We need an AH

[Jinko]

I do appreciate the snarkyness of your comment but seriously this isn't some recent issue that suddenly popped up.

This has been a major issue throughout the lifespan of the entire game even before these forums were formed people were asking for it and leaving because the lack of an AH or SE's failure to even promise one.

Those players will not be coming back no matter how they kick the dead horse that is the MW-system.
Those players were not asking for star marked retainers nor weeks devoted for ward loading issues nor ward decoration upgrades.

A lot of players just want an AH that's all there is to it.

Personally I don't understand how SE doesn't see that including this feature would be a great marketing asset as the lack of an AH was mentioned in nearly every review when XIV was released.

Oh I totally agree with you, it reminds me of asking your parents for something as a child only to get something completely different than you wanted.

At some point they will have to aknowledge the marketwards just aren't going to work, especially when you think about the PS3 launch, some info tomorrow would be nice but im not guna hold my breath.

[Denmo]

The wards are a mess, to be sure. IMO, those that say otherwise are just used to it.

When I invited a friend to join the game, he wanted to buy a shield. I said, "Well, you can either buy one from an NPC, find the material to craft one, or check the Market Wards for it."

So he checks the wards. Much to his frustration, the battlecraft ward is chock full of standing statues, who take about 30 seconds to load. If he moves away from them, they all disappear and another set of statues surrounds him in about 30 seconds.

I tell him to use the search item feature. "Where is that?" It's at the... door. You go to the door and select from the menu. It should say "Item Search Feature"

"How do I use it?" You find the item under the category of ward that it'd be in

"How do I know where it should be?" .... You guess? Uhhh, well, battlecraft is for equipment, so shield would be in there.

"What do I do then?"

and so on and so on, until he got so frustrated with it that he just gave up and I had to buy a shield for him.

He stopped playing the game shortly after (not just because of the wards, but it was a big factor).


It's anything BUT simple. Market wards has combined bazaars, mog houses, and auction house into this giant mess of a shopping system. It doesn't even make sense.

Why am I storing my items in an NPC that just stands among 500 other NPCs all day? This doesn't make any sense, I should be storing it in a place that's safe, like a home.

Why would anyone stand around for 24/7 only to sell 10 items at a time while storing 200 others for a person that rarely visits?

Doesn't it stink in the wards after a while?

With the item search feature, we've cut out just about all the need for having a physical market wards, except for the walking to the NPC and buying it. Why stop there? Why not just buy straight from the Item Search menu list? What good is it doing me to have to sift through hoards of loading times just for one item? I'm almost never interested in whatever else the person is selling. Why browse through all the NPCs in a given ward if I can just use the item search feature to find the best price/best item immediately?

It's a huge conflict of interest. If SE isn't going to give us an Auction House, then I say please let us just buy from the item search feature, and manage our retainers via a Mog House of sorts. Do away with these sluggish, problematic, buggy wards.


My dream of an improved Market Ward system.... (moved to a new topic so as not to derail AH discussion)

[Ava]

The wards are a mess, to be sure. IMO, those that say otherwise are just used to it.

When I invited a friend to join the game, he wanted to buy a shield. I said, "Well, you can either buy one from an NPC, find the material to craft one, or check the Market Wards for it."

So he checks the wards. Much to his frustration, the battlecraft ward is chock full of standing statues, who take about 30 seconds to load. If he moves away from them, they all disappear and another set of statues surrounds him in about 30 seconds.

I tell him to use the search item feature. "Where is that?" It's at the... door. You go to the door and select from the menu. It should say "Item Search Feature"

"How do I use it?" You find the item under the category of ward that it'd be in

"How do I know where it should be?" .... You guess? Uhhh, well, battlecraft is for equipment, so shield would be in there.

"What do I do then?"

and so on and so on, until he got so frustrated with it that he just gave up and I had to buy a shield for him.

He stopped playing the game shortly after (not just because of the wards, but it was a big factor).


It's anything BUT simple. Market wards has combined bazaars, mog houses, and auction house into this giant mess of a shopping system. It doesn't even make sense.

Why am I storing my items in an NPC that just stands among 500 other NPCs all day? This doesn't make any sense, I should be storing it in a place that's safe, like a home.

Why would anyone stand around for 24/7 only to sell 10 items at a time while storing 200 others for a person that rarely visits?

Doesn't it stink in the wards after a while?

With the item search feature, we've cut out just about all the need for having a physical market wards, except for the walking to the NPC and buying it. Why stop there? Why not just buy straight from the Item Search menu list? What good is it doing me to have to sift through hoards of loading times just for one item? I'm almost never interested in whatever else the person is selling. Why browse through all the NPCs in a given ward if I can just use the item search feature to find the best price/best item immediately?

