It's botting and thus, should be banned. However, I'm not going to pretend that all botting is bad and that there isn't some that can be beneficial. Bot miners being one, depending on what is being done with those mats. It's simple really. Selling to a vendor generates new wealth and puts it into circulation within the player base but selling it on the TP means that money already in circulation is switching hands and this comes with an associated transaction fee which pulls money out of circulation. The former contributes to inflation while the latter contributes to deflation. Also, in the case of the latter, if the crafting mats are cheaper, the crafted items are cheaper. This is also a benefit. This doesn't mean those who profit off crafting will profit less. They profit off the margin. That is, selling price - crafting cost = profit margin. It's the drop in the crafting cost that allows the item to be sold for cheaper while maintaining the same profit margin. In fact, this is better for crafters. Some people have more time to play than others. Some focus on the parts of the game that net them the most money while others prefer the story and events. Some can afford and are willing to buy gems with real money and buy gold with the gems while others are not or simply can't. This will naturally create an imbalance of wealth among players. This means, the more expensive items sell for on the TP, the more cost prohibitive they become to consumers which is bad for producers. The price you can sell the item for, regardless of the cost to make it, is largely influenced by the demand for that item. So if you can cut the cost to craft an item that is in high demand, the selling price doesn't have to come down all that much and instead you end up with a greater profit margin. This is where ANet can make changes. I sometimes think they actually want to see inflation happen. Sell too many items too quickly on the TP and get an error. Something that has existed since day 1. Meanwhile I can vendor my entire inventory in a fraction of the time and not get such an error. Remember, time is money. If the goal is to make money, it's better to just sell the higher priced items on TP (rare and exotic gear) and vendor the rest. Thus, generating more money into circulation via selling to the vendor than what is removed via TP transaction fees. Get rid of this limiter already. Then there are the items gained by leveling and completing quests. The kind that can only be deleted. Waste of opportunity there. Allow them to be salvaged. This will encourage TP utilization which will mean TP transaction fees. Simply put, the game should be designed to encourage TP use over vendor use. Someone made a claim about ANet increasing the amount of mats require to craft end game gear because of the volume of mats on the TP that bots produce. Not only do I disagree with such a claim, I believe it is the other way around. It's because ANet goes with needing such large amounts of mats that people resort to botting.
It's botting and thus, should be banned. However, I'm not going to pretend that all botting is bad and that there isn't some that can be beneficial. Bot miners being one, depending on what is being done with those mats. It's simple really. Selling to a vendor generates new wealth and puts it into circulation within the player base but selling it on the TP means that money already in circulation is switching hands and this comes with an associated transaction fee which pulls money out of circulation. The former contributes to inflation while the latter contributes to deflation. Also, in the case of the latter, if the crafting mats are cheaper, the crafted items are cheaper. This is also a benefit. This doesn't mean those who profit off crafting will profit less. They profit off the margin. That is, selling price - crafting cost = profit margin. It's the drop in the crafting cost that allows the item to be sold for cheaper while maintaining the same profit margin. In fact, this is better for crafters. Some people have more time to play than others. Some focus on the parts of the game that net them the most money while others prefer the story and events. Some can afford and are willing to buy gems with real money and buy gold with the gems while others are not or simply can't. This will naturally create an imbalance of wealth among players. This means, the more expensive items sell for on the TP, the more cost prohibitive they become to consumers which is bad for producers. The price you can sell the item for, regardless of the cost to make it, is largely influenced by the demand for that item. So if you can cut the cost to craft an item that is in high demand, the selling price doesn't have to come down all that much and instead you end up with a greater profit margin. This is where ANet can make changes. I sometimes think they actually want to see inflation happen. Sell too many items too quickly on the TP and get an error. Something that has existed since day 1. Meanwhile I can vendor my entire inventory in a fraction of the time and not get such an error. Remember, time is money. If the goal is to make money, it's better to just sell the higher priced items on TP (rare and exotic gear) and vendor the rest. Thus, generating more money into circulation via selling to the vendor than what is removed via TP transaction fees. Get rid of this limiter already. Then there are the items gained by leveling and completing quests. The kind that can only be deleted. Waste of opportunity there. Allow them to be salvaged. This will encourage TP utilization which will mean TP transaction fees. Simply put, the game should be designed to encourage TP use over vendor use. Someone made a claim about ANet increasing the amount of mats require to craft end game gear because of the volume of mats on the TP that bots produce. Not only do I disagree with such a claim, I believe it is the other way around. It's because ANet goes with needing such large amounts of mats that people resort to botting.