Visiting other worlds, economy effect?

[Alestorm]

It's a bit of a concern on my realm since it means mats will get more expensive. We have tons of crafters but not quite as many gatherers, so mats tend to be on the cheap end where as completed items have a somewhat bloated cost.

[Jojoya]

It's a bit of a concern on my realm since it means mats will get more expensive. We have tons of crafters but not quite as many gatherers, so mats tend to be on the cheap end where as completed items have a somewhat bloated cost.

You have it backwards. We've got lots of gathering bots driving the prices for raw materials down (items that are creature drops only being an exception) but few crafters actively selling. Lack of competition allows those crafters to set and maintain high prices.

If players get into the habit of realm hopping to shop for the best price, then the prices for crafted items here will go down as the crafters try to stay competitive with those elsewhere. The prices for raw materials is unlikely to change much since the gathering bot problem exists on every realm.

I doubt there will be that many players realm hopping, though. A lot of people don't even bother traveling to the city state where the item is being sold to avoid the buyer tax as it is. Most will stick to the convenience of not having to travel around much even if they end up paying more and only resort to realm hopping if the item they want isn't available on their realm or the price is incredibly outrageous. That's far more likely to happen with the random drop items like emotes than with the crafted items.