Topic

Level 6, 150,000+ currants from trading keys

The recent changes to Ajaya Bliss have made trading in keys phenomenally profitable. Check out this profile - level 6, and more than 150,000 currants! He has four more keys on auction, with total asking 49,500c.

EastIndiaTradingCo
Made it to level 6.
Really should consider entering the real estate market. Now is the perfect time!
Last seen at Gori Blear 3.4 hours ago.
Has stashed away 151221 currants.
Has accumulated a total of 5593 XP.
Will get to level 7 at 6598 XP (1005 to go).

Posted 14 months ago by Tanga Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

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  • The person that ends up with a bunch of keys that no one will buy can keep them for personal use plus for friends. I have a half dozen of them myself because I happened across the re-spawn area the other day. I'd forgotten about them until I saw this thread :)
    Posted 14 months ago by PittyPat is sad Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Tl; dr but with all the other nerfs going on I'll be pissed if this doesn't get nerfed by making keys unauctionable. If I can't make myself rich from AB mining nobody should be profiting that much from the AB keys!
    Posted 14 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Laurali...I hope you are kidding around.
    Posted 14 months ago by Poppy of Detwoit Subscriber! | Permalink
  • This always, always happens when there's a new locked area, or something in the mechanics change. After the Tower opened for the first time, keys were going for RIDICULOUS prices. They won't shut key auctioning down, the market will just even out after a bit. Don't worry.
    Posted 14 months ago by Tally Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Eh, if someone wants to bore themselves to tears waiting around for respawining keys, or distract themselves by babysitting a second account, let 'em. I will be off in another part of Ur entirely, actually enjoying this most excellent game and waiting for the news of the next set of outrageous changes to ripple past. (Assuming I happen to be in a Global mood that day, o'course.) My apologies if your joy lies solely in either grinding or arguing about the ramifications of the newest horrifying nerfs to grinding, but there's a whole lotta Ur out there!
    Posted 14 months ago by Jennyanydots Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't think people are really understanding the method of how key farmers work. We know spawn times, we know when to come back. Why would I waste time sitting around, when I can farm around the key spawn area and get materials as I wait for the key to spawn?

    I don't like it when people take cheap shots at other players who have worked out a system, that works, and are upset because it somehow doesn't affect their game play, yet think it does. 

    Everyone has a fair chance at everything in the game. Just because someone wants to increase their odds of getting it, doesn't mean it's game breaking. 
    Posted 14 months ago by We Got Dodgson Subscriber! | Permalink
  • In a way it does break the game. Before the latest changes the game style was either parallel or cooperative. There wasn't really much to compete for. If a rock had been picked clean you could just go to another one; if a house had been purchased you could live somewhere else. Now that key farming has been introduced there is an element of direct competition - you can't enter these areas without paying a toll to people squatting on the keys. A few players working together (or one player running a script) could actually deny access to the locked areas altogether. There's no way that anyone will experience the pleasure of stumbling across a key spawn point (as I did more than once) then figure out which door it unlocks.  Your actions directly spoil the  experience for other players.
    Posted 14 months ago by Tanga Subscriber! | Permalink
  • god go pet a tree ppl
    Posted 14 months ago by siulyeoj Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ahhh, key farming is now nerfed. 

    If you aren't watching the screen every minute, you'll never know whether it just spawned and someone else got it, or whether it still hasn't spawned. 
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Tanga, that's not game breaking. More people are bound to enter the world, which means more players per zone. The keys are a rare spawn, and have a set timer. No one is entitled to a key. It is not yours until you pick it up. If the game devs wanted everyone to explore this area, and part take in it, then they would have never introduced locked areas. 

    These areas are a privilege, not a given. If you don't want to spend the effort in obtaining a key, that's fine, but it's not game breaking, and you shouldn't tell players you're playing a video game wrong.

