How to Decentralize Ul'dah

[Konachibi]

Doubtful, at least in regards to the MW. People aren't going to move away from what's functionally the only market in the game. Only way I see to make people stop using the Uldah MW nigh-exclusively is to link them, one way or another.

I'd like that, but... I seriously can't stand being in Ul'dah market wards for any prolonged period of time, that constant mass of 'foot tapping' sound effects from all those retainers drives me totally round the bend! Merging the MW would only increase the amount of retainers, which would then increase the foot tapping noise, and then I'd have to smash my speakers.

Plus we've all seen how Ul'dahs MW 'bubbles' it's retainers, merging them all together would just make it all go crazy. Which is why it'd be more beneficial for the sellers, the buyers, and my speakers, to add some kind of auction house.

[Viridiana]

I'd like that, but... I seriously can't stand being in Ul'dah market wards for any prolonged period of time, that constant mass of 'foot tapping' sound effects from all those retainers drives me totally round the bend! Merging the MW would only increase the amount of retainers, which would then increase the foot tapping noise, and then I'd have to smash my speakers.

Plus we've all seen how Ul'dahs MW 'bubbles' it's retainers, merging them all together would just make it all go crazy. Which is why it'd be more beneficial for the sellers, the buyers, and my speakers, to add some kind of auction house.

We really need a PM feature on these forums so I don't derail this thread further, but I'll just clarify one point: I meant allowing access to the wards of any city *from* any city. That is, I can hit the Uldah or LL wards from Grid, for example. This, with no other changes, would go a long way (but still isn't as much as I'd want done, ideally).

Anyway, if I responded to pretty much anything else you said, I'd wind up dragging this into off-topic territory, so I'll just /shush.

[Konachibi]

We really need a PM feature on these forums so I don't derail this thread further, but I'll just clarify one point: I meant allowing access to the wards of any city *from* any city. That is, I can hit the Uldah or LL wards from Grid, for example. This, with no other changes, would go a long way (but still isn't as much as I'd want done, ideally).

Anyway, if I responded to pretty much anything else you said, I'd wind up dragging this into off-topic territory, so I'll just /shush.

Ah I get what you mean now. Yeah, that'd actually work pretty well, especially if the item search function scanned all 3 city MW's to find the cheapest option for an item. But then why not just let people buy that item direct from the item search menu instead of having to go into the MW in the first place?

I think if they added an airship city and we could fly our own one-man airships a lot of people would hang around there instead just 'cos it'd be awesome XD

[Viridiana]

Ah I get what you mean now. Yeah, that'd actually work pretty well, especially if the item search function scanned all 3 city MW's to find the cheapest option for an item. But then why not just let people buy that item direct from the item search menu instead of having to go into the MW in the first place?

I think if they added an airship city and we could fly our own one-man airships a lot of people would hang around there instead just 'cos it'd be awesome XD

That's actually what I'd like to see, and many (not all) people asking for an AH are basically asking for this or a close variation. A few are asking for actual auctions, but that seems to be the minority even in the "pro-AH" crowd.

So much for not going off-topic. >_>

[Technolust]

But then why not just let people buy that item direct from the item search menu instead of having to go into the MW in the first place?

I would tend to believe that the reason this isn't possible right now is because of the way the game was coded/designed. Since the entire dynamic of the game was based upon selling stuff through retainers/markets, I would tend to think that the baseline code is not setup to deal with an auction house. Some of the features of the game, and the way they have made changes makes me believe that this is the case.