What the Hell is all the different trading guilds? It should be all one spot to trade everything lik

Twohothardware · September 3

kargen27 wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

xilfxlegion wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

The guild trader system we have now is nothing more than a large gold sink and it’s the same handful of guilds that control the prime trader locations.

A central auction house would work much better for the general player base. It would eliminate the running around searching dozens of traders to locate an item or compare prices, everything would be priced more competitively, your items would sell much faster, and no more weekly guild fees.

show us any sort of proof that the market is controlled by a handful of guilds.

even in the prime trading spots guilds lose their bids often and other guilds are in place.

and a central auction house would have the opposite effect - there would be no competition because central auction houses are easy to control if you have enough gold.

On PlayStation it's the same handful of guilds every week that take the trader locations in Deshaan which is the #1 spot followed by Grahtwood and Stormhaven. Those guilds do not lose their bids often. That's why those guilds are able to charge weekly dues of like 25,000 gold.

And what are you talking about no competition in a central auction house? If someone with a bunch of gold wants to buy up an item to list it for a higher price they can do that right now.

How is someone going to visit over 200 locations to buy up enough of one item that they will be able to control price?

The same way they're going to spend all day buying up one item from the entire player base listing it in a central auction house. Controlling the price of rare items in the current guild trader system we have now is actually easier than in a central auction house where you have infinitely more eyes on what's being listed for sale.

Okay explain how having to visit 200 different locations is easier than visiting one. You can't just visit them all once and be done. You have to monitor all 200 locations to catch any new item posted. With one location two or three people can sit on the market 24/7 and as soon as an item is listed grab it. If they aren't first to get it that is okay it is still gone. After several days of grabbing everything they can they list two or three at an extremely high price. If those sell great but that isn't really expected of the first items posted.
The idea is post three or so at the really high price then post one or two say 10% less than that really high price. Players only have the really high price to compare to so they see what they think is a bargain. When those sell list two more while still looking for anybody listing something that undercuts your price. Easy to do in one location and has been done many times.

Can't happen with over 200 locations to visit. No way a few people can monitor that many traders around the clock.

On PC there is an addon to search for items across all guild traders.

But even without that addon you don't need to monitor 200 locations to drive up the price on an item because the majority of players in the game aren't going to 200 different guild traders to try and find the best price on an item. They're going to check the traders primarily in the capital cities where everyone goes. A rare item being listed in some off the beat trader in Shadowfen has no effect on the average price of the item being sold in Deshaan.

More importantly though, noone cares about the trading in this game enough at this point to try and price fix items so this whole debate is pointless.

A central auction house would work just fine in ESO.

thorwyn · September 3

I don't know if this has been mentioned before in this thread.. I cba to read through 6 pages of nonsen well thought out contributions, but:
Regardless what side you are on or what other system you are proposing, if you can not come up us with a system that takes hundreds of millions of gold out of the system each week, your ideas are pointless. The economy in ESO is remarkably stable for a 10 year old game and gold sinks are a key element to ensure it remainds more or less intact.

Pevey · September 3

The inflation of the last few years and the ongoing market correction have made a lot of people upset. The system in place didn’t prevent the instability. We can only speculate whether the system contributed, or if it could have been worse. We will all have our opinions, and they can never be tested. Any system can be set up to function as a gold sink.

I also hope ZOS will look into tracing the origins of the huge sums of gold that are sunk weekly in the guild trader bids the same way they recently traced RMT gold to carries. As far as I can see, there are only 3 potential reasons someone might be tempted to buy gold in ESO:

- You are a very new player, still getting established
- You feel the need to buy carries
- Guild trader bids

They traced the way gold for carry runs was being laundered. It would be harder to trace guild trader bids because gold gets moved around all the time in large sums for raffles and auctions. But let’s just say I have suspicions.

Northwold · September 3

kargen27 wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

xilfxlegion wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

The guild trader system we have now is nothing more than a large gold sink and it’s the same handful of guilds that control the prime trader locations.