    PS. If you many who are asking to remove these from auctions, only have 1 per player, etc. Then you also have to remove the follow option that lets anyone in following the 1 person entering. 
    Don't know what that means? If one person has a key, they can have unlimited amount of players follow them into the locked areas, thus granting access to players without a key
    Posted 14 months ago by We Got Dodgson Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "The keys are a rare spawn, and have a set timer."

    Not any more.  Apparently it was game-breaking enough that it got changed. Apparently no one is entitled to a key. 
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Windborn, sorry, this either hasn't been implemented yet, or you were lied to. 

    I've been sitting on my key of choice now, and for the past 5 hours game time, they have spawned exactly the same time. Every pickup I do, which was 5, has been the exact same amount of time.

    PS. Why is everyone upset over the sale of these keys? You guys do know there are many, many, manymanymanymany, many other ore farming streets, right? Why do you want to go to 1 street to farm 1 item? Isn't that hypocritical, to protest a player for farming 1 item on 1 street, yet the item he's farming allows players to do such same thing?

    The economy is set by the players. The auction house is there to sell items you made, for a profit. If you remove the way these keys work, the amount of sparkly would then be controlled by only those few who gained access. This would also lower the amount of powders and alch materials entering the market. If you know anything about economy, if the supply goes down, but the demand stays high, costs are bound to skyrocket.

    So it is a good thing people are farming and supplying the market with keys, how ever pricy they may be, so that the rate at which keys are obtained is at max (every time a key is spawned, it's looted; there is never a downtime between each key spawn, which allows the highest upkeep of keys obtained).

    The next time you complain about 1 person making a killing with a perfect strategy, you better look at how your "ideas to solve this" are going to effect the long run of things.
    Posted 14 months ago by We Got Dodgson Subscriber! | Permalink
  • We Got Dodgson: either you're trolling or you have some sort of social issue. Do you not understand that this is a game, and that there are people who want to play it as a game, and encounter special things randomly instead of buying them from a squatter, and who want to play in different areas rather than just grinding away at the most efficient bodies of ore?

    Ajaya Bliss is a special place. Things are different there. It has a unique type of play that I think is quite beautiful and wonderful. Yes, the devs obviously didn't account for the existence of asocial grinders who will sit for hours just to see currants accumulate in their account. They're probably thinking of a better solution right now. But the fact that they left an avenue for you to exploit does not mean that you should exploit it, or get all self-righteous when people point out what you're doing.
    Posted 14 months ago by Tanga Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Tanga, don't you see he's doing us a favor?  Him camping there is helping all of us enjoy the game more because he can grab every single key and sell it to anyone who's got the funds.

    Clearly we're all better off with him creating that special Glitch just for this purpose.

    (although that story would be more creditable if the devs hadn't pulled the plug on his little scheme). 
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There are other places to get keys folks.  Go run up in the ancestral grounds and most likely you'll get some.  If not on your first run, then on another.  I've gotten dozens of keys up there.    It's fun!  :-D

    I sold many of them in auction for below the currant price (pun intended) hoping that many a glitch would get them into their hands for fun times!  A friend of mine told me there's a script available that buys items up that are below a certain price and then resells them at a higher price to help "corner" the "market".  

    I find it sadly amusing that some humans bring in our conceptions of "lack" and "not enough-ness" into a world that is so overly abundant.  And here, I was hoping playing this game would have the opposite effect.  ;-)  
    Posted 14 months ago by Reba Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @We Got Dodgson (not talking about Ajaya Bliss)
    The first time I came across the green and white circle key in beta, it was just sitting there in the grass. I said "oh look a key!" and picked it up. Then I saw a locked door that matched the key, and it was fun to try it out and see where it led. Just a moment of fun, that's all.

    This time I went there so I could finish getting the Groddle Heights Completist badge. That's fun too, but not as fun as the first time. Some of us here, right or wrong, think it would be nice for every player to get the chance to freely explore these little surprises in the game. In spite of your skills as a key farmer, you pick up the keys for free. I'd like to pick up the key for free also, which I did, because you really aren't sitting there all the time. And thanks for that.

