Do you like the current guild-based trading system?

pugyourself

Please explain your poll answer below.

coldreactive_ESO

No, I hate it and want a global auction house.

I'm fine with it, but I think we could also use an auction house. I'm not into PVP, and I'm not good at dedicating myself to the game enough to warrant me joining a trading guild.

UrQuan

As far as the current system goes, I could take it or leave it. Trading is not a big part of the game for me.

I picked the option that fits best for me. I do list all of my extra recipes and motifs that I get in my guild's store for relatively cheap (at least I assume I list them cheaply, as they always sell within a day or two), and every now and then I'l go around to a bunch of guild traders trying to find something particular that I want, but really I don't do that much buying and selling.

For the small amount that I do, I kind of like the current system. I'm sure there could be tweaks to it to make it better, but I do little enough that I don't put much thought into possible improvements.

ItsGlaive

Yes, I love it and I don't want ZOS to touch the current system.

Oh wow, this poll again. I haven't seen it in at least... two weeks.

AlnilamE

Yes, I love it and I don't want ZOS to touch the current system.

I will qualify this with the need for a better guild store interface. I use AwesomeGuildStore, but the vanilla guild store UI is pretty bad when you are going around looking for something specific.

tallenn

No, I hate it and want a global auction house.

Xabien wrote: »

Oh wow, this poll again. I haven't seen it in at least... two weeks.

Actually, though there is a discussion on this subject pretty much constantly in one thread or another, this is the first poll I've seen on it, and I've been active on the forums for almost 2 months.

Chuggernaut

No, I hate it and want a global auction house.

My time is more important than my money to be perfectly honest, so spending hours hunting down the best price for an item just blows. I hit one or 2 guild vendors tops.

I would like a faction zone specific auction houses, or at least a service that is one stop shopping for all vendors in a faction zones. That way you start the game AD, you'd only have access to all AD items, but when you hit cadwells silver you get access to EP items and AD items, and when you hit gold you get access to all faction items.

Zorrashi

Yes, I love it but would like to see more buying/selling functionality in the current system.

I prefer the current system, yes, more so than any auction house ever could. But there is always room to improve.

I remember when this game first came out and there were no kiosks to help reach a wider buyer base--the economy for most people felt sluggish and constrained to just whatever guilds you were a member of. It has improved over time, with kiosks being no small factor, but more improvements would be more than appreciated.
Be it UI or permitting more avenues for players to partake in the economic system, so long as they build onto what they have, ESO's economy will have the potential to be better.

Tandor

No, I hate it and I want major changes to the current system but I don't want a global auction house.

I think the present system is utterly broken especially for non-veteran level players, those sellers who don't want to join a guild or who don't see why such a basic core function as trading should be gated behind guild membership, and buyers generally given the inadequate search function and the need to have alts scurrying around the world to find the items required.

An auction house would be preferable to the existing system, albeit regional rather than global, but there are plenty of other ways of modifying the existing system without having to go that far. Guild kiosks open to non-members at a significant commission rate (received by the guild), NPC-run kiosks for those not in guilds but with high commission rates (with proceeds shared by the guilds operating kiosks in those locations), the use of black market traders in the Outlaws Refuges with different commission rates for guild members and non-guild members, those are just some of the options that could be built around the present guild-based system but in a way that would open up trading more widely. I'd also like to see a trade chat channel.

Danikat

As far as the current system goes, I could take it or leave it. Trading is not a big part of the game for me.

I think direct trading or trading within small, closed circles (aka guilds) is better for people who are interested in putting in the effort to track down the best possible prices as there will be much more variation. Whereas an automated system like a global auction house is better for people who simply want to buy/sell at a decent price with as little hassle as possible.

The system in ESO, when you factor in guild traders who open up those closed circles to everyone else on the same server, is somewhere in the middle.

Before this game I'd gone from one extreme to the other. My first 2 MMOs were UO and GW1 where direct trading is the only option: you want to sell something you stand in a populated area spamming WTS and hope you bump into a buyer. You want to buy something you do the same. In GW2 it's 100% automated (unless you're willing to trust people who promise they'll mail you gold just as soon as they've made sure the weapon is the right colour, which incidentally will require binding it to their account).

Between those two I much prefer the automated system. In GW2 I can open up the Trading Post from anywhere in the world, search for the item I want to buy/sell and be completely sure I'm seeing all the current prices, and the entire transaction takes a few seconds.

For me the guild store system is a decent alternative. It allows me to set up the sale and then forget about it and carry on playing, and likewise search for things I want to buy whether the seller is online or not. I wouldn't mind if they changed it but I don't mind it as it is now either.

Drazhar14

No, I hate it and I want major changes to the current system but I don't want a global auction house.

No to global auction house - but at the same time having to run from vendor to vendor, zone to zone, repeating searches each time is not only ridiculous, but wastes way too much time. I hope they find a way to meet somewhere in between.

dodgehopper_ESO

Yes, I love it but would like to see more buying/selling functionality in the current system.

