Alchemy: Is it REALLY a gold sink?

Is Alchemy contributing to inflation?

Yes, for the reason you elaborated.	32.9%	[ 24 ]
Yes, for other reasons.	8.2%	[ 6 ]
No, it's a gold sink.	23.3%	[ 17 ]
No, you just don't understand alchemy.	13.7%	[ 10 ]
Obligatory gold option.	21.9%	[ 16 ]
Total Votes:			[ 73 ]

[Aristeia]

Yet another inflation-related topic? Perhaps. But here, I want to approach a specific aspect: Alchemy.

In some other discussion threads I've seen many times people refer to Alchemy as a "gold sink". Alchemy was released while I was on hiatus and as such, I never really gotten into it. Especially since I'm not too interested in backwings. Only yesterday I felt "I think I'm gonna try Alchemy" when I was bored, and since people have been saying it's a gold sink perhaps I can also do a tiny bit of effort taking gold out of the system. So I went to the Alchemy forum to learn about it.

But what I learned surprised me. The FAQ says, in the event of successful crafting:

Quote:

the formula, components, items and gold will be removed from your inventory

That's not a problem per se, but then I read the "Ultimate Alchemy Formula Guide" that shows that some of the components needed for crafting formulas are wearable items. A lot are very common items, but as I scrolled down I see wearable items that look nice, are fairly popular and/or limited in supply like:

Quote:

Loving Mood Bubble
Coco Kitty Mascot Suit
Giant Syringe
Sushi Error
Bento Bunny

The higher the level, the "better" the items asked for, including these in Level 10 formulas:

Quote:

Angelic Manner
Little Lucie
Kitten Star

If my understanding is correct that crafting the formulas destroys those items, then no wonder the limited items' prices skyrocket! If we liken gold generators as running water and gold sinks (gold shops, gold needed for alchemy, etc) as holes where water flow out, then items are sponges that hold the water in the system. Destroying items is akin to squeezing the water out of the sponges, and they need to go somewhere. Existing gold sinks aren't enough to remove the water from the system, so where do they go? To the other sponges still in the system = Increasing prices of other items.

Yes, alchemy formula removed those items in exchange of other item. But only one item, and it's human for the alchemist to not want to lose money, and hence sell the product for higher than the sum of its components, if possible. So cheaper items are destroyed in favor of a more expensive item, and in the process driving the price up of the remaining cheaper items. Rinse and repeat.

Having seen that, I don't feel like doing alchemy any more. emotion_8c

But what do you think?
gaia_spoons Did I understand the process of alchemy right, or did I miss the mark?
gaia_spoons Do you still think alchemy is a gold sink, or do you agree with me? Why?

[KittyTengu]

I'd have to agree. If the items for alchemy are in high demand, the prices are going to go up. When you first see a crafting recipe and think, "Huh, this doesn't seem too hard/expensive to gather the materials." but then a ton of it is milked for all the gold it's worth. Especially when the only way to get the more higher level items is to buy from the marketplace. It doesn't pump gold into the system, sure, but if people are buying these items at a high rate, the high prices are going to stay high.

[Far-Roaming Euryale]

To me, alchemy is considered a goldsink because if you add up cost of components alone vs. value of item created, almost always components are worth more.

I was doing alchemy on my main, but I would have lost millions getting to the next level. Oh, and that's pre-Flynn and other gold generators. So I quit.

It does inflate prices on some items by destroying them and creating scarcity, which I also don't like. I have heard complaints that some components can not be found at all anymore.

[Aristeia]

KittyTengu

I'd have to agree. If the items for alchemy are in high demand, the prices are going to go up. When you first see a crafting recipe and think, "Huh, this doesn't seem too hard/expensive to gather the materials." but then a ton of it is milked for all the gold it's worth. Especially when the only way to get the more higher level items is to buy from the marketplace. It doesn't pump gold into the system, sure, but if people are buying these items at a high rate, the high prices are going to stay high.

I wouldn't mind the prices going up because of demand, if it only involves items with high supply, like items you can win from games or towns, or a common event item. But when even cash shop items are involved...

[VKiera]

"Though the brightness of the sun has drifted far away...

Alchemy is still a gold sink, it takes gold out of the economy, now is is very effective one? Not really. It's time consuming, very, very expensive ( and was so even before inflation) and since many of it's higher end items have be released via RIGs now, it's almost not worth it to work your way up to lv 10 anymore, except just to say you did. (this is coming from someone who is a lv 10 and is crafting backwings)

And what you're talking about, lower range items getting used up, thus becoming rare and expensive has been talked about and complained about since alchemy was first released. It's a pretty broken system imo, but it's not contributing to over all market place inflation, not that Gaia needs any help to do that. rolleyes

It's really just a supply vs. demand issue that's really all it boils down to.

Tomorrow holds the sunlight of a brand new day for me..."

