Gold has its long term 'investors' like central banks and thats the frame of reference to watch.   They are net buyers for over 10 years Ive been told which is significant as they rarely sell.   Gold gives no yield so to me its not investment, its just commodity like very expensive collection of steel cans people could collect and recycle for money  its just the rich end of that scale
A central bank can utilise gold as counter weight to debt they issue, it adds to their credit profile.  People cant so easily do that but I think its a kind of hedge to risk elsewhere and overall in the world that occurs from recessions spreading between economies, devaluation of currency especially I think.   In that way its very reliable, I consider it a form of pension saving because it really might take most of your life for it to appreciate or reach the correct value.  

 Right now gold is considered unused or a relic compared to modern economic innovations such as QE but central banks are playing with fire and its likely gold will revert to its status at the base of all value and assets priced above it

The gold price always rising I get what you are saying but its not really the case on the surface anyway.   Since 2011 Gold has been very unpopular I think and to me the price has been ok on a decade long perspective but from a traders view its been pretty bad