It's good to see some thought being put into the game's economy.
Something is needed for inflation.
I'd propose a tiered system based on convenience, with the buyer and seller each paying based on location: General stores would function as the GE does today, but with a substantial fee. The GE would function as-is, but with a moderate fee. Speciality shops would function as a GE for their respective categories, with a small fee. Players meeting up to trade would carry no fee.
That way shops would gain some semblance of relevance, and the best choice for a player would vary based on their situation.
About equipment...
It used to be that the rather brutal death mechanics acted as an item and gold sink. By letting everybody keep their stuff all the time, equipment never leaves the game unless alched, causing their values to decline and everyone to always use their most expensive gear in encounters. Get rid of "deaths office" and let people keep their 3 most valuable items and lose everything else. Non-BIS equipment would then gain use for risky encounters, or when learning a fight.
Please, stop having equipment "degrade" unless I go gather up "special shards" from playing content I don't enjoy. There's a multitude of resources in the game, if something needs to be repaired, use resources that already exist. No more "shards".
About resources / consumables...
The values of resources tend to vary based on gold farming. More bot enforcement = more expensive consumables. When Maduro shuts down the internet, nature runes go up. So on and so forth. You're very well aware of this, and things today are certainly not as bad as they've been in the past. Resources should come from skilling, not boss fights.
03-Dec-2021 04:14:25