how to "fix" the key (question mark???)

[jun]

So I understand that the ref value of keys go up and up because of random drops constantly pumping refined metal into the game, which makes it weaker.

 

Can someone explain how (if even possible) would the economy of a game that only adds to the feedback loop make the value of refined metal strong again and decrease the ref price of keys? Just asking for hypothetical solutions if anyone knows (I assume no one knows since it only goes up)

 

THANKS

[Alecto]

1 hour ago, jun said:

So I understand that the ref value of keys go up and up because of random drops constantly pumping refined metal into the game, which makes it weaker.

 

Can someone explain how (if even possible) would the economy of a game that only adds to the feedback loop make the value of refined metal strong again and decrease the ref price of keys? Just asking for hypothetical solutions if anyone knows (I assume no one knows since it only goes up)

 

THANKS

Basically it relies on Valve creating a way to spend refined on something people want (commonly referred to as a 'ref sink')
At this point all you can craft is weapons (all worth half a scrap anyway) and craft hats (which are very abundant and easily obtained through trading websites)

[Interesting Ice-cream]

Maybe introduce certain cosmetics or weapons that can only obtained through crafting. Or add like a item grade like "Own Crafted" to items that are obtained through crafting. Anything that incentivises people to use their metal, I guess.

[Mr Furley]

If there were a small chance to get unusuals through crafting, maybe even an exclusive effect, ref would have more value 

[MustardWombat]

1 hour ago, Mr Furley said:

If there were a small chance to get unusuals through crafting, maybe even an exclusive effect, ref would have more value 

 

I like the exclusive effect idea, but giving you the ability to craft unusual hats that already existed would obviously be bad, even if you were to make the odds extremely low, it would have to something like 0.01% not to instantly kill the market, it would be extremely boring to try to get the unusual with 0.01%.

[LaughingLollipop]

Before you fix anything, ask if its broken

 

What is wrong with keys?

 

Sure looks to me like Valve is selling them at a constant $2.49 pricepoint (2.49 inflation adjusted to 2020 from 2010 is $2.96)

Sure looks to me like the secondary market is somewhere in the historical range (at the high end of recent history as we speak, $1.9 per on a 'safe' site, 1.6/7 doing bits of coins p2p)

Sure looks to me like they're still a currency

[jun]

1 hour ago, LaughingLollipop said:

Before you fix anything, ask if its broken

 

What is wrong with keys?

 

Sure looks to me like Valve is selling them at a constant $2.49 pricepoint (2.49 inflation adjusted to 2020 from 2010 is $2.96)

Sure looks to me like the secondary market is somewhere in the historical range (at the high end of recent history as we speak, $1.9 per on a 'safe' site, 1.6/7 doing bits of coins p2p)

Sure looks to me like they're still a currency

better wording would've been fixing the ref oop

[Beaser]

Its a good thing that refined is where it is. At it's price right now refined is pretty stable, and it will be stable like this until Valve would release an update where it would affect currency. Since there is so much refined it would be very difficult to create a "ref sink". Crafting as many hats as possible wont solve the abundance of ref mainly because it would crash the unique hat market and every 12 year old trying to scrap2unusual will whine.

 

TL:DR - ref is good where it is

[Scott Bakula]

I can think of a few good ways Valve can introduce an effective refined sink:

 

1) Launch another wave of Chemistry Kits or a new Bread Box style item. When these things came out, there was a huge desire to complete them, which at the time, cleaned up a lot of excess items laying around. Another round could clean up a bit.

 

2) Introduce new craftable consumables. If Valve had things like noisemakers that a person could craft for 2-4 refined, we'd see people using their pocket change for a bit of fun. Other things I can think of would be something that could be used on a skin/war paint to give it a new random seed, or a potion of sorts that gives spell-like effects for a half hour or so.

 

3) A community challenge. Tease a new map, but everyone has to collectively donate so much refined to unlock it. Incentivize things further by making a leaderboard, and link it to a badge item or have the top contributors enshrined somewhere on the map.