[Seratias]

I have recently seen the prices of nether quartz ore hit around 3k per ore stack, and I'm a bit confused at how expensive it is.

According to my predictions, there should be a bit over 800,000 nether quartz ores in the nether.
These are my calculations for this figure.

The MineRealm nether map is 1250 by 1250, seeing as it extends 625 blocks in every compass direction. For additional confirmation, the overworld map is 10k by 10k, and the nether is 8 times smaller, so 10k / 8 = 1.25k.

133 ores per chunk, on avg, according to the Minecraft Wiki.
A chunk is 16 by 16 blocks, so, one side of the MR Nether World is 1250/16 chunks, or 78.125 chunks.
The MR Nether World therefore contains 78.125 * 78.125 chunks, or a bit over 6103.5 chunks.

133 ores per chunk, 6103.5 chunks makes 133*6103.5 ores, or 811,765 ores.
That makes 12683 stacks of ore, or 234 doublechests.

So, why is the regular asking price for nether ore so high? Is it the craze, is it people not doing math, or have I completely botched up my calculations? If so, please tell me where I went wrong.

Sincerely,
Seratias

Sources of figures:
http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Chunk
http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Nether_quartz_ore

[FinalFouad]

You're cute.

[jackavsfan]

I think the quartz prices can be attributed to a couple things:

1. All this ore will not be around forever. Quartz may be plentiful but naturally what most people want to do with it is use it for comparators, daylight sensors, quartz blocks and whatnot. Eventually I think what you'll see more on the market is quartz, but not the quartz ore as much. And when that ore does go on the market say, a year from now, it might be more expensive. This causes the current situation in which..

2. The market is unstable. You've probably seen quartz ore prices bouncing around from 1k a stack, up to as high as 10k a stack which I know at least one person bought a stack at. The way prices are fluctuating, I think people are looking at the situation and going: "Okay, here's a stack for sale for 2k. One week (or month, or year) from now, the price of this stack might be 1k. Or it might be 5k or even higher. So I'll risk the small loss and buy it now at 2k or 3k." Basically, nobody knows where (or when) the price of quartz is going to stabilize. For now, paying what might be slightly overprice for a stack of ore gives two benefits: First, you have your quartz now just in case the price settles extremely high like glowstone. And second, if the price does settle high, you suddenly have a very valuable item that you picked up at a comparatively low price.

Basically, buying quartz ore right now is a gamble. Are you overpaying? Or are you getting a bargain? Only time will tell, but people want to buy the ore now while there's alot of it on the market, even if the price is jumping around a bit (or a lot).

Redkiller123 did the same math as you and he estimated that a stack of ore should (SHOULD) be worth 1k. But the market will always jump around because people are clearly willing to pay more than that.

[monkeychunks]

1. All this ore will not be around forever.

Niether will dirt

[Roobean]

-snip
That makes 12683 stacks of ore, or 234 doublechests.
-snip

1 player: 5DC = 5DC
4 players: 4DC = 16DC
10 players: 3DC = 30DC
18 players: 2DC = 36DC
36 players: 1DC = 36DC
86 players 1/2DC = 43DC
160 players: 1/4DC = 45DC
240 players: 1/8DC = 30DC
= 241 DC

And that's over; but these made up stats, are possible...

[dlgn]

Good ol' austinhenkel. 10K never hurts

[Ratta237]

I think the quartz prices can be attributed to a couple things:

1. All this ore will not be around forever. Quartz may be plentiful but naturally what most people want to do with it is use it for comparators, daylight sensors, quartz blocks and whatnot. Eventually I think what you'll see more on the market is quartz, but not the quartz ore as much. And when that ore does go on the market say, a year from now, it might be more expensive. This causes the current situation in which..

2. The market is unstable. You've probably seen quartz ore prices bouncing around from 1k a stack, up to as high as 10k a stack which I know at least one person bought a stack at. The way prices are fluctuating, I think people are looking at the situation and going: "Okay, here's a stack for sale for 2k. One week (or month, or year) from now, the price of this stack might be 1k. Or it might be 5k or even higher. So I'll risk the small loss and buy it now at 2k or 3k." Basically, nobody knows where (or when) the price of quartz is going to stabilize. For now, paying what might be slightly overprice for a stack of ore gives two benefits: First, you have your quartz now just in case the price settles extremely high like glowstone. And second, if the price does settle high, you suddenly have a very valuable item that you picked up at a comparatively low price.

Basically, buying quartz ore right now is a gamble. Are you overpaying? Or are you getting a bargain? Only time will tell, but people want to buy the ore now while there's alot of it on the market, even if the price is jumping around a bit (or a lot).

Redkiller123 did the same math as you and he estimated that a stack of ore should (SHOULD) be worth 1k. But the market will always jump around because people are clearly willing to pay more than that.

Also quartz can be used as an exp farm, as it gives off more exp than coal.

[Seratias]

I think the quartz prices can be attributed to a couple things:

1. All this ore will not be around forever. Quartz may be plentiful but naturally what most people want to do with it is use it for comparators, daylight sensors, quartz blocks and whatnot. Eventually I think what you'll see more on the market is quartz, but not the quartz ore as much. And when that ore does go on the market say, a year from now, it might be more expensive. This causes the current situation in which..

2. The market is unstable. You've probably seen quartz ore prices bouncing around from 1k a stack, up to as high as 10k a stack which I know at least one person bought a stack at. The way prices are fluctuating, I think people are looking at the situation and going: "Okay, here's a stack for sale for 2k. One week (or month, or year) from now, the price of this stack might be 1k. Or it might be 5k or even higher. So I'll risk the small loss and buy it now at 2k or 3k." Basically, nobody knows where (or when) the price of quartz is going to stabilize. For now, paying what might be slightly overprice for a stack of ore gives two benefits: First, you have your quartz now just in case the price settles extremely high like glowstone. And second, if the price does settle high, you suddenly have a very valuable item that you picked up at a comparatively low price.

Basically, buying quartz ore right now is a gamble. Are you overpaying? Or are you getting a bargain? Only time will tell, but people want to buy the ore now while there's alot of it on the market, even if the price is jumping around a bit (or a lot).

Redkiller123 did the same math as you and he estimated that a stack of ore should (SHOULD) be worth 1k. But the market will always jump around because people are clearly willing to pay more than that.

Thanks for that explanation, jack, you were very helpful.
The problem is, now I'm not so much wondering as to the price, I understand that people are willing to pay more and that the economy is unstable. However, what I don't get is why people are so willing to pay 3k for this stack of ore when it would be far cheaper and probably more efficient to go and mine it out themselves. As I said, it's quite abundant.

[cobaya18]

I don't know if its me or everyone but, apparently, I haven't seen ABSOLUTELY NOTHING of quartz that's non surface, and trust me, I have mined a lot in ze nether.

[jackavsfan]

-snip-

Thanks for that explanation, jack, you were very helpful.
The problem is, now I'm not so much wondering as to the price, I understand that people are willing to pay more and that the economy is unstable. However, what I don't get is why people are so willing to pay 3k for this stack of ore when it would be far cheaper and probably more efficient to go and mine it out themselves. As I said, it's quite abundant.

Well most of the surface quartz has been mined already. As for what's beneath the surface, I've actually found that it's very difficult to find. I've heard it's as abundant as coal but I'm finding it less often than I would even find diamonds.