On a private server, your Metin2 economy balance is often the invisible system that decides whether players stay or leave, sometimes even more than PvP balance. Yang is produced constantly, but if it is not destroyed at the same rate, it does not take long before 1 won (a hundred million yang) becomes the casual bargaining unit for a single item on the street. In this article I explain where inflation comes from, how to measure your money "faucets" and "sinks," and which concrete settings keep your server healthy for the long run.
Where yang comes from and where it goes
To manage the economy, first split the money flow into two categories. Faucets are the sources that inject new yang into the game; sinks are the mechanisms that permanently remove yang from the game. In a healthy economy, the two stay close to each other.
- Main faucets: yang dropped by mobs, quest rewards, metin stone and boss loot, event rewards.
- Main sinks: buying from NPCs (potions, arrows, mounts), repair costs, upgrade costs, teleport and storage fees, taxes (for example a cut on player shops/auctions).
The catch is that on most servers the faucets are wide open while the sinks are barely used. When players spend yang on each other (item trading) instead of NPCs, that yang never leaves the game; it just changes hands. As a result the total money supply grows in one direction only, and prices inflate.
How to measure inflation
Decide with data, not with gut feeling. A few simple SQL queries are enough to take the economy's pulse. First track the total yang in player inventories and storage (the money supply):
-- Total cash yang across all characters
SELECT SUM(gold) AS total_yang FROM player.player;
-- Add storage (safebox) yang too (table name varies by source)
SELECT SUM(gold) FROM player.safebox;Write these values into a log table at the same time every day; after a few weeks you will see the curve. A steady and accelerating rise is the classic sign of inflation. The second metric is the reference item prices on the player market (for example a particular +9 weapon, a specific soul stone). If prices climb together with the yang supply, it is time to act.
Throttling the faucet: drops and quest rewards
The first reflex is usually to cut drops across the board, but that frustrates players. A better approach is a surgical adjustment. Reduce the yang given by low-level mobs, because that is exactly what bots and macro farms feed on. Keep the relevant money fields in mob_proto moderate, and especially lower the yang amount on fast-killed pack mobs.
- Shift repeatable quest rewards from flat yang toward item rewards; let the player decide to sell or use it, so supply does not explode in one direction.
- Hand out event rewards as tradeable items or cosmetics instead of raw yang.
- To break AFK/bot farming, apply a level-difference penalty to money drops: if the player far outlevels the mob, the yang it drops shrinks.
Growing the sink: systems that burn yang permanently
The real lever against inflation is the sinks, because you remove money from the stage without punishing the player. The goal is to design loops where the player spends willingly while yang is permanently burned.
- Upgrade/crafting NPCs: attach a yang cost to socketing stones, upgrading weapons, combining items. The yang should still burn even on a failed attempt.
- Market tax: take a small percentage from player shop or auction sales. This deletes part of the yang circulating between players on every transaction.
- Prestige/cosmetic spending: sell status items such as name changes, guild creation, mount/costume dyeing for yang.
- Repairs and consumables: keep high-level equipment repair and potion/arrow use noticeable without being a deterrent.
To see the effect of these sinks, it helps to also log the total yang removed from the game. Many sources reduce yang on the quest side with calls like pc.change_gold(-amount); if you route those points through your own log function, you also get the daily "burned yang" figure.
Protecting against counterfeiting and dupes
Even the best economy design collapses overnight with a single dupe (item/money duplication) exploit, because a dupe creates an unlimited, free faucet. A few basic precautions:
- Make trade, storage and shop operations atomic on the server side (inside a transaction); never trust the client.
- Set up an alarm that catches abnormal yang gains: a gain over a certain threshold in a single session should flag the player.
- Take regular backups and audit large yang spikes; when needed, apply a targeted fix instead of a full yang reset/wipe.
Frequently Asked Questions
Won't cutting drops drive players away?
If you cut across the board, yes. The right method targets the yang source, not the yang amount: throttle the low-level pack mobs that feed bots and macro farms, and increase voluntary in-game sinks. The player still feels rich, but the total supply does not inflate.
If inflation has already started, is a yang wipe mandatory?
Usually not. A wipe erodes player trust. First grow the sinks, throttle the faucet, and wait a few weeks for prices to settle. A wipe should only be considered as a last resort if an exploit like a dupe has created a massive, untraceable supply.
What is the ideal faucet/sink ratio?
There is no magic number; it depends on your server's level range and player count. The goal is for the total money supply to draw a flat or very slowly rising curve over time. If the curve keeps steepening, sinks are too weak; if players can never hold any money, the faucet is too tight.
Has your server's economy inflated? We can review the drop tables, quest rewards and sink systems together and build a sustainable balance. Get in touch and we will look at your server's data and draft a concrete plan.