Quote Originally Posted by Tsuga View Post
The difference is that when most people want to go shopping, they want to get in, get out, and go back to enjoying the game.

How many offline games have you played where you are forced to talk to five, ten, one hundred different NPCs to maybe find what you're looking for? There's a reason that there's an "armor shop" a "weapon shop" and an "item shop" in most RPGs. Wading through NPCs to find what you want, then going back to a counter so that you can search again for another item that you want is not what people are going to be PAYING MONEY to play this game for, and they certainly won't be paying for this game at all if the retainers are all we have at launch.

To look at it from an outside perpective - the system got smashed by critics at launch, and so far the only thing that's changed is that we can search for items, now. Do you really think that will win it critical acclaim? And if buying and selling weapons is a mark against the game to the critics, the game will lose potential subscriptions (after all, half of the reason people play an MMO is for teh uber gears). It is in everyone's best interest that a better alternative to the wards is implemented.
now sir it is you who is being silly?? how many retainers do you talk to before you get the item you want. i only ever talk to the retainer that has th item i want. the search page tells me how much the item is and where to find it. afther going to the right ward (which is indicated on the search page) its just a case of finding the right retainer with the star above it head. its really nt hard