Market Wards Suggestion

[Jinko]

Hiding names would be a good idea but wouldn't stop undercutting.

The only way SE can really solve this issue is to have a floor and ceiling price for every item and I'm sure many people would be opposed to that.

[Kiara]

Hiding names would be a good idea but wouldn't stop undercutting.

The only way SE can really solve this issue is to have a floor and ceiling price for every item and I'm sure many people would be opposed to that.

Hi Jinko and Answa,

It's an interesting topic (and the related topic of undercutting).

My worries are about when we get the Server Merge (so we'll have TWICE the # of players / retainers), and the eventual 2.0 Launch (even more people / retainers), *and* the Unified Markets (all 3 Nations share 1 Market Ward) (even more people / retainers), how any regular player can compete with RMT / Gil Sellers or those that want to bully regular players out of the market?

If we only ever display the Top 20 Cheapest Items, even right now, on my server, for popular items you'll see:

Abfggd 99 gil
Abfggd 99 gil
Abfggd 99 gil
Abfggd 99 gil
Abfggd 99 gil
Abfggd 99 gil
Abfggd 99 gil
Abfggd 99 gil
Abfggd 99 gil
Abfggd 99 gil
Peony 99 gil
Peony 99 gil
Peony 99 gil
Peony 99 gil
Peony 99 gil
Peony 99 gil
Peony 99 gil
Peony 99 gil
Peony 99 gil
Peony 99 gil

And everyone else's retainer / items don't even show.

It's a free market, sure, but even in the U.S. there are rules and regulations to prevent Monopolies, Price Dumping, Market Manipulation, etc.

There are laws to protect Competition from those that unscrupulously try and do Price Dumping (selling at ridiculous prices to force the competition out of the market). Any RMT / Gil Selling Corporation (or those players rich enough) can dedicate 2 Retainers (= 20 Slots) and take and control the Listing for the Top 20 Slots and Price Dump, forcing regular crafters and players to try and keep up, or leave the market, and then the RMT / Dumping Player now controls it (raising prices later).

That's always been my problem with FF XI and this game, and it's only going to get worse when the Servers Merge and then to 2.0 and beyond.

I had suggested to Yoshida-san and the Dev Team that they dedicate a few people to be like the Final Fantasy XIV version of the SEC / Anti-Competition Committee, where they can track if large quantities of items are being Price Dumped and a market is being controlled by a few people, where they drive out the competition, and then raise the prices for themselves.

We'll see where this goes, but it's already looking ugly.

And as Myrhn pointed out, right now HQ Items don't show up separately (but they did say they'll work on a system to display HQ eventually), so it's very hard to shop or sell HQ items.