RE: How Will Metropolis Affect the Price of Ether?
The entire crypto community is rooting for ethereum. Many of the developing tokens and coins are being built on ethereum. Ethereum has earned the respect and faith of the community, corporations, industries, and now entire governments. The switch to Proof of Stake will likely remove a lot of ether from the market as they're locked up for a year for staking. As people like the potential returns, they'll restake. As part of the ether supply will be off the market, and if demand holds or rises, the price will shoot up (I'd highly imagine). Regardless, unless we're active traders, just get as much as possible and enjoy the benefits for YEARS, not just the short-term price action from their update.
Think of it this way, the price should be higher unless their update fails for some reason. Zoom out on the charts and think long.
What is proof of stake exactly? Can anyone clarify?
Mining with computers to earn ETH will be obsolete. Your coins can then be locked up in holdings to support the ethereum infrastructure to essentially mine in that fashion instead. You'd get an eth interest rate on your locked up eth over time as your reward. You'll have to have a certain amount of eth to qualify individually to stake or be part of a pool.
the rich get richer
Somewhat. You don't have to be rich to get rich in cryptos. Yes, it takes money to make money, but all you need to do is get in early. How? Study, learn, dig, take smart risks, and WAIT for the investment to mature. $125 in ETH at $12 in January would've given you 10 ETH, likely the minimum to stake. Do that a few times and make your own luck/wealth.