A central auction house would work much better for the general player base. It would eliminate the running around searching dozens of traders to locate an item or compare prices, everything would be priced more competitively, your items would sell much faster, and no more weekly guild fees.

show us any sort of proof that the market is controlled by a handful of guilds.

even in the prime trading spots guilds lose their bids often and other guilds are in place.

and a central auction house would have the opposite effect - there would be no competition because central auction houses are easy to control if you have enough gold.

On PlayStation it's the same handful of guilds every week that take the trader locations in Deshaan which is the #1 spot followed by Grahtwood and Stormhaven. Those guilds do not lose their bids often. That's why those guilds are able to charge weekly dues of like 25,000 gold.

And what are you talking about no competition in a central auction house? If someone with a bunch of gold wants to buy up an item to list it for a higher price they can do that right now.

How is someone going to visit over 200 locations to buy up enough of one item that they will be able to control price?

They don't need to.

To quote @katanagirl1:

"I can get a price check in about 5 minutes for items to sell and I have 4-5 different categories of items I search for regularly to buy and can hit all the capital traders in Elden Root, Wayrest, Mournhold, Alinor, Rimmen, Leyawiin, and Vivec City in under an hour."

"[...]"

" As for finding an item, if it isn’t in those locations listed above, it’s not likely to be anywhere else."

This is the effect of the guild trader system. The market that matters, the market people actually use, is made up of a fraction of the number of guild traders actually in the game. Even when people are willing to devote an hour to the exercise.

Northwold · September 3

I_killed_Vivec wrote: »

Pevey wrote: »

ESO_player123 wrote: »

Pevey wrote: »

ESO_player123 wrote: »

Pevey wrote: »

ESO_player123 wrote: »

Again, I'm not defending the practice (and I'm not a member of any guild), but it seems that it's a lot of effort/money to support a trading guild and get a trader.

That's very much the point. It's the system itself that is terrible. There needs to be an alternative way to sell. Many people see this as "auction house vs guild traders," but that doesn't have to be the case. You can think the guild trader system is totally bonkers (I do) without necessarily thinking an auction house is the way to go. There are other ways to improve the system to provide alternative ways to sell.

What those ways would be? Do you have any suggestions?

Yes, I listed some in this thread.

I read your suggestion about unlocking trading locations in various places through questing. It might have been an interesting trading system for a new game. But for a 10 year old game removing the guild trading and making everyone start questing just to be able to sell items again does not make much sense.

There would be no need to remove the guild traders.

People always try to derail criticism of the system into “it’s too late in the game to kill guild traders” or “AH is bad.” The whole point is that there are ways to improve the system to make is much more useful and palatable to a large section of ESO players who hate the guild trader system. Reading comprehension helps.

A bit disingenuous... if any proposed alternative system really would satisfy the "trading wishes of the masses" then wouldn't it be responsible for the demise of guild traders?

I think we need to be careful with arguments like this. If the only reason guilds are attractive is that ZOS has forced players to join them to be able to access the player economy (a system that many MMO players see as a back end system, NOT a minigame), then that rather suggests a deficiency in gameplay design.

If guilds are not attractive for anything else, then the answer is not to keep trading hooked to them, but to fix that.

Meanwhile, there are compromises that allow guild traders to endure while still providing players who have no desire to use them access to trading. You achieve this by sufficiently hobbling the alternatives that they are never more attractive in terms of their selling conditions than guild traders themselves.

If, despite such onerous conditions, people STILL abandoned the guild traders en masse, well.... That would rather suggest that a lot more players than claimed in these parts never enjoyed or wanted the guild trader system in the first place.

xilfxlegion · September 3

Twohothardware wrote: »

xilfxlegion wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

The guild trader system we have now is nothing more than a large gold sink and it’s the same handful of guilds that control the prime trader locations.

A central auction house would work much better for the general player base. It would eliminate the running around searching dozens of traders to locate an item or compare prices, everything would be priced more competitively, your items would sell much faster, and no more weekly guild fees.

show us any sort of proof that the market is controlled by a handful of guilds.

even in the prime trading spots guilds lose their bids often and other guilds are in place.

and a central auction house would have the opposite effect - there would be no competition because central auction houses are easy to control if you have enough gold.

