We need an AH

[Ava]

So you'll be perfectly ok with them putting off much needed fixes and content additions to this game in order to scrap the MW and implement an Auction House? Both systems are similar, they'll be exactly the same when the MW gets a few more adjustments since the only thing the AH does over the MW is:

Buying from Search
Delivery.

That's it. We all know when people scream for an Auction House they're generally referring to the glorified Vendor version and not an actual auction house.

Wrong. If you want to sell a list of items you need either:

A) A darn good memory.
B) pen and paper
C) make multiple trips between your retainer and the ward zone

It is a PITA to sell anything with this system. So much of a pain, in fact, that most of the people I know just vendor all their crap because it's not worth the hassle of selling.

[Fouluryu]

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.

So you like using the wards where people purposely put up items as 999,999,999 & takes a long time to both look up and run to it? It's a waste of time and a major headache to everyone else.

[XxOstiaxX]

Nobody bids in wow, we just buy out, seriously bids are there as an option, i played wow for 5 years, never used bid once :/

Search item
buy out
pick it 2 steps from AH
profit

AH >>> MW

[Seirra_Lanzce]

Nobody bids in wow, we just buy out, seriously bids are there as an option, i played wow for 5 years, never used bid once :/

Search item
buy out
pick it 2 steps from AH
profit

AH >>> MW

i stil bid in wow, because is cheaper.. ~_~" im so poor in there.. haah

[Seif]

I'll say it again: out of all the bikini and water texture requests the need for an AH wins in popularity even if all other requests were combined.

Why can't SE address this?

I don't want to see another trivial crafting recipe being tweaked before they address the big issue head on.

There is no point to craft anything if the economy is broken.

[Alaltus]

My vote goes toooooo.... the retainer reference system. Its the retainer system without having to see a few hundred retainers huddled together in a little room.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...e-Market-Wards.

[Jinko]

I once through we needed an AH, not so sure now though.

I think they just need to allow players to access the market ward counter via their retainers, both to check prices and to buy items.

What I would much prefer eventually is to move all retainers to players housing and network them so they can buy and sell from one another via a search menu.

[neizero]

Lol at making WoW's AH seem like more of a hassle than FFXIV's Market Wards. That is someone you just don't bother to argue with.

must quote for truth

[Sephr]

must quote for truth

I know, I actually laughed out loud when I saw Cair's desperate attempt to make the AH system seem like any kind of hassle compared to the horrendous ward setup we have.

I had a friend play a bit of XIV with me a while back, it was all going relatively well (he didn't like a lot of things as we all do, but was happy to overlook them for the character and relatively interesting world the game has) until we got to the wards. He was baffled by how awful it was when all he wanted to do was replace his sword. That pretty much killed it, although he said he'd give the game another try when they sort it out.

I don't think he's alone in that kind of mentality, it just drains the fun out of the game because instead of doing things you'd like to you have to go round dark little rooms looking for NPCs to buy from.

[Invalice_Vangaurd]

I'm sorry, but some of these pro-market ward comments are so sort-sighted. You're taking a few aspects into consideration, exaggerating them, and ignoring the rest. The market wards, as they are now, are a pain for anyone who searches for different items several times a day, buys lots of different items at once, buys items in bulk, etc. Maybe if you only need to buy one item at a time, every so often, then the wards are sufficient, but anyone who crafts a lot, and does a lot of buying & selling, does not simply go buy one item every now and then. I spend hours upon hours in the wards every week.

There's too much running involved, there's too many slow menu screens to click through, there's no quick search function, there's no way to differentiate HQ items from NQ items, there's always a shortage of space for retainers (at least on my server), and there is no price history, thus items become over priced and don't sell because some people aren't aware of the going rate.

I cannot think of a single aspect of the market ward system that works better than a decent auction house system, besides maybe having an unlimited amount of time to sell items.

However, I do agree there are more important issues for the devs to focus on, but for those who act like the wards are somehow better than a good auction house system, either you are someone who is not very involved in the game's economy (i.e. lots of crafting, gathering, buying, selling), or you are unaware, or possibly just ignoring, the reality of the situation, for whatever reason(s).