Since 2022,The Elder Scrolls Onlinehas seen a significant increase in its market prices. In the past, the average price of a gold-tier material like dreugh wax was around 5,000 gold, but today it sits around 50,000. This 1:10 ratio holds true for many other items as well.
It’s not exactly easy to pinpoint the source ofThe Elder Scrolls Online’s economic inflation, as it could be many things. However, it is easy to say that things may get much worse since the Necrom expansion could end up having a negative impact on the economy if nothing is done.
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The Life Cycle of The Elder Scrolls Online’s Economy
Economic inflation is not a rare occurrence in MMOs. As time goes on and without restriction, the collective mass of players will obtain so much in-game currency that it will eventually lose its value as a calculable currency. Developers usually counter this issue through the use of gold sinks. Gold sinks are usually methods of essentially “deleting” currency from the game.Final Fantasy 14andOld School Runescapeemploy a trading tax that takes a certain amount of currency and removes it from the game.ZeniMax Online’sThe Elder Scrolls Onlineis no different, requiring these systems due to its age.
The gamehas quite a few gold sinks, ranging across all types of content. Gear is in constant need of repairs which costs gold, housing can cost players millions, andThe Elder Scrolls Online’s best furnishingsfrom the gold vendor also have high prices. Despite all of these gold sinks,The Elder Scrolls Onlinestill suffers from inflation. Part of this is because there are way more methods that generate gold than there are gold sinks. The gold sinks simply cannot keep up, especially when ones like housing are one-time-purchases. This has lead to a build up of in-game currency over the years that has finally toppled over into the economy.
Another issue that actually comes from a solution to another problem is the ban waves ofThe Elder Scrolls Online’s bots. Despite bots being normally seen as an overall negative on online games, they tend to do quite a lot of heavy lifting in MMOs. In fact, many MMO economies are held up by the constant influx of materials that bots bring in.The Elder Scrolls Onlinehas done a good job at banning these bots, however the lack of them may have driven certain materials to become scarce. This would explain why prices shot up so quickly within the span of a single year. However, bots cannot be pointed to as the sole source ofThe Elder Scroll Online’s inflation issue, as prices for other goods have skyrocketed as well.
The Elder Scrolls Online’s Necrom expansioncould make this issue worse. With every expansion, new money-making methods are introduced to the game. Players could continue to shovel money into an economy that doesn’t have enough gold sinks to ensure stability. This would be worse for newer players in particular, as they don’t have access to late-game money-making methods. Players who are returning to the game may also find that their wealth may not be as substantial as it was before. As a result, economic inflation could drown new players while also greatly devaluingThe Elder Scrolls Online’s currency for existing players.
WithThe Elder Scrolls Onlinemoving away from its annual content cycle, perhaps its promised quality of life update in Q3 could alleviate these issues. An MMO’s economy is important for supporting a player’s endeavors, both new and old. If nothing is done, it could severely impact the game’s longevity.
The Elder Scrolls Onlineis available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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