Don't Ruin the economy with an auction house! please![dev1019]

[Dreamer]

I don't think it could harm the economy either. If nothing else, an AH linked to every city will help crafters who don't spend their time in the economic center of their server. On Besaid it's Ul'dah. Ul'dah wards are packed to overcrowding, whereas Gridania wards are pretty much deserted and Limsa is somewhere in between.

Still, though most gear and some odds and ends for crafting are a huge pain to find because of this, I'm pretty much on the fence as to whether they actually need to add an AH right now. If they do, it can only help, as far as I'm concerned.

This is a problem with the current system. However, it could be fixed by capping the number of retainers that can be in a given market ward. Either that, or increasing market fees for the more populated city markets.

Personally, I'd just prefer they they make it so that your retainer has to be at a stall in the market wards, instead of standing out in the middle of the floor. We'd need to make the wards about 5x their current size, but it would be worth it to avoid having to wade through people whenever we go to a populated ward.

[Jinko]

What we currently have is basically an AH anyway as others have said.

I say do away with the market wards all together, move retainers to player housing (assuming we are getting that), add mail boxes and give us proper AH's.

I would suggest that if SE does add AH to keep them in the 3 major cities and not Ishguard otherwise people will have little reason to go back to the 3 major cities.

AH's should be linked between cities.

[ESAR]

What we currently have is basically an AH anyway as others have said.

I say do away with the market wards all together, move retainers to player housing (assuming we are getting that), add mail boxes and give us proper AH's.

I would suggest that if SE does add AH to keep them in the 3 major cities and not Ishguard otherwise people will have little reason to go back to the 3 major cities.

AH's should be linked between cities.

Market wards are going to be better then an auction house, that's why they created them. Honestly it's just taking a long time to get it to where it needs to be.

Auction houses have problems, paying money to put items up means that gil is coming outta your pocket even if the item doesn't sell. (market wards solve this)

Sales history defines the price of items.

The real problem is that no one understands what others desire. Yes, this could be solved with an auction houses sales history. But at the cost of defining every items. If we take that history out, what's the point? hasent solved anything.

What I suggest is adding a better retainer search. This gives players a way to communicate what they desire (by having your retainer search for the items) without the need to ruin economy with a sales history or needing to pay money to put stuff up on AH.

Piecing all that together it's my educated guess that with this one (much simpler) addition. We would have what we're missing from an auction house, the ability to tell what others need. (and much easier then we could with an AH)

[ESAR]

This is a problem with the current system. However, it could be fixed by capping the number of retainers that can be in a given market ward. Either that, or increasing market fees for the more populated city markets.

Personally, I'd just prefer they they make it so that your retainer has to be at a stall in the market wards, instead of standing out in the middle of the floor. We'd need to make the wards about 5x their current size, but it would be worth it to avoid having to wade through people whenever we go to a populated ward.

They should do what you said and maybe shrink the size of boothes as well as bring some atmosphere into the wards (redecorate).

They could make wards more like a giant doughnut.
Stalls along the outside and inside of the doughnut as well as stalls in the isles.

The problem I see with this is people complaining about the extra walking.
They would only do this because they believe an AH will solve everything.
What they don't understand is that AH is bad for the economy.

[kukurumei]

They should do what you said and maybe shrink the size of boothes as well as bring some atmosphere into the wards (redecorate).

They could make wards more like a giant doughnut.
Stalls along the outside and inside of the doughnut as well as stalls in the isles.

The problem I see with this is people complaining about the extra walking.
They would only do this because they believe an AH will solve everything.
What they don't understand is that AH is bad for the economy.

I think we understand, we just deny the accusations of slander to it.

Not to mention we see how successful an AH model is versus how horrible unsuccessful the market ward system is.

AH scale and work better the bigger the population. Market wards scale worse the bigger the population is.

[Reika]

I don't think the AH would ruin the economy, I just think it would be an unnecessary addition.

[Jinko]

Market wards are going to be better then an auction house, that's why they created them. Honestly it's just taking a long time to get it to where it needs to be.

I don't think they are going to be "better", as an AH isn't one defined idea.

Auction houses have problems, paying money to put items up means that gil is coming outta your pocket even if the item doesn't sell. (market wards solve this)

An AH can take a percentage of the sold items purchase price just as the market wards currently do, it really comes down to how you configure it.

Sales history defines the price of items.

http://ffxiv.yg.com/ already gives us a sales history, as does the market ward when you search for an item and can compare what others are selling similar items for.

The real problem is that no one understands what others desire. Yes, this could be solved with an auction houses sales history. But at the cost of defining every items. If we take that history out, what's the point? hasent solved anything.

And you just mentioned the market wards biggest down fall, in that still after 6 months there is no stability in the market because nobody knows what anything is worth unless they go online and look it up, god help anyone new to the game.

What I suggest is adding a better retainer search. This gives players a way to communicate what they desire (by having your retainer search for the items) without the need to ruin economy with a sales history or needing to pay money to put stuff up on AH.

We asked for this back in beta and got ignored.

Piecing all that together it's my educated guess that with this one (much simpler) addition. We would have what we're missing from an auction house, the ability to tell what others need. (and much easier then we could with an AH)

And how exactly did you come to that conclusion, without any way of telling what an item is worth the market will always be a mess, you think supermarkets in the real world price things based on their own whim ?

In fact supermarkets go around to the competition and do price checks so they can undercut them, which is just what a sales history would be used for.

[Demacia]

I honestly can't tell whether you guys defending market wards are trolling or really that deluded.

[Souljacker]

I honestly can't tell whether you guys defending market wards are trolling or really that deluded.

It's interesting, isn't it? Those who are against the AH are incredibly vocal. I'm firmly in the camp of "we need a better trade system and that system is an AH". When I read the title of the thread, my immediate thought was "what economy?"

It's crippled, and will only get worse the longer this is ignored.

[Gracious]

I completely disagree. I would like to see an Auction House in game please.