25-September-2013 - Runescape Bonds

[Hoet]

But here's the issue - won't R/S Bonds now allow someone to buy R/S gear or skills, using IRL money, and do so "legitimately"?

 

If so, what will this do the game's economy? Will it drive prices up? Down? Existentially sideways? :unsure:

There is only one reason to buy Bonds for $5 each: to trade them for gold / items. The original purchaser of the Bond has no other incentive whatsoever to buy them. Membership, Runecoins, SoF spins are all cheaper if bought directly.

 

1 Bond = $5 each

 

Redeemable for:

 

- 14 days of membership ($0.35 / day)

- 8 Squeal of Fortune spins ($0.63 / spin)

- 160 RuneCoins ($0.03125 / Runecoin)

 

Prices on Runescape.com:

 

- 30 days of membership for $8 ($0.267 / day)

- 10 Squeal of Fortune Spins ($0.5 / spin)

- $5 for 200 Runecoins ($0.025 / Runecoin)

[chenw]

The way I see it is that if you buy bonds and sell them for GP, and use that GP to buy say.. Drygores, and the other guy uses the bond to say buy runecoins for overrides, you have paid his runecoins, while he paid for your drygores.

 

The initial and final result is roughly the same as before, its the person doing the initial and the person receiving final result is different.

[kamil1210]

price update: bougt bond for 6m

[Reliable]

WoW hasn't had a bond kind of transaction in their existence, no.

 

They are however, introducing ways to buy 300% exp potions for real life money, but are testing it on Korean (i think) servers first, as they pay for the internet by the hour apparently. And yes, most people are throwing a fit over it.

 

 

On the Runescape side, I'm very indifferent about it, since I was calling for in game gp buying the moment buyable spins were even introduced. At least the way they did it (for now) is ALOT less harmful to the game/economy as an outright gold shop. But I wouldn't hold my breath at that not coming out in the end either.

 

It's too bad, can afford multiple years of RuneScape with my current gp, yet have absolutely no temptation of doing so because I have a hard time believing with the state of the game, it will even exist a few years down the road, let alone find the motivation to return to it by then.

[RSDwaynee]

The way I see it is that if you buy bonds and sell them for GP, and use that GP to buy say.. Drygores, and the other guy uses the bond to say buy runecoins for overrides, you have paid his runecoins, while he paid for your drygores.

 

The initial and final result is roughly the same as before, its the person doing the initial and the person receiving final result is different.

 

True but it still goes against everything Jagex have 'supposedly' stood against for so long.

Jagex themselves are now gold farmers & we are the bots grinding away for hours making the GP for Jagex to sell.. That's how I see it.

 

The little money sink they have created is good but eh, I'm still not fully impressed by all this.

[Blofeld]

It's something no nes really touched on yet, but I'm really looking forward to the charity donations part of it becomng available. As long as Jagex don't take a cut from it other than enough to cover their transaction costs that is, i.e donating a token to charity should give a $4.95-$5 donation

 

I think there could be some really awesome community events from it, you know, see how much the community can raise for charity in game in a week. There could even be a highscores for the most raised-though that could be controversial.

I wonder which charities they will choose though?

[Antaeus]

It's something no nes really touched on yet, but I'm really looking forward to the charity donations part of it becomng available. As long as Jagex don't take a cut from it other than enough to cover their transaction costs that is, i.e donating a token to charity should give a $4.95-$5 donation

 

I think there could be some really awesome community events from it, you know, see how much the community can raise for charity in game in a week. There could even be a highscores for the most raised-though that could be controversial.

I wonder which charities they will choose though?

That's something I'm looking forward to as well. On the Q&A stream they mentioned they have a couple of charities that they favor, and they might allow community choice in future.

[Sy_Accursed]

 

 

For the sake of asking, weren't "bonds" used in other gaming systems, specifically WoW and MapleStory, and didn't they pretty much FUBAR the economies of both games?

 

I am not sure of my facts on this, but this is my recollection on this issue ... :unsure:

Maplestory directly sold gold at prices that were never matched by their goldselling counterparts and never could stop the goldsellers nor punish the buyers effectively. My friends bought gold from sellers rather than MS frequently. It was more viable than grinding for hours in a place specifically good for moneymaking at the sacrifice of EXP shortly before we all quit.

 

As for WoW, I don't know if they've ever implemented a bond-like system. Maybe someone else can clarify.

 

But here's the issue - won't R/S Bonds now allow someone to buy R/S gear or skills, using IRL money, and do so "legitimately"?

 

If so, what will this do the game's economy? Will it drive prices up? Down? Existentially sideways? :unsure:

 

It shouldn't impact too much badly other than perhaps denting the top tier items as it can remove some demand for them alongside draining some gold from the economy.

 

When it comes to most skills they are still limited by the gathering, a factor that cannot be altered by money in-game or not. It may afford some users to reach buyable 99s a bit faster but as the items they need to buy are still restricted by said gathering it shouldn't hit prices too much. If anything it would increase demand vs supply and make prices better on the low end stuff.

[Calm Koala]

The idea is good.

 

Just the price of the bonds should be way higher (ingame) to compete with the Goldfarmers

 

Bond price: $5,00

Gold Price Goldfarmers: ± $0,34

 

To be able to compete with the gold farmers the bonds have to sell for atleast 14,75m

[Tim]

The idea is good.

 

Just the price of the bonds should be way higher (ingame) to compete with the Goldfarmers

 

Bond price: $5,00

Gold Price Goldfarmers: ± $0,34

 

To be able to compete with the gold farmers the bonds have to sell for atleast 14,75m

 

In saying that though, Bonds are 100% safe® and easier to buy as well as non-bannable.

