Destroying Server Economies

[NessaWyvern]

They were astounded when I told them that the only HQ piece I'd seen in the last few days of looking was a belt that was listed for 800k, when they learned that the NQ stuff was listed for 300k they offered to craft me a HQ set for free but then realised we weren't on the same server.

iirc, there are vendors that sell NQ items for a few thousand gil, no need to spend 300k on a NQ item for tank leveling.
If you want gear that's a bit better than NQ, there's always the GC seals green items that can be good, depending on your level. I used the GC seal ones when ARR came out, since I didn't have any gil to rub together. The seals were easier to get, due to old gear from dungeons.

[Maneesha]

Three months back I was trying to buy armour for an alt I had made to play with a friend who was on Siren (because Siren had RT60 and my friend wanted a speedy catch up). I was playing PLD to get us both fast MSQ queues through the game. When it came time for Stone Vigil I went to the MB and tried to buy some lvl40 HQ crafted armour only to find not only was HQ unavailable, but that NQ cost 300k per piece, and as a newish character even if I had the funds for more that one piece, the brayflox armour had noticeably more defense than the lvl40 NQ set. So I wear the Brayflox into Stone Vigil and that caused a huge stink for a number of players - who wouldn't believe (even after I linked the two chests) that the lvl32 set had more defense than the lvl40 NQ crafted set, and then someone asks why I didn't buy the HQ stuff. They were astounded when I told them that the only HQ piece I'd seen in the last few days of looking was a belt that was listed for 800k, when they learned that the NQ stuff was listed for 300k they offered to craft me a HQ set for free but then realised we weren't on the same server.

As much as you might complain your high margins are being eaten into this change will make low lvl armours like the one I was trying to buy for the sanity of any group I was tanking for in DF easier for new characters to afford. I've moaned myself a number of times about undergeared tanks in various sub-50 instances but I'd never thought for a moment that maybe their gear was an issue because they did not have the funds to buy at the prices that some servers charged for gear. After my own experience I've been a bit more tolerant about it.

the ppl you played with had arbitrary standards and have no idea what they are talking about, lots of times dungeon gear has better stats then some crafted hq gear which might be higher in ilvl/lvl, as you could see yourself by comparing the items.
newbies shouldn't buy stuff of the mb, especially gear/weapon/acc's while they level, only if its cheaper then the npc prices, because they get everything they need during leveling/questing and the required dungeons (if a bit lucky with the drops ofc). crafted hq gear is, as someone already mentioned, mostly for crafters or for ppl leveling their "x"number of job ( ppl who played for a while,maybe reached max lvl). if they wish to buy pets/bardings or other misc stuff, its up to them, but not very advisable since they are newbies and don't have sources to get a good income(yet).

the real reason players are undergeared in dungeons is because there is not a "loose" ilvl requirement or they simply refuse to spend money on npc gear, not the mb prices. as mentioned before, npc gear is good enough for everything during leveling phase.

[Challe83]

So is there a quick way to look up prices on the different servers without having to transfer to another world?

[Maneesha]

also why is no one thinking about asking ppl to craft for them, even if you have to shout in the cities, buy the mats,look for crafters, maybe give them 20k (thou most high lvl ones will do it for free if they see a sproud/low lvl char). 80% of the times it will be cheaper to buy the mats and get it crafted then to buy of the mb. this also used to be a thing in a lot of other mmos.

(stupid 3k limitation)

[KageTokage]

The fact that the bots are able to control even just the markets for mainstream items like crafted gear and infusions is enough of a problem as that's where the vast majority of gil is being spent.

I've also noticed a slow, but definite increase in the number of bots on my server as time has gone on, too, and not just transfers from other servers as I've spotted a number being leveled up from scratch.

[ExKage]

The fact that the bots are able to control even just the markets for mainstream items like crafted gear and infusions is enough of a problem as that's where the vast majority of gil is being spent.

I've also noticed a slow, but definite increase in the number of bots on my server as time has gone on, too, and not just transfers from other servers as I've spotted a number being leveled up from scratch.

I hadn't seen bots in the wild in a long time since early 2.0 on Balmung but last weekend I've noticed a lot of bots leveling out in the open (along with teleporting shenanigans) in East Shroud near Hawthorne Hut / Little Solace.

To be honest, I know a lot of NA doesn't like it or consider it right but I remember hearing that many of the worlds on JP servers have their market economies very similar and level. There isn't the level of price disparity there as it is on our markets.

[Angelov-Mercy]

The fact that the bots are able to control even just the markets for mainstream items like crafted gear and infusions is enough of a problem as that's where the vast majority of gil is being spent.

I've also noticed a slow, but definite increase in the number of bots on my server as time has gone on, too, and not just transfers from other servers as I've spotted a number being leveled up from scratch.

Is this what you are talking about?

A bunch of guys with funny, unpronounceable names are currently running around...there are like 6 to 8 of them atm.

[Enla]

-snip-
A bunch of guys with funny, unpronounceable names are currently running around...there are like 6 to 8 of them atm.

Those are gil farming bots from the looks of it, judging by what I think is the BLM staff. They farm gil usually one mob at a time and aid gil sellers. The bots that control marketboards generally are gathering and crafting bots. The latter of which is hard to prove, and the former of which is easier but SE is chronically allergic to investigating them even with video evidence, which they often dismiss. (Gathering bots can't jump and they always use the same path with no deviations. They're hilariously easy to spot once you know what to look for.)

[Celestene]

It isn't always cheaper on Balmung. Went to Mateus and Goblin for items earlier that were way cheaper.

[Mikki]

I actually just dropped into Diabolos and bought some stuff cause it was the only server that had what I wanted HQ. Thanks for the fish, guys. I really needed it for my GC turn-in.