Economy and Trading

Overview

The economy is the connective tissue of Delve. Gold and materials flow between dungeon runs, crafting, the marketplace, and NPC vendors. A healthy economy requires careful balance: enough currency entering the system to feel rewarding, enough leaving (gold sinks) to prevent inflation, and enough player-to-player trading to create a real marketplace.

Currencies

Gold (Primary Currency)

• Earned from: dungeon runs, quest rewards, NPC vendor sales, daily bonuses
• Spent on: NPC vendor purchases, crafting station fees, respec costs, auction house fees, guild creation
• Gold is tradeable between players via the marketplace and mail

Faction Tokens (Reputation Currency)

• Earned by completing faction-specific quests and dailies
• Spent at faction vendors for exclusive recipes, gear, and cosmetics
• Each faction has its own token type
• NOT tradeable — must be earned personally
• See 11-factions-and-reputation.md

Raid Tokens

• Earned from completing raid content
• Spent on raid-exclusive gear at raid vendors
• Weekly cap on how many can be earned (prevents no-lifing the system)
• NOT tradeable

Gold Economy

Gold Sources (Faucets)

Gold Sinks (Drains)

Inflation Control Philosophy

• Gold sinks should feel like natural costs of doing business, not arbitrary taxes
• The auction house tax is the primary inflation control — it removes gold proportional to economic activity
• If inflation becomes an issue, seasonal events can introduce additional gold sinks (cosmetic vendors, limited-time items for gold)
• Monitoring: track median gold holdings by level bracket and adjust faucets/sinks accordingly

Player Marketplace (Auction House)

The marketplace is where players trade items for gold. It’s the central economic hub.

Listing Items

• Any non-bound item can be listed (most loot is tradeable)
• Set a buyout price (instant purchase)
• Set an optional auction starting price (bidding over 24/48 hours)
• Listing fee: 5% of buyout price (non-refundable, acts as gold sink)
• Listings last 48 hours by default
• Max active listings: 20 (base), expandable via permanent purchase ($1 per +5 slots)

Buying Items

• Browse by category, rarity, level range, stats, or keyword search
• Sort by price, time remaining, or relevance
• “Buy Now” at the buyout price
• Bid on auction listings (outbid notification)
• Purchase history for reference

Sale Tax

• When an item sells, 10% of the sale price is taken as tax (gold sink)
• Seller receives 90% of the sale price
• Merchant background reduces tax to 8% (Merchant background grants +1 Luck)

Item Binding

Most items are freely tradeable, but some are bind-on-pickup (BoP):

• Raid-exclusive legendary gear
• Quest reward items with unique effects
• Artifact-rarity items
• Achievement rewards

Some items are bind-on-equip (BoE):

• Can be traded until first equipped
• Encourages marketplace activity for high-end gear
• Creates the “equip or sell?” dilemma — a valuable gear piece might be worth more on the market than on your character

Market Manipulation Prevention

• Price floor: Items cannot be listed below NPC vendor price
• No buyout sniping bots: Rate limiting on purchases, CAPTCHA-like verification for rapid purchases
• Price history: Visible graph of average sale prices over the last 30 days for any item type
• Report system: Players can flag suspicious trading patterns for review

NPC Vendors

General Goods Vendor

• Sells: Rations, torches, basic potions, rope, lockpicks, ammunition, healer’s kits
• Prices are fixed and do not fluctuate
• Always available

Equipment Vendor

• Sells: Common-quality weapons and armor
• Rotating stock of uncommon items (refreshes daily)
• Prices are fixed

Specialty Vendors (Unlocked by Progression)

• Alchemist: Sells potion recipes and rare reagents (limited stock, refreshes weekly)
• Blacksmith: Sells gear upgrade and enhancement services
• Enchanter: Sells enchanting materials and basic enchantments
• Exotic Trader: Appears randomly with unusual items (rare recipes, unique consumables, cosmetics for gold)

Vendor Buy Prices

• Vendors buy items at 50% of their sell price (base)
• Merchant background: 60%
• High faction reputation with Merchant Consortium: up to 70%
• This makes the marketplace almost always a better option for valuable items, driving player-to-player trade

Trading Between Players

Marketplace (Primary)

• The auction house is the primary trading mechanism
• Anonymous — buyers and sellers don’t know each other
• Safe — no scam risk

Mail System

• Players can mail items and gold to specific players
• Gold transfer fee: 5% (gold sink)
• Item mail: Free, but items are held for 1 hour before delivery (prevents impulse scam trades)
• Mail between characters on the same account uses the same system

No Direct Trade

• There is no direct trade window between players
• All trades go through the marketplace or mail
• This prevents social engineering scams (“put your item up first, I promise I’ll pay”)
• It also ensures all trades are taxed appropriately

Real-Money Purchases and the Economy

See 14-monetization.md for the full monetization model. Key points relevant to the economy:

• There is no premium currency. No gems, no crystals, no tokens. All purchases are in real dollars at transparent prices.
• Nothing that affects combat stats is sold for real money. No gear, no XP, no gold, no loot boosts.
• Patron subscribers get 50% faster crafting and dungeon runs — this means subscribers generate materials and loot at a faster rate, which increases marketplace supply. This is healthy for the economy (more supply = lower prices = better for free players).
• Permanent purchases (character slots, storage, marketplace listing slots) are small one-time buys that don’t distort the economy.

Economic Health Indicators

The game should track and monitor:

• Median gold by level bracket — Are new players too poor? Are endgame players hoarding?
• Marketplace transaction volume — Is the market healthy and active?
• Average item prices over time — Is inflation occurring?
• Gold faucet/sink ratio — Is more gold entering or leaving the system?
• Subscriber vs. free player economic participation — Are subscribers dominating the marketplace unfairly?

These metrics inform tuning decisions — adjusting drop rates, vendor prices, tax rates, and gold rewards to keep the economy balanced.