Further proof that the market wards are a festival of failure.

[Hubert]

I think most people agree that the market wards need more work but to call it a "festival of failure" is overdoing it. I'm going to go ahead and assume from your name (Dynamis Lord) that you were an FFXI player, and personally I think the FFXI auction system was a lot worse than the current market ward system.

1. Silly price history method instead of actual prices leading to wasted time by bidding in slow increments.
2. Timed auction where if your product doesn't sell in a couple days, it gets removed, meaning you lost the tax money as well.
3. Can only put up 7 items across all auction houses.
4. Inability to sell large quantities of items separately, meaning you either sold it one at a time (thus wasting a valuable slow) or as an entire stack at once.
5. Inability to see who are you buying from. Might be a moot point for a lot of people but personally if I see an LS mate or friend selling something I need to buy I would much rather buy from that person.

Admittedly I have not played or even kept up with FFXI for over two years so I few of my points may have become invalid. However, it is easy to see where the market ward system has improved over the FFXI AH. Once again I'm not arguing that the market wards are the perfect answer to the economy but with a little more tweaking (mainly better UI and more space) it certainly isn't a complete failure either.

[Mack]

Who cares about the FFXI AH, you do know things can be improved right? when someone is asking for an AH its not because they love the XI AH but because they hate the MWs..when they reference an AH its not because they want the exact same one but something better. Everyone asking for an AH would be happy with a counter top market system, basically take everything the MWs is today and turn it into counter top, this changes absolutely nothing but convenience and that is all people have been asking for. Call it what you want, AH, MW, doesn't matter...it just has to be better and the MW will only get worse with a rise in population. On paper, they sound good, but in practice they are horrible.

[feint2021]

I don't see how this is further proof that the mark ward system is broken. My shit sells and I'm making a profit. Maybe you're just doing something wrong.

[Mack]

I don't see how this is further proof that the mark ward system is broken. My shit sells and I'm making a profit. Maybe you're just doing something wrong.

Did you even read the OP? :S

[Wolfie]

Reading is fundamental.

Don't expect people who defend MW to be that educated.

[Hubert]

Who cares about the FFXI AH, you do know things can be improved right? when someone is asking for an AH its not because they love the XI AH but because they hate the MWs..when they reference an AH its not because they want the exact same one but something better. Everyone asking for an AH would be happy with a counter top market system, basically take everything the MWs is today and turn it into counter top, this changes absolutely nothing but convenience and that is all people have been asking for. Call it what you want, AH, MW, doesn't matter...it just has to be better and the MW will only get worse with a rise in population. On paper, they sound good, but in practice they are horrible.

You say things can be improved; I agree - the market wards can be improved and with a little creativity they can offer a lot more than anything an AH can offer. Even as it stands, doing a market ward search will immediately tell you the most important things: Who is selling it for cheapest, how much they have, the price they are selling it for, and where they are located. After that it's just moving yourself over to the location and buying it. Obviously this process could be a lot more streamlined such as ability to see HQ items, an actual search where you can type in the item instead of going through menus, an the ability to choose a specific retainer and instantly warp to its location right from the search results.

As far as the MW getting worse with a rise in population, that is true under the current system, but once again things can be improved. MW can be redesigned to accommodate more retainers with either more wards (Ironmongers I, Ironmongers II, etc.) or physically restructuring the wards to have multiple floors with the search function also telling you what floor a specific retainer is on. Furthermore, it's not like a server population will continuously rise indefinitely. There are server population caps in place.

In the end, the MW if done right will have almost the same level of convenience as an AH with the added ability of some serious player driven customization (retainer modeling is one but a lot more can be added such as better stall customization or even an entire ward created, designed, and run by a Company). Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly no fan of the current MW but I'm not so shortsighted as to call it a complete failure and that it should be done away with completely.

[jwang]

One way they can streamline the MW system is to remove the physical location of the wards altogether. Everything would be done via retainers, both selling and buying. When selling items, the items would only show up 30 minutes after posting on the market, and will always incur a 5% tax (since there is no "favored" ward). When buying items, you can now set your retainer to seek certain items at certain prices, and to purchase certain quantities of it, in addition to browsing and purchasing immediately. Once the item you are seeking for is posted at the desired price, the retainer will automatically purchase it. In addition, notifications should be added to tell when items have been sold or found. Calling a retainer will stop the search or sale process, as it is right now. The remaining market ward location can be converted into the entrance to housing units, which can be purchased for the right price.

[Xenor]

The increase in stability of the markets has also added to the conjestion in the wards. Retainers are staying for weeks at a time now. Who ever thought that and increase in stability would be a problem.

A quick fix is just that, a quick fix. You could probably write the code to open up new wards when one is full in about five minutes. It's something that should have been done months ago and the fact it hasn't is no reason not to bother.

I saw this problem coming when the wards stopped crashing daily and I keep my retainers up now even when they're selling nothing relevant to that ward. They're placeholders for when I restock them. I've got one in battle, spell, masons, wood, jewellers and one that I'm happy to relocate. That's another problem too, most people now have extra characters with retainers. It just adds to the congestion.

[Dyne]

I just want people to be able to travel to Limsa and Gridania wards. I feel that it's unfair how everyone is forced to have everything in Uldah or else it won't sell. Implementing a global teleport and search function just for market wards will alleviate all that congestion of uldah wards. Also, instead of giving people more retainers or adding another ward category, they should just increase the amount of items the retainers can sell.

Auction House is actually much more limited if you think about it. Back in ffxi, you could sell like 7 items per character and the auction houses of sandoria, bastok, and windhurst were largely ignored for the jeuno/aht uhrgan auction house.

[Mack]

Auction House is actually much more limited if you think about it. Back in ffxi, you could sell like 7 items per character and the auction houses of sandoria, bastok, and windhurst were largely ignored for the jeuno/aht uhrgan auction house.

Why do people keep bringing up the 7 item limit as if its inherently part of an AH design? a counter top MW system will have no limits if SE chooses so. The MWs as they are now, physical placement of NPC and all, will always have limits no matter what they do.