So as of 1.8 the best deal for an exp bottle is 3 emeralds for 1 bottle. After checking around and doing some research I've learned that the average price of 1 exp bottle is 30r and the price of 1 emerald is 30r, wouldn't that mean that the average for an experience bottle vastly outweighs the price of the emerald? If I take 3 30r emeralds and trade for 1 30r exp bottle I'm losing money. The real price of exp bottles should be much higher by mathematical standards. Source for math: minecraft.gamepedia.com/Trading And for those too lazy to open the link and find out for themselves.
before 1.8 there was a villager that traded 4 exp for 1 emerald. after 1.8 their trades still worked. A select few people still have them.
Yes but even you have to admit that even those select few even if there were 100 villagers that had this trade wouldn't be enough to affect that market by this amount. My thought is that nobody bothered, when in reality I could probably go around and buy out every shop and just wait for people to realize that exp bottles are worth almost twice if not three times as much as they are now.
Pre-1.8 villagers are actually fairly common. Sure, you can't make them anymore, but there were lots of them around before, most of which still exist. They're not too difficult to trade with either, since they also make glowstone. I don't see the price of EXP bottles changing too much in the near future.
As to the prize of XP bottles there's also something else you should keep in mind: demand. If you need XP then it's much easier to hop onto a server with a public XP farm than to try and get a good deal on XP bottles. Let alone using them; they don't exactly give you that much. I can't help wonder if that isn't the real reason for the lower prices: people don't buy 'm that often.