On PlayStation it's the same handful of guilds every week that take the trader locations in Deshaan which is the #1 spot followed by Grahtwood and Stormhaven. Those guilds do not lose their bids often. That's why those guilds are able to charge weekly dues of like 25,000 gold.

And what are you talking about no competition in a central auction house? If someone with a bunch of gold wants to buy up an item to list it for a higher price they can do that right now.

if someone wanted to buy up all of an item right now they would have to go to over 200 guild traders to do it. if there was an auction house they could do it at one place.

joshisanonymous · September 3

No thank you. I can't stand single market auction houses in any MMO. All they do is drive prices to the ground, ruining any chance of profiting from gathering and crafting.

katanagirl1 · September 3

Northwold wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

xilfxlegion wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

The guild trader system we have now is nothing more than a large gold sink and it’s the same handful of guilds that control the prime trader locations.

A central auction house would work much better for the general player base. It would eliminate the running around searching dozens of traders to locate an item or compare prices, everything would be priced more competitively, your items would sell much faster, and no more weekly guild fees.

show us any sort of proof that the market is controlled by a handful of guilds.

even in the prime trading spots guilds lose their bids often and other guilds are in place.

and a central auction house would have the opposite effect - there would be no competition because central auction houses are easy to control if you have enough gold.

On PlayStation it's the same handful of guilds every week that take the trader locations in Deshaan which is the #1 spot followed by Grahtwood and Stormhaven. Those guilds do not lose their bids often. That's why those guilds are able to charge weekly dues of like 25,000 gold.

And what are you talking about no competition in a central auction house? If someone with a bunch of gold wants to buy up an item to list it for a higher price they can do that right now.

How is someone going to visit over 200 locations to buy up enough of one item that they will be able to control price?

They don't need to.

To quote @katanagirl1:

"I can get a price check in about 5 minutes for items to sell and I have 4-5 different categories of items I search for regularly to buy and can hit all the capital traders in Elden Root, Wayrest, Mournhold, Alinor, Rimmen, Leyawiin, and Vivec City in under an hour."

"[...]"

" As for finding an item, if it isn’t in those locations listed above, it’s not likely to be anywhere else."

This is the effect of the guild trader system. The market that matters, the market people actually use, is made up of a fraction of the number of guild traders actually in the game. Even when people are willing to devote an hour to the exercise.

You can sell in locations other than the prime capital traders but the volume will be less and the sales will take longer. That is why players will pay dues to get those locations. There will be a few players that visit those out of the way locations when they happen to be in the area but will not make a trip there unless they have exhausted the easy to reach hubs.

As a buyer and a seller I want to maximize my sales and minimize my time spent shopping for items so this works for me.

Necrotech_Master · September 3

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

shadyjane62 wrote: »

[snip]

Do the right thing and give us a centralized place, like maybe an Auction House to straighten things out.

[edited for baiting]

an auction house will make prices go even more out of control than before

its like nobody here has played any game with a central auction house and seen the flippers and monopolies in full force

those markets absolutely suck to try to buy from

This is asserted over and over with NO EVIDENCE! A central market has pros and cons, but at least you can find things and know what they can sell for. But we don't even have that information in another format with the guild trader system.

Imagine buying your groceries and clothes using the guild trader model in real life. It would be much more costly! Why would someone think that prices are kept down in a game in the same type of model?

its called personal experience, eso is not the first mmo ive played

ive played at least half a dozen other mmos, most of which have a central auction house, and any of the ones that existed for a long period of time (5+ years) all of the prices on the auction house are outrageous, but i would always profit off of it because they would clearly list out "last 5 sales" and list like 1% less than the lowest of the 5 sales, and i would make so much money because the prices were so high

i never once considered buying anything because the prices were ridiculous and absolutely not new player friendly

yes, i agree a central market has pros and cons, and one of the major cons is flippers and monopolies buying out an entire stock of an item, and then relisting it for 5x as much, but because its the only ones now listed, everyone just pays the new prices

it doesnt happen on every item, or all of the time, but a central market makes it 1000x easier to do than what we have

does it make it easier to find items? sure, but now your on avg paying 10-100x higher prices than you would in a system like we have now because you dont know if you picked the day to buy something when a flipper wanted to corner the market on a certain item

joshisanonymous · September 3

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Name 1 MMO that has the primary/base feature of "run from trader to trader for great gameplay. I bet you can't name one, at least one that truly fits.

