Actually, if you still thinking about getting a lower price for the balanced staff, i'd rather recommend dont buy it, at all. Because now people farm hydra instead of infested. Dragon staff works better on hydra than balanced. Also, dragon staff works on all bosses. Both dragon and balanced staffs are relatively cheap. With limited gold, dragon staff + hex fire staff should be all you need as a mage in this game. Other weapons are just expensive or fancy, but not required.