Prices of Ore (According to rarity vs. gold)

[5pyPig]

I have made a simple sheet of the estimated cost of an ore based on how rare it is vs. Gold (and the current DHX price of Gold for bankers). This also includes the cost of using coal to smelt an ore.

Sample area of 121 chunks.

Diamond-------------380 Ore
Lapis Lazuli--------429 Ore
Redstone------------3191 Ore
Iron----------------9715 Ore
Gold----------------985 Ore
Coal----------------18120 Ore

Notes:

• Lapis Lazuli drops 4-8 dye per ore, so I used an average of 6 dye per ore.
• Redstone drops 4-5 dust per ore, so I used an average of 4.5 dust per ore.
• Cost of smelting one ore is the cost of coal divided by 8.
• Diamond, Lapis Lazuli, Redstone and Coal do not cost to smelt, so I left that out of their total price.
• Lapis Lazuli does not take into account it's degree of uselessness (It's pretty damn useless).

**Magic Formula**
a=Ore Count
b=Number of Chunks in Sample
g=Ore per chunk of Gold ore.
z=Price of Gold ore before smelting.
y=Cost of Coal/8

(z/((a/b)/g))+y=Total Cost

Diamond------------23.17c ea.
Lapis Lazuli Dye----3.42c ea.
Redstone Dust-------0.61c ea.
Iron Ingot----------0.97c ea.
Gold Ingot----------9.00c ea.
Coal----------------0.49c ea.

Spreadsheet (Anyone can edit)

***If you look in shops, Diamond is being priced as more common than Gold. That makes NO SENSE!***

 

[5pyPig]

Current strategy given the data:

-Don't Dig-
Iron
Diamonds
Lapis Lazuli
Coal

-Dig-
Gold
Redstone

**If we flood the market, the prices might be changed for DHX. That will hopefully make other ore prices up to where they need to be.**

 

[Faunherer]

I like the work you've done! I think the problem though with odd pricings is that our economy revolves around a highly priced, nearly-useless material: gold. As it is, most of the ores prices are based on the price of gold and very less based on their usefulness. What needs to be done is the DHX needs to start buying more useful ores and items too, so our economy isn't based on one thing.

 

[5pyPig]

I like the work you've done! I think the problem though with odd pricings is that our economy revolves around a highly priced, nearly-useless material: gold. As it is, most of the ores prices are based on the price of gold and very less based on their usefulness. What needs to be done is the DHX needs to start buying more useful ores and items too, so our economy isn't based on one thing.

My exact thoughts. If the DHX started buying something that everyone uses (Diamond/Iron/Logs/Anything else with high volume usage) then the prices would stabalize a lot faster. Another idea is to get rid of a set price for anything and make it a totally free market.

Point being, gold is a bad medium to establish currency.

 

[Faunherer]

I like the work you've done! I think the problem though with odd pricings is that our economy revolves around a highly priced, nearly-useless material: gold. As it is, most of the ores prices are based on the price of gold and very less based on their usefulness. What needs to be done is the DHX needs to start buying more useful ores and items too, so our economy isn't based on one thing.

My exact thoughts. If the DHX started buying something that everyone uses (Diamond/Iron/Logs/Anything else with high volume usage) then the prices would stabalize a lot faster. Another idea is to get rid of a set price for anything and make it a totally free market.

Point being, gold is a bad medium to establish currency.

Ya, though it is historically accurate, gold probably is not the best choice!
A free market would work but it would be far too hard to adjust to. It would work better at the start of a new map than during the middle of one.

 

[Hydroking77]

In the real world gold really is the best choice because of its rarity and many uses which is the complete opposite of Minecraft.

 

[Faunherer]

Gold has some uses, and it is fairly rare, but you cannot base a healthy economy off one item in general.

 

[5pyPig]

A very interesting read...http://www.orsanovusaevum.net/t555-mawl-s-obsidian-economy-theory-for-smp

 

[Faunherer]

Ugh Orsa Novus Aevum, those guys are total assholes

 

[Graink]

I believe the point behind having gold as the currency rather than diamonds is so people don't pitch their diamonds away to an admin shop, never to be seen again. Gold is more abundant, but it's generally useless for tools or armor. Herocraft had the bright idea to take advantage of no body using gold in PVP or PVE, and turned it into money. Diamonds are a lot more useful for tools and armor. They're more durable, and in vanilla minecraft they do more dmg. Herocraft also had a great idea to boost the dmg done by gold weapons, because the cost of gold is higher and people risk losing more money using them. Sure using this formula to boost the price of diamonds would possibly make it desirable to sell your diamonds, but you would be throwing away a small and rare supply of diamonds to an admin shop. A cold, desolate place where they will never be seen again! I'd much rather throw gold there, even though it does more damage, because it wear way too fast and proves to be useless for grinding levels. (Which you don't exactly need maximum dmg to be good at) I doubt this current system really has anything to do with trying to emulate real life marketing, but to rather let the players keep and use the more valuable ores and sell off the less rare useless ones. I'd actually think it would be a good idea to make Lapis admin shops. Since they're even more useless than gold (IMO) and are even more rare (Block wise compared to ingot).

Well there's my best go at explaining it, there's probably a lot more to it, this is just what I understood.

 

[Faunherer]

I agree with nearly all that you said, but who said the admin shops have to be a one-way road? I think there should be some DHX shops that also SELL items, so nothing is going to waste.

 

[Graink]

Why buy gold from DHX for 10c when you can get it off a player for 8. People will always buy from a player before DHX because it`s cheaper.

 

[Faunherer]

I never mentioned gold, that would be useless. If DHX ever ended up buying diamonds, they could also sell it for a slightly above-average price because diamond is too valuable to waste.

 

[Nicolaos]

Well, DHX does indeed sell diamonds. At least at MAs anyway

 

[Graink]

I never mentioned gold, that would be useless. If DHX ever ended up buying diamonds, they could also sell it for a slightly above-average price because diamond is too valuable to waste.

Why buy diamonds from DHX for 10c when you can get it off a player for 4. People will always buy from a player before DHX because it`s cheaper. - Happy?