Market Wards vs AH

[kukurumei]

Not necessarily. A direct delivery service can be implemented alongside the centralized search you suggest, leaving the "walking to retainer" for those people that enjoy windows shopping and want to preview an item prior to implementation.

I would also addthe possibility to click on a item in the bazar (as a customer) and have that item displayed on the retainer instead of the one he's currently wearing, in order to improve the "preview" function when multiple items of the same type are for sale.

Other than that, I agree with most you said. I have been arguing most of it myself for a while.

that's basically eliminating the retainer part of the system...which then becomes an AH...so again, the AH is the shorter path.

What you are suggesting is doing 1+1+1+1 instead of simply writing 4.

The more patches or as you call it features you stick in, the more it devalues it under layers of complexity.

I can do the same thing with a standard AH, by simply having an AH menu on your menu screen, and then have a CG scene.

It's semantics again. You are proposing we installed dos then windows98 then windows XP then windows Vista then windows 7. For the sake of preserving your settings. When I have a copy of windows 7 right here. Through everything, the things you are preserving are lost anyway.

[Abriael]

that's basically eliminating the retainer part of the system...which then becomes an AH

And what's the problem about that, exactly?

By the way. I'm eliminating nothing. I'm giving players the *option* to bypass it, if they want to, without eliminating the *option* to windows shop if one wants to.

the AH is the shorter path.

Creating a completely new system doesn't sound one bit like the "shorter" path as opposed to adding features to an existing one.

It's semantics again. You are proposing we installed dos then windows98 then windows XP then windows Vista then windows 7. For the sake of preserving your settings. When I have a copy of windows 7 right here. Through everything, the things you are preserving are lost anyway.

Eh no. The problem is that you do not have a copy of windows 7. You still have to buy (read: devise, code, implement, test) your copy of windows 7. What I'm proposing is to install the update from Windows Vista to Windows 7. It costs less and it doesn't force you to format your PC.

[Artius]

that's basically eliminating the retainer part of the system...which then becomes an AH...so again, the AH is the shorter path.

What you are suggesting is doing 1+1+1+1 instead of simply writing 4.

The more patches or as you call it features you stick in, the more it devalues it under layers of complexity.

I can do the same thing with a standard AH, by simply having an AH menu on your menu screen, and then have a CG scene.

It's semantics again. You are proposing we installed dos then windows98 then windows XP then windows Vista then windows 7. For the sake of preserving your settings. When I have a copy of windows 7 right here. Through everything, the things you are preserving are lost anyway.

It's not as simple as you put it. What it would do is allow people the AH system IF THEY WANT IT, but put it at a price for the convenience.

For those who enjoy the shopping experience (and some people DO enjoy it), you can still wander around.

If you ONLY used the instant buy system, then, yes, you are essentially eliminating the retainers. However, unless the overwhelming majority of the population went to using the "buy it now for a markup" option, there is still an argument for a MW system.

--edited for spelling...I cannot type sometimes--

[Demacia]

It's not as simple as you put it. What it would do is allow people the AH system IF THEY WANT IT, but put it at a price for the convenience.

For those who enjoy the shopping experience (and some people DO enjoy it), you can still wander around.

If you ONLY used the instant buy system, then, yes, you are essentially eliminating the retainers. However, unless the overwhelming majority of the population went to using the "buy it now for a markup" option, there is still an argument for a MW system.

--edited for spelling...I cannot type sometimes--

Sounds like FFXI where people leave mules afk with bazaars open to avoid the AH tax. I don't see why that wouldn't work in this game. Just add an AH so people who want to buy something conveniently can do so while others who enjoy shopping around for bargains can continue to use the market wards.

[Abriael]

Sounds like FFXI where people leave mules afk with bazaars open to avoid the AH tax. I don't see why that wouldn't work in this game. Just add an AH so people who want to buy something conveniently can do so while others who enjoy shopping around for bargains can continue to use the market wards.

This isn't very practical. Adding a separate AH would bring up one of the many flaws of FFXI's economy and that's fragmentation.

