Market Wards fixes: A definitive list and petition

[Zetonegi]

An auction house is an auction house.

Remove bids is all he is suggesting.

Buy Now only?

That's basically what we have now... only with an extremely clunky interface behind it that will probably cause more problems if the population increases and missing a few nice features like a price history. I mean there's been lag problems in the wards before if the game actually has a successful re-release, they'll be back and be worse. If we have 20,000 people on each sever using the wards its gonna suck. The best solution to prevent that and make people who don't like the zoning between each purchase happy is to scrap that part of the system. I have no problem with the wards as a secondary economic system like FFXI's bazaar alleys in Rolanberry Fields(now in Ru'Lude Gardens) but its honestly too clunky to serve as the primary system.

[Roaran]

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...e-Market-Wards.

Posted this thread back in may, I don't think anyone has come up with a better idea honestly.

There's a lot of problems with various things, being able to see HQ items for example, but, regardless of the system, those things will be hammered out eventually. The bigger problem is, the underlying design of the Market wards needs to be addressed.

I happen to believe the system I linked in the thread is going to be the best possible system for FFXIV. I also happen to think it's vastly superior to any other MMO market system. AH's included.

[Mahayana]

An auction house is an auction house.

Remove bids is all he is suggesting.

Buy Now only?

An Auction House without bidding isn't Auctioning. So why should we call it that. AHs in XI really were not auctioning either. it was more like blind pricing... which doesn't make any sense. I would love to actually have an option to have a straight price or bidding with a set date where players actually place bids. I can see where that would come in handy for rare gear.

[Amsai]

Merge the two together to get the "best" of both, or make a seperate AH and keep the MW, or just scrap the MW and replace with AH. SE needs to do one of those things, if they plan on retaining new PS3 players. They are console players, trust me they, like me, will not like inconvenience. Console players can be "hardcore" in their gaming, but the console market in general is all about being casual. That includes not just casual in gaming approach, but also casual in accessability, which is the more important of the two.

As a console gamer myself, I love a game like Demon's Souls, it is a very hard and unforgiving game in gameplay, but it still has casual accessability. Unfortunately a lot of players on this forum do not realize that casual accessability trumps anti-RMT measures, market "realism", and RPers. Which is near as I can tell are the only reasons people would actually prefer the current system over a buy/sell window. As for the last two reasons, I don't care about them at all. As for the first reason, I wont say its not important, but you dont cut off your nose to spite your face.

Do you think Amazon.com or their customers would appreciate it if I told them there was now way to secure their transactions and that the only safe internet was no internet? While that may be true to a degree Amazon would fire me if I told them to go to mail order format. In the business world, you dont slow down business in order to maintain security. Security personell have to work around or work with the business with the best possible answer to a problem that doesnt hamper business. And if the number one reason SE wants to keep the MW is due to security, then they are doing it wrong.

[Kirith]

- The markets exist to create a more immersive trade environment and (supposedly) to make RMT operations harder.
- The appeal of real life markets is to be able to stroll around and seeing the goods on sale all around you. It's a both social and practical activity.
- The market wards are clunky and have almost none of the appeal of real life markets. Almost.

Imo, the only way the market wards can be appealing is only when players sell items on properly themed display counters.

My idea is this:
Implement an AH, which is unfortunately the best trading system in a mmorpg. Implement a weekly market ward event day, in which players gather with the only purpose to sell items to other players. Tax is reduced and people and large circular stands appear in the middle of the city, where players can stand, sell, haggle and all those market activities.

People who like AHs will use those. People who like markets and want to strike a deal will wait for the market day.
(I'm such a genius)

[Roaran]

A typical Auction house isn't necessarily the best system for MMOs. Really what is happening in most MMOs, is you pay a third party, usually an NPC or a "Auction House", some money, so that they will then hold your items for you and give you a place to sell them.

Without it, we would still be trading, buying, & selling. All the market systems do is add efficacy to these.

