transmogrification vs selling (and need of gold sinks)

[dyze]

i just love the transmog chest feature, since you never have to leave an item behind, never have to fight off a full inventory, and still get cash for the items without having to return to town.
i was wondering if there is a difference in the gold you get from say a unique item when transmogrifying it vs selling it at an npc?
my thought is if there isnt, there should be. fighting and slaying tons of monsters to find this epic mythical item, it would be more fun taking it back to an npc and getting something more than if you simply squish it through the transmog.

also i did some searching on the topic of gold sinks, found a handful spread out posts with some information. i'm currently level 34 and have 3500 gold, and it just keeps piling up.
i read that there are a few things you can use it with. someone makes an item for you for 4k or whatever. the ability to unlock new talent trees for 1500 and such.
while i think those options are fine, for me playing the game up til level 34 gold feels kinda pointless.
there was a while, at lower levels when the shops actually had items for your level. still, i only ever bought a few.
so my point is, it would add fun if there was more uses for gold, than only saving up for a few late game options.

crafting - mentioned before, could be one. not really my favorite tho.

item modifications - could be an npc that imbues lower quality items with something more. or the ability to reroll/switch a stat on an existing item.

or, having something like the academy in upcoming dungeonmans roguelike. where you spend gold to improve your academy with new features/npc and such.
not sure, but something along these lines are already in the game? perhaps expand upon this idea, and above all introduce it earlier in the game.

what are your hints/suggestions on what to do with gold?

lastly 248.3 gold doesnt sound very fantasy to me, why not just drop the decimals?

[Doctornull]

1/ Regarding fractional gold: if your fantasy does not include thruppence, ha'pennies, and farthings, then it is objectively wrong.

2/ There's an addon which allows merchant item re-rolls for some small % of the item's price (which is 4k gp). That's a fine use for excess coinage.

3/ Stores re-stock twice, so after you defeat the Master be sure to check them again. You will hopefully find better gear. The other restock occasion is later in the plot.

[dyze]

1/ Regarding fractional gold: if your fantasy does not include thruppence, ha'pennies, and farthings, then it is objectively wrong.

2/ There's an addon which allows merchant item re-rolls for some small % of the item's price (which is 4k gp). That's a fine use for excess coinage.

3/ Stores re-stock twice, so after you defeat the Master be sure to check them again. You will hopefully find better gear. The other restock occasion is later in the plot.

pennies, coppers, silver coins whatever would be fine, what i'm saying it's not presented in this fashion, and only in the very early game would you even care about these.

rerolling an item for 4k seem ok for the later part of the game. what i'm saying is up until then, there's not much use for gold..

having not myself beaten the master (which i assume is very late game) it still doesnt solve the problem until them.

summary would be, sure there are gold sinks late in the game, which could use a large portion of your cash, but up until then there's not really anything viable ..at least that i've discovered.

[Doctornull]

Beating the Master is kinda the half-way point (but a little earlier, I guess).

[HousePet]

Early game shopping can be quite useful and you do have the option of buying training, though that is rather limited. As is the jewellery crafting.
Some extra crafting and training options would be nice. But I can't think of anything specific at the moment.
Could have the ability to invest money in a shop, which causes the prices to lower a little, increases the item levels and rerolls more stock?

[Doctornull]

I had some ideas: http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=40997

[kyuubee]

pennies, coppers, silver coins whatever would be fine, what i'm saying it's not presented in this fashion, and only in the very early game would you even care about these.

rerolling an item for 4k seem ok for the later part of the game. what i'm saying is up until then, there's not much use for gold..

having not myself beaten the master (which i assume is very late game) it still doesnt solve the problem until them.

summary would be, sure there are gold sinks late in the game, which could use a large portion of your cash, but up until then there's not really anything viable ..at least that i've discovered.

that's done because otherwise gold would pile up even more, quite a few items cost less than 1 gold when you transmogrify them and monsters drop less that 1 gold too

i dunno how you reached lvl 34 without beating the master. anyway initial stock usually have several useful items too, i usually check shops to buy the best possible regen/wild/movement/shielding etc, sometimes to buy ammo, weapon and armor (especially of the deep/fish/unlife for the lake nur, or with a specific resistance) too, some shops may have artifacts, then, you need 150 gold per try to get bloodcaller, 50 gold to get the tree with tough skin, hundreds to get mindstar/staff combat trees etc, the gold still pile but it's not like you have no use for it pre merchant

[dyze]

that's done because otherwise gold would pile up even more, quite a few items cost less than 1 gold when you transmogrify them and monsters drop less that 1 gold too

well that was kinda my point, just round gold up to whole numbers, and adjust prices upward.

and, checking the wiki i guess did beat the master, i just assumed by the name that it was very late game . and prolly yeah i shopped a thing or two shortly after that.
the fact remains though, that there is very few occasions where you can really spend your gold. and since you collect gold from level 1, it would be fun to have something to do with it throughout the course of the game.

also, my initial question still stands, is there a difference in price between transmoging vs selling to npc?

[dyze]

@doctornull, a few good ideas there ..but any specific reason you made a new post on the exact same topic?

[The Revanchist]

@doctornull, a few good ideas there ..but any specific reason you made a new post on the exact same topic?

Probably.

General Discussions is just that, general discussions. Ideas is... Well...

Besides, this topic has drifted, so it seems, into the value of decimal-gold. The topic you are referring to is about gold sinks. And if you need to worry about decimals of gold while sinking it...

[Doctornull]

@doctornull, a few good ideas there ..but any specific reason you made a new post on the exact same topic?

The topics are not the same.

Why do you think this thread is only about brainstorming things to do with gold?

[dyze]

The topics are not the same.
Why do you think this thread is only about brainstorming things to do with gold?

because thats what the topic says? just like yours?

[EatThisShoe]

I think there is plenty to do with gold. It's just fairly RNG based, sometimes the shops get good items, sometimes not. Sometimes you get good drops, sometimes you get junk and really need to fish around for good items. Sometimes shops spawn with artifacts costing 900+ gold, sometimes they don't, or the artifact isn't useful to you.

On top of that as I try to min/max the game more on higher difficulties I find myself much less patient about getting certain items, I want to get my infusions, my track, my charms/tools, HP gear, etc. as fast as possible, which means shopping sooner and more often, and thus having less good gear already acquired from drops. Greater chance to buy things that might become redundant later, but are worth buying immediately.

[Steve]

Ha..

first... stone alchemy... uh... a good reason for decimal places on gold.

And also, about gold sinks. I don't see why.

Players don't even buy direct upgrades from the shop even though they can. I can find upgrades from the shops whenever I want in certain spots as a goldsink usually. But I won't buy it for 400 gold or whatever.

Everyone will save for the 4k randart from the merchant.

[HousePet]

I buy direct upgrades from shops.
Dying is a good reminder for me to go shopping.