What about making all currently r/e monster drops sellable on the auction house

[Pixela]

I really don't see why the devs are so stuck in not letting so many items be sold on the auction house, they are sold anyway with mercs so what's the point? Mercs openly shout to sell their services and nobody cares so why not go the whole hog?

Allow items be drop without the ex tag and they only become locked to you when you equip them. Until equipped once, any weapon, armor or whatever else can be sold on the auction house.

It gives the hardcore players a serious revenue of gil and a reason to keep playing and lets casual players farm gil to get items they normally would not be able to.

On a previous MMO I did this, I had a static group and I cleared the hardest dungeons and sold the drops on the broker. It was the only reason many of us still played and we used the money to make the highest tier crafted weapons.

[Siviard]

I could see this working if the NMs remain popped. If any became timed spawn (looking at you, old school Fafnir/Nidhogg) it would bring back that whole "whose 3rd party claiming tool is better" and I, personally, would rather not re-live those dark days.

On another note, I agree with Stompa as well. Making everything buyable with gil discourages people to join groups or linkshells. They would just have to farm gil on their own, and then pay for it on the AH, or a Mercenary person, which I personally frown upon.

[Stompa]

I really don't see why the devs are so stuck in not letting so many items be sold on the auction house, they are sold anyway with mercs so what's the point? Mercs openly shout to sell their services and nobody cares so why not go the whole hog?

Allow items be drop without the ex tag and they only become locked to you when you equip them. Until equipped once, any weapon, armor or whatever else can be sold on the auction house.

It gives the hardcore players a serious revenue of gil and a reason to keep playing and lets casual players farm gil to get items they normally would not be able to.

On a previous MMO I did this, I had a static group and I cleared the hardest dungeons and sold the drops on the broker. It was the only reason many of us still played and we used the money to make the highest tier crafted weapons.

I'm actually hoping the opposite happens, and there are more ra-ex items, and less gil-based items.

Ra-ex items encourages players to go out and actually farm stuff themselves, instead of just buying it with gil.

Ra-ex stuff encourages players to start /shout runs, join linkshells, start their own linkshells, and actually stay loyal to linkshells. When everything is on sale for gil, you have no reason to team up, and you have no reason to be a useful and loyal linkshell member.

I believe that one (of many) reason for FFXI's long lifespan, is that some gear and some monster drop items/currencies are ra-ex, and can not just be purchased. This has encouraged players to communicate with other players, team up, join linkshells, and experience the shared struggles together. If those ra-ex items could all be bought with gil, many people would do that, and linkshells would become just chatrooms.

Yes there are mercs selling ra-ex gear runs, but most people still prefer to team up with other players and challenge the content in the legit manner. If the AH was selling those ra-ex items for gil, this would be like SE saying "buying these items is legit" and so people would accept that. Currently mercs are not considered legit, and this means that most normal players prefer to set up their own runs to obtain gear.

I just feel that adventure roleplaying swords&sorcery games are about more than shopping. They are about overcoming challenges with groups of friends or strangers. I think the popularity of said RPGs is due to the adventure experiences, and games would lose that feeling if everything could simply be purchased at a shop or auctionhouse.

[Alhanelem]

There's a reason most gear awarded from endgame content in MMOs is untradable, it would not be a good idea to change that. It's bad for crafting and it's bad for the overall economy.

[Olor]

I'd rather they just fixed the gear ladder - un-wrecking ambuscade would be a good start.

[Ketaru]

I'm actually hoping the opposite happens, and there are more ra-ex items, and less gil-based items.

Ra-ex items encourages players to go out and actually farm stuff themselves, instead of just buying it with gil.

Ra-ex stuff encourages players to start /shout runs, join linkshells, start their own linkshells, and actually stay loyal to linkshells. When everything is on sale for gil, you have no reason to team up, and you have no reason to be a useful and loyal linkshell member.

