Guides

The ratios in this post are just an example and do not reflect current gem prices. The math is what is relevant.

So, I have noticed a bunch of people confused by how to apply gem ratios. I am going to try to explain that here. Hopefully this will teach you not only basic ratios, but also how to apply it to the game.

TL;DR:
Gems --> Treasure = multiply # of gems by ratio
Treasure --> Gems = divide treasure amount by ratio

Explanations:

Normally, you see the ratios written out something like "Buying gems 1:175".

That means, for every 1 gem, you are willing to pay 175 treasure for it.

So 2 gems would be 350 treasure (2 times 175)
3 gems would be 525 treasure (3 times 175)
and so forth.

People would rather buy gems at a lower ratio, like 1:160, because it means less treasure that they have to pay.
People would rather sell gems at a higher ratio, like 1:200, because it means more treasure that they get.

Example:
Buying 1200 gems at 1:165 = 198,000 treasure
Selling 1200 gems at 1:190 =228,000 treasure

I am just multiplying the number of gems by the second number in the ratio, after the 1:


Now, in the above example, higher ratios are more beneficial to the seller, and lower ratios benefit the buyer. Now we are going to talk about dragon sales, which is the opposite.

Someone is selling a dragon for 200,000 treasure, but they say they will take gems at a 1:150 ratio. At first you might be "Oh, that is awesome, a lower ratio is better for me, right?" WRONG. That lower ratio is better for the person selling the dragon. That is because when you are converting from treasure to gems, you divide instead of multiply.

So, that 200,000 treasure converted to gems at a 1:150 ratio is 1,333 gems (divide 200,000 by 150).

If they were doing a conversion of 1:175, that would only be 1,143 gems, a savings of 190 gems for you.

You can get current ratios by checking the Items for Sale forum. See what people are buying and selling for and go from there.

Hope that helps! Feel free to ask me to clarify anything.

I also plan to make an online calculator where you just plug in either gems or treasure and the ratio, and it calculates it for you. But you should really understand how this all works!

Yikes! What happened, @Benalene? O_O

@micahjaguar I don't know T_T

But let's not clutter this post with the ghosts from the other.

*salutes* :)

@benalene - Might I politely suggest adjusting your thread title to something like "How to calculate gem ratios" or "How gem ratios work"? When I read "Gem ratios EXPLAINED", especially the caps part, I click on it expecting a conspiracy theory about why gem prices are on the rise, only to find that the thread is about something else entirely. I honestly think that a lot of the drama was invited by this misconception, this expectation that the thread was going to be someone's attempt to be clever with a "big reveal". I know you're only trying to help people, but the title is really hurting you, imo.

If you changed the title to specify that the thread is meant to help people understand when to multiply or divide, lots of people who understand that will not click on it and will be less likely to post with any comments about other people's math or logic skills. (Definitely lose the caps.)

I'm willing to delete this post so that the thread won't be discussing drama so much, but I wanted to make sure to give you this suggestion in case you hadn't considered it.

@Sylvandyr
Thank you for the suggestion. I would like to think that if people come here thinking it is one thing, then see it is something else, then they can just move on without bickering. But you do make a good point, the all caps could be off putting. I did not intend that.

@benalene - The word "explained" is also a problem. I know you mean no harm, but it implies that someone's really confident in thinking that he/she is right, and when coupled with a misleading title that people expect to be about a hot topic, it hurts you unintentionally. Some people click hot topics to come shoot a person down. Of course, not everyone is like that, but you have to account for many different motives on the internet. If someone doesn't read a thread at all, he/she is less likely to find something negative to say about the content. I highly suggest changing your title to clarify what it is explaining, as well as removing words that have unintended insinuations.

Let me know if/when you need me to delete my posts.

[EDIT]: Your new title is good :)

@Sylvandyr
I guess it is all interpretation. To me, saying "Gem Ratios Explained" is completely different than "Gem Prices Explained", the latter being about the hot button topic, the former being about explaining ratios. But I do see how it can be confusing, especially with the all caps. I can see how it might imply something that I did not intend.

I am not going to ask anybody to delete anything, I feel that that is asking people to censor themselves. But I am not gong to stop anybody from deleting comments, either.

Thank you for the rational discussion :D And if you want the wind discount, too, just pm me :D

@benalene - Ohhh yeah, word meanings with different people are really weird. Major international companies have to do a ton of research in different countries if they want to change their name. They have to make sure it's not offensive, off-putting, or just strange-seeming in some cultures, and many potential company names have been rejected because they discovered that they didn't want the image conveyed in certain places. It's a very strange and very fascinating subject.

I'll admit that I was part of the camp that was just confused when I read the part about the online calculator tool (I was thinking, we have free calculator programs on our devices that can multiply/divide, why is an online program needed?) Now that I think about it, ratios aren't straight multiplication or division problems - they're about applying multiplication or division, and I can totally see the difference now. The issue just hadn't occurred to me before, but it makes sense that some people may have trouble with the concept.

Oh, and thank you kindly for the Wind discount offer. Congrats on Wind winning, by the way! I'll stop cluttering up your topic with random stuff, now :P

@Sylvandyr [quote]Now that I think about it, ratios aren't straight multiplication or division problems - they're about applying multiplication or division[/quote] Exactly! That is what I have been trying (and failing!) to say all along! It is not that people can't pull out a calculator and divide and multiply, it is the application and how it relates to this game that is throwing people! I have been going at this for two days now, and you just summed it up perfectly in that one phrase! Thank you!!! (obviously, I am better with numbers than I am with words :P)