Would you be pro Cryptic selling ships/items on the exchange IF humans aren't selling them?
Before you judge my question, please read everything first:
Let me elaborate in case you're unsure what I mean. Sometimes, there are ships (or possibly weapons etc.) that you can't get on the exchange because either no one has posted any up in months OR because you don't want to open lockbox after lockbox. Personally, I don't like opening lockboxes as my "luck" is SO horrendously bad.
I wonder if it would be advantageous to have a single ship/item (well, 250 for items) posted on the exchange after 72 hours. That is, if none is posted within that time frame. OF COURSE, it would be labelled "Sold by AI". So that if you don't want to purchase those, you wouldn't have to. And the price would be priced as the average sold price of the last 10 ten that were sold. For items, that would be for the last 2,500 (as they are normally bundled up to 250).
The reason I am asking you all, is because there have been months where I was looking for a very specific ship on the exchange, and I am sure that has been the same for some of you. I figure that if no one is selling X ship because it's not popular at all then I don't see the harm, because I would suggest that if X item comes in at the exact same price (or lower), then the AI one would either be pulled down automatically OR it'd be greyed out until the human one is purchased.
Just to clarify, I'm not saying this is the best solution when it comes to getting ships or items, but I see this as the fairest way that I can think of. Because this would NOT harm actual sellers on the exchange. Especially when it comes to ships or items which no one has been selling for months. I feel this would be a win for BOTH players and Cryptic. To be 100% clear, I am ONLY talking about things which are so extremely difficult to come by on a daily/weekly basis.
EDIT: A ship can cost around 1-1.5 billion EC (or more). That said, if a player REALLY wants that ship and they don't have that EC, they'd have to spend 100-150$ (via buying Zen and selling X amount of items until they reach 1-1.5 billion EC). Thus, the idea that Cryptic wouldn't make money, hence why they'd not consider implementing it, is a fallacious argument.
EDIT 2: To paraphrase someone else: In this case, players get access to ships earlier, and there’s a market where they can buy and sell keys. These same players can then buy ships on the exchange. Meanwhile, buyers who buy keys can open lockboxes, which may contain Lobi and potentially several ships, allowing them to earn twice the EC they would have otherwise. It’s a simple and effective system that benefits all involved. I don't see the resistance of those saying it's a bad idea, when the reality is that most of us have better things to do than wait around for a ship to pop up, OR to ask over and over in channels for a specific ship. Some of us have families and can't be bothered to do this.