A case for 3-8x more currency (esp regal orbs and essences)....

As a beginning but seasoned POE1 player (500 hrs), who loves POE2, I've already fallen into not bothering with crafting in POE2 in early acts -- because there just are not enough essences and/or regals to be able to even *try* to get a satisfying outcome. Every craft I've done, I've end up vendoring, so I just stopped trying.

This seems like the opposite of what Jonathan promoted during the launch event, where it was said that crafting currency would be common enough people would use it during their campaign.

Even if *somebody* gets a good craft, there are going to be tons of other players who don't, and this also ends up creating a bit of a balance challenge.

Of course one way to make outcomes less random across players is to make the crafting system less random and more directed, like Last Epoch. However, I get that this is not the POE way. It's also possible to balance this by just dropping a ton more crafting mats. It's not going to hurt endgame, as many players won't even make it to endgame or through half of endgame, and if they do, a stash of extra regal orbs or low level essences isn't going to mean anything. It's just going to give players more room for experimentation as they learn the game, and IMO make the game feel more fun.

What should the balance goal be for crafting drops?

If I was designing a benchmark, my goal would be for a high percentage of players (80%+) who have *never* played POE to be able to craft or improve at least *one* gear into a useful satisfying rare before the end of Act 1.

Given the huge amount of randomness in crafting, and the incredibly low number of regal orbs and essences dropping, right now I would be surprised if even 30% of people are getting a satisfying crafting result by the end of Act 2.

I'd say the drop numbers for regal orbs and essences could go up by 3-8x. The final items coming out are still going to be highly random, so it's not like anyone would be handed I win buttons, it would just make it more likely a given player could get *some* satisfaction from crafting during their evalation period of the game in acts 1/2, instead of nothing.