I actually have written out an idea similiar to this, and since this thread already exists I shall post it in here. The main difference between our two suggestions is that I probably wouldn't put 'finished' items such as Weapons and Armour on the NPCs, it would mainly be for helping move parts and raw materials that are either sold so much that they have a pretty baseline worth anyway or items that are almost impossible to sell because few people use it, but few people may use it because they can't find it to buy. I'd still intend for the Market Wards to be around, or an Auction House where it added.

"Currently in the game, the Market Wards are working to a fairly decent capacity. It is possible, despite the limitations on the Retainers, to buy and sell goods. However, while in the main it is a simple thing to buy and sell finished items, for example; weapons, tools and armour, it is more difficult for both buyers and sellers to move items that are sold in bulk.

For example, this would include items such as Fruits and Vegetables, Ores, and others such as Fletchings and the like. Basically any item that stacks to a great extent (stacks of 99 and the like).

My solution to this would be the creation of a venue for these particular items that involved selling to an NPC, with the price that you pay, or receive changing based on how much of that item is available for sale at the time.

Many of you may recognise this system from Guild Wars (or at least a few years back - not sure of the system now) where the prices for Raw Materials was based on player demand in relation to the quantity of items available for sale. It is also probably present in others, however I have not played others within which I recognise this. A friend who proof read this mentions that this is similiar to the system used in Lord of the Rings Online for particular items also.

The prices would be different in each City-State (linked to the volume available), to make it possibly worth peoples time moving between the City-States looking for the best deal to make money, or to purchase the items at a reduced price. It would be my intention that items never sold for less than they currently do to an NPC vendor, but with that being the baseline should the market be saturated by the item.

My main reasoning for this is that no matter how many spaces we have available for sale, or an Auction House, or whatever it may be, the actual ability to sell items such as Iron Acorns and the like is pretty low - this may be because they are not often needed, or it could be because they are not sold, a vicious circle.

With this, crafters and gatherers would be able to sell their items for a decent price with the knowledge that others could then buy the item from the NPC 'stock' without having to worry too much about actually shifting the product. It also gives crafters reason to sell items not so often found in the market as they would make more money for them than items which are in high supply. It also means that items that I quite often gather (for example Sun Lemons) but am not able to sell with great success and thus vendor could still be put in circulation for others such as Culinarians who require them.

As to the highest value, or where these people should be - that isn't part of my plan. This is just the overall idea I had, so any comments or ideas for improvement are welcome! I should also note, that I am neither against the current system or an Auction House being involved as well, but this would mainly be for items bought and sold in bulk, that can be difficult to shift otherwise, despite being the mainstay of a lot of crafting."