We need an AH

[Tonka]

Certain AH systems you have to navigate menus over and over and over, especially as you continue to level up more and more. Hell you even have to expand and collapse categories over and over unless the particular system saves your settings, which a lot of times they do not.

You even have to know item IDs for searching on some as some AH's search system goes by ID rather than actual name. So in reality, MW only lacks so few things when compared to an AH because both systems get the job done.

Though maybe I'm imagining everyone wearing weapon and armor outside of the starter class gear.

lolwut
Yes, the AH doesn't magically know everything you want to buy and load a list for you, so you do have to find it. But if you take WoW, as an example (the most universally familiar one for the sake of the argument) you navigate menus or search for a specific item. Correct. You buy an item. You search for another and buy some more. Without having to leave that one window. How in the world is that comparable to searching laggy menus, finding your item, and then having to teleport to the retainer, buy the one item and then run back to the Search Counter (a wall) and do that all over again?

And if I want to sell a bunch of stuff and keep my prices competitive? Why would I want to search one item (again, through those horrible menus) and then run back to my retainer to set the price, and then run back to the magic wall and go through all the menus again for prices on my next item? And every time I interact with my retainer, he's like, "okay, so do you still want me to stay here or should I go or what?"

I should specify that I understand that if SE implemented an AH it would probably be just as laggy as the rest of the UI but less opening and closing windows would be preferential in the situation of a game that was so intelligently designed to have a server side UI that requires communication with the server for every tiny little thing before it loads the next screen.

[Renshi]

Since after reading this lot of stuff I didn't find a good reason that contrasts my last post, I'll keep in my mind that having an AH is a dead argument =)

[Hubert]

No AH needed anymore - the system in place works fine. Plus, I actually like the retainers (still want a moghouse though).

[Mack]

No AH needed anymore - the system in place works fine. Plus, I actually like the retainers (still want a moghouse though).

Yes it does work for now but what's your solution for a player influx out of curiosity? Longer tunnels to run through to find the retainer with the star? more wards?

[Hubert]

Yes it does work for now but what's your solution for a player influx out of curiosity? Longer tunnels to run through to find the retainer with the star? more wards?

More wards would probably work since most people are simply searching and then heading to the appropriate ward. For example, Ironmongers Ward I and Ironmongers Ward II. Possible to also restructure the physical shape of the wards themselves. Maybe a square room with the stalls in the middle or along the sides? Maybe wards with 3 floors, basement, middle, top. Upon entering the ward you start in the middle floor with stairwells in the center and along the ends of the halls (retainers cannot be summoned on stairwells). Search function will also tell you what floor the specific retainer is on.

If ever the population gets too high it's probably time for free server transfers, not at all uncommon in any MMO.

[Physic]

More wards would probably work since most people are simply searching and then heading to the appropriate ward. For example, Ironmongers Ward I and Ironmongers Ward II. Possible to also restructure the physical shape of the wards themselves. Maybe a square room with the stalls in the middle or along the sides? Maybe wards with 3 floors, basement, middle, top. Upon entering the ward you start in the middle floor with stairwells in the center and along the ends of the halls (retainers cannot be summoned on stairwells). Search function will also tell you what floor the specific retainer is on.

If ever the population gets too high it's probably time for free server transfers, not at all uncommon in any MMO.

the answer would probably be to create a self replicating ward area, basically its as big or as small as it needs to be, of course you might have a large upper limit, so as not to have an infinite loop, but it could be pretty large.

Basically you have it kind of similar to how it is now, in that it has a repetive structure, then you have it expand to fulfill the space, the simplest case would be you make it add additional length depending on the number of npcs, also at a certain point, you cant put any more npcs in a particular block.

a more complex structure would be, say you have a central square, with most of the main shops/stands, and you have the area expand out into retainer only space (no shops) that could theoretically create and reorganize itself as needed. think like you have the main shop area, and then a bunch of side streets.
As an expansion of this idea, extremely populus shopping areas could get an upgrade to their main areas size. say your market area for iron monger hits like 200 npcs, once a week or a month or whatever, it would upgrade the main hall space. this is interesting because it could be like, in gridania there is a bustling woodworking ward that looks visually huge and advanced, whereas in say limsa the woodworking ward is a rinkydink room on the side. (not that i expect this would ever happen, but it sounds like a pretty cool idea, and an extension of the MW idea.)

I still think price history is not a needed function overall, but if i had to do it, id create an npc/counter appraiser, that for a small fee would tell you the overall worth over the last say year, if its on an upward or downward trend, and its minimal worth (npc price (the appraiser may also at the same time offer to buy said items at npc price)) each search would be fairly cheap (like 100-500gil) or you may have as suggested, a limited amount of appraisals

This would put a slight cost on constantly searching, basically giving people who dont have any idea what something costs, a ball park figure, but by no means price fixing, people would remember in general what somethings worth is if they sell it more than once. Since it would just be ballpark, a long with showing a trend, people could price it however they want still, but they can be aware in general of its worth. For scoping competition, you can just use the current search mechanism, but that wont give you any history context.

[Jinko]

No AH needed anymore - the system in place works fine. Plus, I actually like the retainers (still want a moghouse though).

So you want a moghouse, what exactly would the purpose of a moghouse be if you didn't have a moogle (because we have retainers) or we didn't have AH's or mail.

[Hubert]

So you want a moghouse, what exactly would the purpose of a moghouse be if you didn't have a moogle (because we have retainers) or we didn't have AH's or mail.

Just for fun. I'm not the only one who enjoyed decorating my moghouse am I? I kept my starlight celebration trees up year round because they looked nice. And I use the word moghouse to describe the same style housing as FFXI, I don't really care if there is a moogle or not. In fact it might be more fun to have your retainers just kinda chill inside the house when they aren't doing anything.

As for the mail system, I think they will implement it some day. Might be better to have actual mailboxes scattered around the city instead of going to your house every time.

[Bigglesworth]

I really like the market system. Only tweak I see necessary is adding a different color star for retainers selling a +1. So for example pink star in the wards and lookup list is NQ, blue star is +1, silver star is +2, and gold is +3 for example.

[Enthy]

You guys should check out my thread and post your ideas for an ideal market system.^^

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...l-Trade-System