Developer K has put up another post.

The Gold Flow

• As you may already know, I have been observing the gold flow over the years, and have been revising the supply and demand through large and small patches. In fact, I think that I have improved the gold flow, but I still have to be careful when dealing with the “gold cycle.”

What will you do to change the flow?

• I want to let you know that I am being careful with regards to gold. The issue with gold now is the disparity. There is a large difference in investment and playtime between hardcore and casual players, but even so, the difference in their respective gold supplies is too severe.

Gold Disparity

• There are two factors that can affect the disparity: one is simply the difference in the supply itself, and the other is the gold sink. In a nutshell, the best players have consistently gained a huge amount of gold, but they do not put this gold into the system.
• For example, in recent years, the amount of gold in the economy has been increasing, and marketplace prices are falling, but more than 98% of players do not earn enough gold for enhancement costs. Why do prices fall when players lack gold? Because most of the gold is concentrated in the top percent of players.

New January Spirit

First Initiative to Improve Gold Flow - Gold Sinks for Advanced Players

• In the Thai server, I added Level 95 Ultimate Enhancement heraldries in last month’s donation rewards, and it did a great job in draining gold from the top players. If a gold sink is introduced, it should be a system that targets and satisfies the best players, like in Thailand, rather than one that collects gold from all players. Although there is some probability and gambling in this, I think that the competitive factor works well for the top players.

Second Initiative to Improve Gold Flow - Reduce Gold Supply of Advanced Players

• Although advanced players make a lot of gold, they also have put in the most effort (overwhelming playtime) to earn that gold. I do not intend to reduce gold earned through the formal route. I think that the situation can improve if the aforementioned “gold sinks for advanced players” is updated well.

Third Initiative to Improve Gold Flow - Increase Gold Supply of Standard Players

• In fact, the fundamental issue is that most players participate in a gold sink (enhancing). For example, I currently need 200,000 gold to completely enhance Legendary Tier 1 equipment. Is it possible for standard players to earn 200,000 gold?
• As players become stronger through content, gold deficiencies may certainly arise, but for now, I am assuming that there is an extreme gold shortage, which has been taken for granted for a long time.

What’s Wrong?

• The only place where everyone can earn gold is through level 95 dungeons, which is basic content. However, as the gold drop increases, more and more users are spamming this content, forcing standard players to do the same.
• In this way, a person with four characters can earn four times the amount of gold as a standard player. You can make a profit with alt characters by stripping them of their gear, since we had a patch last year where we reduced repair costs and the gold supply.
• In summary, I have to spread out the gold drops in basic content, but since this does not prevent spamming dungeons, it seems that I am missing something important. We have taken for granted the status of the gold supply for a long time.

Solving This Age-Old Issue

• The solution is simple. I have now designed dungeons as solo stages without considering that there may be four players. In other words, when four people enter a dungeon, the gold drop will no longer quadruple. The gold drop will be fixed. Dungeons are now solitary endeavors, unless you decide to share the gold drops with other people.
• Instead, I have raised the gold drop significantly. The existing 8 gold per run has been increased to 40 gold, and weekly and daily missions earn you 1,000 gold. When I tested it out, I earned about 5,000 gold per week. I think it will be painful to continuously use up all your FTG, so I have adjusted the daily FTG to last for about 40-50 minutes.
• In February, I will add quests that give you additional rewards for doing all of the dungeons, to prevent you from repeatedly running one dungeon.

January Cash Shop Hat

Abundant Talisman

• This is the last issue. In order to fairly increase the gold supply at the game’s core, I inevitably have to reduce the influence of this talisman. It has been added to the Crystal Shop for all players to purchase.
• I have changed the gold generation increase from 50% to 15%, and have changed the rewards from item extraction, Crystal Store, and guild tablet accordingly.
• Existing talismans will retain their 50% effect, and new ones will have the 15% effect.

Don’t you care about advanced players?

• I know that downgrading the profits of these players is detestable (gobbling up their profits), but I believe that this is the best way to attract new players. Rest assured; I am not going to stop here. I am working on a patch to increase the amount of gold in the game overall, but this is the largest obstacle for now.

How will playtime change in the future?

• First of all, FTG will play a greater role. The daily FTG will make you conscious of the gold that you are making and you will have to consider what content to run with your FTG. If you want to make more gold, you will have to use FTG potions, or create an alt to run more dungeons.

Will gold prices fall?

• This sudden patch for gold supply may cause gold prices to fall. However, if the system’s demand for gold is large, and you are motivated to advance in the game, I do not think that the gold shortage will simply be solved by an increase in supply. I think the ideal result would be if players exhaust their FTG to solve their gold deficiencies, increasing their playtime.

So gold drop will increase, but playtime will not change?

• Almost. Players who can get past their lack of gold will still play, but most players will not significantly increase their playtime just to resolve their gold shortage. However, I think this is an important change.
• While there is originally a gold shortage, it is complemented by the fact that you can play more to overcome it.

Future Plans

• As I have done so far, I will continue to watch the gold flow and supplement it as needed. I think that I will be adding gold-related improvements every 2-3 months. I will act slowly and carefully so as to not disrupt the gold flow. I wish to continue sharing my developer diaries with you in the future so that we can make this a better game.

I have one last thing to say.

I want Dragon Nest to be a blast.

All of these patches are meant to be fun.

I want to fill in the game’s gaps and enjoy it with you all.

If you have read up to here, I want you to know that you are a special Dragon Nest player.

Thanks for reading this long and boring post.