It's a huge conflict of interest. If SE isn't going to give us an Auction House, then I say please let us just buy from the item search feature, and manage our retainers via a Mog House of sorts. Do away with these sluggish, problematic, buggy wards.


My dream of an improved Market Ward system.... (moved to a new topic so as not to derail AH discussion)

I could not upvote your post enough even if it let you repeatedly hit 'Like'. I have run into this situation MANY times with many people I've tried introducing to the game, and 99% of the time they end up quitting. When you have to explain such basic and simple tasks to a new player, then there is something wrong with the design. Regardless of what people like or don't like, the system is atrociously designed and is not user-friendly in the slightest.

[Seif]

I think you hit the nail on the head with that description.

It's just shockingly bad for any new player and also completely not worth the effort for old players.

I've been playing since alpha and to this day I haven't ever used the market system to sell anything at all just because it's too much trouble.

Trouble I don't mind in a game if it involves gameplay but setting up an item for sale or buying it is not gameplay. It's inventory management at best and at it's worst it's just hell of an UI and zoning struggle for one of the most common actions in MMO's that should work as a cornerstone for the community and economy.

As it is the lack of an AH is holding this game back for being given a second chance by most players who left and if the PS3 version is released without one it would be foolish to think every reviewer won't revisit this issue AND remind the readers that SE has turned a blind eye to this problem for over one year. It's inexcusable.

To those who say they don't care about the reviews or players who don't like fiddling with the MW mess: YOU yes YOU and let's face it SE and all of us absolutely need new and old players to this game or it will not survive.
This need is much more important than your like for the bazaar system.

Also XI had a bazaar too. Why in the world do you think this game can't hold 2 systems like XI did and if so why on earth would you ever choose the option that is less used in XI? If it's not used by the majority of all players it doesn't really matter if you specifically have a fondness for this broken system that now has failed to capture the masses.

[MynxLynx]

*Half year old thread but still relevant*

I would just like some way to see who is selling what and for how much in all three markets without porting around the world. Let's face it, many people don't try selling in Limsa or Gridania because the majority of the population is in Uldah. Only so many retainers can fit in a ward at one time, and Uldah's wards are almost always packed. Even with the upcoming change that boots them every so often, they will still be full. Nine times out of ten when I try to summon a retainer in Uldah's wards I get the message stating no more retainers can be summoned. Players who are out of anima, who won't pay the gil to travel by airship, or won't take the time to travel to the other cities are not seeing retainers who might have what they want at a better price. My prices might be better than those in Uldah market wards but items still sit on my retainers for weeks, sometimes not selling at all.

I say give a world wide market ward search option, and let the players decide if they want to travel to another city to buy, instead of only being able to see what is for sale by traveling to that other city and possibly not finding what they want, making them less likely to look there again.

[Kio]

I'd rather have an auction house similar to ffxi. I do not like anything about market wards.

[Blarp]

Give me EVE's market system and economy. Oh, but then RMT might take advantage. Taking advantage of the market is a legitimate playstyle in EVE, but SE is so caught up on arbitrary restrictions that will never happen here.

Isn't that their excuse for a lot of things being the way they are? Players shouldn't be punished because gold sellers exist. For awhile, they seemed so worried about RMT that they forgot that players exist and players want to have all the things modern MMO's have today... like a freaking mailbox and auction house.

[zaviermhigo]

The only thing we need is some system that sells stuff that shows us what has materia, and if its NQ or HQ. If an AH or a MW can't do that, eff them both. If one of them can lets get it. I'm tired of not being able to see HQ's, the item search not having them was an extra stab in my heart. Materia will probably mentally assault me when I have to item search for it. :/ They're going to turn me into a melancholy Shakespeare character :/ Oh well, lets just hope someday we'll have an item search that effing rocks for stuff like this.

[CapnBash]

If RMT's are such a big deal, then why don't they try to have a better method of finding them instead of using a server-side UI and and a MW. I mean, RMT's still exist in this game even with all of the "deterrents". At least on my server they do. The answer? They can't.

[Ava]

If RMT's are such a big deal, then why don't they try to have a better method of finding them instead of using a server-side UI and and a MW. I mean, RMT's still exist in this game even with all of the "deterrents". At least on my server they do. The answer? They can't.

Square has yet to realize you can't pre-emptively stop RMT without ruining part of the gaming experience for the legitimate players. The best way to stop RMT is to make it easy for people to report them and have a strong force of GMs that actively, and promptly ban repeated offenders. Other developers have already learned this; Square on the other hand, hasn't. =/