Some MMOs that don't have a central auction house by design: Dark Age of Camelot, Ragnarok Online, Eve Online, Ultima Online, Albion Online, Mortal Online 2, Darkfall Online.

Others started without global traders and changed later (e.g., Final Fantasy XI, New World).

Sandbox-y indie MMOs sometimes don't have global auction houses: Fractured Online, Ravendawn (I think).

It's not the norm, for sure, but it's not at all unheard of, especially in sandbox games where market competition and transporting products is very much an intended area of gameplay.

I_killed_Vivec · September 3

Northwold wrote: »

I think we need to be careful with arguments like this. If the only reason guilds are attractive is that ZOS has forced players to join them to be able to access the player economy (a system that many MMO players see as a back end system, NOT a minigame), then that rather suggests a deficiency in gameplay design.

If guilds are not attractive for anything else, then the answer is not to keep trading hooked to them, but to fix that.

Meanwhile, there are compromises that allow guild traders to endure while still providing players who have no desire to use them access to trading. You achieve this by sufficiently hobbling the alternatives that they are never more attractive in terms of their selling conditions than guild traders themselves.

If, despite such onerous conditions, people STILL abandoned the guild traders en masse, well.... That would rather suggest that a lot more players than claimed in these parts never enjoyed or wanted the guild trader system in the first place.

We need to be careful reading the argument. I said that if a "superior" trading mechanism were introduced then it would inevitably affect guild traders.

Guild traders. Those people who very much do see trading as a minigame.

But not all guilds. (I don't know if any guilds exist that aren't attractive for anything else but if there are I'd be interested in hearing your "fix" for this.)

Guilds are not the only entry to the eso economy. Sell in chat! Sell to vendors! Sell to friends! Sell to guild mates without using a trader! There are already alternatives, just not to your liking?

So what is this magic alternative to guild traders that will appease all those unhappy with the various issues with the current system, while being "hobbled" to ensure that it is never preferable to the current system?

And also matches the gold sink provided by the competitive bidding for guild trader locations.

Northwold · September 3

I_killed_Vivec wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

I think we need to be careful with arguments like this. If the only reason guilds are attractive is that ZOS has forced players to join them to be able to access the player economy (a system that many MMO players see as a back end system, NOT a minigame), then that rather suggests a deficiency in gameplay design.

If guilds are not attractive for anything else, then the answer is not to keep trading hooked to them, but to fix that.

Meanwhile, there are compromises that allow guild traders to endure while still providing players who have no desire to use them access to trading. You achieve this by sufficiently hobbling the alternatives that they are never more attractive in terms of their selling conditions than guild traders themselves.

If, despite such onerous conditions, people STILL abandoned the guild traders en masse, well.... That would rather suggest that a lot more players than claimed in these parts never enjoyed or wanted the guild trader system in the first place.

So what is this magic alternative to guild traders that will appease all those unhappy with the various issues with the current system, while being "hobbled" to ensure that it is never preferable to the current system?

And also matches the gold sink provided by the competitive bidding for guild trader locations.

If you scroll up, alternatives have been suggested already. I'm guessing most people don't want the proposals to be repeated every single time!

Let me see if I can link to where I talk about it, at least. In this thread see also Pevey and likely others. In previous threads there have been a good few compromise proposals.

