Why do you want an Auction House? (discussion)[dev1019]

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Originally Posted by Cairdeas

You didn't play FFXI much then. They tended to stand in Lower Jeuno right next to where they could easily target the far right AH node and the Delivery NPC at the same time.

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Ive played FFXI for 5 years and I didnt notice anything you described. Guess it was server specific activity.
BTW: if utsusemi prices go 10 times up, it kinda sucks for buyers, but on the other hand - it is crafters paradise. If Id notice Chinese fellows bots buying any quantity of utsusemi, I wouldnt stop crafting it. Guess your server was lacking crafters.

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Originally Posted by Epo

If that's the case, it's simply a flaw of FFXI's AH. Look at any other game's AH, which is what FFXIV would be expected to have as FFXI is much out-dated, and as much I love that over market-wards, it is still by far the worst AH I've seen in a game to date.

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And still it is way better than Market Wards in FFXIV. Thats how terrible MW is.

I don't want an auction house. The only thing the wards could use at the moment is an item price history. Market wards in their current implementation pose only the most minor of inconvenience. To scrap them now for a system only marginally better is a waste of the Devs' time that could be put to better use smoothing out other areas of the game.

Even if I search for the item I want in the specified ward I find myself having to check all wards anyway as people can still sell items where they wish, and as stated above the lack of item price history makes me wonder if I am getting ripped off when purchasing an item.
If they improved the MW system it would be a good replacement for an AH but at the moment an AH seems significantly better.

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Originally Posted by Haraldsson

Item price history is a tool for price fixers and inflation.

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Oh please, gimmie a break. Item price is as high as much youre willing to pay for it. You can do same things in MW. If there is no supply at the moment you can put it on sale for price 2-3 times higher than its usual price and potential buyer will pay that much now even knowing its overpriced. Next person selling this item will set price close to yours and you got inflation. If there are 10 sellers price will probably drop a bit. Its a free market. Demand > Supply - prices go up, Supply > Demand - priced go down. And you can always buy cheap ones and put it on sale for your price. Dont need AH for price speculating.

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If an AH is implemented it should be individual to that region.

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Yeah, and Ul'dah MW will handle 95% of worlds supply.

@ Zhou

The item search lists the lowest priced item in all wards. You should never have to search wards manually for a lower price on the item.

I guess best option is to implement AH but leave MW as well. Give it 1 month and we will see which option players prefer. And I dont know a reason why both AH and MW cant exist simultaneously. Im pretty sure tho, if there was AH and MW - one MW row would be enough to hold all the retainers.

About 7 days (*) limit in AH against no time limit on retainers... what kind of argument is that? The question is if you want AH, not if you want AH with time limit.
If you ask me if I want FFXI AH in FFXIV - I dont! Well, even that would be better than Market Wards but it is definitely not what I expect from next generation MMO. I expect a tool much much better than AH in FFXI. MW in FFXIV is much much worse so far.

(*) Im pretty sure in FFXI its 9 days but thats not the point.

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Originally Posted by Myri

The item search lists the lowest priced item in all wards.

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Yeah but still you have to run there. And sometimes you only check price assuming you can buy it on your current floor, or check the price and location but not the retainers name. Either way gotta check all the retainers on the floor or just go back to item search menu and search again. Happens to me all the time. Its far from AHs practicality.

RMT didn't bot the AH other players did.

Also there's nothing stopping you from doing that in this system I've used the market wards and bought up all those to cheap under 12 items to up the price on larger stacks.

the market wards are an ok idea but have too many flaws, the fact that the engine cant even show all retainers at a time kinda says it all. its a useless resource drain the way it currently is. Im sure there is a way or there are ways to further improve it but i dunno why putting more and more effort into that system.

The majority id say doesnt like it. Whoever says thats not true ... well, the majority left so they wont post in the forums.

For me honestly idc anymore since i decided to craft everything myself since i hate to spend my time searching 3 cities for something that might not even be there. But i think it still is a big issue and reason enough for a lot of people not to play it. Its like the HNM hunting of ffxi. A few liked to spend 80% of their RL "camping" a mob that possibly drops something that 30 ppl lot on... but i dont think the majority did. But you didnt have to, since it was only an optional way of playing the game. The AH is essential. So unless you dedicate your time crafting, the system atm sux.
The communication with the retainer is so slow still and its clunky, not comfortable. I npc stuff when im full. i dont even bother looking at the wards. And haveing a closer look at the wards... theres not much you can buy. ANYTHING i needed so far wasnt there ever. So what is the point...

And the wards dont prevent any RMT nor do they prevent ppl from using other ppl to gain more money. You can still, as some already stated, buy cheap stuff and sell for higher. Thats what ppl and rmt do, the wards dont protect anyone from that. Its called economy. And most ppl more involved in ffxiv already using online portals to look at prizes and history.
(at least what ppl put online) and that is also a way to manipulate.
Theres just no point trying to control that system. People will find their way and rmt will always be there. Well its their job. Thats what they're good at. So in the end there might even be more room for rmt then for honest/fun/game orientated players. Since they dont wanna go through all this crap, they just wanna play.

But atm not many ppl useing that system anyways, since the majority is looking at what the game will turn into before investing much more time. So its hard to say if it will be used a lot as soon as many ppl will play it. That might change a lot, But i dont wanna imagine 3-4 times as many retainer npcs in the wards either. There has to be another way then the current wards are. Each player can have 2 Retainers in the wards atm (if im not mistaken). How is THAT ever supposed to work? These tiny zones. So full of pixles? Its kind of a dead end to me.

Because there are fundamental flaws in the Market Ward system (such as trying to sell multiple categories of items on a single retainer, or limits on how many retainers are in a ward) that cannot be fixed without turning it into an Auction House.