Ok so with the above mentioned title, please keep in mind I am absolutely loving this event and its the best of the 3 years anniversary editions.
As an observation for discussion: Being a beta and launch player, I've seen along side the Dev team and everyone else what has become of the ingame economy. Personally I think it is great at how this is going, because anyone playing at a level of functional expertise can get every item available ingame with the exception of rares like relics and trifectas with ease.
The unhealthy combo of real money trade (rmt) and the immoral price fixing attempts have been deeply injured finally due to this event and the fact that it shall last an entire month. This is great and it levels the playing field between the elitist nonsense that attempts to alienate a large portion of the player base, and those that are attempting to get into the game.
A perceived downside however, is that if price fixing returns to full steam after the event is over, there will be a large portion of items readily available to assist with the economic control system in place. This will not have an effect on any players that existed during the anniversary event, however any new or returning players that missed out will be potentially drastically affected by increased economic controls thereafter.
The fact that Mane, a rare item yes, and useful but not completely game breaking was going for over 40 GV at one point plays to this unfortunate reality that is heavily resisted in trade chat and others as well as here on forums from time to time. It is now accessible for a few GoK,3 maybe 4 at most, and only a matter of four weeks and major events by Gaz dropped it and other items.
As it is a discussion, I will remind those who wish to violate forum rules, guidelines and the like to consider your post before making it, as well as to dissuade any naysayers about price fixing and the like. I personally think somewhere somehow Gaz addressed this situation by creating these events to counter the negative impact fixing and rmt has had on the economy. A perfect example for RMT is seeing all the items that went for 10 bucks each last month to a dollar or less each now, with the exception of Trifectas which are being blatently advertised for $100 approximately give or take due to rarity.
What do you think? The question is whether in the long run, this will have had a positive affect or negative affect on the future welfare of the players and the assumed economy. Will price fixing finally go the way of the moon, and will rmt get so saturated there will be no more profit, or will those who engage in these shameful activities find ways to exploit this event to their advantage?
Thoughts?