Market Wards vs AH

[Abriael]

I think the market wards are extremely tedious compared to standard AH in MMOs like WoW and LOTRO. You need to constantly run between your retainers and the item counter to check price and set prices in your bazaar.

if you do it like that, either you're exaggerating for effect, or you're doing it wrong. Try pen and paper. I know many don't know the usage of those arcane items (as a more modern alternative, the Notepad works too), but I assure you they work.

Searching all prices and writing them down and then setting up all the items for sale will be STILL faster/more convenient than looking up one item at a time in any average AH UI and then setting it for sale. Over and over.

This, of course, without mentioning that the sole existance/possibility of impulse purchases (that does not exist with a classic AH) will help you sell more items faster.

[Ciden]

The market wards are charming at best, time consuming and disengaging at worst. Our transactions should all be in one large Marketplace, dissolving the instanced wards. But instead of retainers, each type of goods/ward should be embodied by an NPC auctioneer. This would create the buzz of a real life marketplace and give the players time to all share each others' presences doing our shopping together instead of in a room full of NPC's. The loading and the magic porting aren't doing it for me each time I need an item in a different ward that looks exactly the same as the last.
The retainers could me more purposed than they are by taking the items you want them to sell and setting the auction up with the corresponding auctioneer. Maybe they could make deliveries like goods and letters to other players.(ala Earthbound). Retainer gets mugged en route? Time to rescue them until they get stronger and wiser to make longer trips.

[Reika]

Now that they are making retainers pretty easy to use, and the market wards easy to browse, there really is not a need for a auction house. Current system is fine IMO.

[Amsai]

I don't hate the market wards. They are actually not as bad now a days. However, anything that makes my buying/selling experience faster is always a plus. An AH is the logical conclusion. I am a typical male, and just like in RL, I don't go shopping, I go on a mission. My goal is to get in and out of the grocery store as fast as humanly possible. Which is why I make a list and shop at odd hours to avoid the crowds.

[Abriael]

I don't hate the market wards. They are actually not as bad now a days. However, anything that makes my buying/selling experience faster is always a plus. An AH is the logical conclusion. I am a typical male, and just like in RL, I don't go shopping, I go on a mission. My goal is to get in and out of the grocery store as fast as humanly possible. Which is why I make a list and shop at odd hours to avoid the crowds.

Market Ward: Pick Ward -> Pick item/compare price -> Walk to item -> Buy item

Real world: Pick shop -> Pick item/compare price -> Walk to item -> Buy item

Just like in RL you can easily "go on a mission" with Market Wards.

[Kiroh]

Market Ward: Pick Ward -> Pick item/compare price -> Walk to item -> Buy item

Real world: Pick shop -> Pick item/compare price -> Walk to item -> Buy item

Just like in RL you can easily "go on a mission" with Market Wards.

And just like RL, I don't like shopping in FFXIV. I don't see why they would add something that half the population has to grudge their way through tolerating. I've never heard anyone complain that an AH was inconvenient or wasted their time, I've heard plenty of people say that about the market wards.

[Argh]

there needs to be an AH for the economy to have a fighting chance. the AH creates a centralized hub for players to gather around in and socialize along with engaging in commerce easliy.

the current market wards are turning into an AH already with their search features being added. it is just a mistake continuing updating the wards when the manpower would be better spend inserting auction houses.

[Amsai]

@Abriael
You completely missed the point. I wasn't trying to make a direct comparison of the process. I was showing that I want the process to be fast and efficient. Is the market ward fast and efficien? Somewhat. Would an AH be faster? Yes. Lets assume I'm looking for something on the wards, then go to get it, and it takes me all of 3 min. However, If I was using an AH, I could get the same item in 30 seconds or less. I just shaved off 2.5 mins from my shopping experience and in an MMO where everything can take time, thats 2.5 mins I can now spend doing something else. Does that 2.5 mins matter to me? ABSOLUTELY!

[Abriael]

@Abriael
You completely missed the point. I wasn't trying to make a direct comparison of the process. I was showing that I want the process to be fast and efficient. Is the market ward fast and efficien? Somewhat. Would an AH be faster? Yes. Lets assume I'm looking for something on the wards, then go to get it, and it takes me all of 3 min. However, If I was using an AH, I could get the same item in 30 seconds or less. I just shaved off 2.5 mins from my shopping experience and in an MMO where everything can take time, thats 2.5 mins I can now spend doing something else. Does that 2.5 mins matter to me? ABSOLUTELY!

Since you've mentioned efficence, let's talk about efficence.

Market wards serve their purpose, you can get every item you need in acceptable times. Even faster the more features and search improvement are implemented, because let us say is clearly, there's NO feature included in any AH that can't be implemented in the market wards system.

Market wards are already implemented. They already have an engine, and any function that's to be added to them can be programmed on top of a solid base.

On the other hand, an AH may be (for some) somewhat faster. Maybe you gain 30 seconds with them. if you're lucky. They don't exist in the game, and they would have to be programmed in from scratch. Every single function and feature.

This game needs a lot of work, in a lot of fields. Quests, Solo content, Guild content, transportation, battle system, server-side optimization, UI optimization... I could go on for several lines.

Now, I'd much rather see them dedicate all the development resources to URGENT changes and additions listed above, improving my overall enjoyment of the game and giving me a lot more things to do, than to replace a system that's NOT broken with a completely different and new one that would make me save 30 seconds. Especially when those 30 seconds can be saved anyway by improving the existing system little by little with new features.

This is what I call efficency.

The implementation of an AH (just because some people can't fathom the sole possibility that alternative methods to the familiar ones can ultimately work just as well) would be mostly redundant.
Using precious development resources/time, in a game that requires a LOT of work (IE: a lot of resources/time) across the board, to implement a redundant system is *not* what I call efficent.

People demanding the implementation of an AH simply have no idea of the concept of "priorities" and would need a big injection of the concept of "realism".

[Xzen]

Since you've mentioned efficence, let's talk about efficence.

Market wards serve their purpose, you can get every item you need in acceptable times. Even faster the more features and search improvement are implemented, because let us say is clearly, there's NO feature included in any AH that can't be implemented in the market wards system.

Market wards are already implemented. They already have an engine, and any function that's to be added to them can be programmed on top of a solid base.

On the other hand, an AH may be (for some) somewhat faster. Maybe you gain 30 seconds with them. if you're lucky. They don't exist in the game, and they would have to be programmed in from scratch. Every single function and feature.

This game needs a lot of work, in a lot of fields. Quests, Solo content, Guild content, transportation, battle system, server-side optimization, UI optimization... I could go on for several lines.

Now, I'd much rather see them dedicate all the development resources to URGENT changes and additions listed above, improving my overall enjoyment of the game and giving me a lot more things to do, than to replace a system that's NOT broken with a completely different and new one that would make me save 30 seconds. Especially when those 30 seconds can be saved anyway by improving the existing system little by little with new features.

This is what I call efficency.

The implementation of an AH (just because some people can't fathom the sole possibility that alternative methods to the familiar ones can ultimately work just as well) would be mostly redundant.
Using precious development resources/time, in a game that requires a LOT of work (IE: a lot of resources/time) across the board, to implement a redundant system is *not* what I call efficent.

People demanding the implementation of an AH simply have no idea of the concept of "priorities" and would need a big injection of the concept of "realism".

^ This. At this point an AH will not save this game but the other features he mentioned that are more "Urgent" will. Let's patch up the holes in our ship and keep it from sinking before we worry about fixing that wobbly hand rail.