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.

[Dreamer]

What is it about "AH NOW!" that you don't get? People want an AH that is the suggestion there's zero reason to "brainstorm" the issue.

If you've read this thread then you know that about 50% of us DON'T want an AH. I agree with pretty much everything Cairdeas has said on the matter. Personally, I hope they scrap the AH idea completely after they finish whatever "looking into" entails on the roadmap. With the current system, it would simply be unnecessary and redundant.

[Mack]

You don't seem to get the fact that because there are subjective reasons for liking the MWs as is, you cannot make the claim that it is objectively better. Objectively better means that your idea is better in all ways for everyone... which it is not.

Well neither are the wards really so this point is moot...but I'm not surprised because most people will blindly defend something they like without looking at the others merits (this includes me as we're all guilty of it, its just starting to get annoying watching the merry go round).

[Kallera]

If you've read this thread then you know that about 50% of us DON'T want an AH. I agree with pretty much everything Cairdeas has said on the matter. Personally, I hope they scrap the AH idea completely after they finish whatever "looking into" entails on the roadmap. With the current system, it would simply be unnecessary and redundant.

I shall tip the scales for you!, put me in the "don't want an ah" crowd! The market wards, I find are just peachy. The retainers may need a little organizing, but its quite usable (and improvable)as it is!

[Vackashken]

If you've read this thread then you know that about 50% of us DON'T want an AH. I agree with pretty much everything Cairdeas has said on the matter. Personally, I hope they scrap the AH idea completely after they finish whatever "looking into" entails on the roadmap. With the current system, it would simply be unnecessary and redundant.

LOl at the arbitrary number. If it was only "50%" they wouldnt be thinking about implementing it.

[Elexia]

LOl at the arbitrary number. If it was only "50%" they wouldnt be thinking about implementing it.

Yet Yoshida already explained poll results are only a consideration and not deciding factor, AH want was actually far less of a want than other important things.

[Vackashken]

Yet Yoshida already explained poll results are only a consideration and not deciding factor, AH want was actually far less of a want than other important things.

Uh huh, lol.

[RinL]

WoW
Go to Auction House.
Filter through items you want. See that everything in your level is posted for prices that are way above your characters possible gold at your level.
Find one that is decent. Bid on it.
Wait 2 days. Lose Bid.
Look again
Find new item. Bid.
wait 4 hours. Win Bid.
Wait hour for item to deliver to mail box.
Find mailbox to pick it up.


Auctions Fail. The only difference between the Marketward and an Auction house is the marketward has no Auction. Blind or Timed.

Now for WoW they do have a buy it now but guess what.

Search for item
Buy It Now
Go to Mailbox
Pick up Item

YOU STILL HAVE TO GO PICK UP THE ITEM.

Hey,

So Ill start this off by saying that I did not get into FF11 back in the day, and that I have not had a huge amount of dealings with the current FF14 retainer system. I have purchased and sold items, but never really felt engaged enough to try and play the market and make money like I do in other games.

I did play wow for quite some time though, so I wanted to comment on your post. First of all, in all my dealings I noticed that players rarely used the bid feature. Its nice to have, yes, but most of your purchases on that game are done through the buyout option. This allows an instant purchase, and after all your shopping is done you can go ahead and stop by your mailbox to pick up your items.

In your example you seem to try and liken the amount of steps needed with the retainer system to the amount of steps needed with wows auction system. From what I have seen though, the retainer system is a bit more clunky than the AH found in wow.

My experience went like this in wow.

Search AH for items by entering in the name of the item I want.
Buying out the items I want. Again, most players will use the buyout option instead of the bid option, so there is no wait.
Visit mailbox to take items.

With FF14 my experience is a bit similar, but much slower.

Search wards for desired item.
Enter ward and pick through the many retainers in the different wards to find the items you want at the lowest price.
Return to search counter to repeat the process for any other types of items you want.

Now, Ill agree that the market system is fine. It is just more of a hassle to use, especially when the retainers decide to load up bit by bit in the overcrowded wards in Uld'ah. That may be a computer setting or weakness on my end, but it is still something that affects others as well im sure.

Could it be improved? Sure! Honestly, since they already have a search feature I dont know why they dont just scrap the need to go to the wards and implement a delivery system. Purchase items from the search screen, and have them delivered to your mog house or mailbox or whatever they want to use. I dont mean for this to turn into a suggestion post though, just wanted to comment on what you said.

Overall I think its unfair though to say that wow's AH system is the same as FF14's retainer system, because its not. Its not even a personal opinion, the AH / mail system is much easier / less clunky than the current retainer system.

Anyhow, hope this post pulls itself together >.> in a bit of a rush, so im sorry if my thoughts seem jumbled. I just wanted to comment on that little bit! Hope to hear yalls thoughts on this point of view!

Thanks!

[Evangela]

No we do not.

Current Marketward Transaction

Enter wards
Search for Item
Find Seller
Go to ward
Pick up Item

The quickest you can do it is approximately 30 seconds. The longest I've ever searched for a specific item is less then 2 minutes.


FFXI > Blind Auction
Run to AH
Search through item lists for item you want
Find item you want (100 Listed)
Check Item History
Bid for item 10% lower then item history:
wait 5 seconds
Fail
Bid for Item 5% lower then item history:
wait 5 seconds
Fail
Bid for item same as last item History:
wait 5 seconds
fail
Re-check Item History, Recent item has been sold since last checked. 15% more then one before it.
Bid for item same price as new last one sold :
wait 5 seconds
Fail
Bid for item 5% more then last one sold:
wait 5 seconds
Success, Item delivered to inventory.


WoW
Go to Auction House.
Filter through items you want. See that everything in your level is posted for prices that are way above your characters possible gold at your level.
Find one that is decent. Bid on it.
Wait 2 days. Lose Bid.
Look again
Find new item. Bid.
wait 4 hours. Win Bid.
Wait hour for item to deliver to mail box.
Find mailbox to pick it up.


Auctions Fail. The only difference between the Marketward and an Auction house is the marketward has no Auction. Blind or Timed.

Now for WoW they do have a buy it now but guess what.

Search for item
Buy It Now
Go to Mailbox
Pick up Item

YOU STILL HAVE TO GO PICK UP THE ITEM.

Not true....


Current Marketward Transaction

Search for Item
Find Seller
Enter wards
=== Loading! (do not forget this step) ===
Find NPC
=== Running across the ward if you start in the bad spot ===
Pick up Item (via the friggin slow UI)


AH

Search for Item
Buy It
Grab it from Mailbox

[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 =)