The problem with poe is in item crafting.

The problem with poe is in item crafting. In poe, currency is directly related to item crafting. Therefore, the decrease in the value of crafting items is directly related to the decrease in the value of currency. Right now, the price used to obtain an item from the mirror service is much less than the cost of making the item. When this happens, no one cares about making it, and eventually the currency economy collapses. Therefore, we need to narrow the gap between the mirror service and production cost by lowering the difficulty of item production compared to now.

> Right now, the price used to obtain an item from the mirror service is much less than the cost of making the item.

Correct. If you can craft an item for less than a mirror, then it's not going to get mirrored (assuming perfect economic actors).

> When this happens, no one cares about making it, and eventually the currency economy collapses. Therefore, we need to narrow the gap between the mirror service and production cost by lowering the difficulty of item production compared to now.

If things become easier to craft, there will be a higher demand for and higher use of crafting currency. They will be removed from the economy through this use. Increased demand and reduced supply means currency will be 'worth' more - or, crafted items will be 'worth' less. It's relative.

Also, if items are made easier to craft, there will be a lower demand for mirrors - again, if you can craft an item for less than a mirror, then it's not going to get mirrored.

These effects mean that altering crafting difficulty will likely not change anything - the gap between the cost-to-craft of the best items, and a mirror, will not change, because the market adapts to the 'value' of items.


It's also not clear to me that this is a problem in the first place.

> When this happens, no one cares about making it, and eventually the currency economy collapses.

This is a complete non sequitur - people making mirror items doesn't magically mean the economy collapses. As a league goes on and more people stop playing, there is less engagement in the economy, less demand and also less supply. Despite what you might think, mirror items represent a small amount of currency, because there are so few of them, and few people can afford to craft them.

If I get you right, your main thesis is, that buying mirror service is cheaper than crafting the items yourself and therefore devalues currency used for crafting.

Each mirror service bought means 1 mirror less on the market. The supply of mirrors is unlimited in theory, but in reality it's very limited because of the low drop rate.

Now lets think this trough: If Mirrors get "to cheap", more people will buy mirror services in stead of crafting. because the supply doesn't change together with the demand, the mirrors will raise in price. if they rise in price, mirror service becomes less attractive compared to crafting again.

Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't see a point where the economy could collapse, without a massive surplus in mirrors flooding the market. Even such a flood would just temporarily destabilize the market, since the mirrors get consumed.


Besides that: What do you think how big the group of player is, that plays long/efficient enough to equip mirror tier gear? even if we just consider the part of the community that's playing the endgame, my personal guess would be that we're talking about 0.x%.

A small number of people making mirror-tier items consume most of the poe currency. It is incomparable to those who are not interested in crafting. When thinking about the currency economy, you should think about the people who make these very few mirror-tier items.
A very small number of people who create mirror tiers end up making item prices unilateral. This monopoly structure causes item prices to rise abnormally.
Therefore, if GGG makes the item creation difficulty easy, GGG can also prevent the abnormal increase in the value of currency.

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surprisingjs wrote:

A small number of people making mirror-tier items consume most of the poe currency. It is incomparable to those who are not interested in crafting. When thinking about the currency economy, you should think about the people who make these very few mirror-tier items.
A very small number of people who create mirror tiers end up making item prices unilateral. This monopoly structure causes item prices to rise abnormally.
Therefore, if GGG makes the item creation difficulty easy, GGG can also prevent the abnormal increase in the value of currency.

Have you already tried crafting mirror tier stuff yourself?
I have some seasons ago. It requires alot of knowledge and alot of currency to start with. And even then, its more or less only gambling, since you have to deal with several layers of rng that determine if you make profit or loss.

Btw, the stuff those mirror tier crafters create (either aimed for or by products) don't only raise prices. They also put some price pressure on everything that isn't that good. this may mean that you can't sell your stuff you find on maps, but it also means, that good (but not godlike) items are somewhat affordable for the average endgame player.


While writing and reading your statement again, there is another thing comming up my mind:
If GGG makes crafting alot easier, what would that mean for the market? I doubt that currency would become cheaper. It would most likely stay the same, while all items below god tier drop in price. Why should I buy a shield for 50c if the chances are good that I can craft a better one myself if I invest those 50c in crafting material?

I think the ingame economy is way more complex than you think and won't be "fixed" that easily. Besides the fact that we would first have to define how a "fixed" market would look like.

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surprisingjs wrote:

A small number of people making mirror-tier items consume most of the poe currency. It is incomparable to those who are not interested in crafting. When thinking about the currency economy, you should think about the people who make these very few mirror-tier items.
A very small number of people who create mirror tiers end up making item prices unilateral. This monopoly structure causes item prices to rise abnormally.
Therefore, if GGG makes the item creation difficulty easy, GGG can also prevent the abnormal increase in the value of currency.

It is painfully clear that you do not understand how economics works. There was only one league with an abnormal increase in prices--Heist League. That hyperinflation was not caused by crafting but by too much currency being dropped. There was also one league where if you weren't a knowledgeable crafter, almost nothing you found was worth selling--Harvest League.

In every other league, it is normal for prices of things to start low and then rise as the league progresses. That's because early league, the total amount of currency in the economy is tiny but as the league progresses and players earn currency there are far more people who can afford what is being sold.

You do NOT want an economy where prices do not rise as the league progresses because that is an indication of a failed league.