The real problem here is that there were legitimate players who spent years farming and grinding to afford these minis through honest means. All of that effort is now wiped out overnight.
Maybe instead of devaluing everything, we address the real issue: the rampant botting that has infiltrated nearly every part of the game.
It seems I have a kindred spirit here. Some of you remember when I wrote a petition to Anet regarding banning the bots and RMT'ers. I got a lot of flak for that. That's when I realized that it was an unwinnable battle, as most of the game's community supports bots and RMT because "without them the game would die" to put it in their words.
Many also know that I was a victim of a massive hack in 2013 where my NC Soft account was hacked. I lost all of my high end undedicated minis (Kanaxai, 4x MKG's, EL Reindeer, etc, etc.) that I earned through legitimate trading over 6 years. Since then, I've never been able to catch up back to where I was, as the RMT'ers and bots can ALWAYS outpace players that are achieving things in game legitimately.
I've always stated that the #1 update I'd like to see from Anet is banning cheaters. For some reason they can't or won't do this.
I don't know if this update is meant to be a soft fix on RMT or not, but I agree that the RTM'ers will just move on to the next big things that make them money.
Another thing to consider is the owners of these untradeable minis. Two types exist - ones that still value them and others who see them as lost value. The ones that see the lost value most likely will try and liquidate those assets to reallocate their investment elsewhere. I can't blame them for trying to get as much value as possible, as would anyone else in their position. Hopefully in these rounds of liquidations, the minis end up in the inventories of people who truly appreciate the collecting rather than RMT and profiting.
As far as the current owners of the minis. I imagine that there are very few in the hands of people who did not RMT their minis (this is my speculation, of course, based off of personal conversations and information - I have no way of proving this.) But any time I've found these minis over the past several years, people wanted real cash for them. I do believe, however, that there are a small few in some collectors hands that earned them legitimately many, many years ago when they were actually affordable through in-game means.
The ones who are truly affected by this are the ones who paid real money for them, and for them, I have no remorse. As far as the legitimate owners go, well I'd like to hear what they think. Many of them have had their minis exclusively for 10 years+ and are truly collectors and held on to them for sentimental value and not for the purpose of flipping them for real dollars - so in that instance I'm not even sure this update effects them.
Personally, I'm glad I get to have my minis back - although it's bittersweet because A) It's 13 years later, B) Justice was never served, and C) The new mini are not exactly the same because they're untradeable.
Maybe I'm showing my cards here but I'm glad to be able to finally dedicate these minis and move on. Yes, I'd still like a "real" Kanaxai, MKG, etc. but no way am I going to spend all my hard-earned armbraces from the past 13 years on them now.
So take it from a true collector - yes, these minis will maintain some semblance of value as there will always be demand by guys like me - BUT they will never reach March 2025 prices (whatever real world-converted-price-to-armbraces price that is) because people like me will never pay them, and the RMT'ers will never see them as a safe investment anymore.
In fact, I'm still willing to pay 1000 arms. Any takers?
