Long post coming. You have been warned.
I fully agree with the change that has been done, and is still being done to the loot system. It has always struck me as odd that the best way to make gold was to run the lower content ad-nauseam. The changes to the loot system addresses that issue. Although the implementation of the changes leave much up to debate.
The first big issue relates to area balancing
For characters relying on consumables/wands, going to certain areas is nothing short of an utter waste of gold. One area in particular is highly over tuned in this regard: The Yuan-Ti Hills (and dungeons there). Nearly every other monster encountered there will dispel the majority of consumables/wands. Consider that this is a CR 20 area (according to the wiki), and as such should be "safe" for a level 30 character to go to on their own. Yet due to the sheer number of monsters, number of dispels, and with a few Save or Die spells from said monsters, it is far from safe. Even for a level 30.
Keep in mind that the Yuan-Ti Hills is an outdoor area, with a total of 2 lootables, in the form of a single chest and a single corpse. All the area is supposedly good for, is to provide a barrier for the two CR 23 dungeons there (Yuan-Ti Temple, Wyrm's Cave). Yet to survive the area, you either need Death Ward or high saves to avoid the aforementioned Save or Die spell(s).
A CR 20 area, such as the Yuan-Ti Hills should not be so punishing with dispels. For a CR 30 area, I would consider it fair game, but not for a CR 20 area. By comparison the Troll Claws Troll Cave is also CR 20, with 4 to 5 lootables, and no spellcasters of any kind. The only "difficulty" of the Troll Cave is that the trolls require acid/fire to kill.
In summary
The disparity between areas of the same Challenge Rating is much too big. One area is mostly a breeze, requiring nothing but one of two elements to kill monsters; while another requires inflated saving throws, wards against Save or Die spells, and the means to survive packs of 3 to 6 monsters at a time.
Another big issue relates to reward variance
With the new system, and even more so prior to it, there is/was a high variance in the quality of the loot generated at higher tier content. While that is to be expected, since adventuring is a risk without guaranteed reward, it does present an issue, where the purely monetary reward is simply not high enough to be sustainable in the long run.
In this context sustainability relates not only to how profitable the content is, but even more so how engaging it is. The content, which provides the greatest rewards, is also extremely dangerous. So much so that it is not uncommon for one or more characters to be knocked out/die during the fight. An entirely likely scenario, given that most endgame content is littered with immunities, resistances, Mordenkainen's Disjunctions, area damage, knockdowns, and summons.
While surviving such fights is a thrill, it can also be stressful. Even more so for characters with Permadeath enabled! While there is RP to be had following such fights, such RP quickly loses its appeal once the fights have happened a few times. This is a side-effect of having to engage in such fights multiple times to further itemization of a character.
At some point, killing the Balor, Lyran the Lich, the White Dragon, or the Dracolich becomes as much a chore for the characters as it was when they were just starting out, and had to kill thousands of orcs/goblins. One enemy merely replaces another, and the activity itself becomes menial and boring. Which is where rewards in the form of itemization becomes the only aspect making those fights worthwhile.
In summary
Farming and grinding for endgame items eventually becomes a chore, where even the RP generated by felling dangerous foes, is no longer enough of a reward for those involved. While gold is a decent measure of reward, once this stage is reached, it merely becomes a means to an end. The gold matters little, and only the items have worth and thus value.
The third big issues relates to gold
Gold is a good measure of wealth, and to aspects also power. Yet after a certain point, gold no longer has any meaning. Aside from investing in a guild hall, gold is practically useless beyond the 100,000 amount. As long as 100,000 gold can be maintained, there is always enough to restock consumables, and/or recharge wands.
For some characters (as outlined in the first issue above) breaking even isn't even possible. For these characters gold retains its value beyond the 100,000 amount. Yet even for them there is a limit to how useful gold actually is. Once that limit has been reached, gold becomes useful for them too.
The only time that gold has any value on the server, is when a character can still find upgrades from the various (epic) shops spread throughout the server. Beyond that it is a simple matter of defining a limit based on consumable and wand usage. For the purposes of argument, gold spent on Teleport/similar is also considered a consumable.
Part of the reason why gold has no value beyond a certain point, is that there is no meaningful way to spend it. A guild hall only needs to be built once, after all, and is usually a group effort. Beyond that, however, there are no meaningful ways to spend gold.
Some will argue that the forum based shops/auctions represent a meaningful way, but that is only half true. While gold can be used to purchase some items from other players, these items usually fall within what the NPC (epic) shops can provide. For anything beyond that, however, trade is the only way. Trade in the form of an item of equal worth to the seller. Not value, but worth.
In summary
Gold is virtually useless on the server, serving no purpose beyond outfitting a character with "standard" epic items from the NPC shops, and the occasional consumables/wands. For player-to-player trading gold has very limited usages, and is considered undesirable when looking to acquire high tier epic items.
I don't know how to fix any of the issues presented above. At least not individually.
The only possible solution I can see is to simultaneously do the following:
- Rebalance areas to bring them closer to their intended CRs
- Limit non-boss dispels in areas to 1 or 2 castings
- Increase gold and item drops even further
- Introduce proper gold sinks (Steve's "crafting" idea comes to mind)
- Require that all players selling items must offer a price in gold
- Enforce a staff-determined upper limit to the above price in gold
Though I am fairly certain that both 5 and 6 will not sit well with a lot of people.
That being said, I myself (and likely many others), find it deeply frustrating to see items we wish to acquire, be unavailable due to either poor luck with drops on our part, while the seller is also refusing any offer of gold.
.... admittedly, I've been posting less as a result of looting less
) in order to find "not 57 gp" is definitely less appealing than floating off to <insert any-area-that-tickles-my-fancy here>.
Add some armor and other gear to that and it’s like she was ECL +5. That elf could pretty much wreck everything... until she leveled into her gear and didn’t know what to do with a proper challenge.