Edit: Not sure if this will link or just provide a blank quote:

Northwold wrote: »

TaSheen · September 3

Northwold wrote: »

I_killed_Vivec wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

I think we need to be careful with arguments like this. If the only reason guilds are attractive is that ZOS has forced players to join them to be able to access the player economy (a system that many MMO players see as a back end system, NOT a minigame), then that rather suggests a deficiency in gameplay design.

If guilds are not attractive for anything else, then the answer is not to keep trading hooked to them, but to fix that.

Meanwhile, there are compromises that allow guild traders to endure while still providing players who have no desire to use them access to trading. You achieve this by sufficiently hobbling the alternatives that they are never more attractive in terms of their selling conditions than guild traders themselves.

If, despite such onerous conditions, people STILL abandoned the guild traders en masse, well.... That would rather suggest that a lot more players than claimed in these parts never enjoyed or wanted the guild trader system in the first place.

So what is this magic alternative to guild traders that will appease all those unhappy with the various issues with the current system, while being "hobbled" to ensure that it is never preferable to the current system?

And also matches the gold sink provided by the competitive bidding for guild trader locations.

If you scroll up, alternatives have been suggested already. I'm guessing most people don't want the proposals to be repeated every single time!

Let me see if I can link to where I talk about it, at least. In this thread see also Pevey and likely others. In previous threads there have been a good few compromise proposals.

Edit: Not sure if this will link or just provide a blank quote:

Northwold wrote: »

Clicking the double >> at the end takes you to the quote in question.

kargen27 · September 4

Twohothardware wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

xilfxlegion wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

The guild trader system we have now is nothing more than a large gold sink and it’s the same handful of guilds that control the prime trader locations.

A central auction house would work much better for the general player base. It would eliminate the running around searching dozens of traders to locate an item or compare prices, everything would be priced more competitively, your items would sell much faster, and no more weekly guild fees.

show us any sort of proof that the market is controlled by a handful of guilds.

even in the prime trading spots guilds lose their bids often and other guilds are in place.

and a central auction house would have the opposite effect - there would be no competition because central auction houses are easy to control if you have enough gold.

On PlayStation it's the same handful of guilds every week that take the trader locations in Deshaan which is the #1 spot followed by Grahtwood and Stormhaven. Those guilds do not lose their bids often. That's why those guilds are able to charge weekly dues of like 25,000 gold.

And what are you talking about no competition in a central auction house? If someone with a bunch of gold wants to buy up an item to list it for a higher price they can do that right now.

How is someone going to visit over 200 locations to buy up enough of one item that they will be able to control price?

The same way they're going to spend all day buying up one item from the entire player base listing it in a central auction house. Controlling the price of rare items in the current guild trader system we have now is actually easier than in a central auction house where you have infinitely more eyes on what's being listed for sale.

Okay explain how having to visit 200 different locations is easier than visiting one. You can't just visit them all once and be done. You have to monitor all 200 locations to catch any new item posted. With one location two or three people can sit on the market 24/7 and as soon as an item is listed grab it. If they aren't first to get it that is okay it is still gone. After several days of grabbing everything they can they list two or three at an extremely high price. If those sell great but that isn't really expected of the first items posted.
The idea is post three or so at the really high price then post one or two say 10% less than that really high price. Players only have the really high price to compare to so they see what they think is a bargain. When those sell list two more while still looking for anybody listing something that undercuts your price. Easy to do in one location and has been done many times.

Can't happen with over 200 locations to visit. No way a few people can monitor that many traders around the clock.

On PC there is an addon to search for items across all guild traders.

But even without that addon you don't need to monitor 200 locations to drive up the price on an item because the majority of players in the game aren't going to 200 different guild traders to try and find the best price on an item. They're going to check the traders primarily in the capital cities where everyone goes. A rare item being listed in some off the beat trader in Shadowfen has no effect on the average price of the item being sold in Deshaan.

More importantly though, noone cares about the trading in this game enough at this point to try and price fix items so this whole debate is pointless.

A central auction house would work just fine in ESO.

