Wow, no mention of Auction house / MW improvements

[Tsuga]

I'd add to the item search counter a small pop-up explanation for each ward describing what kinds of items can be found there.

I would add functionality to allow you to search for more than one item at a time (the star icon would be different color, and possibly would have the name of the item being searched for showing next to it).

I'd allow text input in item searches in addition to menu-based searching.

I'd allow players to be able to differentiate between NQ and HQ in the search results.

I'd allow players to search in all city's wards instead of only the city you are currently in. I can't say I'd support combining the wards right now. The wards in Ul'dah are packed enough as it is.

I'd redesign the actual areas to be wider as opposed to narrow corridors.

I'd force retainers to be standing in a grid instead of bunched up on top of each other. These last two would hopefully alleviate the lag issue enough for them to consider combining all the wards into one.

I'd add functionality to retainers that would allow them to be dispatched to the wards to purchase items for the player (for example, if a certain item isn't being sold, you can assign your retainer to search the wards and purchase it when it becomes available -- this feature alone would make the market wards far superior to an auction house).

I'd add mailboxes and a delivery service.

I'd add tutorial sidequests so new and old players alike can learn how to properly make use of the market wards.

And even with all of these fixes, we would still have to:

a. Zone, and run to retainers for every single item we want to purchase, sometimes sending us to multiple zones and NPCs just to purchase a simple gear set - as illustrated in this example:

Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

I want to upgrade my gear. To do so I need a robe, a shield, a wand, some shoes, and a ring. All five different items are found in five different wards. So in order to complete what should be the simple action of searching for these items, and purchasing them from a menu (two simple steps), I have to:

1. Search for one item
2. Star the NPCs that are selling the item
3. Remember the ward its in, and zone to it
4. Find the npc I want out of a possible handful of npcs selling it
5. Find the item from a list of other items at the price that I want
6. Buy it
7. Run to ward entrance and repeat four more times.

Five different zones, five npcs, all for a task that could be handled by one npc, and no zoning or npc hunting at all.

b. Deal with the fact that we probably won't be able to set up a retainer in the more popular wards, because presumably hundreds of thousands of people would be trying to sell their crap on multiple retainers.

and lastly,

c. Deal with the fact that we have to find our storage NPC - assuming we DO get it set up in the wards - among a forest of NPCs. And by your logic, the wards should be BIGGER, meaning we'd have to search EVEN MORE.

Not to mention there would be even more NPCs in the room that don't spawn unless they're in a three foot radius from your character.

Again, the system is FUNDAMENTALLY flawed because of the different wards, and because of the retainers. The only way to "fix" the wards, would be to get rid of the wards.

From the outside, your fixes, as well as altering the wards entirely would take more work than just implementing a simple auction house. Since so many people like the wards (not really), I am (and many others are) proposing an AH as an alternative to wards.

Wait are retainers the issue or not? 'cause you said they were, now you say they can stay. I'm so confused...

Yup, retainers are the problem. But if you want to use them, I'm fine with them staying, as long as we get an auction house.

hundred of thousands?? really that many because of a AH? not the server issues, not the battle command issues. but the AH. hundreds of thousands left? wow gratz on getting con so high. when hundreds of thousands couldn't put up with it.

If reviewers are smashing the game because they can't buy and sell gear in an efficient manner, then yes, it's potentially hundreds of thousands of subscribers that will not give this game a second look.

All of my friends that started the game with me left, and one of the top problems on their list was the monstrosity that is the market wards. If getting and selling gear is a chore, most people won't deal with it.