Yesterday, an AH whale bought 97% of the server’s market supply of Tidespray Linen, reposting just over half of it at around 150% the price.
This is one of my first posts up here so I guess I can’t link it but if you search Tidespray Linen on The Undermine Journal you can see what I’m talking about.
ER has been a small server for a long time. I’ve been here, off and on, since just before BC. The market is smaller and there are quirks involved with that, like that like higher prices and overall lower supply. Selling stuff takes longer, too. This is not that.
It’s not a normal market reset, either. TSL is a material that players practically trip over just by playing the game. The problem is pretty evident when you log in and see the capital cities almost entirely void of players.
This is what happens when your server pop is dangerously low. The reality is that without more players on the server to boost the item economy, it is not all that difficult for someone who plays daily to save up and monopolize a core market like this. I would imagine that Tailors on the server who don’t have any TSL lying around have not been able to produce much of anything at all since the price gouge.
ER’s low pop isn’t just a problem about not passing by other players ingame often enough - it has very long-reaching consequences. I’m fully on board with #mergeEarthenRing now.