Stop "fixing" the MW scrap it

[RastaBlack]

I hate the fact that i have to zone into areas just to buy or sell items. I dont even bother.

[Seif]

I hate the fact that i have to zone into areas just to buy or sell items. I dont even bother.

Zoning is fundamental to the way MW works this is why the entire system is not worth spending development time on and they should just focus on making the item search a fully functioning AH system.

[Chumeia]

The argument is pretty much one sided I see. Your way or else. But what seems to be omitted is that the MW system differs from the AH system by preventing area based overload.

MW might seem nuts but the players are actually forced to break up into other locations by telleporation, rather than huddling in one spot and congesting the traffic. FFXI was notorious for having horridly congested AH locations. Try running through Juno at any of the AH locations and you would be doing stop motion or lag city. If you were very quick you might be able to dodge the whole mess by running like mad from one end to the other and by the time the server caught up you were through the congestion, but hesitate a moment and you would get pinned in the mob.

I dont believe the TOS lets me say who... but there is another game I have played that uses a very nonstandard AH system. This system lets you buy anyplace any time. But you do have to return to your home point to collect the earnings or items. This I thought worked very well. They called it an AH... but I don't think it was really ever an AH, not like FFXI was.

Anyway, not that you care. But I have not had any trouble finding anything I have needed in the MW since they introduced the search system. That system does not suit the theory of the MW very well and is in itself more like an AH. The star over the head makes finding your target easy but looks very strange in game.

I think the MW can work but the whole theory needs a fresh rework. It's easy enough to integrate a feature that has already been done. But to make something totally new... that takes effort.

That being said, they do need to stop playing with the MW system and get serious about the rest of the game. There are so far many thing better about previous FF titles than FFXIV. Sure it's online. But its got very little to stand on.

[Wolfie]

The argument is pretty much one sided I see. Your way or else. But what seems to be omitted is that the MW system differs from the AH system by preventing area based overload.

Jesus f'ing christ, what part of fundamental flaw do you not understand?

Give me some suggestions to fix the design problems caused by rendered retainers. Go, I'm really interested in seeing in what way we can compromise this design while simultaneously fixing its scalability, usability, and stability issues.

[Viridiana]

The argument is pretty much one sided I see. Your way or else. But what seems to be omitted is that the MW system differs from the AH system by preventing area based overload.

No, it doesn't. It shunts the problem over to the retainers, instead of the players, but it's the same problem. I say again: it's the same problem

[Verecund]

MW fixing overload... ho ho ho....

[normalforce]

Jesus f'ing christ, what part of fundamental flaw do you not understand?

Give me some suggestions to fix the design problems caused by rendered retainers. Go, I'm really interested in seeing in what way we can compromise this design while simultaneously fixing its scalability, usability, and stability issues.

Are we talking about just a solution to fix the rendering of retainers, or one that'll fix the problem and make you happy. Cause, I don't think I can do both.

Limit the number of retainers that are displayed in any area at once. Instead of the Market Wards being one straight line, have it curve, or have the next section at an angle such that entering the new section blocks the old section from view. Walking into a new section loads up another set of retainers while everything from the old section gets unloaded. This might require shrinking the current size of the Market Ward sections to accommodate the decrease in retainers or maybe open it up so every retainer can have a stall.

However, this would force people to run around more. Which would give some people yet another reason to dislike the market wards.

But really, buying items directly from the item search counter would go a long way to making people happy. While those that still want to use the Market Wards can.

[Wolfie]

Are we talking about just a solution to fix the rendering of retainers, or one that'll fix the problem and make you happy. Cause, I don't think I can do both.

Limit the number of retainers that are displayed in any area at once. Instead of the Market Wards being one straight line, have it curve, or have the next section at an angle such that entering the new section blocks the old section from view. Walking into a new section loads up another set of retainers while everything from the old section gets unloaded. This might require shrinking the current size of the Market Ward sections to accommodate the decrease in retainers or maybe open it up so every retainer can have a stall.

However, this would force people to run around more. Which would give some people yet another reason to dislike the market wards.

But really, buying items directly from the item search counter would go a long way to making people happy. While those that still want to use the Market Wards can.

No, a solution that fixes scalability, stability and usability. This has nothing to do with my feelings. Stop pulling red herring fallacies.

Curving the area won't help, because the server still needs to maintain and process all of the information needed for rendering the retainers (as well as player character movements and actions). Retainers are also still freely placed in the wards. So this solution wouldn't address scalability or stability; and fix some usability issues while simultaneously introducing other usability problems.

Buying directly from the menu would be the ultimate usability problem solver, but again, it will do nothing for stability and scalability.

[Viridiana]

Are we talking about just a solution to fix the rendering of retainers, or one that'll fix the problem and make you happy. Cause, I don't think I can do both.

Limit the number of retainers that are displayed in any area at once. Instead of the Market Wards being one straight line, have it curve, or have the next section at an angle such that entering the new section blocks the old section from view. Walking into a new section loads up another set of retainers while everything from the old section gets unloaded. This might require shrinking the current size of the Market Ward sections to accommodate the decrease in retainers or maybe open it up so every retainer can have a stall.

However, this would force people to run around more. Which would give some people yet another reason to dislike the market wards.

But really, buying items directly from the item search counter would go a long way to making people happy. While those that still want to use the Market Wards can.

If they're all still stored on the same server, that wouldn't really solve anything, I don't think. It would make it look better, perhaps, but since the problem is server-side, making the client-side run smoother wouldn't help much. >_>

[normalforce]

No, a solution that fixes scalability, stability and usability. This has nothing to do with my feelings. Stop pulling red herring fallacies.

Curving the area won't help, because the server still needs to maintain and process all of the information needed for rendering the retainers (as well as player character movements and actions). Retainers are also still freely placed in the wards. So this solution wouldn't address scalability or stability; and fix some usability issues while simultaneously introducing other usability problems.

Buying directly from the menu would be the ultimate usability problem solver, but again, it will do nothing for stability and scalability.

Curving or augmenting the area will help, you are not looking at the problem rationally to understand that. Retainers could be placed behind stalls if being freely placed is some sort of issue. It solves scalability and stability because the server isn't flooding your client with hundreds of retainers at once, as players and retainers a few sections away don't get sent.