Let's talk about the currency system in game

I am an old player of POE1 for years and have participated in the game for most of the seasons, while POE2 has been in the game since the 0.1.0 season.
I believe GGG, as the operator, should have a better understanding of the online retention of POE2 players than we players do.
Although everyone understands the seasonal gameplay of POE like games, which leads to a curvilinear decline in the number of online players, the rate of player loss for POE2 in just the current two seasons is still astonishing.
But I have to say here that the cause of the problem is still too obvious. If my friend wants to join the game as a newcomer at this time, I would suggest that he try again next season. Why?
The difference in currency exchange rates within the game becomes increasingly exaggerated as the season begins, to the point where new players find it difficult to participate in transactions. For them, once they miss the first week of the season and enter the game without the support of friends, they are almost playing a completely independent lone wolf game, like passively entering an SSF season server.
I will provide detailed examples and explanations here.
>>>The output and consumption of in-game currency are not proportional
This may be the most acute issue at present, as the rate of change in the ratio of Ex and Div throughout the season has been imbalanced. From 25Ex=1Div on the first day, it skyrocketed to 40Ex=1Div on the second day, and continued to climb every day until patch 0.2.0G was updated on April 30th, when 130Ex=1Div was reached. After updating the 0.2.0G patch, on May 2nd, it suddenly increased to 166Ex=1Div.
Perhaps you would say that as the game progresses, Chaos orb will become the only currency with relatively high value retention compared to Div. But based on the current gaming experience, the problem lies here. The currency I obtained in the map is still a large amount of Ex, sporadic C, and Extremely rare Div obtained by chance.
The currency exchange function of Var indeed plays a good role in the game's autonomous economic balance, making it more convenient for everyone to exchange currency. But with the emergence of pure gold coin maps this season and the drastic fluctuations in currency ratios, people would rather not to mapping. With a certain level of financial knowledge, they can stay in hideout and manipulate currency exchanges, bringing in 30% or even more profits.
This is one of the main reasons why beginners find it difficult to participate in the market, as they are likely to only receive a portion of Ex and occasionally 1 to 2 Divs by chance after completing ACT6. At this point, if they want to build their own BD for further gaming, they will find that some ordinary equipment is also marked with extremely high Ex prices due to the depreciation of Ex, or labeled as Chaos orbs that they find difficult to obtain in large quantities.
Even the market is filled with a large number of traders who won't respond to your whispering.
>>>No socializing, no response, unable to improve, new players leave.
Why has the ratio of Ex to Div become so exaggerated? It is obvious that it has not been quickly consumed. In POE1, due to the existence of orb of scoring, players always consume a large amount of Ex and Chaos to make equipment. However, in POE2, due to significant changes in the way equipment is made, Ex unexpectedly hoarded a large amount, and with the increase in currency depreciation rate based on the 0.2.0G version, it is no surprise that the game economy will explode.
In order to cope with this situation, I almost always exchange all the items I obtain for Div or Chaos before going offline every day. Only in this way can I ensure that my assets shrink when I wake up. However, for the items I need to sell, sometimes I even increase their selling price based on the market Ex exchange rate for Div again the next day, which is neither funny nor amusing.
In order to cope with this situation, I almost always exchange all the items I obtain for Div or Chaos before going offline every day. Only in this way can I ensure that my assets will not shrink when I wake up. But for the items I need to sell, sometimes I even jokingly increase their selling price again the next day based on the market Ex exchange rate for Div, which is neither funny nor fun.
>>>New players leave, old players' items cannot be sold, market prices are inflated, trading stagnates, and the season dies.
The current way of crafting items limits the extensive consumption of Ex, and perhaps you would be happy to use magical and rare items to carefully craft POE2 items. However, for me, apart from the most basic Aug>Rega>123Ex and unreliable recombination devices that always fail, to further refine items, i need to use Fractuating and the more expensive Essence. Ex has been completely shelved and is of no use.Not to mention the most valuable Essence of Delirium, which is equivalent to 4Div or even more value.
>>>The expected value of items crafting is too low, and the cost span is too large

