Kanai’s Cube

Crafting fees, trading fees, or even enchanters fees aren't nearly as meaningful as currency sinks, nor are they natural. Which is what I thought was the most important point about the system, it is a self cleaning system. From a player standpoint though, I suppose gold could be a viable alternative if what you were after straight power.

What I mean by that is, path of exile might have the stratification of currency and what they do, and this might make it more efficient for people that want certain things, it also means that players are tied to the economy. Gold on the other hand is a common and universal drop, and therefore is much easier to handle in solo play.

This means that only the upper 1% of path of exile players will even attempt the highest levels of crafting simply because there is almost no availability of eternals, exalts, and mirrors. If it were based on gold instead, that one exalt of currency I can find in a few hours of play would be usable for high level crafting without trading and therefore open to pretty much all end game players, instead of just the good traders and incredibly lucky.

That is actually one thing I wish path of exile did better, make the availability of exalts, eternals, and mirrors open to all who put in effort. Having them all sold by the vendors is my preference, even at outrageous prices. For example, I can trade around 350-360 alterations on standard for an exalt, so why not sell an exalt from the vendor for 1000? Maybe nobody would use the recipe, but the availability of the recipe is more the point.

Idea of how that might work:
1st track: wisdom->portal->transmute->augment->alteration->jewelers->fuse (already in game)
2nd track: scrap->whestone->bauble->chisel->gemcutters (added chisels and gcp)
3rd track: chance->scour->regret->alchemy (already in game, although I get the feeling alchemy should come before regret, I have no qualms with it after scours -- scours are weighted up specifically because of demand for regret orbs)
4th track: chaos->regal->exalted->eternal->mirror (completely new, and extremely workable because of chaos/regal recipes)
5th track: jewelers->chromatic (already in game but kind of a dangling chain)

I won't suggest a rate because I think that is best determined by GGG and be by drop rate (this is a currency exchange that is intended to make currency more fluid, it is not intended to be an easy way to get exalts, etc). For example, if a mirror is 700x more rare than an exalt, I'm perfectly fine with it costing 700 exalts, even if players sell it for 220-300.

"

ghoulavenger wrote:

This means that only the upper 1% of path of exile players will even attempt the highest levels of crafting simply because there is almost no availability of eternals, exalts, and mirrors. If it were based on gold instead, that one exalt of currency I can find in a few hours of play would be usable for high level crafting without trading and therefore open to pretty much all end game players, instead of just the good traders and incredibly lucky.

It is not a supply issue, it is a demand issue. The folks at the top 0.1% get more value out of an orb than anyone else, much more value, and they're willing to trade you more than the value you'll get out of it. Thus, unless you're either particularly spiteful or reckless (or both), you don't use it, you trade it.

You underestimate the invisible hand of the economy. It will direct resources to their place of maximum impact, with remarkable precision. Any additional supply won't be randomly distributed, but appended to the top, finding those second-best slots. If you double currency drop rates, you go from only the top 0.1% using currency, to the top 0.2%. Only the folks in the new 0.1% would really benefit. For the other 99.8% nothing changes.

The problem is: even that second 0.1% would need to wait their turn. The top 0.1% would "get there" even quicker. You think mirrored items are a problem now? Double the droprates and they stack up twice as quickly.

If you want to effect real change for the typical player, look not to increasing droprates. Instead, try to attack the way the economy performs its sorting algorithm. Which means: find a way where maximum currency utility, for any ONE currency function, is NOT ALWAYS at the top of the chain. You'd need to change an aspect of how currency actually work, not merely how many of them there are... or how easy it is to convert one to another.

Easy conversion from one currency function to another is functionally a massive boost to the droprates of the most useful currency, and a drastic nerf to the droprates of the least useful currency. Your suggestion would solve nothing that matters and break a lot of shit.

"

ScrotieMcB wrote:

"

ghoulavenger wrote:

This means that only the upper 1% of path of exile players will even attempt the highest levels of crafting simply because there is almost no availability of eternals, exalts, and mirrors. If it were based on gold instead, that one exalt of currency I can find in a few hours of play would be usable for high level crafting without trading and therefore open to pretty much all end game players, instead of just the good traders and incredibly lucky.

It is not a supply issue, it is a demand issue. The folks at the top 0.1% get more value out of an orb than anyone else, much more value, and they're willing to trade you more than the value you'll get out of it. Thus, unless you're either particularly spiteful or reckless (or both), you don't use it, you trade it.

You underestimate the invisible hand of the economy. It will direct resources to their place of maximum impact, with remarkable precision. Any additional supply won't be randomly distributed, but appended to the top, finding those second-best slots. If you double currency drop rates, you go from only the top 0.1% using currency, to the top 0.2%. Only the folks in the new 0.1% would really benefit. For the other 99.8% nothing changes.

The problem is: even that second 0.1% would need to wait their turn. The top 0.1% would "get there" even quicker. You think mirrored items are a problem now? Double the droprates and they stack up twice as quickly.

If you want to effect real change for the typical player, look not to increasing droprates. Instead, try to attack the way the economy performs its sorting algorithm. Which means: find a way where maximum currency utility, for any ONE currency function, is NOT ALWAYS at the top of the chain. You'd need to change an aspect of how currency actually work, not merely how many of them there are... or how easy it is to convert one to another.

Easy conversion from one currency function to another is functionally a massive boost to the droprates of the most useful currency, and a drastic nerf to the droprates of the least useful currency. Your suggestion would solve nothing that matters and break a lot of shit.

We're looking at it from a completely different viewpoints. Mirrored items, and top tier gear do not disturb me in the least. What the difference between the upper .1% and upper .2% do with their currency is also not of my concern. Your suggestion that my suggestion breaks anything suggests that eternals, exalts, and mirrors should be out of the game entirely because *they* break the game.

My assertion works within the system but rather suggests that the system is rigged. Trading will not change just because of a few new recipes no matter how balanced they are. Nothing breaks because in my view nothing is broken. Time investment meets return, period. Instead of uber trading, and insane luck means return. But perhaps people aren't interested in that point of view. Perhaps a lot of really rich people would actually hate the suggested changes because as you said, less desirable currency will become recycled and the system turns on its head. I'm fine with that.

Edit: Oh and by the way, while some currency may indeed go to its most useful place, supply does remain a problem at least in terms of suitably for crafting purposes. Exalts being used as a store and trade of wealth for example. That is their primary purpose, you said it yourself people are afraid to craft. If you can store 50 fuses into one exalt, and it gains value over time, it's effectively a bank and saves you stash space. A stack of exalts therefore is worth 500 fuse, which is 25 stacks worth of fuses, in just one stack. That is worth a lot more than a random effect on an item which might break it to many people. So while my suggestion might not actually change anything, additional supply does not hurt the demand. In fact, it probably won't even change how people trade. The major benefit is for folks that don't want to trade and therefore won't use them as a store of wealth anyway -- which makes their primary purpose crafting.