I don't want to make this into a CE QQ thread, but I think this is something that should be taken into consideration.

TL;DR:

Problem: Crown gain between tiers isn't high enough to support large (read: rising) CE costs. 10% auction sale fee means 10% of my hard earned money goes nowhere.

Solution: Remove or drastically reduce elevator fees and remove the auction sale fee.

The developers will have to make a change to the game if CE prices rise to 7k again. There just isn't a question. I don't want to sound like I'm trying to be snooty for force the hand of the devs, but it just isn't possible to make 7k in a run to moorcroft manor. That is what will turn noobs off.

The Crown gain between tier 1 and tier 2 isn't great enough to justify the CR alchemy prices. This is the key problem. Either you're willing to spend money on the game, or you're willing to grind for days and days and days to get the crowns to buy CE. This isn't really an option, because, unless you want to spend loads MORE time taking the first few steps into tier 2, you'll have to solo to get your mats to sell. No one is going to want to play an MMO where the only way that he can keep his head above water is by playing solo.

The only solution that I can see is to remove or drastically reduce the elevator fees. I think that the crafting fee could remain the way it is and still convince players to buy CE with money.

I know that most people won't agree with me, but I feel like the 10% fee for selling on the auction house is complete garbage. I don't know if this is meant for immersion, but when I go to the house, I don't think about giving money to support the AH. I think about how much of a profit I can make. The 10% sale price fee means that 10% of what I earned goes NOWHERE. It just empties itself out of my wallet. You can see that this ties in to my previous argument because it forces you, as a player, to need THAT many more materials in order to get off the ground. Having to pay taxes is something for the real world, where they can make an excuse that it's going somewhere good. Unless the government of cradle is going to give me some tax refunds, I can see no reason for the fee.