGS. There's no such thing as someone being greedy and driving up prices, or prices being "too high"....because thereis no set price. Just because you used to pay 500k for something does not mean that is the inherent value of that thing. If that thing becomes scarce, or more people want it, the price will go up. that's why coming up with set lists of "prices/values" for things is ridiculous. THE ONLY VALUE SOMETHING HAS IS BASED ON WHAT SOMEONE WILL PAY FOR IT. If you want to whine about prices being too high, you're kidding yourself, and need to look beyond yourself for a moment. The market only supports what someone will pay for something. That's it. Pure and simple. IF SOMEONE WILL PAY A HIGH PRICE FOR SOMETHING, THEN IT IS WORTH THAT PRICE. THAT'S HOW IT WORKS. There IS NO ABSOLUTE PRICE FOR THINGS, only a relative one.

2) Supply, meet demand.- this should be basic, but every other post someone is saying "I know about supply and demand, BUT...". there is not BUT. This game is a PURE exercise in supply and demand. There are no monopolies. People can't affect the market except in very small ways, and everyone has an equal chance to do that. So if prices are higher than you think they should be, it's NOT AN INDICATION THAT THEY"RE TOO HIGH....what it really is is an indication that you don't have a rational idea of what the value of the item currently is. if someone is charging a higher price than something is currentlly worth to people, then they will simply not be able to sell it. I can try to sell a r2 striek cube for 2 million, but no one will buy it. There's no way me charging that will raise the price of r2 strike cubes, because I can't possibly corner the market on them...which leads to..

3) THERE ARE NO MONOPOLIES IN RAPPELZ except for the original purchase of cash shop items. There is no way to game the market in anything but a very small very short time span localized way. peopl elove to complain about the price of cleric cards, as if CleriCorp, Inc. was instituting some sort of monopolistic price setting...anyone can get a card drop, and anyone can set their own price. Given that there are far too many people involved in the game, and that the drops are continuous, there simly cannot be a monopoly. your anger is misdirected at the sellers. Telling them they're charging prices that are "too high" is idiotic at best, and based solely on the fact that you want something valuable, but don't want to pay its full values. Why should they sacrifice their value to give you extra value? That makes no sense whatsoever. That has no place in an unregulated market. The very essence of this market is a place where everyone acts in their own interest. You'tre acting in yours when you want to get something cheap, and they're acting in theirs when they want to get full value for their items.

4) Scarcity is the Driver of prices, not greed. Now repeat that to yourself a few million times. Then lather, rinse , repeat. I have to laugh every time some jackhole spouts off about prices needing to be artificially lowered. THIS WOULD NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM, even if it weren't a wholly unfair and selfish thing to suggest in the first place. (I mean think about it, you're saying " I should get what I want, even if it means screwing over someone else." OTHER PEOPLE ARE NOT HERE JUST FOR YOUR BENEFIT. Thye have as much right to benefit from their efforts as you do.)..but back to THIS WOULD NOT SOLVE THE PROBLEM....why? because if something in high demand gets cheaper artificially, everyone will buy it. the problem is that THERE AREN"T ENOUGH TO GO AROUND. So you're back to square 1. The price might be artificially set at x, but that's usueless if there AREN'T ANY for you to buy. It's right back to supply and demand.

So sum it all up as RICES ARE HIGH BECAUSE DEMAND IS HIGH. it's not greed, it's not an eveil conspiracy, it's how game markets work. You need to stop being selfish, and realize that you CAN"t get everything you want for free. you need to work for it, and you're not the only one who gets to decide what prices are....people do that when they buy someting. Blaming the sellers is just laughable. It demonstrates a complete lack of perspective.