So with the most recent letter from the producer, came anouncement of further improvements to the market wards. I still do not understand why it is necessary to improve a failing system and a system that ( according to industry standards ) noon wants. Why not take that manpower and create an AH system that is linked between all the cities so that we can finally scrap the market ward system. I understand that some players have grown accustomed to the wards and have learned to go about day to day business as usual with that in place. However, if this game ever plans to release on PS3 and plans to increase its numbers, market wards are only going to continue to be an issue due to the rapid increase in population. I also read the entire list and saw that there was no mention of a Mailbox or Mog House anywhere on the list. I am truly enjoying the recent and upcomming changes to the game, but still am not seeing any of the "big things" that made up the great FFXI infrastructure, comming to life in FFXIV. I know battle systems and armory systems take priority, but I wish that the dev's would announce plans for Mog House, Mailbox, and AH for the future. Alot of players have given up asking for these things, but I have played many MMO's and I do not ever see FFXIV growing to any form of population that can bring in decent revenue without them.
This is the current process of purchasing and equipping an entire set of gear using the FFXIV Market Ward system
Walk up to Wards
Select Item Search Counter
Select desired ward
Select desired catergory
Find Item
Select Item
Hit "Yes" button at bottom to track item
Select Market Wards
Select desired ward
Wait for loading screen
Run to desired retainer and select
Purchase desired item from retainer
Run back to the Market Ward window
Rinse and repeat about 5-10 times until you have a complete set of gear