Stop "fixing" the MW scrap it

[Rinsui]

For people that are complaining there isn't enough room, that's partially our fault. We all choose to cram our retainers into Ul'dah.

Which is why? Maybe the underlying mechanics are at fault?

With all the efforts they have put into it so for, I doubt they will get rid of it.

...ironically, the same could be said about current players.

But on a more serious note: What can retainers do that wouldn't be achieveable with a AH? Twitch?

[Wolfie]

...ironically, the same could be said about current players.

But on a more serious note: What can retainers do that wouldn't be achieveable with a AH? Twitch?

We don't even NEED an AH. All it would take to fix the MW is to stop rendering retainers. No more zombies sitting in a dungeon; everything is browsed, posted, purchased, and repaired from a menu. It would bring MW in line with practically every other trade system in terms of user friendliness, scalability, stability, and upgradability.

[yukikaze_yanagi]

really nothing, but to counter auction botting is an effective method.
Btw bahyonne already said they need to fix the market first (not the market wards, the flow of money) before they could implement auction house, otherwise would be useless

[Anty]

really nothing, but to counter auction botting is an effective method.
Btw bahyonne already said they need to fix the market first (not the market wards, the flow of money) before they could implement auction house, otherwise would be useless

which seems like one of the many excuses, like mailbox, etc. etc...

[Wolfie]

really nothing, but to counter auction botting is an effective method.
Btw bahyonne already said they need to fix the market first (not the market wards, the flow of money) before they could implement auction house, otherwise would be useless

AH botting is a lot less common than you think it is. But more importantly, if your feature fails at its primary duty because you designed it to be anti bot/RMT, then it's a bad feature. Player satisfaction should ALWAYS be first, and preventing RMT and whatever else should be distant seconds.

[Brotech]

Instead of yelling they should drop the Market Wards, we(the players) should be offering suggestions to make it better. Now I don't think the MW is perfect, I really think the UI could be improved upon, so these are my suggestions for the MWs.


First, get rid of the separate specific wards, just turn them into generic wards numbered from 1 to 20, also have a tax for every ward, only 10%. Except for the Menders Ward, but I'll get to that in a bit. I.E. Spellcraft Ward, Battlecraft Ward -> Ward 1, Ward 2

Most people throw their retainer in the wrong ward anyway, so just get rid of it. Each of these wards should hold at least 300 retainers. That should give a server population of 3000 with 5 retainers each more than enough space across the three cities.

Second, levy a lease tax. By doing this you can give every retainer their own small booth. Just increase the length of the hallways to hold up to 300 small booths. The tax would be only about 1000-2000 gil every Earth week. This should reduce the clutter in the hallways and bring about a Gil sink.

Third, improve accessing the wards and the retainers. I think beside the path leading to the wards and inside the wards, there should be a booth where you handle searching for items and maintaining your retainer. I think it looks pretty bad that your character runs up to an invisible wall and you do your searches from there. The only thing that should pop up is which ward you want to go to. Anyway here's how the counter would work:

• Talk the person at the counter

• 6 choices pop up: Search Wards, Manage Retainers, Add Retainers, Remove Retainers, Menders Ward, Leave.

• When you select Search Wards, you can search by Category like we do now or type in the item you want to find. When you find the item you're looking for, a list shows you pops up showing this things in this order: which ward it's in, the retainer's name, the price, and the item's quality(NQ,HQ). You can select up to 10 items to put into a "queue" so you don't have to take note of which wards they're in. Pink stars still appear above the retainer's head but those stars also appear only on retainer's you put into your queue and disappear after you view that retainer. Also little pink stars appear next to the ward names when you're going to get your items, so you don't have to keep track of which ward the retainer you're looking for is in.

• When you select Manage Retainers, a list pops up with the with names of your retainers and their locations. Select a retainer, then a their inventory list comes up and so does yours and you can add items from your inventory to their bazaar or to their storage. Also you can see the last 20 items they sold. No need to go searching for you retainer.

• When you select Add Retainers, a list of retainers not currently in a ward can be added to a ward. Just select the retainer, pay the lease tax for one week or up to four weeks if you don't want to keep coming back every week to pay the lease tax, then your retainer is randomly assigned to a ward. That's it!

• When you select Remove Retainers, a list of retainers currently in the wards is listed, just select a retainer to remove it from a ward.

• When you select Menders Ward, a list comes up with your retainers not in a ward, select a retainer, select items you need repaired(only items with a condition lower than 100 can be added), assign what you want to pay or trade, then you're done. The retainer is placed into the Menders Wards and it's kept there for only one Earth day.

• Leave, is self-explanatory.

To get a retainer you still have to go to the Adventurer's Guild, also the retainer bells would allow you to add or remove your retainers from the wards and you can manage them from there as well.

Please let me know if I made any grammatical/spelling mistakes and leave comments or suggestions on how on to improve my idea or how it may not work. Thanks for reading.

it might just be me, but i think these are fantastic ideas...

/10chars....

[Kailea_Nagisa]

AH botting is a lot less common than you think it is. But more importantly, if your feature fails at its primary duty because you designed it to be anti bot/RMT, then it's a bad feature. Player satisfaction should ALWAYS be first, and preventing RMT and whatever else should be distant seconds.

but preventing RMT is a part of player satisfaction. You say the Market Wards fail, I honestly don't see your problem.

They are not hard to use (although a better search would be nice) and yes there is a crowd problem (but that can be fixed as well) other then that the Wards provide the same thing that players need as an AH does, just in a different way.

Like I said before, do the wards need work?, yes, but do they need to be scrapped and replaced with an AH?, no.

[Demacia]

What part of "Remove retainer interaction and add UI based market windows" don't people understand? Little tweaks here and there don't mean shit if I have to run around and check 10 different NPCs in 10 different wards to buy 1 set of gear. What part of the current system is good? The part where you waste time or the part where you cant sell your shit?

[Viridiana]

A lot of the complaints I'm hearing about the market wards are how they used to be. They have improved. I haven't crashed in months. Even if a retainer you're searching for isn't in the correct ward, it's still marked. You can search for the items now, even if they don't have it so you can type it in yet. The biggest problems I'm hearing are organization, space, and time spent going to a retainer. That's really not that bad, and they are going to put more work into the market wards. With all the efforts they have put into it so for, I doubt they will get rid of it. That said, it doesn't mean a bidding system on top of it may not happen, or being able to buy items from a search menu, but that's down the line. We're all aware how this game has it's problems, and that's in every aspect of the game. However, at least the market wards work for what we 'need' them to do now. At least there is a place we can always go to buy/sell. For people that are complaining there isn't enough room, that's partially our fault. We all choose to cram our retainers into Ul'dah. But, SE has already said they plan to expand how many can fit, so soon that won't be as large an issue as well.

I'm sorry to people who are just hung up on an AH. I'm sorry to those that get frustrated over the seconds it takes to zone and find a retainer. Honestly, I think there are way more frustrating aspects of the game and also several other aspects that have already been addressed.

. . . Until PS3 release brings new players. Then we get to go through this all over again.

[Wolfie]

but preventing RMT is a part of player satisfaction. You say the Market Wards fail, I honestly don't see your problem.

They are not hard to use (although a better search would be nice) and yes there is a crowd problem (but that can be fixed as well) other then that the Wards provide the same thing that players need as an AH does, just in a different way.

Like I said before, do the wards need work?, yes, but do they need to be scrapped and replaced with an AH?, no.

Pretty sure nobody in their right mind would ask for RMT prevention at the cost of their own enjoyment. And I'm pretty sure the MW isn't very affective at stopping it regardless.