Market Wards, enough is enough

[Cairdeas]

So when 26% of the players voted they wanted an Auction House they lied? It was only 2nd to content.

Do you want Timed or Blind Bidding?

If not then you yourself do not want an auction house. You want the benefits that one gives you through illusion. None of the benefits of an auction house are exclusive to the auction house itself. Only Bidding on items in a Blind or Time Delayed System.

The Only reason the WoW AH is called an AH is because it has timed bidding. If it was just a "post the final price and sell" type system they would have probably called it a Player Market or something. Which is exactly what SE did, SE just hasn't finished adding those same illusionary conveniences.

And if you did want Blind and Timed Bidding, your an idiot who wants RMT's to own the marketplace.

Cairdeas, I think that there is room for an ACTUAL auction house with bidding. Certain high-end items could be marketted through a bidding system, keeping the market wards for the task of selling the bulk commodity goods. But yes, auction house should mean AUCTIONS.

I agree. But if there is the items that are sold to it need to have a special designation so you can't sell chaff and brittle on it. IE. Something like what I designed in my Gob Shop idea where you can sell Unique/Untradable items to the "Auction House" then they are recycled turned into new items and exchanged out to people buying them in "Gamble Bags" A bag that when you open it you get a random item from the inventory of the system. This prevents RMT's from being able to corner the market on special items and if you use an Endgame token system to use it then you can limit the amount of RMT influence on it over all.

[Amineri]

I agree. But if there is the items that are sold to it need to have a special designation so you can't sell chaff and brittle on it. IE.

Just so. There is no reason for puk wings to be up for auction. These things would ONLY ever be listed for a 'buy it now' price. Commodities should stay in a market.

Something like what I designed in my Gob Shop idea where you can sell Unique/Untradable items to the "Auction House" then they are recycled turned into new items and exchanged out to people buying them in "Gamble Bags" A bag that when you open it you get a random item from the inventory of the system. This prevents RMT's from being able to corner the market on special items and if you use an Endgame token system to use it then you can limit the amount of RMT influence on it over all.

I like your concept for random mystery grab bags. Games like Magic:TG, and Pokemon show that people will gamble on getting "phat loot".

I think that there are also items that naturally lend themselves to being auctioned rather than sold in a marketplace. Someone in my LS recently made an engraved iron bhuj +3. What sort of price is appropriate for that? Also, there is no way to effectively advertise such an item, without standing in Ul'dah and shout-spamming.

THAT (to my mind) is the type of item that deserves to go onto an AH. The purpose is the (a) create visibility (b) determine market price for rare items. RMT is going to be a factor ... there is no getting around it. Whether it's sold in the wards or put up for auction, it's a sad reality. All SE can do is try to minimize the impact.

This sort of system would require:
a) barriers to prevent commodities from flooding an auction system
A high listing cost, and absence of "buy it now" option may be sufficient here.
b) Some sort of anti-sniping measure
Perhaps an autoextension of the bidding whenever a new bid is placed, of perhaps 12 hours. And further allow the seller to actively end the auction, taking the highest current bid, so that auctions don't go on indefinitely.

My $0.02