I mean think about it. People are now paying relatively more or less depending on the item less than what it used to cost since the crowns are devaluting the energy or whatever. But what I don't get is why the crown amount has to decrease in value for a particular item, when in actuality you are cutting off the middle man, the crystal energy, and it's also much faster to get than before. So it's weird how a lot of items have dropped in ce value, yet so did the crowns.
I can think of one fundamental concept that might help answer this question listed in the topic. While CE tends to be referred to as a currency, it is more accurately a cleverly disguised substitution. Crowns are Crowns no matter what, and most vendor prices stay the same (like recipes or low level items), and player income is fairly steady regarding the time put in to acquiring said crowns, i.e. the crown system itself is rather stable. CE on the otherhand while can be used as a currency isn't necessarily a currency, in that it's value rises or drops over time. The real reason why all prices in CR are related to CE by most merchants (players who buy & sell goods, not NPC's) is mainly because of how integral CE is to the game. This is the lynch-pin here: Excluding what's in your mist tank, You have to use CE to craft Items and therefore progress through the game, and you have to use CE to use any elevator and thereby actually PLAY the game as it was designed. So next comes the question of how to get CE, and there are two ways: Trade Crowns for it, or actually shell out REAL money for it. For the majority of people playing this game, the latter option isn't very........ desirable. So CE trading therefore becomes big business, while the social connotation of CE becomes similar to the price of food or rent.
ADHD version: The only way you can detach the price of items in CR versus its equivalent value in CE is to run into a player that doesn't care about CE at all.