An auction house can only go so far. They can hold all the items you want to sell, but that is it. You must always return to your bank and back to the Auction House to sell more items. Then if you look at world of warcraft, you sometimes have to go to the mail box as well. So between the AH the bank and the mailbox, you're having to interact with a lot of separate objects just to handle the entire process, and IMO this is as convoluted as FFXIV currently is.

Now, FFXIV is in a UNIQUE position to implement a different market system. One that removes the need for all this movement and pointless interactions. I've already posted the link in this thread, I grow tired of trying to explain the idea over and over. I already suspect the Dev team is implementing this system though, so I'm not necessarily worried.

Simply put, the RETAINER system in FFXIV has great advantages. It places the selling aspect & the bank aspect into a single interaction. The only problem is, you then have to physically move to sell it. The buying is already extremely simplified, it is once again the time spent moving between wards that becomes a nuissance.

Once you address these, FFXIV will have the fastest and easiest method for trading. There are different ways to do this, my suggestion has and will be to simply implement a reference system for searching Retainer Bazaars, without having to place retainers at all.

Here's a picture guide:
http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...entry?e=233073

[Kirith]

Here's a picture guide:
http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...entry?e=233073

I'm having hard time seeing how that's any different from FFXI's AH. As i said in my previous post the market wards' first purpose is a more personal and thus immersive trading system. You simply can't beat going to an ah, selling all your items at once and buying others in a competitive pricing system in the same place from the same NPC.

If there is any purpose to market wards, it will have to retain having to deal with multiple characters/retainers at once.

[Kailea_Nagisa]

really all the current MW needs it a bit more organization, and more search options, and maybe a slightly different way to handle the retainers them selves.

[Roaran]

I'm having hard time seeing how that's any different from FFXI's AH. As i said in my previous post the market wards' first purpose is a more personal and thus immersive trading system. You simply can't beat going to an ah, selling all your items at once and buying others in a competitive pricing system in the same place from the same NPC.

If there is any purpose to market wards, it will have to retain having to deal with multiple characters/retainers at once.

In FFXI, there is a single Hub to do all buying and selling. When you purchase, the item is sent to your inventory. When you sell, the gil is sent to your mailbox, and there is a limit to how long each item is available.

With this system, there would be a single hub for buying all items. Next to the hub would be a retainer bell.

In order to sell, all you do is stick items in your retainer's bazaar and dismiss. No fees, no time limits.

Buying would be nearly identical to FFXI, only that you will be able to see prices. And for people interested in immersion, you could have the option of summoning the other players' retainer to purchase, but I personally do not care for it.

The added benefit to this system is, the difference in how the storage and delivery system is handled. Bank, Delivery, and Selling are all handled through the Retainer. As a Liason the Retainer can even buy items from you, as there is a seeking option as well. Essentially, you would never need to access the market wards at all, and instead handle everything through your retainer. But just incase there would be a terminal available for direct purchasing, which would be a single Hub or NPC.

[Kirith]

In FFXI, there is a single Hub to do all buying and selling. When you purchase, the item is sent to your inventory. When you sell, the gil is sent to your mailbox, and there is a limit to how long each item is available.

With this system, there would be a single hub for buying all items. Next to the hub would be a retainer bell.

In order to sell, all you do is stick items in your retainer's bazaar and dismiss. No fees, no time limits.

Buying would be nearly identical to FFXI, only that you will be able to see prices. And for people interested in immersion, you could have the option of summoning the other players' retainer to purchase, but I personally do not care for it.

The added benefit to this system is, the difference in how the storage and delivery system is handled. Bank, Delivery, and Selling are all handled through the Retainer. As a Liason the Retainer can even buy items from you, as there is a seeking option as well. Essentially, you would never need to access the market wards at all, and instead handle everything through your retainer. But just incase there would be a terminal available for direct purchasing, which would be a single Hub or NPC.

Congratulations on designing an even more efficient Auction House.