A Re-Imagining of the Bazaar System and How it Could Work.
The Bazaar system as is, is a good concept, but heavily flawed in many ways:
- The idea to own a retainer and have an in game environment that exists outside of the player was nice in idea, but with all the retainers standing rigidly and not responding to their surroundings, it becomes pointless. Why put players through the hassle of dealing with the bazaar if it's emotionless and has no immersion?
- Server side handling of every action, including dealing with each individual retainer causes extra wards, extra menus, and extra targets to create a time consuming ordeal, more so then it needs to be.
- Using a ward system over a regular auction house doesn't add any benefits to the player, even with the ward system, the distinction of different wards for each city causes the hassle of moving from town to town for the best deal. This forces the community to focus on one ward for the entire server. Look around, most wards are ignored aside from one city, where all of the major trade and sales take place.
Looking at all of this, what would the easy solution be? An auction house!
An auction house would be the easy way out. No managing extra zones, no extra menus or clutter, easy access to what people want. Buying and trading is no longer a chore. But is this necessarily the best option?
A big grab for FFXIV is what it does that other games don't. We don't want to play WoW, we have WoW and a million clones to fill that niche. We want a new experience. The Bazaar system isn't necessarily a bad idea, it, like almost every other aspect of the game, is simply broken.
I propose a system that incorporate's the idea of Mog Houses from FFXI, and the Bazaar system from FFXIV to create a system that is not only easy to use, and unique, has been proven to work well, and encourages the economy and player creativity.
Instead of multiple wards for various goods, re-instate Mog Houses from FFXI. Re-introducing Mo Houses will:
-Give players a place away from the noise and lag of the streets or other areas.
-Give players the ability to customize their game with their own unique flair.
-Create more opportunities for crafting via furniture for decoration.
Where does Square find the spare room for Mog Houses? Use the Market Ward servers! Much like Mog Houses past, we know they exist on different servers, and for good reason.
But where does the Bazaar and the Economy fit into all this?
For a nominal fee, crafting oriented characters can pay via gil, or perhaps a series of in game requirements or quests, to transform their Mog House, into a Mog Shop, allowing their Moogle (or Retainer as it would be in this game!) To sell items within their home.
Much like the system is now, you would simply goto the wards entrance of any major city, and use the item search function to locate the item you need. Instead of marking the items and telling what wards the item you want is located in, the search function would show you what player homes had the item you required, followed by the price!
How is this better then the Bazaar system we have now you ask? I believe these are the reasons:
- The reintroduction of Mog Houses is something that I know many players sorely miss from FFXI, and would go a long way in appeasing old school FFXI fans and new fans alike.
- Mog Houses add new depth to the game in customization, and social interaction, as well as time and gold sinks developers can sprinkle in that the community will not look badly torwards.
- Warping into a smaller, room, with only 1-2 npcs in it will be infinitely faster then having to load the entire ward with hundreds of npcs you wont interact with, you're going there for a reason, the rest around you only adds to your lag and loading woes.
- By making the mog house a bastion for the player, interaction with the seller and buyer will become more frequent and possible. This allows trading bartering and haggling to become apart of the economy process, adding to its complexity and enjoyment. An example of a scenario would be perhaps the seller is in his home, crafting, and the buyer shows up to buy, lets say, Fire crystals. He doesn't have enough money to buy them, but is willing to offer Lightning crystals to the seller. The seller desperately needs Lightning Crystals, and so a deal is struck. In this way, a better deal was had by all, and the game feels less isolationist. More communication, less menu hassle.
- A distinct aspect of the decoration and customization of Mog Houses, was showing it off! It's art! Why create when you cant share? Because your Mog House will be open to others while you are away, (if you so choose) each players creative flair will be shown and enjoyed by all.
Of course, when talking about ones home, privacy is of course a concern, which is why it will be optional as to if people can enter your home, or not. Making it friend list companions or linkshell companions only, or putting a password on your mog house so that only certain people can enter, this not only secures your safety, but introduces a new feature to the idea. Along the idea of a guild bank from WoW, you could put up items you dont want, such as crystals or trading mats, for a very low price, and offer them to friends to help them with their game, with autonomy. Simply put all your unwanted items up for sale, and give out your password to people you'd like to have it.
It could be used a supply house for linkshells, or a trading area for a few close friends.
Of course most of you recognize that much of this system has existed in a game already, by the name of Phantasy Star Universe. They used this system to great success within their own game, and while the game did not do very well due to other merits, this system was one of their better ideas.
Suggestions and Feedback for this idea are welcome, as we need to create a system that we as players all enjoy, and I think this could be the groundwork for something we could all benefit from. I would like this game to become what I think it could be, but it has a very long way to go. Getting rid of the hassle of day to day things such as buying using and selling items is a start.
So what do you all think!?