Lets start off with saying: gil sellers do not contribue to inflation more than the average player(and they also extract from inflation, possibly more than the non-limbus[dynamis is an area in limbus] player). You could say "SE would help inflation a lot if they bought small amounts of gil and delete the bank accounts"... but we also need to be realistic.
Anyway, I don't want to list everything I've thought about in the matter yet. One from me would be the addition of something that cost a lot gil, without giving gil back to the system, and rewarding you. Having a "pet"(cats and dogs do exist in Vana'diel) or "chocobo breeding".
With buying gifts(FROM NPCs!!! Not AH) or 'upgrading' them(Chocobo -> Red Chocobo -> Black Chocobo -> ect), you would be drainning gil. Have the 'upgrades' get harder and harder(but not originally too hard). For the rest of this post I'm talking about Chocobo raising.
Giving rare/ex (GOOD!) gear would be nice, along with quests spawned from the Chocobo. This could be easy to do, assuming the chocobos don't have differences aside from color. Just add in more models. Once the chocobos are raised, they will still cost the normal fees like any Chocobo. Maybe at certain point their price will always cost the same (at 500 gil... note you might be losing gil at the cheaper areas; but thats less inflation).
Imagine Gold Chocobo(costing as much as a level of Relic weapon alone), having a GM like effect of blur and shine like the sun, and everyone chasing the player around to grab a SS and post it on some forum. (Sorry for any grammer errors, I'm kind of distracted).
Anyway post your ideas on how to fix inflation. zOMG NERF GIL SELLERS, not included.
(UPDATED EVERY SO OFTEN)List of Quality:
(Above). - BRP
More things like Vir subligar
Maybe worthwhile gear could be obtained by getting a rare/ex item from say bahamut and you'd have to also fork over a good deal of gil - Axil
do like the idea of escalating (or minimized) priced purchases from vendors. If I'm trying to sell 100 Errant Slops to a vendor, all 100 should not go for the same price .... I would think each one after the third or fourth should be reduced in price, although I think there should be some base minimum for crafters who just have to get rid of stuff. - Byrd
Armor upgrading is one I have been tinkering with. I would say weapon, but the issue there is at 75....you run the risk of upgrading a weapon beyond that of a Relic Weapon. Granted...general concensus is that 90% of relic weapons crap, we still cannot take that away from those who have completed them
Now, on to Armor upgrading. SE has implemented this for AF with Limbus, and AFv2 with the new Dynamis areas. However, these upgrades do not take gil...just drops from said areas, some of which are annoying as hell. What I am proposing is an NPC who will add stats to non-AF armor. Be it purchased, crafted, or dropped, rare/ex or not...this NPC can add stats, abilities to your gear...for a price of course. What upgrades are available are dependant on the level/type of armor. For example:
1-10 Armor: No upgrades.
10-20 Armor: A few. Melee armor could have some HP/STR/DEX/AGI added, Mage armor could have MP/CHR/MND/INT added. Prices for upgrades would be in 1000-9999 range.
20-30 Armor: Same as above. Maybe a few more boosts. Prices rise to upto 20000
30-50 Armor: Along with the above...attack accuracy, and the like are now options. Certain upgrades will cost upto 500k
50-75 Armor: Now the big boys. Auto-Refresh, Regen, Double Attack, and the like are now options. But these will cost you up to 10 million.
To balance things out, every armor will not have every option available to it. Someone cannot take an Errant Houppelande and turn it into an Osode...but as it is mage gear...Auto-Refresh could be added for 5 million.
To allow for +1 armor, these +1's would have more options open to them than the NQ's from the NPC. For example, Dragon Harness could have Triple Attack +5% added to it for 10 million. Dragon Harness+1 could have Triple Attack +8% added to it for the same price. This makes the +1 still wanted. This means crafters will be cranking out the armor synths, possibly buying materials from NPC's....removing more gil from the system.
All upgraded armor becomes Rare/Ex.
This system would allow players to customize theuir armor to suite their game play. Are you a SMN who like to solo...spend millions on getting a free Fenrir...or are you a SMN who likes big damage in a short time (like me)...spend millions on Avatar Attack and -BP timer. And the best part....billions of gil woul be removed as every HNMLS would have its players dumping all their money to pimp out their gear. - Cleveland
Square makes Dynamis currency buyable from a Goblin NPC somewhere. Limit it to 50 EX currencies available every time you do Dynamis for 20k each (2 million gil a week for 100 singles), it would take 179 weeks (3.4 years) and 358 million gil to get enough currency to fully upgrade an Excalibur (for example) if you solely relied on NPCs for money.
You're welcomed Square, I will take my payment in Galkas. - Septimus
I think the best way to do this would be temporary boosts to weapons and armor, like if I pay an NPC 20k to sharpen my Joyeuse (5 extra damage) and that lasts a certain number of attacks. When that quota is met, it goes back to being a normal Joyeuse but I can go and get it sharpened again. You could do this in all sorts of ways, polishing jewelry that lasts a week or two- INT rings get Magic Attack Bonus, MND rings get magical accuracy, DEX rings get accuracy, maybe even have it so that there could be several types of polishes for different kinds of rings, so that you could get one MND ring with MAB and a second MND ring with magical accuracy. (Of course, you could not sell an item while it was sharpened or polished.) - Septimus.
Add new items in game besides the two year old haubergeon/scorpion harness/hauberk with similar stats that have crafting materials that are a bit more plentiful then the ones needed for haubergeon/hauberk/scorpion harness. - Sekkite.