How are alchemy orbs so common?

So in the buying and selling thread, it seems like alchemy orbs are considered to be pretty much the minimum orb accepted, and they seem to be pretty common just from seeing how often they are used as currency.

I'm at level 50 and I've had one drop all game, plus I got one from collecting shards. Right now I've got around 53% item quantity and 34% rare find, but they don't really drop. Is it just bad luck or is there a better way to obtain them? I've seen that there are recipes to get them at vendors, but they require 20% quality items, which don't drop very often either.

What methods do you guys use to get alchemy orbs?

I don't get them in drops that often either but I get a lot them through trading. I also sell my Chaos and GCP's for Alchs. I buy white 4L items and alch those for sale, this way I seem to build up a steady supply of currency.

Must have found 15 to 20 or so since OB. On the other hand, I've not found a single GCP. :-/

For me it was GCP-day today. I got two. The first two since OB started.
Alchs I got about 15 from drops and 5 from shards.
I do not trade, so no income there.

its not that alchs are common but they are universal and lesser currency is just to common to trade for.
Most got enough alts chromes , jewellers to satisfy their needs so they wont trade for those. Fusings are about alchs in worth but you dont realy need them untill endgame (and then you need lots) so they arnt popular for trading.

alot of different ways to get them besides drops, u can also get them from the vendor 1:1 if you get chances to scours to regrets

Orb of Alchemy
Recipe: 1 rare, 1 magic and 1 normal of same base type and with 20% quality each
Reward: 1 Orb of Alchemy (2 orbs of Alchemy if all 3 items are unidentified)

start hoarding all ur high quality gear ( superior drops ) some people do

I guess some its luck, some of its work, and a few, its outsmarting. You realize you can sell the right combo of quality items to get shards and stones, then use those to increase quality on certain items, like 17-19% stuff and raise their quality to get a better chance to get alchs.

You can also sell certain higher end stuff, like special gems and the like. I sold a Reduced mana support for 6 alchs. He did offer a gcp, but I chose alchs instead.

I have found near 50 of them since OB but that is between 5 characters in HC 4 of which were above lvl 50. Only found 2 gcp's 2 blessed, near 75 chaos ( seem to find them more than alchs ) no other good curreny than fuses and chromes ect... think I found 200 of those combined.

Thanks guys. Seems like it's a good idea to hoard rares and be diligent about checking all of my drops either for trading here or for vending as part of a recipe.

Also try to keep up with exchange rates. Alchs are pretty much the standard exchange rate, and they rarely fluxuate in value, though other commodities flux alot. Some times a currency might be worth 10 alchs one day, then 9 the next. I sometimes treat this game like a stock exchange.