    If I couldn't get the key I still wouldn't buy it from you at an exorbitant price (even though I have WAY more currants than I need right now) because I don't think that would be fun. It's actually kind of too easy to get currants in this game when you get past the first levels (don't tell the devs), I'm not even trying to make money and I have more than I can use.

    So your economic arguments (and I'm not convinced that they're true) kind of don't matter to me. I totally don't care if the maximum number of spawned keys get obtained. And there are tons of sparkly rocks all over the place, I don't think we have to worry about our worldwide sparkly supply dropping to dangerously low levels, thereby endangering the supply of powders.

    Just trying to explain why people might not be happy about the high priced key selling business. 
    Posted 14 months ago by crowdedsky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Crow. 

    I get your feelings and expressions of the keys and markets. And I do agree with you on most of your explanations. However, the way I want to make my money is through keys. Strange? sure. But it's how I, myself, want to play the game. If others do not like it, sorry for them, I'm not making them buy from me. As far as keys go, there are 4 spawn locations. How can I be "taking away the delight of finding a key" when I can only be in 1 place at a time? I'm not the only player in the game, and nor are you. 
    Posted 14 months ago by We Got Dodgson Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That's true, We Got,

    And I'm sure that there are people playing who would much rather buy keys than get them by finding them. So there should be room for some key selling here. Maybe a balance needs to be established.
    Posted 14 months ago by crowdedsky Subscriber! | Permalink
  • so who is buying the overpriced keys?  mining groups splitting the cost?
    Posted 14 months ago by Treesa Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I think the balance comes natuarlly ... those that want to get their own key will do so, those that have the currants to buy the keys will do so ... the only unhappy glitches will be those who want to have a key but not find it for themselves, and who can't afford them   =) 

    Is this a large segment of glitchdom that needs protecting?
    Posted 14 months ago by Nymity Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Interesting that the keys were not an issue until we went live.....
    Posted 14 months ago by Gadzooks Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Ajaya may well be a "special" place but its not really a special place that everyone in the game can enjoy or profit from.   There are small groups of regulars who enjoy it very much and work together to profit from it.  Similarly, groups of "keepers of the keys" could form to rotate and take turns squatting on the key spawn areas.  Maybe if two squat together they could spawn bonus keys?  
    Posted 14 months ago by Treesa Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Squatting seems, frankly, more time consuming than pressing enter enter to wack a rock. So there is more effort put into it.  Its not easy money like cheese making was.
    Posted 14 months ago by Treesa Subscriber! | Permalink
  • And I mean it seriously about two or three squatting together.   It  would encourage people to chat.
    Posted 14 months ago by Treesa Subscriber! | Permalink
  • GAszooks, the keys were not an issue until you could no longer set a teleport spot inside locked streets. 

    It has nothing to do with going live. 
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • But the "no teleport" just started a few days ago...the auction key prices were already outrageous.
    I just don't recall "squatters" on keys during testing
    Posted 14 months ago by Gadzooks Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There is a thread in the "Ideas" section about Keymaking skill so you could make your own keys. I think this is a good idea as it provides you with additional way to obtain keys which in my opinion is more productive than camping for keys.
    Posted 14 months ago by gamecharacter Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I do not like the fact that someone is making so much money by camping keys.  How about letting other people get keys who will use them, instead of taking all of them and selling them?
    Posted 14 months ago by Serra Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't like the random comments about how everything was so perfect before the game went live.  It's insulting.
    Posted 14 months ago by Poppy of Detwoit Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Maybe Rube give keys? :D
    Posted 14 months ago by Lilla My Subscriber! | Permalink
  • with this changelog entry here…

    We now have the ability to spawn items at variable times, so expect those coveted items to appear at … unexpected intervals.
    8 hrs ago


    …all that QQ can come to an end i guess.

    ;)
    Posted 14 months ago by Azeron Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Whilst this change will mostly slow down people camping the keys at the regular spawn times, I'm inclined to think it will actually make them more expensive to by at auction.

