Market Wards are still GARBAGE post 1.22

I still can't summon a retainer in uldah! Just because you can search in Grid and Limsa now doesn't mean anyone is actually GOING to! and by no means does anyone want to travel to Limsa or Grid to check their retainer. SE you need to scrap the whole idea of market wards and implement an Auction House. If you cannot because of 1.0 limitations then the least you could do is limit people to 1 retainer selling things per city so everyone has a chance.

-ps The whole premise behind the market wards is absolutely ridiculous. Where in the real world are you gonna see hundreds of ZOMBIES bunched together selling items, never moving, just standing around 24/7?

ummm..you don't have to travel anywhere to check your retainer other than any retainer bell. you can summon retainer at bell and then send it back to any ward in any city from any bell.

I accidentally left my retainer out of the wards overnight and got into uldah no problem on a full server

Ok maybe you can check your retainer from uldah but that isn't going to convince anyone to actually go into the limsa or grid mercantile house to shop. And believe me I'm on Durandal and have checked the wards, every single one I might add, endlessly since 1.21 and can never get a spot other than stalls which get booted every 24 hours or so. If you were in my position you'd understand and if you ever are believe me you'll want to vent about it. Problem is that people who are already in a spot never get kicked out and don't have any reason to complain or vent until it happens to them.

What SE is doing is isolating players from having the same advantage as others and that's just bad business plain and simple.

Perhaps SE should reduce the number of retainers allowed in the each city's markets and set it to 2/3 of server capacity.

Why 2/3?
3 cities => 1/3 of server population for each city.
Each person has 2 retainer, hence x2.

This way you force the entire server to split equally into all 3 cities whether they like it or not. This way the other 2 wards will be guaranteed to hit critical mass and people will use them.

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Not the most elegant or democratic solution in the world, but it should work well till 2.0.

I spent a good chunk of my afternoon crafting gear, and had to warp to Uldah's wards to rent a stall just to sell it. While I was in there, I noticed lots of retainers standing around without a single damn thing to sell in their bazaars, just taking up space. Is this really how the system works? First come first serve?

Something should be done here, I say.

Aren't they revising the system in 2.0? Please correct me if I'm wrong but I think we'll just have to tough it out till 2.0 finally drops.

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Originally Posted by Jokerz

Aren't they revising the system in 2.0? Please correct me if I'm wrong but I think we'll just have to tough it out till 2.0 finally drops.

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Normally that's what I'd be saying, but in this case there's several very simple solutions, like weekly ward wipes, a time limit on retainers standing around, pay-for-permanence rather than pay-for-24hrs, boot retainers that have nothing to sell, etc etc etc.

2.0 is the end-all-be-all, sure, but that's still many months away.

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Originally Posted by Denmo

Normally that's what I'd be saying, but in this case there's several very simple solutions, like weekly ward wipes, a time limit on retainers standing around, pay-for-permanence rather than pay-for-24hrs, boot retainers that have nothing to sell, etc etc etc.

2.0 is the end-all-be-all, sure, but that's still many months away.

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True but I'm not really sure if a quick fix will actually fix the market system when it's horribly flawed as is. I'd kinda rather SE take their time and fix it right since any other tweak will become more of a minor inconvenience than anything.

At least you can search wares from the other cities from the same zone.:/

Honestly I'm hoping the whole retainer system gets scrapped, it just doesn't work with so many items in this game.

Bet this guy has a retainer or 2 in the Uldah wards ^^

Other than the "categories", with the search feature, I'm fairly content with the band-aid solution until 2.0.

It's more a community preference issue than SE's issue. Hope Dalamud wipes Ul'dah's wards off the map.

I have a solution for this! (I may post again elsewhere in case I don't get a response from SE.)

THE TAXES! You've noticed the taxes and the search counter fee. Why don't they apply these to the grand company? I know that's more for the server to track, but I think it's a great solution to give grand company members an incentive to use the corresponding markets! Maybe the amount of gil taken through taxes could influence the amount of seals awarded from grand company activities! A rich nation should be able to pay its soldiers better, no? It doesn't make sense that all of that gil would go to the Market Wards but they wouldn't undergo any changes to reflect their profits.

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Originally Posted by Yrusama

I have a solution for this! (I may post again elsewhere in case I don't get a response from SE.)

THE TAXES! You've noticed the taxes and the search counter fee. Why don't they apply these to the grand company? I know that's more for the server to track, but I think it's a great solution to give grand company members an incentive to use the corresponding markets! Maybe the amount of gil taken through taxes could influence the amount of seals awarded from grand company activities! A rich nation should be able to pay its soldiers better, no? It doesn't make sense that all of that gil would go to the Market Wards but they wouldn't undergo any changes to reflect their profits.

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As nice as that sounds, incentives for using a non-Ul'dah ward is not the answer here. The advantage Ul'dah currently enjoys must be eliminated through a unified access method from any city. Preferably something where the city the good resides in is not known to the buyer. The mercantile house is a good start, but not perfect. As the ragey OP pointed out, just because players can access another city's mercantile house doesn't mean they will. But honestly, the fault for that lies on the player population.

When will ppl learn to just use other wards. Its like everyone trying to get on a crowded bus when the two behind it are empty. If you hate ppl using Uldah all the time then pioneer and put your retainer in other wards and then put /sh in use instead of shouting for PL or xp parties shout that you have an awesome retainer in limsa or grid and tell them what you sell.

While I agree its frustrating that retainers with nothing to sell are taking up space but some of this we as players can solve ourselves. Im sure the devs feel like they can lead a horse to water...... Get into the other wards. Im on durandal and I check other cities all the time and pisses me off that there is nothing there. Or... you can use 1 retainer to sell and your other for storage of mats and gear and the like.

I making money in Gridania ward. Both my retainers reside there. Its not big money, but i'm not operating with "Get rich quick" in mind.

I've found a segment of buyers for the wares i offer. I rotate stock, and i've advertized a bit.

Ul'dah need not be the end all be all of sales especially with the more accessable markey search wards we have now. My business has picked up slightly.

If your trying to jam your items into a flooded market full of the same stuff with tons of items especially with the much quicker ability for buyers to search all 3 markets your missing your niche' as a provider of goods. If theres 4 coffee shops on the same street why build a 5th. Find a street with no coffee, or sell a kind of coffee the others don't offer. But you shouldn't expect other sellers (or coffee shops) to bend to your vision of prices or stream of customers because thats what you want where you want it.

Part of being a good salesman is being dynamic enough to find new or different opportunities. Steady income can be fine instead of trying to make bank on every item.

Thats my opinion.

People are lazy. Plain and simple.

Better solution, do away with retainers and get an actual AH/broker system. Just got back from Ul'd market ward (post emergency maintenance). I gave up trying to find what i wanted. There is no sense of organization and the poor Taru(or whatever they are called) vendors are hidden half the time. You spend so much energy trying to see what EACH vendor has, that it becomes a chore... Shopping is supposed to be fun!

I know, this thread is ancient by internet standards. IDC, it is better than making a new thread