Retainer upgrades, Market improvements, and World Market instead of AH

[Amineri]

Fieros,

I'll say again that I very much like the ideas presented here. That said, I'm not sure that I agree with every single suggestion, so here is my $0.02

Retainers
I'm a bit torn about the mechanism to unlock these retainer abilities. In part this is motivated by the lack of good in-game gil sinks, and in part by an aversion to eventually seeing every player have all abilities on all retainers. Just as the 'ability slot' system limits (to a certain degree) the number of abilities a character can have equipped at one time, it seems to me that there should be some negatives to having all of these abilities.

To that end, I would suggest that the quests that origamikitsune suggested be there to unlock the retainer abilities. The quests unlock the ability to purchase retainer licenses that grant the specific ability for a specific time. This makes the retainer abilities an a la carte feature, rather than a package deal. This clearly wouldn't work for some of the abilities, such as increased storage or bazaar space, so these would have to remain permanent upgrades.

Regarding increased storage, I concede that increased storage is necessary, and currently increasing retainer storage space seems like the only choice. Personally, I hope that some form of player housing is eventually added, and that more 'permanent' storage space is made available there (I know it's a dream...).

I'm going to pound my drum again regarding the ability to acquire linkpearls to talk to your retainer (they could go into the NPC Linkpearls menu). A retainer linkpearl could let you:
a) At first allows only viewing of items still in retainer bazaar.
b) Later, allow moving of items between retainer inventory and bazaar via linkpearl.
c) Still later, allow direction of retainer to a specific Market Area without having to "hold their hand".
I just realized that allowing a retainer to travel to a distant market area allows "instantaneous goods travel". Recall retainer at bell. Put item on retainer. Send retainer to distant city. Remote person buys item. Recall retainer at bell. Repeat.
To address this, I'd suggest putting a 15 minute delay from the time that the retainer is sent, to the time that the retainer arrives. It still gets the retainer there, without having to run, but cuts down on the rate of "instant travel goods".

Market Wards
Agree on these wholeheartedly!:
a) Ability to search for items based upon HQ level
b) Ability to search for requested repairs
c) Ability to transport directly to ward of retainer selected from search function
d) Stall changes are necessary, given your proposed World Market concept

Also suggest:
a) Ability to search for items that retainers are requesting to purchase.
b) More stall customization, please !

World Market
This is the topic that troubles me the most, I suppose.

Browsing the World Market is now available by interacting with NPC located in each city
*Players may claim purchased items (immediately) at (no cost)

Currently there is no other function in the game that allows for immediate transportation of goods. There isn't even a mail system, yet. The immediate transportation of goods has repercussions that I feel aren't always well understood, but I'll leave that rant for another time ^_^.

To a certain degree this idea seems attractive, but at the same time it makes me uneasy. As I try to think through the likely outcome of a system, I can see the world market ultimately destroying the current retainer/market system. The incredible gain in convenience of the world market would be in direct competition with the current market system. If more people begin using the world market, the ability to sell through the regular markets could well diminish to the point of dieing completely.

In this scenario, the only viable course of action becomes selling via the world market, resulting in the de facto requirement of getting a retainer with the ability to sell on the world market, and acquiring a stall in order to do so. Given the limited number of stalls, only a limited number of people could even participate in the world market, leaving those people with no effective method to buy and sell.

I'm not sure that this would come to pass, but I worry that it would, and that makes me uneasy.

Finally, thank you for your kind words regarding other auction house options (I view it as only one option among many, yes). I've moved the main thread here, following the forum reorg.

[Fieros]

I'm going to pound my drum again regarding the ability to acquire linkpearls to talk to your retainer (they could go into the NPC Linkpearls menu). A retainer linkpearl could let you:
a) At first allows only viewing of items still in retainer bazaar.
b) Later, allow moving of items between retainer inventory and bazaar via linkpearl.
c) Still later, allow direction of retainer to a specific Market Area without having to "hold their hand".

I'm still in agreement that these are great ideas.

Also suggest:
a) Ability to search for items that retainers are requesting to purchase.
b) More stall customization, please !

More good suggestions in my book. An example for "a" was added when I updated the OP to new forum.

Ex: You want to buy a +1 Iron Saw for 95,000 gil. The only one for sale in Ul'dah is posted at 250,000gil. You rent a market stand and set your retainer to seek purchase of a +1 Iron Saw for 95,000 gil. Two days later someone searching purchase orders sees your request and grabs their +1 Iron Saw that hasn't sold off their retainer. They fill your purchase order and recieve 95,000 gil. The saw is waiting for you on your retainer.

