Multiple currencies

[Sheikh]

I think it would be good to have multiple currencies - like silver, gold and bronze coins - thats the simplest example.

 

The good sides of this are that it 1. Puts the world to a believable perspective from a monetary standpoint. E.g. a flagon of ale costs like 200 times less than a simple dagger. 2. It makes every bit of money count as long as money really matters in the game (which I hope it does).

 

The bad side is that it makes the game slightly less accessible. However the accessibility loss is minimized when paying for things and managing change etc is as automatic as possible.

[Infiltrator_SF]

The problem with game prices is that you can't really compare them to RL examples (even in realistic games) because if you were to do that you'd first have to get a game where you're earning 10-15 euros an hour..

Edited June 9, 2014 by Infiltrator_SF

[Sensuki]

There are multiple currencies in this game. They all get converted into copper pieces once you pick them up though, for convenience.

• Copper Ponds (Dyrwood, small copper coin) - 1 cp
• Skeyts (Vailian Republics, small copper coin) - 1 cp
• Awlds   (Eir Glanfath, large copper coin) - 1 cp
• Silver lusce (Vailian Republics, silver coin) - 3 cp
• Silver fenning (Aedyr Empire, silver coin) - 6 cp
• Suole (Vailian Republics, gold coin) - 9 cp
• Duc  (Dyrwood, gold coin) - 12 cp
• Scelling  (Aedyr Empire, gold coin) - 12 cp
• Oble (Vailian Republics, gold coin) - 18 cp
• Enîachs (Eir Glanfath, rare large adra coin) - 60 cp

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/World

Edited June 9, 2014 by Sensuki

[Messier-31]

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/World#Currency

[JFSOCC]

too bad that SA has again closed its forums

[TheTeaMustFlow]

too bad that SA has again closed its forums

 

SA?

[rjshae]

There were multiple currencies in F:NLV. I suppose it added slightly to the sense of having different cultures and governments, but beyond that it didn't make much of a difference. It was really just an additional set of numbers in the inventory.

 

Having a second currency that only certain vendors accept might provide some cultural atmosphere, particularly if the variation was geographical in nature.

[IndiraLightfoot]

Rjshae: It makes me think of all of those Underdark armours and weapons in BG2. You found quite a few, and used them, and they grew on you, and then you couldn't keep them anymore. If such systems are in place (and I would love to see that), there should be options of barter and stuff outside the cultural context. Obviously, if the weapon is nothing but a shadow in a shadow dimension, this argument goes straight down the drain.

[Mor]

I presume that in PoE World coinage is not the only currency, bartering for useful things directly should be far more common, especially as we get farther away from Defiance Bay. ( I wish that they bring the FO barter system, it would fit well here) Also, I wonder if slave trade is (e.g. in Vailia) so expansive that salve would be considered as currency in the world.

 

There were multiple currencies in F:NLV. I suppose it added slightly to the sense of having different cultures and governments, but beyond that it didn't make much of a difference. It was really just an additional set of numbers in the inventory.

 

Having a second currency that only certain vendors accept might provide some cultural atmosphere, particularly if the variation was geographical in nature.

Lets be honest, its a purely world building tidbit lore, but gamewise we should use a single currency, it's a matter of convince. Edited June 9, 2014 by Mor

[Suburban-Fox]

There are multiple currencies in this game. They all get converted into copper pieces once you pick them up though, for convenience.

 

Yay! Although I'd prefer it if they didn't convert, I can see why they did that. It always bugged me, though, how the entire world all used exactly the same coins, that had exactly the same value, for everything.

 

It still means you'll be able to travel to the country based on feudal Japan, and your currency will be accepted there - I would prefer it if you had to keep track of lots of different coins for different areas, but that's just me being uber-hardcore, and I understand that this will just inconvenience 99% of players without adding anything to the game.

Edited June 9, 2014 by Suburban-Fox

[teknoman2]

 

There are multiple currencies in this game. They all get converted into copper pieces once you pick them up though, for convenience.

