Shard of alchemy not given often enough in shops

When selling items, we get a lot of Shards, but the Shard of Alchemy is very rare indeed.

I think selling yellow items should produce more of this type of shard because the Orb of Alchemy is a rare-item producing Orb (yellow).

Also, could someone link me to the thread where it's explained what type of item you should pick up in order to get a Chromatic Orb? If I remember correctly, it had to be an item with 3 different socket colors, linked together.

You are correct on the chromatic, and I disagree on the alchemy shards, but that is a matter of opinion.

My reason is thus: You shouldn't be selling rares anyway.

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Kyliathy wrote:

I think selling yellow items should produce more of this type of shard because the Orb of Alchemy is a rare-item producing Orb (yellow).

I think this is a terrible idea. Alchemy Orbs, while somewhat easy to obtain should not be as common as your lesser orbs like Alteration and Transmutation. If you want Alchemy Shards(which are pretty worthless anyway considering how easy it is to acquire Alchemy Orbs) then look for items with IIQ and IIR. Also, if you take some time to stash your rares, eventually you'll come across many, many duplicate rare names and you can trade them in for an entire Alchemy Orb not just for shards.

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Kyliathy wrote:

Also, could someone link me to the thread where it's explained what type of item you should pick up in order to get a Chromatic Orb?

The Exiled Sale Recipe Book (spoilers)

Why is it a "terrible" idea? A bit more diversity in the shop returns won't hurt.

I didn't say that they should be as common as the lesser orbs, I said that they should be MORE common than they currently are.

What's IIQ / IIR?

The reason I dont think it's a good idea is because it increases the availability of Alchemy orbs which are already available enough. I'm all for variety and diversity but not if it adversely affects balance.

IIQ = % Increased Item Quantity
IIR = % Increased Item Rarity

Collectively known as Item Acquisition mods, or Magic Find(MF) mods for the Diablo players who can't be bothered to drop the old lingo, the mods currently needed to obtain Alchemy Shards from a vendor.

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AgentDave wrote:

My reason is thus: You shouldn't be selling rares anyway.

Why not? They provide a decent amount of currency - either a good amount of alteration shards, or a whole augmentation orb. And while they're not nearly as common as blues or whites, junk rares are still common enough that you won't be able to keep all of them to sell same-names for alchemy orbs, unless you spend half your time organizing them rather than playing the game.

Also any flask with Surgeon mod give alchemy shards

I was discussing this in-game earlier, actually. Possibly even with Ky, and if so, I'd like to take some of the blame for this idea. If not, Ky can happily shoulder it all.

I'm a chronic alter. Everyone knows this. Few people are as likely to hoard rares of all types as the altoholic. Despite that, I find myself with almost more rares now than blues. I'm not sure what happened to the magic drop calculations or if it's just luck, but I am amazed at how many JUNK yellows I keep getting.

The idea of two exact rare names being likely is foreign to me, however. I've only a vague idea of how many suffixes and prefixes there are in the rare item naming pools, but for both to occur at once, surely that's a very low possibility. "Eventually" isn't good enough for me. Not when I have limited stash space (that's my choice, I know). I really don't want to imagine a day when I have to start naming my stash tabs after rare names. That's inconceivably ugly a future.

If magic items, when vended, give shards of an item that can turn a white into a blue, the immediate logic for me then is that rare items, when vended, should give shards of an item that can make a rare. However, this could potentially make rares as 'common' as blues.

...I'm not sure if people see that as already having happened once you get past the doldrums of low-level gear scavenging. Very few blues pop up for trade in the trade spam. It's always a sea of yellow and the occasional splat of brown.

Even were it a reduced amount, say, 1-2 shards of alchemy for each rare, that would make vending junk rares (JUNK RARES, people, they do exist) much more lucrative.

The current alchemy shard/orb formulae are just too obscure and unlikely in my opinion.

As for what this would do to the player-driven market? It'd move Orbs of Alchemy down the hierarchy somewhat. To this I say GOOD. People speak of the barter system but let's be honest, it's an arbitrary economy driven by designated units of currency. And no economy in the world still runs on gold (ironically enough) -- it's all down to much smaller, more abstract tokens of value: cents, dollars, yen, pesos, etc etc. I'm no economist but I'm pretty sure this is so that the same unit of currency has value from the smallest of items to the largest.

I'm not saying Orbs of Alchemy should be that unit. Not at all. I like the dynamic hierarchy of 'orbs' in Wraeclast, even though I rarely participate in it myself. But I do think that certain 'orbs' can suffer a humbling experience, a slight nudge off their pedestal. It won't change the economy itself, only mean that items would now cost 'more' of that type of orb. I don't see the fabled Mirror of Kalandra dropping in value anytime soon, or the wisdom scroll becoming any more viable as a player-trade item.

So yes, the idea was at least partially mine.

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CharanJaydemyr wrote:

If magic items, when vended, give shards of an item that can turn a white into a blue, the immediate logic for me then is that rare items, when vended, should give shards of an item that can make a rare. However, this could potentially make rares as 'common' as blues.

Both blue(magic) and yellow(rare) items can be sold for Transmutation shards or Alchemy shards. I see your point though. I'm sure the devs could make it so that unidentified rares can be sold for 1-2 Alchemy shards just as unidentified magic items can be sold for Transmutation shards. To most people it doesn't seem like that much of a balance issue but it's one the devs must take into consideration. In a previous patch they removed the ability to vend tier 1 Item Acquisition mods for Alchemy shards because of how easily abusable the recipe was. If it was a balance issue then, it'll certainly be an issue to vend rares for Alchemy shards now. In fact, it seems to me that people find more off-class or useless rares than they care to. That's easy money, so to speak, compared to indentifying loads of items in the hopes of finding one with the right IA mods.

I should have stipulated that I did indeed mean unidentified rares, in accordance to the current recipe for shards of transmutation. :)

Once you ID a rare, I think the gamble factor is reduced significantly. Essentially, my idea is not so much about rares as about base items you don't intend to use, merely one level of rarity/power above blue.

Oh, and I'm speaking as someone who does not enjoy trading with other players willy-nilly. I've probably vended some rares that others would really want and for not much at all. I don't think it's unfair to ask that the NPC merchants see rares as worth 'more' than blues, if indeed they and us are operating on somewhat a similar currency base.