Auctions?

Malayn

We haven't had any auctions for real years or so now.....

Can we pull credits out of the economy and stop just adding everything to the cart?

Doesn't even have to be new artifacts, even release some of the ones you acknowledge were prior auction only. 

Maybe even multiples!

CyndarinAscends

I'm pretty sure they've said in the past auctions do not generate income for Lusternia. It appears that these promotions are designed to generate actual money.

Demartel

I also prefer these promotions to auctions.

Eldanien

The big ticket items belong in an auction, in my opinion.  I can't imagine plunking down $750 (after membership) for that rune.  That's the sort of thing where you look at your existing supply of credits, give your existing artis a good hard look, and decide how much you're willing to sacrifice to trade in for the big, rare objet d'e-peen.  Probably crying on the inside and hoping to later, eventually, buy back some of what you gave up to acquire it.

Where that threshold is between items you'd buy outright and items you'd trade up for would differ by person, of course, but I know there's plenty of people for whom the 1-2k credit items are firmly in the wishlist rather than the purchase list.

edit: That said, I'm not a big fan of auctions of unique items.  Limited edition items tend to make me cringe.

Falaeron

On the other hand, many of these limited edition artifacts cost more than what you'd expect them to cost if they weren't so limited. My understanding is that many of the auction artifacts that get sold later have their price set by their going price at the auctions, so that will inflate the prices of these. The crit rune is just an extreme example of this.

Xenthos

I'm unsure if anyone would ever buy that crit rune given its cost.  HOWEVER, if you are on the fence about it, consider this (I asked Estarra):
If you buy that rune, Estarra will refund you the credit value of any lesser crit rune you have (essentially functioning as an upgrade).  So you'd be buying the rune + getting a pile of credits on top of it based on what your current crit artifact is at.  Doesn't lessen the RL$ cost, but oh well.

Talan

Eldanien said:

the big, rare objet d'e-peen

)

Eldanien

What?  Kelly has a HUGE e-peen.  When she turns, whole crowds of people are taken out.

I admit to being jealous.

(Assuming my memory serves correctly about who won that auction item way back in the day.)

Falaeron

4500 cr is something I see myself saving for over a long period of time, but it is a tough ask for anyone to drop that much $ into it in one go.

Vivet

Once upon a time, I wished for auctions. Now I'm just content to sit on my dragon's hoard and use it flippantly sometimes - like buying people aether whistles when I know they'll be likely to put one to good use.

I have to admit, an auction would not get me to buy credits. It'd just get me excited to find more use for what's already sitting around.

Kaimanahi

Look, I could have had the rune for less, but pretty sure @Ixion was screwing me over by upbidding it. But I wanted to win Death seal! And be the very best like no one ever was duh nuh nuh nuh. So I did. I got a 2000-credit return on the investment, and then great hunt wins and other things thereafter. The guide to winning Lusternia should include: "Spend credits to enable opportunities to get more credits."

Auctions unfortunately favor the rich and the min/maxers who are looking for the edge in Ascension. And then @Xenthos buys up all the cool flavor artis.

Tridemon

I just want drums, really.

Lavinya

I have a lot of credits in game I don't know how to spend. I want an auction to frivolously throw credits at. Or the ability to buy goop/crystals in game.

Xenthos

I like flavour.

Kaimanahi

Okay, I was wondering why people were talking about this. I didn't realize these artifacts were directly for sale right now. Merrr, I want some of the artifacts, but don't want to spend my moneyz. This almost incentivizes me to stop my Elite subscription, and just consider buying on worthwhile promos.

Xenthos

Kaimanahi said:

Okay, I was wondering why people were talking about this. I didn't realize these artifacts were directly for sale right now. Merrr, I want some of the artifacts, but don't want to spend my moneyz. This almost incentivizes me to stop my Elite subscription, and just consider buying on worthwhile promos.

Except you get a discount on these if you have Elite.

Ciaran

She could still save money by cancelling Elite and only re-upping when a promo is worth buying.  

Which is exactly what I'm agonizing over at the moment.

CyndarinAscends

I'm trying to move back to Texas and save money before doing so, which is the only reason why I haven't binge shopped the artie store. I got the new rune that watches one person to see if they are being attacked just because. It has dubious application but I just wanted it for reasons.

Lavinya

I cancelled my elite a few months ago for this very reason.