Jewels are clearly going to play an important role in the Earth2 EcoSim.
To quote the Jewel crafting press release, "Jewels will become a central part of the planned Earth 2 Eco-Sim and will be able to boost, control and specialize the resource production on a Player’s property" (see: https://www.e2.news/post/press-release-jewel-crafting)
Jewel prices have been on a roller-coaster trajectory
On their day of their release, several weeks ago in mid-July, Jewels were just over $1. Gradually, as the supply rose, the dumping began and they hit a bottom around $0.05.
However, the moment crafting went live in early November (on the test site to begin with) the prices began to rise rapidly. Not long after crafting went live on the main site, base Jewels climbed 400% from the (recent) all time low. They continued to climb all the way to $0.35+ for the cheapest Jewels before settling at a floor price, so far remaining above $0.30.
As of late November, the general sentiment is bullish, which is echoed in the on-going E2.News (@E2News) Twitter poll. More than 60% of participants feel the Jewel prices will keep going up due to continued demand.
What is Driving the Demand?
It seems certain that Jewel crafting on Earth2 has a long run-way. For one thing, many users are yet to slot jewels on all of their properties. We know that the Sunrise, Jamaica and Sunset Jewels increase Ether production by +2 per day, a clear incentive for players to prioritize slotting.
There are at least 2 new triggers for Jewel pricing:
New crafting recipes will be coming soon. To quote Earth2.io, "A further level of Jewel Crafting is scheduled to be released over coming weeks with each future release unlocking scores of more potential crafting results, a number that will continue to grow on each new release. Crafting will inherently have a deflationary effect on Jewel supply and increase their scarcity which will become more apparent as we continue to officialize our long term plans"
The Jewel Crafting press release also states that Jewels will be used in the upcoming PvP game inside Earth2. This has led some in the community to speculate that Jewels may be used as prizes.
This assures healthy demand for Jewels in the near term, potentially interspersed with periods of consolidation, that being stated, a correction cannot be entirely ruled out.
Current Market Status
As of writing, the Jewel market is experiencing a mild downward pressure. Only time will tell whether this is a logical consolidation or the start of further decline. The base Jewel floor price has only corrected 8-10% (from 0.32 to 0.30 incl. fees), with similar discounts in the crafted jewel market (Jamaica, Sunrise, Sunset). Of course, the volatility of market fees makes the analysis more complex. Many users have sold properties in order to set up 'Jewel farms', in the hopes of generating more Jewels to sell in the Bazaar. As the supply is increased there will likely be more competition between traders, this could be a contributing factor towards Jewel prices achieving equilibrium.
The Eco Sim is underway
The current boom in Jewel prices has already increased the demand for Land, especially single tiles which have been selling fast. Another popular strategy has been selling Jewels in the Bazaar and using the proceeds to buy more land. It is easy to observe that both Jewel and Land Prices have established some loose connection, however it remains to be seen whether this is a permanent relationship or just a temporary phenomenon. It will be interesting to see how this evolves in the future as more complex dependencies (including new items) are introduced in Earth 2.
There are additional announcements scheduled to be released by Earth2 team in November. It would be interesting to see how these affect the Marketplace and the Bazaar. Make sure to bookmark E2.News!
P.S. As we celebrate our first1000+ followers on Twitter (@E2News), we are doing a special 100-tile land giveaway for our Twitter followers. Visit @E2News Twitter handle, follow us, and check the pinned tweet for details on how to participate in the give-away. We thank the Earth 2 community for helping us grow.
It will be interesting to see what happens when more Jewel crafting options are added in a few weeks time.