6months and no AH?!

[GreyWolf]

Ok let me see if I can summarize the main complaints against AHs. If I miss any let me know.

1) An AH will have price histories and price histories will bring about the robot unicorn apocalypse.

2) The system we have now is PERFECT because we can now search for items, and any argument to the contrary automatically implies you are lazy.

3) AHs, because they are so simple and efficient, allow RMTs to thrive because when RMTs are confronted with a retainer ward (seeing as they aren't as intelligent as the next 10 year old that can figure out an MMO market system) they burst into flames of confusion, since they cannot possibly find out how to effectively thrive in a market ward system, and are forced back to the nether-dimension they came from.

4) AHs hurt my immersion? a.k.a. alienating me from my fantasy land with the horrors of quick, straightforward, efficient, informative and competitive global commerce. I don't know if that's even a real one but I figured it might be on Besaid.

5) Hmmm... ran out. Any other perfectly valid suggestions as to why the AH is the devil himself reincarnated as a fuzzy bunny reincarnated as a post office box ?

I'd have to say these 5 points are arguable and hardly valid,

1 Price histories does not determine what an item is going for, that's determined by anyone who wants to sell. perhaps you should do some research on economics/supply and demand. Like the price others are selling for? buy the item. Don't like the price others are selling for? don't buy it at the price. it's easy. if you don't want to spend the gil go farm yourself you like to be immersed right?

2 System is not perfect, if it was perfect not so many people would have complained/left the game for it. not to mention all the crashes >.>; I think the system is getting overloaded with too many retainers and processes having to deal with each and every retainer/player/item. This game was also meant for the "Casual" player who doesn't have time to go run around looking for stuff remember?

3 You'll have RMT no matter what system... you just don't notice it as much in this system yet because there's a lack of people playing to make any real profit, not to mention there's just so much gil you can get just from doing the guildleves. No players no RMT >.>;

4 as far as your immersion goes that's just your opinion and how it affects you... but not others. others may feel differently and if you didn't notice there were many who complained which meant that it affected them enough... and as you can see a lack of population its also affecting the game, i'm sure they left for other reasons too but i'm sure many left for this one. but hey if it works for you i'm happy for you. sure it puts in a bit of realism as far as real shopping and deal hunting but keep in mind we are here to roleplay and play in a fantasy world... >.>; if I wanted the frustation, didn't feel like being lazy and had all the time in the world to shop then this would be ok. Not everyone has the extra time they want to spend running around.

5 if SE wants this game to succeed they will have to put in some sort of one counter market system, not retainers. it doesn't have to be an Auction house, just a trading post withouth having to search for retainers, load retainers, and other time consuming issues. SE has already lost a lot of players they really can't afford to lose any more. They've already delayed other games and resources. Try to come up with a more valid reason eh.

I don't think the main reason people left this game due to the the market system but I bet it was one of the top reasons.

[VydarrTyr]

GreyWolf, I think you must have somehow missed the generous slathering of sarcasm in AngryNixon's post. Might be worth it to dial it down a little, especially toward people who obviously agree with you.

[LazyKz]

The market ward is pretty much the same thing as an AH, but with functions that prevent/slow the process of RMT. It's actually new and refreshing compared to the copy&paste AH we see in every single MMORPG. People complain because they have to walk to the retainer selling the item, but that's just being lazy. People seem to think that just because the system had a rough start out it's all the sudden a "failed feature, or not fixable" yet that's obviously NOT the case. Look at how far the system has gone, and look at how many less people talk about this subject. Keep in mind, that the original market ward system, was not a finished product, and even now still has room for improvement. Regardless, the MW's are better and more interesting.

Don't forget... we ARE playing a video game. Unless I'm waaaaaay out of the loop, we didn't get motion controls with FFXIV. I don't see how adding ease-of-play to a "sit still for hours - do nothing" game is lazy. And it seems that the other MMORPGs are doing a little better than this game. Majority wins IMO.

There are some things about the retainer system that I do enjoy and hope that they never get rid of them. The trouble I have is when I'm sitting on 50+ items that I want to circulate into the economy... it just takes way too long to look everything up for what it's selling for. There also seems to be a little too much redundancy in the MWs (also the game, but thats on other threads) that really dosn't have to be.

[AngryNixon]

GreyWolf, I think you must have somehow missed the generous slathering of sarcasm in AngryNixon's post. Might be worth it to dial it down a little, especially toward people who obviously agree with you.

LOL... good grief. I know sometimes sarcasm doesn't carry through in text well but I thought "robot unicorn apocalypse" was a painfully clear. oh well. Serious response is serious.

Another victory for skimming and misinterpretation. Those two are so far ahead of logical response and thoughtful consideration that they're phoning it in now.

P.S. Slightly sad nobody thought of any of the other arguments against an AH. I could swear over the months there were a bit more than 4 "valid" arguments against them.

[MantiTeran]

LOL... good grief. I know sometimes sarcasm doesn't carry through in text well but I thought "robot unicorn apocalypse" was a painfully clear. oh well. Serious response is serious.

Another victory for skimming and misinterpretation. Those two are so far ahead of logical response and thoughtful consideration that they're phoning it in now.

P.S. Slightly sad nobody thought of any of the other arguments against an AH. I could swear over the months there were a bit more than 4 "valid" arguments against them.

The market wards are fine for me at least it is different, AH is a RMT market for undercutting, market wards crashing is not a bad thing it keeps RMT from selling there wares for like a month at a time.