 

Yay! Although I'd prefer it if they didn't convert, I can see why they did that. It always bugged me, though, how the entire world all used exactly the same coins, that had exactly the same value, for everything.

 

It still means you'll be able to travel to the country based on feudal Japan, and your currency will be accepted there - I would prefer it if you had to keep track of lots of different coins for different areas, but that's just me being uber-hardcore, and I understand that this will just inconvenience 99% of players without adding anything to the game.

 

actually you could... since money was made of silver and gold, you could just use your gold coins. let's say you wanted to buy something worth 2 local gold coins. the merchant would put 2 of his coins on a scale and match the weight with yours. often of course that lead to one side stealing the other since each country used a different alloy of gold+other metal to make  coins.

[Ink Blot]

Yay! Although I'd prefer it if they didn't convert, I can see why they did that. It always bugged me, though, how the entire world all used exactly the same coins, that had exactly the same value, for everything.

 

It still means you'll be able to travel to the country based on feudal Japan, and your currency will be accepted there - I would prefer it if you had to keep track of lots of different coins for different areas, but that's just me being uber-hardcore, and I understand that this will just inconvenience 99% of players without adding anything to the game.

 

It's definitely a simplified representation, but one I whole-heartedly agree with. I'd much rather concentrate on the story, quests, lore, and other aspects of the game than I would playing an ersatz currency exchange simulator.

[J.E. Sawyer]

I like developing currencies to help with world building but mechanically it can frustrate some people.  I think our approach should work well because if you loot a dead Vailian you'll probably find some lusce or suole and a Glanfathan chest will be full of awlds but all standard transactions in stores are simply conducted in "cp" (copper pieces) represented as a single total value in your inventory (as in the IE games).

[Silent Winter]

I prefer it this way too^

(As mentioned, it's just an abstraction of the process of weighing the coins etc).

Also glad we're dealing in CP now instead of GP - having a gold coin as the lowest form of currency seemed a bit much.  A pint of beer?  That'll be 2 gold coins please.

[teknoman2]

if you have currency from various placces, you pay with the apropriate currency at shops... the system just makes the choice automatic. however a system with multiple currencies without an abstraction to automate its use in trade would be nice in a sandbox mmo 

[rjshae]

if you have currency from various placces, you pay with the apropriate currency at shops... the system just makes the choice automatic. however a system with multiple currencies without an abstraction to automate its use in trade would be nice in a sandbox mmo 

 

A level up in sophistication would be for each settlement to have its own exchange rate for different currencies. If you want to get the most value for your currency, you'd travel to where the exchange rate is best. A simplified approach would be for each settlement to have a "preferred currency"; all others are exchanged at, say, 80% of value.

[teknoman2]

that about the exchange is nice but it wont be needed most of the time. if im in Dyrwood and i have some Ducs along with any other coin types, i ll just use the Ducs. anyway, for this game the system works fine... after all complex does not mean complicated, nor should it

[Lord Gorchnik]

There are multiple currencies in this game. They all get converted into copper pieces once you pick them up though, for convenience.

• Copper Ponds (Dyrwood, small copper coin) - 1 cp
• Skeyts (Vailian Republics, small copper coin) - 1 cp
• Awlds   (Eir Glanfath, large copper coin) - 1 cp
• Silver lusce (Vailian Republics, silver coin) - 3 cp
• Silver fenning (Aedyr Empire, silver coin) - 6 cp
• Suole (Vailian Republics, gold coin) - 9 cp
• Duc  (Dyrwood, gold coin) - 12 cp
• Scelling  (Aedyr Empire, gold coin) - 12 cp
• Oble (Vailian Republics, gold coin) - 18 cp
• Enîachs (Eir Glanfath, rare large adra coin) - 60 cp

http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/World

Call me crazy but I am just now noticing that besides the Eniachs, the Oble has the "highest" copper value in the game.  I find it highly appropriate coming from the Vailian Republics.  It just seems to me they would have the most "powerful" currency if true economics were in play here.

