Most of your comments reflect a narrow view of the situation...in some cases only slivers of the whole picture.
First, new in this release is Quality-Based Pricing with the NPC's which simply calculates their offers based on the quality of the item and this applies to everything. With that, high quality crafted stock and ingots were producing rediculously high returns, so base prices for all of these were lowered substantially. In other areas, more price slashing is to come. In concert with this, crafting has been thoroughly reviewed and updates will be released shortly, which will change (in a number of cases reduce) the material required to craft things. Weapons pricing is probably safe for the moment, but if you're hording, this would be the time to sell excess stockpiles. As material costs come down, you may find that you'll be upside down in your cost basis if you don't.
In the larger picture, yes this is a game, a game in development, and changes have happened, are happening, and will continue to happen. For the new people, this is probably a bit baffling, and I'm sorry for that...it will get better for you and soon, just bear with us. For the veterans, you really should be accustomed to change by now.
It should be noted that there has been no one at all attending these aspects of the game for quite some time. I came into this only recently, found where things went wrong, rolled up my sleeves and dug in. More of you could stand to gripe less and help more...apply to Rules if you wish to have real impact on the future. Send me a PM if interested.
Platinum was a hamfisted over reaction to circumstances of the time, and has created a well and fully acknowldeged imbalance, which we're making efforts to correct. Correction will take time, and in some instances initial changes may seem equally hamfisted, but they are in fact necessary. As time progresses, and things start to naturally come in line through spending down of excessive wealth and shifts of player activity focus and diversity, adjustments will be continually made, and they may be so subtle you may or may not even realize we've done it.
The long term goals are along the lines of diversity in character advancement, such that various paths will provide progression on a fairly equal scale. There should not be any one path that largely dwarfs the others. Up to now, every new character quickly discovered that there was only one way to do well in Planeshift: get a rock pick and start digging...become a millionare in a week, making everything effectively free. Exploits notwithstanding, hopefully that time is gone. Explore the other paths to success...I think you'll find there is more to Planeshift than Mining.
Stay tuned!