[Bowie-Spawan]

I think it's beyond annoying that rig drops and cs items are part of the components.
Anyone who wants to seriously get into alchmy automatically destroys part of the supply of certain items and there is no option available to restock.
They should add a goldshop rig to the bifrost that can drop any (wearable) item needed for alchemy formulas, as a counterpart to the caches.

[buncy]

Alchemy would make a better gold sink if it had some more gold shop only recipes.

Now her is a question, when was alchemy updated with new recipes that wasn't just to make a older RIG?

[Paryllized]

Using alchemy to make items won't give you a profit for the most part, and it destroys the already limited supply of items that came from the cash shop. The main reason now to even bother doing alchemy is to craft backwings, get the achievements, or to just have something to do/quest for.

The best way to level up and utilize alchemy the most as a gold sink is to make components that only use drops from the philosopher's cache, since the caches can be bought from The Bifrost for an infinite amount. They also have the lowest chance of being crafted, which means you have to pay the crafting cost every time you fail, and it can fail 20+ times if you're really unlucky. But if you do your research and choose correctly, what you craft can either get your gold back or even make a profit, but the gold you used to make the component is sunk and out of the system.

[Srintella Tiagara]

I tried Alchemy and just didn't get it. It never stuck with me because I can't part with my hard earned items.

Than I hear that in order to get those wonderful back wings you must be level ten. To get to level ten you must jump bridges.

In the end I simply ignored the feature. It just...

Wasn't worth it for me. Yes great gold stink if you GIVE ME WORTH WHILE ITEMS.

Nomy the snail What in the world am I suppose to do with it?

So maybe as a user I just don't get the whole concept of it..

and I refuse to part with my items.

Yet after this failed feature Gaia decided to release the backwings anyway.

So...

[Janine Melnitz]

It's a sink, but I'm unsure how effective it is. It seems far too difficult to go through so I'm better off not attempting. Not sure how many users share my sentiment.

[Pemba]

You are confusing two separate issues. Yes it destroys items. Frankly most of the items it eats are junk anyway, so I'm not sure why you care about that.

On the other hand, it does sink billions of gold when people buy philosopher's caches from the shop. So it is a gold sink.

That said, nothing can stand against the onslaught of gold generators, so you are correct in that it doesn't make any difference. yum_pie

[Aristeia]

Far-Roaming Euryale

To me, alchemy is considered a goldsink because if you add up cost of components alone vs. value of item created, almost always components are worth more.

I was doing alchemy on my main, but I would have lost millions getting to the next level. Oh, and that's pre-Flynn and other gold generators. So I quit.

It does inflate prices on some items by destroying them and creating scarcity, which I also don't like. I have heard complaints that some components can not be found at all anymore.

In that sense, I would term it a "personal gold sink" (your monetary worth is decreased) but not quite a net gold sink for Gaian economy. And yeah, I've heard that some components are rare event items, or cash shop items no longer sold.

[Aristeia]

VKiera

Alchemy is still a gold sink, it takes gold out of the economy, now is is very effective one? Not really. It's time consuming, very, very expensive ( and was so even before inflation) and since many of it's higher end items have be released via RIGs now, it's almost not worth it to work your way up to lv 10 anymore, except just to say you did. (this is coming from someone who is a lv 10 and is crafting backwings)

And what you're talking about, lower range items getting used up, thus becoming rare and expensive has been talked about and complained about since alchemy was first released. It's a pretty broken system imo, but it's not contributing to over all market place inflation, not that Gaia needs any help to do that. rolleyes

It's really just a supply vs. demand issue that's really all it boils down to.

It takes gold out of the economy, but if we consider the destroyed value of items, the net result is positive gold into the system. Just a matter of semantics, I think? Like when someone crafts Milk the Cat from a North Kitten Star, it's analogous to opening a gold generator and getting 1.2 billion.

[Aristeia]

Bowie-Spawan

They should add a goldshop rig to the bifrost that can drop any (wearable) item needed for alchemy formulas, as a counterpart to the caches.

Hear, hear!

[Aristeia]

Pemba

You are confusing two separate issues. Yes it destroys items. Frankly most of the items it eats are junk anyway, so I'm not sure why you care about that.

On the other hand, it does sink billions of gold when people buy philosopher's caches from the shop. So it is a gold sink.

That said, nothing can stand against the onslaught of gold generators, so you are correct in that it doesn't make any difference. yum_pie

I don't consider Angelic Manner, Demonic Style, Kitten Star, North Kitten Star, Little Lucie, Noel's Gift, Masquerade, Cookie Boots, Summer Grass Field (since wing stickers are not being released for a long time), Nitemare Headband, some of the mood bubbles, some SDPluses, etc. to be junk. Some are even people's quested items.

Unless those kind of items provided by Bifrost as well, or perhaps there is an option for formulas that only destroys junk items at every level? It'd be good if there is.

That said, I agree that gold gens remain the biggest factor driving inflation.