[Aron Times]

Neverwinter Online by Cryptic Studios has literally dozens of currencies. There's gold, which is used for buying healing items, skill kits, and unslotting enchantments, there's astral diamonds, which are used in the auction house and can also be converted into Zen and vice-versa (1 USD = 100 Zen), there are the various seals, which randomly drop from five-man dungeons and can be used to purchase level-appropriate gear, there are the various seasonal and event currencies, which you use to buy items only available during that season or event, there is black ice, which is a crafting material and power source (you use it to craft items and it is the fuel that powers those items), there are the bounty items that drop from the various adventure zones which you can trade in for seals (see above) or random magic items, and many, many more.

 

On one hand, it is incredibly annoying to have to farm this month's brand new currency, but on the other hand, it keeps older players from immediately grabbing up the latest gear and pets with their deep pockets. It kind of teeters between the edge of annoying and interesting.

[Shadenuat]

 

Call me crazy but I am just now noticing that besides the Eniachs, the Oble has the "highest" copper value in the game.  I find it highly appropriate coming from the Vailian Republics.

Bloody italians.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--3B7SI_UYjA/UscgbOESOFI/AAAAAAAAAgw/ydGMh5n4S7g/s1600/Doge+Leonardo+Loredano.jpg

 

But if it's a merchants republic with sea trade that is to be expected.

Edited June 12, 2014 by Shadenuat

[JFSOCC]

I like developing currencies to help with world building but mechanically it can frustrate some people.  I think our approach should work well because if you loot a dead Vailian you'll probably find some lusce or suole and a Glanfathan chest will be full of awlds but all standard transactions in stores are simply conducted in "cp" (copper pieces) represented as a single total value in your inventory (as in the IE games).

so no moneychangers then?

 

I thought it would have been a good way to scale wealth across regions/powerlevel. (As you move to new locations, you need to collect wealth anew or use outrageous forex rates) A means to create a lore based reason for wealth staggering

 

 

too bad that SA has again closed its forums

SA?

 

Something Awful Edited June 17, 2014 by JFSOCC

[Lephys]

Maybe it could be cool if it at least didn't get automatically converted to copper pieces until you actually spent it? Eliminate the tedium of manually changing your money, but still let different places acknowledge slightly differing values of the various currencies?

 

If you have 10 lusce and 10 awlds, maybe you could at least choose which currency to pay with? If, at a specific merchant, you're buying something that costs 20 cp, maybe putting up 5 awlds will get you to 20cp, but putting up only 3 lusce will get you to 20cp? Thus, you have two actual options. And it matters, functionally, because it decides how many of each currency you have left over after the transaction.

 

In the long run, it wouldn't be huge enough differences to be like "Oh, you spent your currencies ineffeciently? You could only afford like HALF the stuff this other guy could, throughout the game! You couldn't even afford to outfit your whole party with nice things!" But, short term, it could allow those who actually want to partake in such a mechanic to maybe get something faster/earlier, and use their money more efficiently with a bit of effort.

 

Otherwise, while it's nice for the lore, all the different currencies are functionally equivalent to just a single currency.

[Urthor]

Maybe it could be cool if it at least didn't get automatically converted to copper pieces until you actually spent it? Eliminate the tedium of manually changing your money, but still let different places acknowledge slightly differing values of the various currencies?

 

If you have 10 lusce and 10 awlds, maybe you could at least choose which currency to pay with? If, at a specific merchant, you're buying something that costs 20 cp, maybe putting up 5 awlds will get you to 20cp, but putting up only 3 lusce will get you to 20cp? Thus, you have two actual options. And it matters, functionally, because it decides how many of each currency you have left over after the transaction.

 

In the long run, it wouldn't be huge enough differences to be like "Oh, you spent your currencies ineffeciently? You could only afford like HALF the stuff this other guy could, throughout the game! You couldn't even afford to outfit your whole party with nice things!" But, short term, it could allow those who actually want to partake in such a mechanic to maybe get something faster/earlier, and use their money more efficiently with a bit of effort.

