Economy Update Oct. 18th 2023

Prestige Portals:

We’ve made modifications to the entry restrictions of the Prestige Portals to achieve several key objectives:

1. Increase the likelihood of using general cosmetic tags, including but not limited to Preseason, Craftable, Early Access, and Origin.
2. Increase the probability of setting rarity requirements for cosmetics, always keeping the upper limit open-ended (e.g., “At least 2 Rare to Unique cosmetics”).
3. Reduce the chances of encountering miscellaneous cosmetic tags such as Silver, Table, etc.
4. Harmonize the entry cost amounts in terms of Time Crystals and $BIGTIME. Specifically, as cosmetic restrictions increase, the cost will decrease, and vice versa.

With these changes, our aim is to enhance the Prestige Portals’ core design goal: to reward Cosmetic Collectible holders. Simultaneously, we want to provide a more consistent user experience in terms of cost and tag restrictions.

Hourglass Crafting:

Time Wardens are pivotal to Big Time’s Economy. We’ve intricately designed them to feature timers, whether in Crafting Hourglasses or in recharging them. However, we’ve observed that the majority of Time Wardens are occupied crafting Hourglasses and few are occupied recharging Hourglasses due to the speed-up feature. This has resulted in the progression of Hourglass along the rarity spectrum to exceed our initial projections.

In response to this, we’ve decided to implement the following measures to control the surge in Hourglass production from crafting actions:

1. Extend the crafting duration for Hourglasses.
2. Increase the crafting costs for Hourglasses.
3. Increase the amount of Hourglasses needed for crafting early rarity Hourglasses (3 to 4 for Uncommon to Legendary)

Hourglasses serve as the conduit for $BIGTIME. Ensuring a balanced supply is paramount for our game economy, and these changes are aimed at preserving that equilibrium by making the decision to craft Hourglasses have more weight.

Hourglass Recharging:

Recharging Hourglasses is undoubtedly one of the most intricate elements of Big Time’s game economy, primarily because it’s the initial production step for generating $BIGTIME. This positions it as an especially sensitive aspect of the economy.

When we initially designed the recharging feature, we anticipated that a significant portion of Time Wardens’ activities would revolve around recharging and less on crafting Hourglasses. However, the current scenario deviates from our expectations. Many players are opting to speed up this process, leading to a surge in the total cost of recharging using Time Crystals. Most of these costs are allocated to expedite the recharging process, rather than the initial recharge cost.

So in order to further distribute the time spent by Time Wardens between recharging and crafting hourglasses, we did the following:

Increase the base Cost for Recharging Hourglasses.

With these changes, we want to make sure Time Wardens’ tasks, like crafting, recharging, and dismantling, are spread out evenly. We also want the cost to recharge Hourglasses to be split between using Time Crystals and waiting for the recharge to be done, instead of the majority of recharges to be done using Time Crystals without and speeding up without much waiting.

Closing Note:

Our game’s economy is in its early stages, and it’s bound to see changes. Rest assured, every shift we make is with a clear aim: to better the game for everyone involved. We’re not just passive observers; we’re actively monitoring and adjusting to make sure the gameplay remains rich and rewarding for all.

Your voice plays a vital role in this journey. We can’t emphasize enough how much we value your feedback. So, please keep the comments coming on Discord. Together, we’ll refine and improve, and remember — keep on crafting!