    So for those who are not happy at the prices of keys up for auction, this probably isn't going to help. Though it will probably level the playing field a little by making it much more difficult for one individual to corner a market.
    Posted 14 months ago by Kans Subscriber! | Permalink
  • what do the keys do? and why would i need one
    Posted 14 months ago by Balgra Fonzarelli Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Balgra wrote: what do the keys do? and why would i need one

    They unlock a secret street full of Sparkly Rock spawns.

    glitch.alwaysdata.net/resou...

    It's shame the key is always camped as I am trying for my ID Completist badge and this makes it harder for me.  I prefer mining Beryl for currants anyways as it seems that it is more efficient and profitable on a per harvest basis. 
    Posted 14 months ago by Warrender Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Poppy: I was kidding, but I do think keys should be unauctionable
    Posted 14 months ago by Laurali Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Wow, I've totally missed out on this. I got a bunch of keys from the ancestral lands and didn't know what to do with them. I put them on auction for 45 currants each, and they were bought almost instantly. I was a little puzzled at first,  but now I understand completely. I personally wouldn't sell them over 1000 currants, I'm not really an opportunist. I find joy in doing tasks to gain currants. If I had that much currants, the game would be boring. I'd be able to buy everything.
    Posted 14 months ago by ☠ lala512 ☠ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • While the person who was called out in the original post may have had auctions up for hundreds of thousands of currants, it is instructive to notice that the last 3 of those expired with no one purchasing them. 
    Posted 14 months ago by WindBorn Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @lala512 - One thing you can't buy with currants is friends, and with your approach you'll end up with lots of them.
    Posted 14 months ago by Splendora Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Part of the awesomeness of Glitch is that it's an emergent world: the players, as a community, create a unique experience for which the "game environment" serves as a vehicle and regulating mechanism. The devs are constantly having to maintain a delicate balance between allowing the world to develop organically and reigning in disruptive elements. With this persistent dialogue about things that "break the game", it's essential for us to ask ourselves the question: what does "breaking the game" mean?

    In this particular case, we have an emergent phenomenon of key-campers. A scarce, coveted resource, which a few people have figured out how to control. Drives the prices up, makes some people ridonculously wealthy. All true. But does it "break the game"? In this case, I say no. There are other ways of obtaining Shiny crystals. Wealthy players can't buy up all the houses and squeeze the real estate market (though I do think it would be more interesting to be able to buy more than one house; besides, even if a few people did control many houses, they're not a necessity in the game the way they are in real life, so people just wouldn't buy, and prices would eventually have to come down if the owners really wanted to sell). People still play the game, they still have fun, and none of the substantive content is restricted. Some people don't even care about amassing a fortune, and for those who do, there are other ways. I'd never even heard of AB before yesterday, and I was having tons of fun exploring. This really is not the crisis it is made out to be.

    This scenario should be allowed to play out. However, there is still - and there will always be - a need for developer intervention. If something is genuinely ruining the experience for everyone, they should intervene. If something is going against their vision for what the game should be, they should use their judgement in balancing their original intentions with the emergent reality. Balance, in all things. In real life, someone may hold immense power for a time, but innovations and natural events always occur to shake things up. For years, Microsoft had a stranglehold on the desktop operating system market, but then Apple threw down with OS X. In Glitch, these events take the form of changes to the game mechanics (which of course falls to the devs), and players discovering their own solutions (which occurs organically). For the key situation, I really like the idea of making keys craftable; give the campers some competition, shake up the market. Generally, there should always be more than one way of doing something.

    Basically what I'm saying is this: the developer's role is to address critical issues that threaten to defeat the purpose of the game and/or infringe on players' enjoyment. This type of intervention should not be confused with total egalitarianism, with making sure no one ever gets an edge. The devs can create whatever world they want, and the world of Glitch is one of emergent gameplay and a vibrant economy. They could have created a common, homogeneous experience; they chose not to. In the world they did create, their role is to shake things up and keep things exciting. Crazy, unexpected scenarios are all part of the fun. As a general rule, I say: let it play.
    Posted 14 months ago by The Technomancer Subscriber! | Permalink
  • The key(s) in question are significantly more common now, and prices are sure to plummet.