 

Otherwise, while it's nice for the lore, all the different currencies are functionally equivalent to just a single currency.

 

It's nice for the lore.

 

It's a pain in the ass in terms of convenience though.

 

I click "buy health potion"

 

"how many would you like," more clicks

 

"what currency would you like to pay in" fiddle through a screen sorting that out.

 

It'd be a massive drag.

 

 

The compromise of "looting in different currencies but they're changed into coinage in the inventory" is absolutely the best approach to this I'm pretty sure, it means you don't necessarily knwo how much money you're looting from the chest, but it's irrelevant since you're taking all the money anyway.  Dev team's hit the best mark.  

[Lephys]

It's a pain in the ass in terms of convenience though.

Ehh, not necessarily. Also, it's not any nicer for the lore than the current setup. The current set up has a bunch of different currencies, just so people can reference the difference, but there isn't any functional difference. If one's worth 20cp, and one's worth 5cp, then it's absolutely no different than if you simply found 20cp and 5cp, respectively, and NPC's just all said "Whoa, I see you found a larger sum of copper, instead of a smaller sum." That's what I meant when I said it's "nice for the lore" to have different currencies that don't really function as anything but a single, collective currency.

 

But, back to the "not necessarily" on it being a pan in the arse; nothing requires you to force the player to manually choose to use their money more efficiently. Either way, all the money values are represented in CP, so there's no extra work at all. If you don't want to worry with it, then you'll still find various currencies (as with the current setup), but it'll just default to "use the highest-value currency first, then so on" when you go to pay for something. Automatically handled for you. The only thing you'll notice (if they even do this) is that your listed CP total, at a given merchant booth/interface, will change from specific merchant to specific merchant (usually only in different areas, where it might change anyway; a broadsword in Town A might cost a different amount than a broadsword in Town B).

 

I'm not even trying to say having to manage your currencies is better than not having to or anything. My main point is merely that, if there's no functional difference between them, then it would be like having 27 different swords in the game that all simply have different models. Or... having a whole bunch of different bundles of arrows based on different cultures. "Oh, an Engwithan quarrel is 7 arrows, while a Vailian quarrel is 13 arrows." You're just dealing in arrows, regardless. Take an Engwithan quarrel and tie 6 more arrows to it, and you've got a "different quarrel," even though they're the exact same arrows.

 

Functionally, there won't be any difference between different piles of copper pieces, and different currency pieces, because they're all functionally stacks of various sizes of copper pieces.

 

I just think it might be prudent, if there are going to be various currencies, to introduce some sort of functional difference in there. It's an interactive/dynamic game, after all, so it'd be nice if our choices could, in any way, be affected by the differences in the currencies.

 

It's like the stronghold. If you think managing a stronghold is a pain in the arse, then you just don't manage it. But, they don't remove the stronghold from the game. It's still in there. Just, managing it isn't required to beat the game, or even enjoy the game. However, you still get benefits and unique bits of gameplay from managing the stronghold. Thus, people who enjoy that sort of thing can partake (without just going through the motions for absolutely no significant difference in game experience), and those who don't can avoid it.

 

Same with money. Either way, your money automagically gets exchanged into a CP value when you spend it. Just, if you actually had even a single reason to pay for something with currency A instead of currency B, then there'd be a purpose (beyond pleasant lore text) for all the various currencies and their difference in value. Did you spend all your A coins first because they were worth the most and you didn't really care about them? Maybe some old guy is partial to those, and will give you information for 10 of those, but all you have is B coins. You have thousands of them, but he doesn't care... he just wants A coins. Well, he chooses not to help you out. tough luck.

 

See? That's a functional difference. That takes sheer lore into the realm of actual player choice and interaction.

 

*shrug*. I'm just throwing examples out there, but it'd be nice to see 7+ different currencies actually provide some function other than "you get X cp instead of Y cp added to your giant, virtual CP pile that's merely aesthetically divided up into different coinages so that you can pretend the world has a reason to have various currencies."