I believe that one (of many) reason for FFXI's long lifespan, is that some gear and some monster drop items/currencies are ra-ex, and can not just be purchased. This has encouraged players to communicate with other players, team up, join linkshells, and experience the shared struggles together. If those ra-ex items could all be bought with gil, many people would do that, and linkshells would become just chatrooms.

Yes there are mercs selling ra-ex gear runs, but most people still prefer to team up with other players and challenge the content in the legit manner. If the AH was selling those ra-ex items for gil, this would be like SE saying "buying these items is legit" and so people would accept that. Currently mercs are not considered legit, and this means that most normal players prefer to set up their own runs to obtain gear.

I just feel that adventure roleplaying swords&sorcery games are about more than shopping. They are about overcoming challenges with groups of friends or strangers. I think the popularity of said RPGs is due to the adventure experiences, and games would lose that feeling if everything could simply be purchased at a shop or auctionhouse.

While I don't necessarily disagree with any of this, I do think something needs to be said about the merits of people "farming" for gear they want. While it is true that the very best gear always came from bosses and required collaboration to get, something could be said about your average player at the time versus a player who clearly went the extra mile with their gear- the much maligned "white borders" if you will. It was actually a selling point you included in your search comment that you had all 8 HQ elemental staffs because finding parties was actually a competitive aspect of the game versus being something people rush to now every time there's a campaign. And, with the small playerbase, we'll scoop up just about anyone so long as they can WS and not miss.

And while others may disagree with me on this, I do believe there was such a thing as a "quality AH player" at the time. I've known some people who farmed to the exclusion of all else because getting a Haubergeon+1 versus a regular Haubergeon was really that important to them (not important to me, but to each his own). And if someone didn't want to participate in endgame, there was still a path for them to be a very good player. Such a thing doesn't exist now.

It also adds to the immersion of the game that there was a robust economy, with recognizable trends, that people actually cared about. We were distressed to see notorious gilsellers having their way with the game because we knew what they were doing to prices. Now, with ease of gil from RoE quests, we're on the cusp of major inflation and hardly anybody notices or cares. If the game ever goes back to being more AH-based, we're in trouble.

I rather wish I could go back to that experience of seeing another player and going "Dang, now that's dedication" instead of this "Bah, he just got lucky with those Taupe rolls."

I do like killing stuff for my loot. But it's a pity the AH has more or less been reduced to food, rings, and voodoo items (the SJW in me is disconcerted by the use of "voodoo" to describe cursed armor, but for the sake of of cohesion, I try to ignore it).

[Rydal]

Absolutely not. It is the only thing keeping players with billions of gil at bay. No one would do content anymore. They'll just buy everything they need.

[Pixela]

Absolutely not. It is the only thing keeping players with billions of gil at bay. No one would do content anymore. They'll just buy everything they need.

I don't understand what you're saying, you can buy anything you want right now. If you have "billions" of gil you can pay mercs to get you anything now. There are mercs shouting often, there are posts on forums with mercs offering their services now.

It's like 5-10-20million per item based on what it is.

[Rydal]

The thing about mercs is though, you have to be involved and in the party to receive the gear/item. You still have to play! If r/e items were made available on AH, everyone that dual/triple/quad/quint boxes would just throw everything on AH and no one else would bother partying, just gil farm. Mercs aren't popular on my server to the best of my knowledge and LS's still party together for gear, big and small. Making r/e items sellable would...not make them r/e anymore and pretty much defeat the purpose of doing content yourself.

[Pixela]

The thing about mercs is though, you have to be involved and in the party to receive the gear/item. You still have to play! If r/e items were made available on AH, everyone that dual/triple/quad/quint boxes would just throw everything on AH and no one else would bother partying, just gil farm. Mercs aren't popular on my server to the best of my knowledge and LS's still party together for gear, big and small. Making r/e items sellable would...not make them r/e anymore and pretty much defeat the purpose of doing content yourself.

Merc = item drops, one of the party members drops and you invite the buyer when they have traded you the gil in order to lot. They do nothing aside from wait for the invite after the monster is dead.