Ember Online

As the mystery auctions are fading from memory, our hard-won gold is starting to pile up. There are only a couple gold sinks currently in the game; and it feels like there just isn't a reason to have more than enough to cover potions, mana, and the occasional emberstone.
As far as I'm aware, one of the only uses for gold in the "end-game" is to purchase AC amulets and maybe a scroll of unbinding. Increasing the demand for gold is as beneficial to the economy as it is to the game as a whole.

The gambling idea has been tossed around a bit, and I think there's a lot of potential for it. A thread written by Killa in the core sub-forum mentions a gambling house, so I've come up with a couple games that might fit the bill.

Slots: You all know how slots work, you throw money at them until you eventually run out.
Get your classics in: Cherries, Bars, Bells, whatever you want. Throw some 7s in there for a jackpot. Spice it up a bit and add fire/water/etc divs to pay out an ember. Speaking of jackpots, instead of paying out gold, have 'em pay out vouchers.
You could have a shop with neat loot that only is purchasable via vouchers: 5 for a hat, 10 for a sword, 1 for a cute pencil eraser. The possibilities are endless.

Dice: High or low is dated. Most dice games are. Maybe add a quick game to double your money? Insert your cash to a maximum of 10k(?) and roll the dice. If you score above 60 you double up! If you score a 98 or higher you get triple, baby.

Cards: Blackjack is probably the card game anyone is willing to code, throw that in the mix.

Who else has got any ideas?

I’d love to see a reason to strive to get gold. While gambling is kinda fun it still isn’t a reason to get gold or farm gold like say an expensive equipment peice would be.

I think buying vault space will help as well as name and sex changes but I’d love to see some more amulets as well as maybe some costly rings in shops. I think nightmist did this very well there were stat ammys and an Uber weapon in shop for an absurd about of gold. Now I’m not saying we need to go that far right away but it would be cool to have some purchaseable equipment to strive towards and farm towards. More gold farming means more game playing then more interaction pvp etc.

I’d also like to see some kind of scripted bot that throws a mystery item on the auction house every few weeks. it could even have set odds like we knew the pool of items before hand and what odds for each item. This would be a great gold sink and kinda fun. It would also keep people watching the action house and active in seamoor.

A random mystery auction bot is something I've been wanting to see as well.
The voucher shop I had in mind would work similarly to the "insane amounts of gold" shop that you mentioned; however, because it's based on gambling, it's a lot more RNG oriented.
If the shop actually became a topic of interest, I had some other ideas to balance the randomness out. In the market's current state, some OADs aren't exactly sought after. A vendor which would allow you to trade in level 25 OADs for vouchers to use in the shop would increase the value and desirability of just about every end-game item.

Arcane chains might net 3 vouchers while a devil plate would net 5. The higher end items would cost maybe a couple hundred or so? That would increase demand for both gold and OADs.

Either way, a high-end shop would be a nice addition.

any green+ item should be able to be traded in for vouchers for a gambling system. you could even break the system into tiers so you can use green items level 0 , 8 , 15 , 20 and 25. the trade, in theory would help establish longevity style playing. lets say you get vouchers or coins for each green item you turn in(varying colors/metals for level of items). in turn you use these vouchers and gold to play various gambling games. when you win theres a small chance to get special tickets. the special tickets are used to gamble for gear similar to diablo 2/3 but with a better give and take system underneath.

lets say tier 1 (level 0 ) items like pointy stinger etc give you a wooden coin. when using wooden coins in the "slot machine" gives you a chance for a brown ticket. X brown tickets could be traded in for special level 0 gear.

tier 2, level 8 items , would award copper coins, and later copper tickets

then bronze silver gold for the next tiers, etc.

the coins wouldn't be required for normal(straight gold) gambles, but you wouldn't win tickets without them. i think also the coins could be purchased from a "black market" dealer for the right price...