Yes Syp grinding is exhausting and many people give up !
Don't know if it is too many gold or too few items which make the price higher... Kind of question like which was first between chicken and the egg !
Some random thinking reading this thread :
GF has a large part of responsibility for the scarcity of items for example :
- making stats draws in last instances mainly no worth getting random combo on hard mode hard instances (NP, NoM, MA, PS)
- making mementos items stats no worth no good for nothing
- making energy justice items stats no worth no good for nothing
- increasing price in proof of myth which imply an insane grinding of Helveta and Lakishna
- making the three last instances with day limit which limits the number of items and also restrict the attempt of guilds with players who have only 1 or 2 hours maximum a day...
Taking the example of Ainz to build a full gear you need :
- 15 x 5 trials x 300 shells = 22 500 that's to say 450 goblins mine
- 15 x 5 trials x 17500 honor points = 1 312 500 that's to say 1010 siege war wins
- 15 x 5 trials x 100 explorer glyph = 7 500 explorer glyph, so 37 500 dust, so probably 750 dreamland runs (assuming 500 dust for me and 500 dust for you / run of half an hour !)
- 15 x 6 (players) X 5 instances (1 good stat every 5 runs and 6 players interested in it) = 450 runs
- 15 x 50 x 5 POM draws (assuming you bargain some draws) = 3 750 POM that's to say 750 wb runs
- 15 last stat your sweety great aunt give them to you for free ! She's a nerd !
So let convert this to hours...
- 450 goblins mine X 10 minutes (including time to go there, to crash, to relog, etc.) = 4 500 mn
- 1010 siege war x 30 minutes (hoping we win fast Syp !) = 30 300 mn
- 750 dreamland runs x 30 minutes = 22 500 mn
- 450 HM instance runs x 100 minutes = 45 000 mn (you and me lucky, Syp, a great guild takes us as debuffers !)
- 750 wb runs x 30 minutes (arriving 10 minutes ago for finding party, crashing, killing boss) = 22 500 mn
- Some few hours visiting your sweet great aunt thanking her for her gift ! = 600 mn
Roll of drums, grand total amount : 125 400 minutes that's to say 2090 hours, a full year of full work ! Just to get the stats ! (and gear items probably if you're lucky with durability...)
This partly explains the rarity and the price ! Ainz was saying a new player will not wait months or year... but old players wait months and years !
GF has another responsibility for prices :
Now you have your stats, you need plussing and tiering your items and it really hurts ! You need plussing with the god damned infinite jewels... Past 25 you have 4% between the +1 probability and the -1 probability (+1 20%, -1 16% the others % are just 0 fail) so probability is 25 try to get +1... If you challenge +30, and you reasonably need it for weapon and rings if you want to become a dps rather than a debuffer... It could mean something like 3 x 25 x 10 x 200 diamonds (3 items, 250 * to go from 20 to 30, 200 diamonds the jewel)...
* Some will tell you if you're lucky you can go to 30 with 80-90 jewels... But some unlucky go to 250 and still do not reach 30 and at this point most leave !
If you are random or unlucky guy this is 150 000 diamonds, meaning around 2 300 euros buying with 35% promotion !
If you are one of the happy few lucky guy is still something like 800 euros (plussing 30 with only 80-90 jewels / item)...
Note you have just plus your weapon and rings... You still need to do all the other things ! Tier stones dirty and clean, drilling, runes, etc.
So when you come to sell these items, after so hard time and hard money how much do you price them ?
In conclusion, Syp, I think your idea was already underway before you realized it...
Many people no longer buy at these prices because they're tired of wasting their time grinding gold...
And yet the prices don't drop because every seller remembers the hard time and hard money they invested... whatever the object, statistical, raw, or construction...