Ahem, semi rich player who loves designing new farms/grinders here to give you some perspective. We already made bigger farms yes, but we dropped prices to be competitive against other player shops and to help out the new players to the server. Prices of nearly all common items have stabilized then dropped in the past 2 years since I've joined the server.

Examples:

Diamonds from anywhere from 20 to 30 grass each stabilized to 3 diamonds per 64 grass blocks.

Price of stone and cobble dropped from 1 diamond per single chest to 3 grass per single chest.

Wool dropped from 1 to 2 stacks for a grass blocks to 9 stacks of wool to 1 grass block.

All the prices of mob drops have also fallen.

Sapling prices have fallen from 1 sapling for 1 grass to, in some places, as many as 32 saplings for 1 grass block.

1 iron ingot for 3 grass to 3 or 4 iron ingots for 1 grass.

 

Jess Huge reply coming your way later on.

 

Read well. I played on this server nearly everyday for the last 2 years. I have played an integral role in this server's economy. I have observed how this server has changed over those 2 years.

I think you have not played much on this server to understand how much good this idea can do. This is too great of a suggestion to dismiss lightly.

We need a boost to the game economy since there are less players playing this year than last year. And last year there were less players than the year before. We don't necessarily have to give out diamonds to players for the crops. Let's not get fixated on prices right now.

Only reasons for "currency" (grass, diamonds, etc) leaving the economy is when people spend it at /warp trade and /warp grass or quit playing the server. And there are tons of people who have stopped playing regularly on the server.

We are already in a recession right now. Less people playing, less people willing to build nice islands because it costs too much. More people stockpile their diamonds rather than spend it on other blocks and items because diamonds are extremely hard to come by.

Grass blocks are already at their all time low. Currently 1 grass block can buy you 9 stacks of wool blocks or 9 stacks of smooth stone. Used to be you could only afford only 1 stack of either for 1 grass block if you were lucky.

Grass blocks are so hard for new players to come by that many player shop owners dropped prices of blocks and items over the past year to accommodate them.

Of course it does. It is basic capitalism. You save up what you can, then reinvest in your business, profit, and repeat. But everyone has to start somewhere.

Do you remember being new to the server? Do you remember living off the generosity of other players? Do you remember surviving on just the 2 blocks of grass a day from voting? Do you remember the frustrations from being poor? Do you remember the tears from having to decide between placing that grass block down to grow more food/trees versus spending it on something cool? Give new players a break. The point is to give them a fair chance at prosperity and reward them for being industrious and spending their free time on the server. Core American belief right there, you can make it if you just work hard enough.

Besides, most rich players do not build large farms/grinders. They are lazy and buy items from others. Why do you think I make bank from Skyshop?

No. Rares traders make far more than what I do from Skyshop. You ask Zephxo. He fast tracked from greenie to uber rich in a couple months because he made great deals with other players.

You have donor400. You have a donor perk, that's where all the sand comes from. I am not saying anything negative about your decision to donate to the server. I decided I have enjoyed my 2 years here so far, so I too have donated.

Besides your 400 USD you already spent, you would still have to invest a lot of time to build your super large cactus farm. I've rebuilt my cactus farm 6 or 7 times over the years, and it's taken me 3 days to do so each time. You will be rewarded for having put the time in to build it. You only have a lot of help in accumulating the sand blocks. Just because you have sand, does not mean you have a farm.

Even if you have a huge farm, you need to put more time in to collect the items. Like Mikamelody said, massive cactus farms still produce items very slowly. Same with any other farm/grinder. We put in a lot of hours just to collect a few things.

We are talking about people who have nothing. Because they have nothing, let's give them a little help. Or else this really will be a pay to win server. This suggestion gives chance to the kids who like skyblock who don't have access to their parent's credit cards. Let them play. Let them just enjoy the game.

On a further note, do you really thinking having a huge cactus farm gets you rich? I don't know about the others, but I save my cactus to cook them in to dye to color wool. 1 stack of cactus gets me 1 stack of green wool which I sell for just 1 gold nugget (1/9th of a grass block as the price is controlled by /warp trade, or even less if you believe the people who think the server is flooded with gold nuggets from the mob arena).

It is true that the original suggestion does not stop others from possibly abusing it, but how many players out there actually grind/farm blocks and items? Out of hundreds of people who have come and go over the last 2 years, I can name only a handful or so that have consistently done so. And even some of them have stopped playing the last couple of months.

I completely agree that donors should not be prevented from visiting this possible new warp. Being a donor does not automatically mean that you are rich. Most donors do not have the time, the ability, or ambition to create giant farms, so this could help them too.

The goal is for new players to become self reliant and self sufficient. The goal is not to help the rich get richer, which may not happen if we find the right amount of rewards to give for each set amount of crops sold there. It's just a basic income available if the players decide to put time into the game.

We don't need to keep this server pay to win. We can work to make it more open to non donors. Even Cyp said he wants to make this place more EULA compliant. Let's make a positive change towards that goal. Let's get through the details together. Let's give this idea a more thorough examination. Let's find the right balance of rewards for the work and time put in to not tank the current economy.

I argue that the biggest part of skyblock.net is the in game economy. Do you read chat? Do you see how many times people advertise their tradeshop/bannershop/skin competition/casino? Do you see see how many times people start up auctions or try to sell a rare item? Do you see how many times people ask to buy certain blocks? How do you think people get blocks and items to build their islands?

Having an admin shop will help provide ALL PLAYERS with a basic income, if they want to work for it.

Having an admin shop secures a basic income for players because they cannot get scammed for trading.
Having a secure source of income (how ever low the actual rewards are) is better than just voting for 2 blocks of grass a day (this is abject poverty).
Having a secure basic income is the incentive/reward to keep new players interested in the server.
Having a basic income means that players can enjoy other aspects of the game like socializing and building instead of stressing over how poor they are.
Having a basic income -> more players -> thriving in game community of socialites, builders, and businesses.

 

Donors already spent $$. Donors need to log in to collect their kits. Donors need to save up their rewards from kits. You keep forgetting that people have to invest time to build anything. Do not say it costs absolutely nothing for donors to build huge farms.

New players do not need diamonds to have a basic income. Just an opportunity to work for and save up grass blocks. Then they can participate in the rest of the server's economy and maybe buy themselves a couple spawners, some redstone dust, and get themselves self sufficient. If they are hard working, let them reap the rewards.

This is already not a survival server. There are no natural mob spawning. There is no passive mob breeding. Mobs cannot grief blocks. Skyblock.net is not a survival server although the command to switch over is /survival.

Skyblock.org died out because it did not have a strong player base to begin with. /Economy went on quite a long death spiral so there must of have been some good things about it. Why not add the parts that worked over to .net.

Skyblock.net is in it's own death spiral. The server needs a change if it wants to keep going.

People have already left the server. This place needs a change. We don't need a huge over hual, just enough to get people interested in sticking around. New players stop by all the time but they leave because it's too hard to get ahead in the game. People get interested in sticking around if they have access to a chance for a basic income.

If people enjoy playing here, there is a chance they may decide to donate real money to support this place.

No. People horde diamonds. People hardly sell diamonds. No one buys gold nuggets with their diamonds. This is because diamonds are rare. This server's economy is in a recession. No one wants to part with their "money" during a recession. We could use an inflation of players to give a new boom to the game economy. We get more players by giving them more access to game, which is essentially the game economy.