How to solve this problem? I have provided two directions
>>>Accelerate the consumption of Ex, make the game's basic value currency more valuable, and prevent items from depreciating too quickly. Div plays a more pricing role in items, making it easier for novice players to use Ex to purchase items
So there are still two solutions for this road。
1 The simplest way is to add the Orb of Scoring of poe1 to the game
This may solve the problem to a certain extent, as it repeatedly consumes a large amount of currency and essence from an item. Experienced players can obtain better tiems by repeatedly making items.
2 Replace the consumption currency of the restructuring device with Ex, or allow players to invest more Ex to improve the success rate of synthesis
The current success rate of the restructuring device is unbelievably low, which is the worst experience I have had in my second season, without a doubt. If you think the crafting items method of POE2 is the current one-time crafting of magical and rare items, then adding Ex consumption to the recombination device would be a good choice.
The operation result of the recombination device here may be operated in another mode, still selecting the target affixes of two items, but the synthesis failure does not disappear, but becomes a chaotic combination of affixes. By investing different amounts of Ex consumption, the probability of the target affixes appearing can be increased to 100% (perhaps you hope there is not such a high success rate, 80%?).
Every 5% increase in success rate here leads to a significant increase in Ex's consumption, turning it into another expected gamble and making craft items more random.

>>>Amplify the joy of gambling and let players choose their own way to complete the game
In addition, when it comes to craft items, POE1 already has a very large and bloated system. For POE2, the current approach is actually simpler, but also has a high threshold.
Novice players or pure gamblers play games for the sake of happiness, so if they can click without thinking, it may attract everyone to craft items and consume Ex.
In the early stages of craft items, we can extensively use Ex and Chaos, as well as Orb of Scoring in POE1, so that I can repeatedly reset my items to continuously consume Ex.
In the later stages of the game, through continuous in-depth understanding of the mechanism, it was discovered that there were more efficient and accurate craft methods that could reach the expected affixes, and then the season gameplay and season currency introduced by the planners were used.
And this also allows players to gain a deeper understanding of the game and learn craft thinking with a dopamine like sense of gain. Instead of leaving the game in the process of entering the complex and expensive craft process with a huge sense of failure from the beginning, as well as the search for difficult to obtain basic items.

Here is the TLDR version

The player, a long-time Path of Exile (PoE) veteran, criticizes PoE2’s economic imbalance and its negative impact on new player experience and game retention. They argue that the currency system—especially the steep devaluation of Exalted Orbs compared to Divine Orbs—creates a hostile trading environment where beginners can't meaningfully participate. This leads to isolation, discouragement, and market stagnation. They blame changes in crafting mechanics that removed key Ex-consuming processes, causing inflation and hoarding. As solutions, they propose reintroducing PoE1’s Orb of Scouring and making Ex more central in crafting to restore economic balance, engage players, and encourage more meaningful item crafting.

By the way, the friction of market transactions is too strong
Too many players' whispers have not received a response. It is suggested to introduce a punishment mechanism. After more than a certain number of times or being reported, the player's trading qualification in the web marketplace should be temporarily banned, so that every whisper can receive corresponding feedback. This is also one of the ways to improve the game experience and prevent new players from leaving

My big question: why is the system set up so it’s harder at low levels to get the items you want/rolls you want vs at high levels (where you have more currency/tools to craft).

In almost every other game in the genre crafting is easier/more attainable at low levels, then ramps up in difficulty/cost at high levels when dealing with endgame gear.

Who the hell cares if it’s easy to get a BIS lvl 10 chest piece? The game should be setup such that you’ll need to switch off it relatively soon anyways, and it’s easier to get than a BIS lvl 70 chest piece.

Currently low level gear is setup such that it’s impossibly hard to craft good rolls, but the pieces will last forever because of the way gear scaling is done. That needs to be flipped on its head.

I think the above is a big reason why there’s so little feeling of progression in the campaign.

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pattw555#0071 wrote:

My big question: why is the system set up so it’s harder at low levels to get the items you want/rolls you want vs at high levels (where you have more currency/tools to craft).

In almost every other game in the genre crafting is easier/more attainable at low levels, then ramps up in difficulty/cost at high levels when dealing with endgame gear.

Who the hell cares if it’s easy to get a BIS lvl 10 chest piece? The game should be setup such that you’ll need to switch off it relatively soon anyways, and it’s easier to get than a BIS lvl 70 chest piece.

Currently low level gear is setup such that it’s impossibly hard to craft good rolls, but the pieces will last forever because of the way gear scaling is done. That needs to be flipped on its head.

I think the above is a big reason why there’s so little feeling of progression in the campaign.

It was also a terrible experience for me, not to mention in the first season, my character chose a relatively low player Blood Mage and had difficulty obtaining enough tiems to craft, which led me to challenge Viper Napuatzi in ACT3 for an entire night