TTC is not a good reflection of current available items. The data is not live and is often outdated before posted. Also seems the rules are being changed. I said players can't control the prices in game and you responded they can control the prices in a few traders where most people go. Players deciding not to take full advantage of the trader system is a player issue not a game issue. We don't say players running vet content is somehow taking advantage of those that don't or are benefiting from hidden content because some players don't see that content.
We can also say items listed in Deshaan have no affect on the price of that item in Shadowfen.

kargen27 · September 4

Northwold wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

xilfxlegion wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

The guild trader system we have now is nothing more than a large gold sink and it’s the same handful of guilds that control the prime trader locations.

A central auction house would work much better for the general player base. It would eliminate the running around searching dozens of traders to locate an item or compare prices, everything would be priced more competitively, your items would sell much faster, and no more weekly guild fees.

show us any sort of proof that the market is controlled by a handful of guilds.

even in the prime trading spots guilds lose their bids often and other guilds are in place.

and a central auction house would have the opposite effect - there would be no competition because central auction houses are easy to control if you have enough gold.

On PlayStation it's the same handful of guilds every week that take the trader locations in Deshaan which is the #1 spot followed by Grahtwood and Stormhaven. Those guilds do not lose their bids often. That's why those guilds are able to charge weekly dues of like 25,000 gold.

And what are you talking about no competition in a central auction house? If someone with a bunch of gold wants to buy up an item to list it for a higher price they can do that right now.

How is someone going to visit over 200 locations to buy up enough of one item that they will be able to control price?

They don't need to.

To quote @katanagirl1:

"I can get a price check in about 5 minutes for items to sell and I have 4-5 different categories of items I search for regularly to buy and can hit all the capital traders in Elden Root, Wayrest, Mournhold, Alinor, Rimmen, Leyawiin, and Vivec City in under an hour."

"[...]"

" As for finding an item, if it isn’t in those locations listed above, it’s not likely to be anywhere else."

This is the effect of the guild trader system. The market that matters, the market people actually use, is made up of a fraction of the number of guild traders actually in the game. Even when people are willing to devote an hour to the exercise.

So she can visit maybe 36 traders in an hour. Then what happens in the next hour? To control prices she would need to hit all 36 for at least all the peak hours over several days. And even then some items will slip through. THe popular spots have a constant change of inventory. She will miss items at spots that are listed shortly after she did her last check. Bouncing around like that can be effective in finding bargain items to flip. Not a good strategy in trying to manipulate the economy. People who tried in the past were badly burned in this game.

Pevey · September 4

kargen27 wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

xilfxlegion wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

The guild trader system we have now is nothing more than a large gold sink and it’s the same handful of guilds that control the prime trader locations.

A central auction house would work much better for the general player base. It would eliminate the running around searching dozens of traders to locate an item or compare prices, everything would be priced more competitively, your items would sell much faster, and no more weekly guild fees.

show us any sort of proof that the market is controlled by a handful of guilds.

even in the prime trading spots guilds lose their bids often and other guilds are in place.

and a central auction house would have the opposite effect - there would be no competition because central auction houses are easy to control if you have enough gold.

On PlayStation it's the same handful of guilds every week that take the trader locations in Deshaan which is the #1 spot followed by Grahtwood and Stormhaven. Those guilds do not lose their bids often. That's why those guilds are able to charge weekly dues of like 25,000 gold.

And what are you talking about no competition in a central auction house? If someone with a bunch of gold wants to buy up an item to list it for a higher price they can do that right now.

How is someone going to visit over 200 locations to buy up enough of one item that they will be able to control price?

They don't need to.

To quote @katanagirl1:

"I can get a price check in about 5 minutes for items to sell and I have 4-5 different categories of items I search for regularly to buy and can hit all the capital traders in Elden Root, Wayrest, Mournhold, Alinor, Rimmen, Leyawiin, and Vivec City in under an hour."

"[...]"

" As for finding an item, if it isn’t in those locations listed above, it’s not likely to be anywhere else."

This is the effect of the guild trader system. The market that matters, the market people actually use, is made up of a fraction of the number of guild traders actually in the game. Even when people are willing to devote an hour to the exercise.

