Quote Originally Posted by Hobo View Post
I just don't understand what's stopping them from letting you purchase from the point where you can view all retainers listing that item and price. And what's stopping them from moving that feature to a more convenient location? I logged in a few days ago to notice I had to travel to Ul'dah to find anything in the wards since it seemed most of the population moved there.
It's so they don't have to admit wasting so many hours of work over a feature they will render obsolete with an auction house. And anyway, the market wards are only sparsely populated in other regions because of the low player population. People flock to Uldah because the population is too low to warrant people having their retainers in LL and Grid.

Even if they implemented an auction house, I am quite sure SE wouldn't make it global. Like FFXI, SE would likely keep the auction houses restricted to each city.