© Copyright Our Wall
The lower prices are a significant improvement over the skyrocketing costs that were implemented following the update, but they are still a long way from restoring the game's economy to its pre-update state.
The Blueprints Update made its public debut on the servers exactly one week ago today. It was promoted as a replacement for the loot box-based Crates system, and it was intended to reduce the randomness of item acquisition.
Previously, opening a crate cost one key, which could be purchased with real money. Keys replaced loot boxes as the de facto in-game currency, and the loot box system gave way to a thriving player-to-player economy as a result of this. Players who did not wish to open their crates were able to sell them and receive keys that could be used to purchase rocket league equipment. The community discovered a way to reduce the randomness of loot boxes, and it was successful. Trading servers and websites grew in popularity, and the free crates you received could now be sold rather than opened.
The Blueprints Update followed a pattern that was similar. Players would receive Blueprints that were specific to a particular item. In the same way that opening a crate necessitates the use of a key, crafting them would necessitate the use to buy rocket league Credits, Rocket League's new currency. Each key was converted into 100 rocket league credits as part of the transition from keys to rocket league credits.
In theory, it worked well and was successful in meeting the expectations of a large portion of the community. Crafting prices skyrocketed as soon as the patch hit the servers. The cost of creating an item is significantly higher than the cost of purchasing it with keys just a day before. The new system was even more detrimental to the community than the old one had been previously.
Players believed they had been cheated out of their money, and they were right. According to the popular trading website RLInsider, an exotic-rareity Zomba can be purchased for less than the price of a key. Following the release of the update, it would be 14 times more expensive to craft an unpainted variant. It can now range from 700 to 800, which is a "mere" sevenfold increase. The Tora Black Market Decal, which has been shunned, would sell for two to three keys (200 to 300 Rocket League credits) on the open rocket league items market. Crafting it now costs 2,000 rocket league credits, which is a tenfold increase in price.
The first reactions to the price reduction were positive, acknowledging that it was a necessary effort but also recognizing that it was still far from the ideal price. A player on Rocket League's official Discord server put it succinctly: "Prices went from usury to expensive."
The Wall