On the other hand, adding all the features of an AH (with or without usage fees) to the market wards keeps the economy focused in one place and one overall database, without forcing people to check two separate systems to find the best prices.

[Demacia]

This isn't very practical. Adding a separate AH would bring up one of the many flaws of FFXI's economy and that's fragmentation.

On the other hand, adding all the features of an AH (with or without usage fees) to the market wards keeps the economy focused in one place and one overall database, without forcing people to check two separate systems to find the best prices.

As long as I'm not forced to use something as clunky as market wards and I can search for what I want and then buy it swiftly and hassle-free though the UI, I don't really care. I just don't want to have to search for my item, enter a separate zone with a loading screen, and physically walk to an NPC to buy a single item. It's extremely tedious, especially when looking for several items.

[Abriael]

As long as I'm not forced to use something as clunky as market wards and I can search for what I want and then buy it swiftly and hassle-free though the UI, I don't really care. I just don't want to have to search for my item, enter a separate zone with a loading screen, and physically walk to an NPC to buy a single item. It's extremely tedious, especially when looking for several items.

That's the whole point. Giving people the option to use the system they enjoy the most (or both) without having to waste development resources to scrap a system and make a new one from scratch.

[Malakhim]

Hey guys, there's this really awesome forum feature that I recently discovered called a "search function".

With it, I was able to pull up a thread that has been active for some time on a relevant topic(namely this one), without having to create another thread about it and thus taking up extra forum space(the other 10 new ones). Technology's awesome.

Seriously though, I have an idea that may seem a bit outlandish, but hear me out.

As I mentioned in an earlier post regarding the MW, I appreciate the idea, however upon further thought, I've come to the conclusion that the MW as I envisioned them were very much dependent on the implementation of companies, and without said companies, the MW idea kind of fizzled out for me.

What I thought of was that once the devs implement companies, they could allocate the Market Wards zones(after some visual sprucing up I mentioned before) to be designated zones for company housing. Each company would be able to promote themselves and their own wares in game using a variety of methods, and within or outside of a company's housing, they would have "company retainers" open up shop to sell whatever items the company deigns to create.

This of course could be supplemented by an external AH that might be open only to certain types of items(for example no crafting materials) that would behave like actual auction houses.

I think this would serve to create a huge sense of community and competition, as well as really give crafters(which I am not) an even bigger role in the game.

[kukurumei]

Sounds like FFXI where people leave mules afk with bazaars open to avoid the AH tax. I don't see why that wouldn't work in this game. Just add an AH so people who want to buy something conveniently can do so while others who enjoy shopping around for bargains can continue to use the market wards.

Everything gets taxed equality except in the proper wards. No tax loopholes here, and no mail system as well. Basically FF14, are money nazis. They want all money to go through the system.

It's viable to go that route. Make an AH server wide system. Then have retainers moved to a moogle house and sent to wards(that are placed via automatically client side and not server side to prevent bandwidth hogging) aka fancy graphics to sell at a much lower tax rate.

All this search the wards nonsense, zone nonsense, retainer cap nonsense, etc are instantly eradicated.

But some people want things overcomplicated for the sake of over complication.

[Malakhim]

So I'm probably going to repeat several things due to not having 23 pages of context, but I like the idea behind the market wards. That being said, they definitely need a bit of work in my opinion.

First off, people have been complaining left and right about "copy-pasted terrain", and yet there is no greater offender than the market wards themselves. What we have right now are closed off segments that lack variety on everything save for what kind of floorboards they use, and I think this is a pretty big deal in the immersion department. When I'm in the southern islands in Limsa, it should be an open-air marketplace with maybe a stone fountain in a section, and outcrops from which I can see birds, ships, the sky or the ocean. When at the lotus gardens in Gridania, I should see trees over the different stands and maybe some small animals or something wandering around the ground. I'm not saying stick every retainer in one huge zone, as that would be a lag/dev nightmare, but redesigning the zones themselves might make people a bit more comfortable with shopping there.

Fix the aesthetics of the area, and make people WANT to go there.