Yeah, I remember the days when my armor became butter in Diablo 1. Which had a similar decay system and they did toy around with reduced durability after repair. On nightmare difficulty sometimes just a few hits could smash apart plate. I wasn't a huge fan but I understand the rationale.

I understand what you're saying and agree that gold often results in the problem you outlined.

I like this econ system because it's dynamic and it makes sense from a plot perspective. Not surprising the Aussie/Kiwi influence of being exiled to a desolate island/continent and having to rely on a system of barter was favorable to GGG. Makes sense to me too.

The balance of keeping things fun and not having to rely on trade or being able to completely avoid it is a difficult balance. Provided you'll have the ability to gain all of your orbs via trading between the various vendors in all of the acts will mitigate most of the issues. I will say having each trade interaction start with "is that for sale? What do you want for it"? To more often than not result in a "whatcha got" response does stall game play but certain gems like jewelers or alchs are becoming the standard of trade. Which goes back to the idea that the economies will develop organically and reach equilibrium without intervention.

Now that flasks with elemental resistance and armor are available I'd like to see ones that provide other buffs.

Experience
Damage
Movement Speed
Attack Speed

Maybe these are already in the wild and I haven't seen them drop or be available for trade yet. I did see 10000 armor the other day. Let's just say I felt my e-peen move...

I'd also like to see the flask reward in act one get a stacked upgrade as you progress in difficulty. So it starts as a medium vial(I'd like to see ths improve too but that's another can of worms). Then becomes a large with some maybe elemental resistances in chaos, then larger still with a boost to armor/ES/evasion, etc etc. If these improvements to the flask had a random element they could also add to replay value trying to make the perfect flask combination for various classes. There could also be an "A,B or C" selection like with gem rewards so you don't end up throwing your computer out the window when you get to the end of the line and your witch ends up with an armor or strength buff.

It took me five runs to make the perfect witch vial but now this bitch is badass! Krusty is comming...Krusty is comming.