Auction House vs Wards

[Mujen]

I also really like the anonymity the retainers provide, as their name appears in the history, not the player's name.

This is about the only good thing I can think of for retainers, I think the anonymitty is awesome, or just being able to name what you like. However, easily handled by the mail system + 1 mule, which however will cost a extra character slot. Mules for storage are not uncommon at all however, the extra fee is about the only disadvantage. Making the retainer a mule like Pooky said could be an option /shrug.

Majority of people do not browse retainer wards, you cant see all retainers, there's so many, takes so much time to find what you like.

Bid & B/O (buyout) system works well for those w/o lot of gil. I personally prefer b/o of course, but sometimes bidding nets you an item @ much lower price, it's just a suggestion tho. But seriously this ward/retainer issue is so much extra time spent that could be spent fixing other areas of game.

[WinnipegJet]

Bump for AH support. Kill this MW shit once and for all.

[Elexia]

Bump for AH support. Kill this MW shit once and for all.

So kill off a system to add a similar system? That makes a lot of sense.

[Laraul]

Retainers are linked to player accounts, which makes them simple to manage from an administrative point of view. Suspending or terminating an account removes that person's retainers as well.

Once a retainer's bazzar is empty, it's removed from a ward. Unfortunately people stick stuff for a billion gil in their retainer's bazzar insuring they don't go anywhere. I'd suggest a 1% tax per real day for items 100,000 gil and above.

[Orophin]

As long as they make it to where you can search for an item and it finds it across all retainers, regardless what city it's in, it really shouldn't be a huge deal. They said there will be a way to filter out HQ items too, so hopefully all will be ok.

[Vernam]

I don't actually play, but I have an active subscription so I'm able to post on the forums. I haven't posted on these forums since beta, but I just had to respond to this one.

I've been planning to come back once 2.0 launches, but if I come back and this game still has the market ward and retainer system (which was one of the many reasons I left in the first place), I'm gone for good, I will cancel my subscription and never look back. My wife, who is a FFXI player and has been waiting two years for her PS3 version, says she'll cancel her pre-order if they decide they're going to launch with wards/retainer system.

I realize there has been a search counter added since launch, but this isn't just about ease-of-use or accessibility. Don't forget about the obvious reason here too — the fact that having thousands of lifeless NPCs in a designated area doing absolutely nothing but standing idle looks incredibly stupid, it is also bad for immersion and role-play. Just scrap the whole system Square Enix...it is currently garbage.

[Elexia]

the fact that having thousands of lifeless NPCs in a designated area doing absolutely nothing but standing idle looks incredibly stupid, it is also bad for immersion and role-play.

And thousands of people standing idle afk in certain spots in certain cities with shops/bazaars in most other MMOs is different...how?

[Vernam]

And thousands of people standing idle afk in certain spots in certain cities with shops/bazaars in most other MMOs is different...how?

They are not NPCs.

[Resheph]

I hate this RP immersion garbage. If you have the imagination to pretend your character is a real person and make up a background for it, then you have the imagination to pretend that the market wards is a lively hub of commerce.

You can't argue that something is bad because it makes it hard for you to play a game of pretend.

[Vernam]

If you have the imagination to pretend your character is a real person and make up a background for it, then you have the imagination to pretend that the market wards is a lively hub of commerce.

Why pretend when they could have just made it a lively hub of commerce in the first place? They could have even had these NPCs beckoning players that walked by, take the animations from Aion for example. Also, you also don't need to create a background story for your character to appreciate immersion.