As for "b", yes! Kinda follows the same reasoning as allowing more retainer customization. More than three stand types would be nice. Not necessarily NEW designs, but simply adding the other NPC stand types already displayed around the cities would be great. Currently, renting a market stall gives no benefit since buyers look for goods using the search tool as opposed to the old grazing method. In the old system renting a stall would give help you stand out from the crowd, but this benefit has vanished. My thinking revolved around restoring the original benefit by helping your retainer gain increased exposure, world-wide.

World Market
This is the topic that troubles me the most, I suppose.

Currently there is no other function in the game that allows for immediate transportation of goods. There isn't even a mail system, yet. The immediate transportation of goods has repercussions that I feel aren't always well understood, but I'll leave that rant for another time ^_^.

Definately agree, I left those factors in parenthesis hoping for discussion since I saw both positive and negatives. I settled on immediate delivery at no cost figuring it would be the least annoying and didn't want one bad assumption on my part of what the majority of players want to keep people from considering the other aspects of my suggestions. I wouldn't mind having to travel to pick up the goods I puchased, but only if new travel options were implemented (airships, chocobos).

As I try to think through the likely outcome of a system, I can see the world market ultimately destroying the current retainer/market system. The incredible gain in convenience of the world market would be in direct competition with the current market system. If more people begin using the world market, the ability to sell through the regular markets could well diminish to the point of dieing completely.

I have no intention of destroying the local city markets. If you check my diagram on the right side under Market Stands, the third point states "Allows trading on the World Market in addition to local city". My goal was to give sellers incentive to renting stalls around the world based on what they were selling. I figured if they were dealing with high volume or valuable merchandise the proposed tax system would spread them out. Anything they are selling on the World Market would still be available on the local city market as well.

In this scenario, the only viable course of action becomes selling via the world market, resulting in the de facto requirement of getting a retainer with the ability to sell on the world market, and acquiring a stall in order to do so. Given the limited number of stalls, only a limited number of people could even participate in the world market, leaving those people with no effective method to buy and sell.

Theres about 600 available stands in the current world. That doesn't seem too limiting, but there would be fierce competiton for stands in certain wards within certain cities- sure. I think the current system is effective for buying and selling, my proposals are meant to increase that effectiveness and increase utility of underused areas (not used because they currently provide no benefits ie. market stands and LL/Grid wards).

Finally, thank you for your kind words regarding other auction house options (I view it as only one option among many, yes). I've moved the main thread here, following the forum reorg.

Ok, I see that now. I'll update the link. I like many of your ideas and wanted any readers to be well-informed.

Another issue I am awaiting is information on the Grand Companies as they could very well solve some of the problems I was attempting to address.

[Fieros]

I was reading through your post again and just caught your edit. Also kinda glazed over this first point about the unlocks.

Retainers
I'm a bit torn about the mechanism to unlock these retainer abilities. In part this is motivated by the lack of good in-game gil sinks, and in part by an aversion to eventually seeing every player have all abilities on all retainers. Just as the 'ability slot' system limits (to a certain degree) the number of abilities a character can have equipped at one time, it seems to me that there should be some negatives to having all of these abilities.

To that end, I would suggest that the quests that origamikitsune suggested be there to unlock the retainer abilities. The quests unlock the ability to purchase retainer licenses that grant the specific ability for a specific time. This makes the retainer abilities an a la carte feature, rather than a package deal. This clearly wouldn't work for some of the abilities, such as increased storage or bazaar space, so these would have to remain permanent upgrades.

You have a good point- the requirements for upgrading (spend gil, do quests) really cannot be viewed as negatives. Using the "a la carte" method reminds me of the other discussion where it amounts to an annoyance such as paying bills every month. I guess it boils down to the truly important upgrades remaining permanent vs. fluff being renewable. I could rationalize buying temporary customization options, and extra retainer bazaar slots.

Regarding increased storage, I concede that increased storage is necessary, and currently increasing retainer storage space seems like the only choice.

While i was rummaging through the "Ask the Dev's" ealier I found a couple relevant statements:

9/29/10

Also, we are now taking steps to increase the number of retainers that a character is able to simultaneously employ.

1/24/11

Q.When will players be able to hire more than two retainers?

A.Currently, we intend to allow the hiring of additional retainers once all planned system changes have been executed. The ultimate date of implementation, however, may change depending on player response to the changes.

Adding one or more hireable retainers would absolutely alleviate storage concerns and the need for the level 1 upgrade I suggested. Furthermore, given enough storage I wouldn't be tempted to purchase an additional charater for storage- eliminating the need for level 5 upgrade. Your "a la carte" system of buying desired customizations and access to the World Market would make an ideal solution with those facts in mind.

Throwing more retainers into the current market system results in Ul'dah bursting at the seems.