Quote Originally Posted by Bun_Vivant View Post
The problems faced when a player stops playing a character should not be foremost in the developers' minds.
And I don't think it is.

One of the things that does need to be in the developer's minds is the new player experience. Players have quit games when they felt like the player market systems are too far above what they can afford as a new player.

Allowing partial stack purchases at least allows the new player to get what they can afford, creating a better experience for them and creating a larger pool of potential buyers for the long term.

From a seller perspective, there's another advantage to it - you're going to encourage the other player to buy from you instead of deciding to become your competitor. Half of what I sell is usually because I was willing to be lazy and buy from another player but what was listed was unreasonably high in price and/or in excessively large stacks compared to what a player would need to use. I decide to stop being lazy, farm up a massive amount of the item above what I need, then list the excess in smaller stacks and/or tank the price to something more reasonable for the type of player most likely to purchase. It becomes a lot of fun when I find someone buying up my items to resell for profit yet I'm sitting on a supply large enough to keep relisting for days.