[AngryNixon]

The market wards are fine for me at least it is different, AH is a RMT market for undercutting, market wards crashing is not a bad thing it keeps RMT from selling there wares for like a month at a time.

lol Manti, point 3 in my original post (#20). Got RMT doom covered.

Also the crashing wards prevents everyone from engaging in trade not just the RMTs. Which is I guess is ok, nobody needed to trade anything quickly or efficiently anyhow. Farming everything yourself with hard work and determination and being entirely self sufficient is the way to go. It helps me maintain ultra immersion in my RP life re-enacting Robinson Crusoe in an FFXIV setting.

[Martyr]

4) AHs hurt my immersion? a.k.a. alienating me from my fantasy land with the horrors of quick, straightforward, efficient, informative and competitive global commerce. I don't know if that's even a real one but I figured it might be on Besaid.

Just have to say, as a proud member of an RP linkshell on Besaid, having an AH wouldn't hurt my immersion in the least. Quicker buying/selling means more time to actually do what the hell I want to do. Everything related to crafting and the markets already takes entirely too much time that I could be spending elsewhere doing something enjoyable. What *does* hurt my immersion is rummaging through mountains of lifeless (well, mostly lifeless after the creepy shuffling zombie patch) bodies standing for hours on end searching for the one character with a giant blazing star over their head.

I must say, the only thing I like about the wards at the moment is being able to actually see certain items on other characters before you purchase them. Then again, an item preview of sorts would remedy that.

In all honesty, though, I've learned to put up with the wards, but that's also because I've never really had anything better. I never played FFXI, so I'm not sure what their AH is like, but I can't see how it could be worse.

[AngryNixon]

Just have to say, as a proud member of an RP linkshell on Besaid, having an AH wouldn't hurt my immersion in the least. Quicker buying/selling means more time to actually do what the hell I want to do. Everything related to crafting and the markets already takes entirely too much time that I could be spending elsewhere doing something enjoyable. What *does* hurt my immersion is rummaging through mountains of lifeless (well, mostly lifeless after the creepy shuffling zombie patch) bodies standing for hours on end searching for the one character with a giant blazing star over their head.

I must say, the only thing I like about the wards at the moment is being able to actually see certain items on other characters before you purchase them. Then again, an item preview of sorts would remedy that.

In all honesty, though, I've learned to put up with the wards, but that's also because I've never really had anything better. I never played FFXI, so I'm not sure what their AH is like, but I can't see how it could be worse.

lol, wow Martyr. Thanks. That was the most positive rational thing I've read in over a month. It's nice to know someone who RPs doesn't even like it. I've heard a lot of garbage about this MW being some fantastical experience enhancing thing that adds to the realism of commerce in the game... Nice to know some people disagree.

[Smokie23]

I don't see why you all blame SE for making people goto "Ul'dah with the mainline quests". Unless the quest is to summon your retainer inside Ul'dah...then the choice is completely up to the player where they summon their retainer. Its not because of the mainline quest ending in Ul'dah. Its just the trade hub for XIV. Jeuno was XI. Jita is Eve online. Im sure WoW has a main AH or city or area where majority of the trading goes on. All games do it. You wouldn't have this problem if you didn't summon your retainer in Ul'dah and used a different city...why do you do it?? Because its easiest way to access goods. Its the easiest way for humans to trade goods. Its the most efficient way we can do things giving our circumstances. Simplicity. Human like to keep things simple and crowding in a main area to trade goods is easiest. If we all want to summon retainers in Ul'dah...then who cares...why can't we?

Also, your exaggerating on the hours to find a star above a retainers head...its points you to the ward, name and puts a icon above the head. easy...considering 90% of the retainers are in one city, how much more hard can it get :/

[Viridiana]

I don't see why you all blame SE for making people goto "Ul'dah with the mainline quests". Unless the quest is to summon your retainer inside Ul'dah...then the choice is completely up to the player where they summon their retainer. Its not because of the mainline quest ending in Ul'dah. Its just the trade hub for XIV. Jeuno was XI. Jita is Eve online. Im sure WoW has a main AH or city or area where majority of the trading goes on. All games do it. You wouldn't have this problem if you didn't summon your retainer in Ul'dah and used a different city...why do you do it?? Because its easiest way to access goods. Its the easiest way for humans to trade goods. Its the most efficient way we can do things giving our circumstances. Simplicity. Human like to keep things simple and crowding in a main area to trade goods is easiest. If we all want to summon retainers in Ul'dah...then who cares...why can't we?

Also, your exaggerating on the hours to find a star above a retainers head...its points you to the ward, name and puts a icon above the head. easy...considering 90% of the retainers are in one city, how much more hard can it get :/

Yes, we'd have picked somewhere to congregate, and we'd have set up almost all our retainers there, no matter what. Why did we pick Uldah? Because after spending 20 anima warping around to do a quest, spending 3 more to get to another city doesn't sound appealing, especially when you know this is gonna happen again in a few levels. Heck, some people stay so low on anima that they can't teleport somewhere else, and running sounds even less fun.

Also, you misunderstood Martyr's comment, I believe. He was saying that the retainers are lifeless and just stand there for hours on end doing nothing but impersonating zombies.

As an aside, WoW still does the natural congregation trick, but it's not based on trade. The trade in all their capital cities are linked, via both AH and /trade channel. Biggest reason people still gather together in the same city is for partying, I'd say.