So she can visit maybe 36 traders in an hour. Then what happens in the next hour? To control prices she would need to hit all 36 for at least all the peak hours over several days. And even then some items will slip through. THe popular spots have a constant change of inventory. She will miss items at spots that are listed shortly after she did her last check. Bouncing around like that can be effective in finding bargain items to flip. Not a good strategy in trying to manipulate the economy. People who tried in the past were badly burned in this game.

It’s really not that difficult, and people do it all the time. For purple plans and recipes and other items that are not super rare but also not common, TTC is the way to go.

Even with items a little more common, like the more valuable style mats, it’s possible to visit traders efficiently to find and buy them all. I’m not sure where the 36 traders per hour estimate comes from, but that is way off on PC. With Awesome Guild Store and saved searches, you can visit every trader in the game barring outlaw traders in an hour.

Runswithtrees · September 4

I always thought markers for all guild traders viewable in the map would ease everyones frustration, you do some exploring and atleast you have an overview of ALL the guild traders.

kargen27 · September 4

Pevey wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Northwold wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

xilfxlegion wrote: »

Twohothardware wrote: »

The guild trader system we have now is nothing more than a large gold sink and it’s the same handful of guilds that control the prime trader locations.

A central auction house would work much better for the general player base. It would eliminate the running around searching dozens of traders to locate an item or compare prices, everything would be priced more competitively, your items would sell much faster, and no more weekly guild fees.

show us any sort of proof that the market is controlled by a handful of guilds.

even in the prime trading spots guilds lose their bids often and other guilds are in place.

and a central auction house would have the opposite effect - there would be no competition because central auction houses are easy to control if you have enough gold.

On PlayStation it's the same handful of guilds every week that take the trader locations in Deshaan which is the #1 spot followed by Grahtwood and Stormhaven. Those guilds do not lose their bids often. That's why those guilds are able to charge weekly dues of like 25,000 gold.

And what are you talking about no competition in a central auction house? If someone with a bunch of gold wants to buy up an item to list it for a higher price they can do that right now.

How is someone going to visit over 200 locations to buy up enough of one item that they will be able to control price?

They don't need to.

To quote @katanagirl1:

"I can get a price check in about 5 minutes for items to sell and I have 4-5 different categories of items I search for regularly to buy and can hit all the capital traders in Elden Root, Wayrest, Mournhold, Alinor, Rimmen, Leyawiin, and Vivec City in under an hour."

"[...]"

" As for finding an item, if it isn’t in those locations listed above, it’s not likely to be anywhere else."

This is the effect of the guild trader system. The market that matters, the market people actually use, is made up of a fraction of the number of guild traders actually in the game. Even when people are willing to devote an hour to the exercise.

So she can visit maybe 36 traders in an hour. Then what happens in the next hour? To control prices she would need to hit all 36 for at least all the peak hours over several days. And even then some items will slip through. THe popular spots have a constant change of inventory. She will miss items at spots that are listed shortly after she did her last check. Bouncing around like that can be effective in finding bargain items to flip. Not a good strategy in trying to manipulate the economy. People who tried in the past were badly burned in this game.

It’s really not that difficult, and people do it all the time. For purple plans and recipes and other items that are not super rare but also not common, TTC is the way to go.

Even with items a little more common, like the more valuable style mats, it’s possible to visit traders efficiently to find and buy them all. I’m not sure where the 36 traders per hour estimate comes from, but that is way off on PC. With Awesome Guild Store and saved searches, you can visit every trader in the game barring outlaw traders in an hour.

Not only is it difficult, it is impossible for one player to control the availability and price of an item. Sure one player can do a circle buying and relisting items for profit but that is for the most part just finding bargains. When the player starts listing above market value it falls apart. Flipping is possible. Manipulating the market is not other than for a group of people over a short amount of time.

thinkaboutit · September 5

Terrible idea, if it was a single trader bots would auto snipe all the lowest costing item. I am sure that still occurs but its harder to pull off.