Diamond have a server price yet they are in demand. server prices work along side user price, it is not a one or the other situation. Server prices should not be based on user price as user price can change at any moment, whereas server price is a stable pricing for an item. In regards to your second paragraph you do not want to make a significant differences and just add a little boost which increase gold ingots would do.
Ah yes, if we go along with your second point "little boost" then we again have almost no use for this change, because it'll barely do anything. Lets raise pumpkins 2 cents, sure, tiny boost in the long run, but will it make much difference? No.
You only make the least money on gold because you find the least gold. If you took a stack of each mining item. Gold would be right under diamonds as most profitable.
I remember the time when diamonds had no server price and back then their user price was even higher than today (might have to do with the changes in mining world increasing diamond supply). Server prices set a minimum for user prices. ATM the user price for gold is ~13-18 and the server price guarantees it can't go below 10 even if the user market collapses. I think that's a fair price, given that gold also gives 1 exp that sells for ~1.30-1.80 when you smelt it. If you want to raise it to 20, you would destroy this user market. Some of the people who buy gold atm (for whatever reasons) would stop it and everyone would just /sell it to the server. Part of the charm of this server is watching market prices of certain goods fluctuate. Setting the server price for gold to 20 would likely eliminate gold from the list of goods that actually have a market. Either you want to make a significant change or you don't want to. Facts are, the common miner will not profit very much from an increase; the ones who would profit most are those who have huge stockpiles of gold. I'm not completely opposed to an increase in gold price, but I think 20 is way too high. Perhaps increase gold to 13 or 14 (i.e. still inside the price range of the user market) and see how the market adapts.
Oops, I see your original proposal actually was to raise the price to 12-15. The 20 somehow entered the discussion later. As for your original proposal, I'm not opposed to it, but I don't think it's necessary or useful in any way either. I'm strongly opposed however to raising gold prices to 20.
There is a average of 3 diamond ores per chunk. I believe gold is slightly less rare, but still rare. This is from the mc wiki... Ore typeCommonly found up to...Rare between...None above...Pickaxe needed for dropRarity Coal Layer 128 Layer 129-131* Layer 132* Wood or better 1.25% of all stone Iron Layer 64 Layer 65-67 Layer 68 Stone or better 0.72% of stone from rows 2-61 Lapis Lazuli Layer 23 Layer 31-33 Layer 33 Stone or better 0.083% of all blocks / 0.1013% of stone (levels 13-16) average 3.43 per chunk Gold Layer 29 Layer 31-33 Layer 34 Iron or better 0.1437% (levels 2-28) average 7.5 per chunk Diamond Layer 12 Layer 13-15 Layer 16 Iron or better 1.276% of stone (levels 2-14) average 3.097 per chunk Redstone Layer 15 Layer 16 Layer 17 Iron or better 1.025% of stone (below level 14) average 25 per chunk
I will quote this instead of that previous post. Gold is a rare as diamonds on layer 12 the prime layer for mining. Look through this thread I posted a graph on it.
