Does this constitute cheating or is it against the TOS?

[Kayo]

Dont sound too bad to me. In fact this is an interesting idea, if not good. Undercutters suck! Theyre the Walmart of MMO's! I always thought there should be some regulation on the AH, like a minimum value for items. Having a free market is great in RL because there is a certain value on time and a necessary minimum living income over time spent on resources and manufacturing. Not so in MMO's where we are all just playing a game and while there is an interest in making profits, there is also interest in just getting rid of it for more than vendor change (undercutters). I do this myself to a degree, buying from the next guy up from the jerk who obviously put the item up for 5g less than the next guy.

Of course it can also be a double edged sword where this "cartel" can monopolize the market and charge whatever they want.

As for the tell, im not sure if its harassment or recruiting. I like how theyre seemingly fighting undercutters in the form of a union but it can also be interpreted as "join us and we'll protect you from ourselves."

[NephHalp]

Dont sound too bad to me. In fact this is an interesting idea, if not good. Undercutters suck! Theyre the Walmart of MMO's! I always thought there should be some regulation on the AH, like a minimum value for items. Having a free market is great in RL because there is a certain value on time and a necessary minimum living income over time spent on resources and manufacturing. Not so in MMO's where we are all just playing a game and while there is an interest in making profits, there is also interest in just getting rid of it for more than vendor change (undercutters). I do this myself to a degree, buying from the next guy up from the jerk who obviously put the item up for 5g less than the next guy.

Of course it can also be a double edged sword where this "cartel" can monopolize the market and charge whatever they want.

As for the tell, im not sure if its harassment or recruiting. I like how theyre seemingly fighting undercutters in the form of a union but it can also be interpreted as "join us and we'll protect you from ourselves."

They threatened OP to undercut him out of the market if he didn't join them, it's harassment.

[Windseraph]

Some people have way too much time on their hands, i'd just ignore them and move on.

[Wulfyn]

Should tell him this isn't WoW .. and he has a big mouth for spilling his groups secret. Too bad I'm not on your server, I have max account with max retainers, i gather wife crafts, we would have fun messing with that group.

[Lyrinn]

I agree with some of the other posters, messing with them would be fun and hilariously easy.

I wouldn't call it cheating but if they're singling you out like that and especially through tells, I'd call it borderline harassment.

[Ilitsa]

the idea of crafters getting together to set a price standard, on paper, sounds like a good idea, but I think this person/ls in those screens are definitely taking it to a harassment level that should be punishable. If a community rep doesn't respond here, please, inform us of the response from your ticket, I'd love to know SE's "official" stance on this kind of behavior.

[KingOfAbyss]

Why should I be surprised at people nowadays..

Lucky we don't sell them for real money o.O

They suck.

Now that's been said, I am pretty sure some sort of it has been around in every server.

What a gaming world lol

[PArcher]

I bet they're trying to fix prices 200% or more higher than what is necessary. Craft some stuff and sell it at cost (or a little above). They're forced to either
A) sell their stuff for lower
B) buy your stuff to try to resell
C) do nothing and let others buy the items first.

And if they D) start harassing you, then you just report them to the GMs and laugh as they get banned...

[Shaezerus]

I bet they're trying to fix prices 200% or more higher than what is necessary.

They attempted this with clothcraft prisms during the beginning of Moonfire Faire (reportedly at upwards of 12k apiece when the event first went live), and got extremely salty with someone in my Coil group over "undercutting" them.

[Darki]

Greetings!

So I happened to have had a problem selling LTW items on the market board, only to be responded to with this:


And then later I heard this shout by the same person (their text is inside the yellow box.)

I was curious as to whether the shouted text inside the yellow box constitutes a TOS violation.



Does FFXIV or Square Enix make provisions to protect its players to prevent market control once it's discovered or is this considered something that is part of the gaming experience?

I'd really appreciate an official response.

I have the unedited screen shots and I have filed an official report to a GM containing those screenshots of the person who was shouting.

Sad thing is, it would be incredibly easy for a single player to toss a wrench into their plans. Those tells and shouts are like saying "Please give us a taste of our own medicine! We want it so badly!"