[Blofeld]

Ill be honest, I think people aren’t quite grasping the supply and demand aspect of this. If the bonds are currently selling at a bad GP/$ ratio, that’s because the supply of the tokens is currently too high. Which means the system is working. So currently the way the community is acting like they are fine with the price and are buying more than needed. If the community deems using the gold farmers is a cheaper way of getting them the supply of the tokens will reduce and therefore their price will rise, probably eventually reaching equilibrium. Just give it time, this is just a transient period of instability.

 

I think it’s the fact that people consider gold farming cost in terms of of $/GP, but the tokens in terms of GP/$ that is causing some confusion as well.

[jasignhagj]

It was only time until Jagex added pure uncut RWT into the game. Final nail in the coffin for me, no way I'll be renewing my membership now.

[Noxx]

It was only time until Jagex added pure uncut RWT into the game. Final nail in the coffin for me, no way I'll be renewing my membership now.

So because, as a company, Jagex is trying to combat something that has a bad influence on their game (while, of course, making an extra bit of money from it), you want to cry over it?

Honestly, that is ass-backwards.

 

The idea of bonds is great. I remember when i moved to the Middle East at first i had the hardest time acquiring membership because my bank card was the wrong type, we had no membership cards in stores, and i didn't have paypal back then. Something like this would help people in that situation. It's a good approach on RWT.

[strilmus]

 

It was only time until Jagex added pure uncut RWT into the game. Final nail in the coffin for me, no way I'll be renewing my membership now.

So because, as a company, Jagex is trying to combat something that has a bad influence on their game (while, of course, making an extra bit of money from it), you want to cry over it?

Honestly, that is ass-backwards.

 

The idea of bonds is great. I remember when i moved to the Middle East at first i had the hardest time acquiring membership because my bank card was the wrong type, we had no membership cards in stores, and i didn't have paypal back then. Something like this would help people in that situation. It's a good approach on RWT.

 

the funny thing is that, instead of renewing your membership, you should just BUY BONDS WITH GOLD AND USE THOSE INSTEAD

 

hell, there isn't even any advantage due to the laughable exchange rate for spins

[Antaeus]

That security is what has opened up a revenue stream for Jagex that third-party goldsellers can't tap in to (some people just don't want to risk that). Goldsellers' prices aren't the only thing that will affect the GP value of bonds. In order for someone to get GP/items for purchased bonds, there has to be a player willing to trade their GP/items. So the worth of membership/spins/runecoins(and in the future, other items) in terms of GP is a factor as well.

[Fallstar]

The GW2 system lets you buy gems, which are the MTX currency. However they also let the players sell those gems to other players for in game gold.

 

They don't define it like Jagex do with 1 bond = 8 spins, they let players determine the price of gems in terms of in game gold.

 

 

IMO this works better. If they simplified things into one MTX currency, instead of the 2 + bonds which are kind of but not really MTX currency, then things would be much smoother.

 

So you'd have a single MTX currency which can be used on the SoF and the SGS, and which can also be redeemed for membership and traded freely between players for in game gold.

 

This would keep the price of bonds (or whatever the currency would be called) higher long term IMO, making it a more effective counter to 3rd party trading.

[Vex]

Noice, can save $10 a month.

[Fallstar]

Would also just like to add that MTX is done so much better in GW2 and basically every other MMO I've played than it is in RS, with the [bleep]ing annoying in your face yelps squealing all over the place.

[perseauk]

Ultimately people may buy gold from farmes to pay for membership because this way its cheaper. Jagex shot themselves in the leg imo.

[Ginger_Warrior]

It was only time until Jagex added pure uncut RWT into the game. Final nail in the coffin for me, no way I'll be renewing my membership now.

So because, as a company, Jagex is trying to combat something that has a bad influence on their game (while, of course, making an extra bit of money from it), you want to cry over it?

Honestly, that is ass-backwards.

Oh come on, that's a blatant misrepresentation on what was actually said. Stick to the points made.

[Fallstar]

Yeah buying gold from a 3rd party site and using that gold to buy bonds for membership is a lot cheaper than just buying membership. Although Jagex still profit from the player who bought the bonds of course.

[Antaeus]

Ultimately people may buy gold from farmes to pay for membership because this way its cheaper. Jagex shot themselves in the leg imo.

Any time a bond is redeemed, Jagex will have gained more than if someone had outright bought the service with cash from Jagex. (Only exception being 2 RuneFest tickets for 35 bonds).

[Emaxganis]

 

It was only time until Jagex added pure uncut RWT into the game. Final nail in the coffin for me, no way I'll be renewing my membership now.

So because, as a company, Jagex is trying to combat something that has a bad influence on their game (while, of course, making an extra bit of money from it), you want to cry over it?

Honestly, that is ass-backwards.

 

The idea of bonds is great. I remember when i moved to the Middle East at first i had the hardest time acquiring membership because my bank card was the wrong type, we had no membership cards in stores, and i didn't have paypal back then. Something like this would help people in that situation. It's a good approach on RWT.

 

Please, dont be so naive.

They arent fighting anything with these, just trying to get some % of the illegal RSGP market out there knowing they will never be able to erradicate it nor compete with it.

[Emaxganis]

Ultimately people may buy gold from farmes to pay for membership because this way its cheaper. Jagex shot themselves in the leg imo.

Not really, someone will be paying for those bonds they are not giving away anything.

Its even better for them since they sell membership at a higher cost than today

[helring]

The GW2 system lets you buy gems, which are the MTX currency. However they also let the players sell those gems to other players for in game gold.

 

They don't define it like Jagex do with 1 bond = 8 spins, they let players determine the price of gems in terms of in game gold.

 

 

Except that's exactly what Jagex did. Jagex hasn't controlled the gp price of bonds at all. The gp price of bonds can rise and fall as players trade them.