The actual point of "at the end of the day, getting better prices with merchants is getting better prices with merchants" is that it doesn't matter how that's achieved, it's the same thing. Saying "but my way is better, because x" doesn't change the basic premise. If the problem is inflation, changing how that occurs doesn't fix it, it just changes how it happens. Depending on how it's implemented, it could also accelerate the process. However, when one bases their responses on the actual content of the OP and gets met with "stop making shit up"? Yeah, not much in the way of value, unless all I'm looking for is "anything but what Larian did".
1.) "The" problem isn't inflation. There are multiple possible problems:
- gifting a merchant a small trinket to get vastly increased wealth is gimmicky and unimmersive.
- giving the player too much money kind of defeats the purpose of money. If the player can buy everything, why even have money and merchants?
- the fact that merchant prices are per-character encourages unnecessary inventory management. And Larian's UI for inventory is already not the best...
I'm sure more.
2.) I suppose getting more money from merchants leads to inflation, if by "inflation" you mean the vast accumulation of wealth by the PC. I'd call this "getting rich" since the value of a single gp isn't decreasing. But this can be addressed independently of merchant prices. Larian could keep the current reputation-dependent system and just decrease the total amount of treasure found in the game or the base amount merchants will pay for it. Or they could remove the current system and not do anything else. Or a combination of the two knobs.
In my "ideal" system,
- The wealth given to the player over the course of the game isn't enough that they can buy everything. At every level, players still have to make decisions about which equipment they'll buy.
- A Charismatic party who takes time to help all those in need might have ~10-20% better merchant prices than a selfish/un-charismatic party. Of importance is that neither of these price changes feels gimmicky or unimmersive. Charisma is a significant cost (loss of other ability points) and can't be trivially changed during the game. And Reputation increases would come from the completion of significant quests so it feels earned.
- The merchant system is set up to limit the tediousness of inventory management and shuffling between characters. Same prices for all party members satisfies this.
