Hi there,
I did a little experiment to see if what I thought could be confirmed through this simple experiment.
I made an assessment of the real price of the Federation Grand Prix jackets. And for that, I simply made the choice to participate in the Grand Prix.
Tough this Grand Prix, since you have to keep your eyes open for no less than around 7-8 hours. I first started with an Astero whose warp speed I was able to push around 10 AU/s. I blew my face off at a stage located in Low Sec where I stupidly lost a few implants (I had forgotten to jump clone, but it wasn’t a big deal so I continued the experience), then, after a well-deserved break of more than around 12 hours (because this Grand Prix is both long and repetitive, I resumed the race with a Dramiel whose warp speed I was able to push to around 16 UA/s (hyperspace modules + all boosters activated) And again, I blew myself up at a gate located in Low Sec.
Hey! Well believe me, I was very happy to finish this damn race counting almost 500 jumps alone (I don’t know exactly how many there are), and to win the jackpot, namely a crate containing two Federation Grand Prix jackets (one for men and one for women).
Given the difficulty that such a race alone represents (method, endurance, patience, perseverance, etc.), I bet that many capsulers will not reach the end, it is so exhausting, even trying. Many will give up before the end. Moreover, the obvious risk of blowing your head off in the middle of such a race can deter more than one, and this well before the starting line; CCP also lies like a tooth-puller when she announces a race in High Sec totally secure; it’s wrong, and I got fooled because of it, but whatever.
What matters, however, is the scarcity of resulting jackets since it seems obvious that such a race will not have many winners at the finish. So I placed a sell order of 750,000,000.00 ISK for one of the two jackets (the one for men) and I see that some sellers have even gone up to 1 billion, which seems a bit excessive to me . But that’s not the worst, since at the same time, many sellers have put sell orders on these jackets well below 100 million.
The reason is simple: CCP made the unfortunate decision to sell these two jackets via their Hyperspacial Pack at 34€99! Morality, it is therefore all these pseudo-players ready to stupidly spend their IRL money for easy and effortless access to virtual cosmetics, who then place orders to sell these jackets on the New Eden market, while just as stupidly breaking their real price.
This is therefore further proof that CCP manipulates virtual prices by cheating to defend its own interests only; in this case, CCP constrains the rarity of a jacket offered for sale, in order to reduce the chances of virtual personal enrichment of the winners of the Federation Grand Prix. Why are they doing this? It’s simple. CCP presumably needs money, so they cannot conceive that players can be encouraged in the game, to PLEX their subscriptions. And never mind the fact, in their eyes, that the winners of the Federation Grand Prix are affected and come out frustrated. Ultimately, CCP cares little for the art of frustration marketing, encouraging ever more players to take the path of defection.
Q. As I said above, I participated in this Grand Prix of the Federation for experience purposes, and I do not come out of it frustrated, quite the contrary, but I think of all the victorious capsulers who perhaps hoped to profit from this Grand Prix; if this is the case, we will have to convince some sellers (some of whom may be in the pay of CCP, who knows) to please stop slashing the prices of these jackets on the New Eden market…
So keep it up my dear Hilmar, with your business strategies on the cheap, and this in particular by ignoring, as you have been doing for several years, the player base of EvE Online, and you will end up, you and your business, in the wall; it is now absolutely obvious:
Such a waste !
In the meantime, good luck to all the capsulers who will try the Federation Grand Prix despite everything, not having 34€99 to pay for virtual cosmetics. With everywhere IRL, a wave of historic increase in interest rates, the era of easy money is definitely over. With inflation helping, players will therefore have to rely on their meager savings to live on, and CCP should have anticipated this.
Ully Loom