The problem with Exalted Orbs

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Saltychipmunk написал:

it is a system which lavishly rewards those who have the skill and the willingness to do very specific economy related things , and punishingly scorns everyone else.

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deteego написал:

However (I assume), PoE is meant to be an aRPG. The biggest effective method on earning wealth seems to be doing certain actions with the economy (or being incredibly popular on streams).

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Peterlerock написал:

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deteego написал:

However (I assume), PoE is meant to be an aRPG. The biggest effective method on earning wealth seems to be doing certain actions with the economy (or being incredibly popular on streams).

You can cry about it, or accept it, but you won't be able to change it.

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Peterlerock написал:

Yes, GGG don't want to.
Because trade is a good thing.
They even state it in the game description.

Everybody profits from trade (though some people profit more than others).
This is not a selffound soloplayer game. One can choose to take that route, but then should stop complaining, because he is restricting himself by not using all the tools at his disposal.

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Vamphyr написал:

Anyone playing in Warbands knows that the price of Exalted Orbs has been rising significantly and currently hovers in the 70 Chaos range, double its value from a month ago.

This price inflation is due to several inter-related factors:
1) Exalted Orbs are extremely rare. (I have only had one drop all league and I play a lot.)
2) There is no way to Vendor upgrade from lesser currency into Exalts.
3) High-end items are almost exclusively bought and sold using "pure" Exalts (i.e., cannot be bought with "equivalent" Chaos Orbs).
4) Trying to trade lesser currency for Exalts (with the possible exception of Divines) is an exercise in patience and usually disappointment.

These factors result in a market which is very illiquid -- a market where trading between currencies is difficult. Perhaps calling the market asymmetric rather than illiquid would be a better term.

Note that real-world currencies don't work this way at all. I have no difficulty exchanging twenty $5 bills for a $100 bill or vice versa. Currency exchange rates for different world currencies such as Euros and Yens do fluctuate, but within a much smaller band -- and is also a very liquid market. Even Diablo 2 with its Runes had currency bounds due to the Rune upgrade mechanism (you could convert Ists into Guls into Vexs, etc).

One result of this is that very few people actually use Exalted Orbs for their stated purpose: "Enchants a rare item with a new random property". I think this is a bad thing. I would gladly spend 30-50 Chaos Orbs to add an affix to a really nice item, but there is no way in hell that I will spend an Exalted Orb to do the same given that it restricts my ability to purchase end-game items -- even if I have plenty of Chaos Orbs.

I feel like the only possible fix that doesn't involve increasing the drop rates by a noticeable amount is to introduce Vendor recipes for higher tier currency. At the very least, this approach would put a ceiling on the relative prices of currency. I think something along the following lines would be reasonable:
2 Chaos = 1 Regal
2 Regal = 1 Blessed ( = 4 Chaos )
4 Blessed = 1 Divine ( = 16 Chaos )
4 Divine = 1 Exalted ( = 64 Chaos )

You will notice that most of these exchanges are more expensive that what you can currently achieve on the open market. Once again, the primary goal here is liquidity.

Perhaps 32 Regals is "too cheap" for one Exalted given the level 75 Rare Item recipe. These numbers could be tweaked; perhaps making the last tier 5 Divines (40 Regals) is a better balance. This would mean 80 Chaos which is higher than the outrageous price of 70c today! However, the big difference is that common folks today have an assortment of Regals and Blessed which they can use to tier up. And being able to upgrade with a mix of lesser currency gives you a lot more flexibility.

PS: Zana needs to start selling Chisels at a more competitive market price!