    Interesting stuff.
    Posted 14 months ago by Ivan Zecat Subscriber! | Permalink
  • OK, there are gameplay elements that throw things totally out of whack and then get nerfed. There are some elements that get out of whack and then settle down because the market shifts. I'm not sure which one this is (I've still not been to Ajaya Bliss so I have no idea how valuable it is to get in there).

    But surely at some point, it's worth realising that the tussle between different styles of play *is part of the game*. The frustrations, the workarounds, the organisation, the teams, they are all the game. The rules that Tiny Speck put down, that's just the framework.

    Two other points:

    - As far as I remember, it's against the terms of service to run a drone account -- and if somebody's doing that just to hoard keys, then it seems rather unfair on the rest of the players. OTOH, if somebody wants to sit there for hours just picking up keys while the rest of us have fun, then that's their lookout.

    - Yes, there are tools that let you find out certain information using the API -- those are the same data sprockets that let people do awesome things like Zog's Tools or the Greasemonkey scripts. It's not personal info, it's in-game info. Using it just to snoop on other players is, I think, a little bit weird and I wouldn't do it. But does it really change anything? Unlikely.
    Posted 14 months ago by wurzel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Wurzel: just FYI, if you click on a player's name within Zog's Tools (i.e., when looking at an auction) it gives you all that information. How do I know that? Because it's what I did when I cut-and-pasted it.
    Posted 14 months ago by Tanga Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That Kid Tyler is my new Glitch hero.  Great attitude.  I like that the game rewards cooperation and that there isn't a singular track.  It's one thing to be clever and profitable, but if a players uses intimidation or guards something intended for everyone's use... isn't that just bullying?   If they want to sit there and pick up spare keys, that's fine, but what happens when someone else shows up?   meh       
    Posted 14 months ago by Ooola Subscriber! | Permalink
  • You know, I only started playing about a week ago and still am pretty much at the discovery stage. Last night, when I was exploring the depths, and happened upon a closed door I had no key for, a group of people gathered there, and one person asked whether I would like to go beyond the door and to follow him (first time I tried that). We all did, had fun inside (never saw such crowds :)) and only now I find out about the Ajaya Bliss, problems, key rarity and all that. So - thank you, whoever you were helping. And as for the key camping - well, I find the rest of the game much more fun and rewarding, but - to each their own. As long as people selflessly help each other, we will have a great game regardless. *Off to hug some trees*
    Posted 14 months ago by Verea Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That's an awesome point, Verea. Same thing happened to me today. When the person who had bought a key offered to let people in, the only thing asked for in exchange were a few chunks of sparkly (more than fair, considering). 

    If you think about this though, there could be a profit made from buying a key at x amount and offering to let people in at y amount per person.

    If Key = X, Number of People = Z, and price of entrance = Y, so long as X < Z*Y, the person who has purchased the key stands to make a tidy little profit off of the entire thing.

    On the flip side, anyone who thinks that Ajaya Bliss is at all critical to mining in any way, seriously, people, explore the world a bit more. There is TONS of sparkly to be found and mined. Ajaya Bliss is a zoo. A fun zoo, but a zoo nonetheless.
    Posted 14 months ago by Xev Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There's a new locked door calling all the AB miners by name... "Come to Neva Neva!"  ;-D
    Posted 14 months ago by Reba Subscriber! | Permalink
  • @Tanga aha, that's where it came from! Don't actually use them for much, though I appreciate they're useful if you need a particular piece of information
    Posted 14 months ago by wurzel Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hah, I wondered if that street would be a locked door when I was just looking at the empty area (it had no name yet!). For some reason I felt like it'd be a good spot for one.
    Posted 14 months ago by Little Miss Giggles Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Love to see people making money off of other peoples laziness, a market that is always profitable if you are willing to wait around and do nothing and if you can open 2 browsers is usually done while you are still having fun anyway!
    Posted 14 months ago by Bluigi Subscriber! | Permalink
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