[Eorzea]

The "Market Ward" system is really starting to wear on me. Even with the separate districts it remains difficult to find what you're after. And even after they implement the search feature players will still be inconvenienced by having to hunt down the actual retainer to purchase the item they're after. Should they need to purchase 10 items, for example, that's likely 10 different retainers that will need finding.

Also, seeing as something like half of the districts are rarely even used, most people put their retainers in the same few districts. This makes load times quite poor.

I hope the new FFXIV team realizes the benefits of reverting to a more traditional auction house. They don't have the scrap the market wards completely, but using them as the centerpiece of the economy is only going to stress people further.

[Konoka]

Agreed 100%

Aside from the planned search feature, I can only think of 2 things they could really do to improve the wards. One is to allow multiple retainers per character. Right now you can only sell in 1 ward, but are likely selling items that belong in 3-4 different wards. So, since its impossible for sellers to do it right, and gil/tax is a non-issue (for most I've talked to anyway), everybody just sticks their retainer in the easiest-to-get-to wards.

2nd, there are far too many wards, and the names are too confusing. Weaver and Tailor's Den sound like the same thing to me, but they aren't. And what exactly is the Chirurgeon's Den for? Only way to know is to go there. Basically only the lucky will find their target inside of 30 min., and only the most determined will search longer to find what they want.

An auction house is just better in every way. 1 location, and in less than a minute you can either find what you want, or know that you're not going to.

[Momotaru]

I was under the impression that the Market Wards were in place until the Auction House was established.. Was an eventual Auction system never confirmed?

Anyway, sounds like a mess.. I remember I always got a little excited every time I used the Auction House. I'm guessing that doesn't happen much when you have to browse the wares of hundreds of individuals.

[Inaaca]

The Auction House was only mentioned as a last resort if they weren't able to make the Market Wards work, I think. It was never confirmed as coming, as Tanaka stated several times they wanted to avoid going that route in favor of a decentralized system.

[Bloodangels]

Before they go away with the market wards system, sinces it already in game currently and would do very little actually changing. I want them to dissolve all these useless market wards and just make 1 very large market ward with numerous stalls all around the outside and center of the ward. Then at various points around the market ward have Npc's or Post-it boards that would be used as the market search feature. With the search they have a trail that will lead to the retainer carrying said item you are searching or as they do currently with leve's just put a yellowish circle the retainers position on the map/mini-map. Another option like they do with quest npc's they could just put a dot on your map as well as list the retainers name.

The Ah system would condense alot of the stuff we have in game but they would in essence have to go away from the retainers in order to do this and make a seperate whole area for you to store your retainer so you can still have access to it. In essence doubling the system they have in game now or remove the retainers all together and make a bank.

***Stole the Market Ward idea from the original Everquest so if you ever played that you know what i'm talking about***

This post has been edited by Bloodangels: Dec 13, 2010 - 12:56 PM

[Girseo]

Well, i played today a bit and the Market Wards are easier to use now than they were in de begining. You can search the item you want, see what is on sale and the diferent prices of each vendor, and of course where the vendors are alocated. You van even mark the vendors to spot them easily.
Great improvement IMO, I got some new shoes (I still had rank 1 ones ), some pants and a new weapon for my CON ^^

[Eorzea]

Yes, you're right, they are MUCH better and now very easy to use. A huge improvement.

What I don't like, however, is that it shows the 20 lowest prices for everything. People will always go for the lowest priced item, of course, which makes undercutting other people all too common. With the auction house in FFXI it was easier to profit IMO.

[Girseo]

Eorzea, on May 8, 2011 - 2:28 PM, said:

Yes, you're right, they are MUCH better and now very easy to use. A huge improvement.

What I don't like, however, is that it shows the 20 lowest prices for everything. People will always go for the lowest priced item, of course, which makes undercutting other people all too common. With the auction house in FFXI it was easier to profit IMO.

Yep you are right, an auction house would add some stability to the ingame economy also, not that sellers will ever stop lowing the prices if they wat to sell ^^. The problem i think, starts with the craft system (wich i'm not happy about). Simple recepies like for example a pair of shoes, you need way to much mats from other Hand/Land Disciplines, and even to make a simple pair of low rank shoes you may need nails, leather, wood or rubber soles and so on. It is just to much, that costs time and in consecuence of that, absurd prices for low lvl crafted gear are asked. I would understand if crafting would be this complex on higher lvls, from rank 30/40ish and so on, but adding such complexity to crafting for a rank 5 item, scares a lot of people away. Repairs from an NPC are costy and the item does not even get 100% repaired, in the end... loads of people spend more time on other (land/hand) disciplines than the ones they would like to get bussy with.
Oeps, i wrote more over crafting than over the Market Wards or the Auction House... <.<


edit: Oo i saw more quests beside the main quest line, so maybe... i'm /wining to much about the leveling part of battle disciplines <.< (is that also new?)

This post has been edited by Girseo: May 9, 2011 - 9:57 AM