There has been some unusual changes in gem prices, specifically the Radiant Star, but I think it flows all the way down to regular Star level.

1) Emerald prices falling rapidly. I posted an offer just last week to buy one for 15M and that would have been a bargain for me. It was at 16M and it actually did come down a bit from 19M. Now it's at 11.7M, which is actually an ALL-TIME low (as far as the Auction House Tracker goes back and I believe even farther).
2) Ruby prices coming back up. This is somewhat bizarre because they were very high right after the patch, then they fell (since everyone who could afford one got one), and now they're coming back up again. 16.6 yesterday, 17.7 today.
3) The most bizarre: Topaz prices suddenly rising. Topaz has been consistently falling (no surprise there), but it suddenly shot back up. It was sub 10M yesterday and it's 13M today.

Anyone care to speculate? For Emeralds, my only theory is that more people are obtaining good loot and gaining more gold. More people are buying the Emerald for the weapon socket and it has reached saturation, whereby no one actually needs to buy it. For Rubies and Topazes, I think it might be the fact that more people are reaching high level Paragon. There is a point where Topaz is actually better for you because of the extended time it takes to level. The time you spend farming is more lengthy, so that 31% MF boost is more important as opposed to the 31% EXP boost.

Or is it something else?

My opinion.

1) Almost everyone who needed it has bought their emerald for their weapon's socket. Only two per person max unless you wanted it for dex adds or are a speculator. Only two classes need it for dex as a primary.
2) I believe ruby's are going up because barbs believe they need more +strength due to what they perceive as a nerf and people are jumping on the barb bandwagon.
3) Unsure about this. Possibly just general speculators buying all jewels.

About point 3, there are people I know who buy hundreds of millions in jewels when the market drops a few percentage points knowing that eventually it will rise again.

@Khan

Makes sense. The emerald and ruby are sort of... not totally weird. But the sudden jump in topaz just HAS to be something related to 1.05. It's not like people suddenly realized that having 31% more MF is the key to set items dropping or something...

could be the hunt of the leorics ring in normal with max MF and better possibilities if the patch notes are correct.

I confirm some changes for the european market too. Topaz prices increasing these last days, it is obvious with perfect square and radiant square, for these 2 types topaz have been very close to ruby prices last days, sometimes even more expensive. It is less noticeable on lower and higher gems.
Ruby prices are quite stable and emeralds always very very volatile (cheap on morning, expensive at night) amethysts........wait, who cares......
There's definitely something going on with topaz.

@ertitoaqus The patch notes specify the Monster Power GF/MF bonuses only apply on Inferno and only apply for clvl 60 characters. Leoric's Signet farming will continue to be as much of a grind as it always has been if the patch notes are accurate. They might have made the decision to limit it to Inferno solely because of Leoric's Signet.

you're right....

at this point I don't know real reason for the prices.... :)

Holy CRAP Radiant Star Rubies are at 20.7 M right now!

It costs about 16.4-16.5M to craft a radiant star from FS (15.4 M crafting, 729 FS, couple hundred tomes), so after sale, you'll make about 17.6 M at 20.7 M price or 1.2 M profit! That is, if there are actually people buying a radiant star ruby for 21M...

Posted by DHAdmin at 10/09/2012 01:45 PM

Emeralds are down to about 9 million. Prices for pretty much everything are crazy right now, even gold is going back down to 50 cents per 1mill.

meanwhile, in Europe... :/

I saw recently that you can obtain a copy of Diablo III for $10 at Toys 'R Us. I'm not sure if this is strictly a promotional thing or a really limited sale type of thing, but it certainly does not bode well for the people still playing. Someone could just buy 6 copies now for the same price. What would someone do with 6 copies of Diablo III? Well, here's a hint: they certainly could do things without any fear of getting banned. Just load up another copy of the game.

I haven't really played much recently, but I think the game is in a period of serious stagnation. I'm not confident that even 1.05 will suddenly "fix" things because the game, in its current state, "is what it is". I've kinda lost some of the motivation to farm (I'm sure many players who have played as much/nearly as much as me feel the same way) because upgrades are far and few between, but mostly, because well, it's just kinda boring. Firesale prices of the physical copies of the game certainly can't help: I think it encourages botters more than new players. I'm just speculating, but that might explain the further devaluation of gold.

I've turned pretty much all of my gold into items and USD, so I'm just waiting for some moderate stabilization (if not 1.05, then when PvP comes out).

It doesn't really matter whether Blizzard has lost confidence in their game or not: the more available firesale copies of the game there are, the less value the game effectively has. If Blizzard is selling digital copies for $60, but you can go anywhere else and get it for much less, then, well, that game is not worth $60. This might be very limited, so overall, it's not an accurate evaluation of Diablo III's supposed "tanking", but it's certainly news and it's going to affect the already limited player base.

It may be an opportunity for more users as the $60 price point could be an extra barrier to entry for those that go onto D3's site wanting to purchase and then witnessing the flagrant negativity that "community" espouses toward the game, the auction house, and anyone who has a question.

At least for $10, someone can say: "Meh, its just the price of coffee and a bagel. I'll give it a go."

9m... Lowest ever right?

RMAH side is about the same, speaking of which I think the AH Price tracker reports it being cheaper on the RMAH by 50% or some random value except that it isn't. Is the coding referencing the wrong value in GM to RM exchange?

Any speculation on if it is going to keep going down? I'm not sure how much furthur it can go down, unless people have found a way to dupe the gems...

Either it is duping items or the bots are using their gold and flipping gems to pay up through RMAH. Since gold is probably cheaper from third parties someone is doing something to cash in on it.

@Anuiran

Emerald. What I heard from a friend is that some good players are quitting hence selling off all their gems fast.
Ruby. Those who are staying probably try to gain a few more p levels faster before 1.05 hits.

With gold now at 50c per 1m and no patch in sight, looks like it will drop a little bit more and so will the gems.

Trying to figure out what to do with all my flawless squares...

Well emeralds are going back up now. They're currently at 13.5 million or so.

Edit: Scratch that, 12.5 million haha.

I'm guessing some people tried to flip gems. It's possible to make profit doing this, but there's a lot of risk. For one, you have to consider that you automatically lose 15% when you sell a gem. You have to sell a gem for 17.6% more than you buy it for just to break even. Additionally, there's no guarantee a gem will sell at a high price, even if you "lock" in the high price. There's a reason why gems are priced high and low: there's a respective demand for them. So just because you see a higher sell price doesn't guarantee you will make a profit. Gems also have little utility and are very illiquid due to a lack of real time price movement or any sort of actual information beyond clicking "search". Too much pain, not enough profit.

Posted by NightCrawler9 at 10/11/2012 08:46 AM

Well emeralds are going back up now. They're currently at 13.5 million or so.

Edit: Scratch that, 12.5 million haha.

Thank god I bought 2 for my weapons this morning at 8ish million.

Posted by zerokewl at 10/11/2012 04:34 PM

Posted by NightCrawler9 at 10/11/2012 08:46 AM

Well emeralds are going back up now. They're currently at 13.5 million or so.

Edit: Scratch that, 12.5 million haha.

Thank god I bought 2 for my weapons this morning at 8ish million.

I would have as well had I not blown it on the Inna's Radiance I picked up before I left for vacation last week...I haven't been able to pad my coffers since. Bah...it never fails!!

Yeah, I bought one when it was around 9 million or so. I was planning on buying one and then selling it back for profit when (or if) it goes back up to 15 million, but now that I have one I kind of want to keep it haha.