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

[Mack]

Could you please, (or anyone else) give a link where SE said that there will be an auction house?
Perhaps I missed something. All I've seen was "Examination of an auction house system" so far in Yoshida-san's letter.

That's a lie.

[Peregrine]

I'm still concerned that the mason's ward is full.
That's a big freaking problem that needs addressed if there's so much mining **** on the market that it's full.
I can't have that.

[normalforce]

If SE had actually wanted the Market Wards to work, they would have done away with all the individual wards, and settled for one gigantic ward. Every retain would gets a stall (or multiple retainers would share a stall) with the wonderful benefit of it looking very aesthetically pleasing and organized and not this fustercluck of retainers, bunched together in a tiny little space.

Item searches would work in the same manner as quests: a bright flashing yellow arrow on the mini-map directs you towards the retainer of interest (who is a blinking red dot) in this Mega Ward. We still would have complained about not having an Auction House, but at least we could have better understood why they did what they did.


And for every developer that thought the Market Wards was an acceptable idea, I curse you to grocery shopping at a store where its entire inventory has been placed in small, unmarked cardboard boxes. May you wander up and down countless isles, forced to open each box individually, hoping beyond hoping that this one is the one that contains a loaf a bread for a reasonable price. Because the last loaf of bread you found, 50 boxes back, cost a hundred dollars. Per slice.

And after hours of fruitless searching, may you finally find it, mixed together with a jug of milk, and a carton of orange juice, in the refrigerated section.

Good day.

[Wynn]

I'm still concerned that the mason's ward is full.
That's a big freaking problem that needs addressed if there's so much mining **** on the market that it's full.
I can't have that.

Go through that ward and see just how many of those retainers are actually selling ore, stone, and gemstones. The fact that the tax isn't more restrictive is why nobody puts stuff in the correct ward. It's not worth the effort to zone into the correct one.

I think this is what SE should do:

Players can purchase from a market board, much like the list we have currently. No auctions, just listed prices. People buying from the board pay a sales/convenience tax. Or they can zone into player housing to purchase off the player's retainer without a tax. They could even use the zone point for the current market wards as the point for the housing. Sellers should continue to pay a merchant tax regardless of how the item sells.

Not only do I think it is a good compromise between those that hate the wards and those that like the retainers system, but I think it will have the added benefit of deterring players from hiding behind the anonymity of their retainers to price gouge their server. Everyone will know what player is overcharging for items since you have to visit their house to buy from their retainer.

[setebos]

I think they should keep the retainers but keep them only for personal storage and allow them to be summoned at certain camp locations. I agree with the above posts that the wards are already too full with them and what will happen when more people play.

To solve the market ward over population you should have an NPC behind each counter at the bazaar representing different items being sold at that bazaar. Similar to the NPC’s located in the main cities. The difference is that you go to these NPC’s to list your merchandise for sale limiting you to maybe 10-20 items at any given time. You would have one NPC for everyone to list their items and collect your earnings from. From this NPC your items should be automatically placed in the correct ward. If I wanted to purchase a bow and arrows I would go up to the Archers counter in the Battlecraft ward and all the bows and arrows that people had up for sale would be listed here for whatever price a person had listed it at. I think this would also do away with the item search list that is accessible when you enter the wards. All you would have to do instead is go to the proper ward and find the correct (clearly labeled) counter and check for the merchandise you wanted to purchase. With this wards could be kept small and yet it would be easier and faster to find the items you are looking for no matter how large the communities population got.

[Naylia]

also, a suggestion to the devs:

1) scrap the wards, but not the retainers.
2) add player housing
3) retainers will be the new caretakers of the homes (ie. moogles in FFXI)
4) allow players to open up their private housing as shops
5) create an auction house that draws data from these private shops.
6) ???
7) PROFIT. (we know this is what you want) lol

SE look at me, look at me in my eyes. DO THIS. do it right now. look at me. now look at your playerbase. now look at me again. your playerbase is now DIAMONDS.

This is pretty much what I'd like to see...

- Player improvable store property (starts as lemonade stand - grows to full on shop)
- Ability to display items/etc that you actually crafted - not pre-made every look a like
- Quest/buy extras for shop like crafting support (buy an anvil, etc...)

[Mack]

And for every developer that thought the Market Wards was an acceptable idea, I curse you to grocery shopping at a store where its entire inventory has been placed in small, unmarked cardboard boxes. May you wander up and down countless isles, forced to open each box individually, hoping beyond hoping that this one is the one that contains a loaf a bread for a reasonable price. Because the last loaf of bread you found, 50 boxes back, cost a hundred dollars. Per slice.

Or you know you can run up to the cashier and ask them where the loaf of bread is so they can mark the box for you :P.

[normalforce]

This is pretty much what I'd like to see...

- Player improvable store property (starts as lemonade stand - grows to full on shop)
- Ability to display items/etc that you actually crafted - not pre-made every look a like
- Quest/buy extras for shop like crafting support (buy an anvil, etc...)

+∞ to this.

If there was a good way to have your "shop" improve the more items you've sold, or the more gil you've made, à la Recettear -- basically, making selling its own mini game that as you rank up, you can sell more items at once, lessen the tax you incur, or whatever -- without it being exploited (like having your friend's buy items from your shop and then giving paying them back), I would be all over this.

[normalforce]

the majority of players don't sell their crap in the correct ward anyway, so why does it matter?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if your retainer is selling an assorted mix of items, for example: some ore, a few pieces of armor and some corral, is there a correct ward to sell your stuff in? Or should you only sell stuff for that ward? Cause no matter which ward you end up choosing, some of what is being sold will be in the wrong place. (I haven't sold anything in the wards since December, so I honestly don't know if this has changed.)

[Viridiana]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if your retainer is selling an assorted mix of items, for example: some ore, a few pieces of armor and some corral, is there a correct ward to sell your stuff in? Or should you only sell stuff for that ward? Cause no matter which ward you end up choosing, some of what is being sold will be in the wrong place. (I haven't sold anything in the wards since December, so I honestly don't know if this has changed.)

No, that's pretty much the way it goes. Doesn't help, though, when you only want to sell one type of item, but you can't do it in the right ward, because that ward is full.