I think they need to actually have more stores out there than they currently have. I don't have a problem with merchant guilds per se, but I think guild stores need to be open and available to nearly the lowest common denominator guilds (I'm talking about small guilds, not one man guilds). The reason I say this, is that I think guilds whose primary focus is pvp or dungeons or the like should also be able to set up shop and sell things as well. The big problem with merchant based guilds is they often lack the team mentality of a socially oriented guild. I'm not saying they are all like this. The other issue is that there is something to be said for having a guild that is properly aligned with a faction (AD/EP/DC). The game should not be about only a handful of guilds, and I think if they can put in more shops this might help the merchant element of the system for all.

Nestor

Yes, I love it but would like to see more buying/selling functionality in the current system.

There needs to be more Guild Stores and allow for more guilds to be able to have a Kiosk.

Both of these issues could be easily fixed if they allowed two Guilds to win a Kiosk. Maybe even have the second guild win from a lottery system if not using the second highest bid.

liammozzb16_ESO

No, I hate it and I want major changes to the current system but I don't want a global auction house.

Unless you can get every player to vote this poll is pointless

ItsGlaive

Yes, I love it and I don't want ZOS to touch the current system.

tallenn wrote: »

Xabien wrote: »

Oh wow, this poll again. I haven't seen it in at least... two weeks.

Actually, though there is a discussion on this subject pretty much constantly in one thread or another, this is the first poll I've seen on it, and I've been active on the forums for almost 2 months.

Do a search, there are many of them

Simzani

No, I hate it and want a global auction house.

There is no economy in this game thanks to it. It is a *** mechanic that has no place in a theme park mmo.

AlnilamE

Yes, I love it and I don't want ZOS to touch the current system.

liammozzb16_ESO wrote: »

Unless you can get every player to vote this poll is pointless

Actually, if you can get a representative sample that would be fine. However, polls like these suffer from a heavy self-selection bias.

UrQuan

As far as the current system goes, I could take it or leave it. Trading is not a big part of the game for me.

tallenn wrote: »

Xabien wrote: »

Oh wow, this poll again. I haven't seen it in at least... two weeks.

Actually, though there is a discussion on this subject pretty much constantly in one thread or another, this is the first poll I've seen on it, and I've been active on the forums for almost 2 months.

Um, that's really not a very long time. Having said that, I think you're right - while there's almost always a thread discussing this topic, I don't think I've actually seen a poll on the topic in quite a long time. Probably not since guild traders were first introduced.

liammozzb16_ESO

No, I hate it and I want major changes to the current system but I don't want a global auction house.

AlnilamE wrote: »

liammozzb16_ESO wrote: »

Unless you can get every player to vote this poll is pointless

Actually, if you can get a representative sample that would be fine. However, polls like these suffer from a heavy self-selection bias.

I would say less than 15% of the player base uses this forum.

pugyourself

Yes, I love it and I don't want ZOS to touch the current system.

I think the UI could use some improvements but I prefer to use add-ons for that.

pugyourself

Yes, I love it and I don't want ZOS to touch the current system.

Xabien wrote: »

Oh wow, this poll again. I haven't seen it in at least... two weeks.

I support the current system. I've been in a lot of discussions about it recently but I haven't seen any polls. I thought this would give better numbers to the debate.

AlnilamE

Yes, I love it and I don't want ZOS to touch the current system.

liammozzb16_ESO wrote: »

AlnilamE wrote: »

liammozzb16_ESO wrote: »

Unless you can get every player to vote this poll is pointless

Actually, if you can get a representative sample that would be fine. However, polls like these suffer from a heavy self-selection bias.

I would say less than 15% of the player base uses this forum.

As long as that 15% is a representative sample of the rest of the playerbase, that would be more than enough, provided everybody participated in the same proportion.

But as I said, there is a strong self-selection bias. People on either side of the debate are far more likely to vote than the "don't care" crowd.

UrQuan

As far as the current system goes, I could take it or leave it. Trading is not a big part of the game for me.

AlnilamE wrote: »

But as I said, there is a strong self-selection bias. People on either side of the debate are far more likely to vote than the "don't care" crowd.

That's definitely true, but some of us in the "don't care" crowd vote anyway!

liammozzb16_ESO

No, I hate it and I want major changes to the current system but I don't want a global auction house.

AlnilamE wrote: »

liammozzb16_ESO wrote: »

AlnilamE wrote: »

liammozzb16_ESO wrote: »

Unless you can get every player to vote this poll is pointless

Actually, if you can get a representative sample that would be fine. However, polls like these suffer from a heavy self-selection bias.

I would say less than 15% of the player base uses this forum.

As long as that 15% is a representative sample of the rest of the playerbase, that would be more than enough, provided everybody participated in the same proportion.

But as I said, there is a strong self-selection bias. People on either side of the debate are far more likely to vote than the "don't care" crowd.

But it's not though you can't pull any facts or figures from this poll because it's not a fair representation of the player base as a whole.

stabbykitteh

Yes, I love it but would like to see more buying/selling functionality in the current system.

Better (much much better) search functionality and I'd be happy.

tallenn

No, I hate it and want a global auction house.

Xabien wrote: »

tallenn wrote: »

Xabien wrote: »

Oh wow, this poll again. I haven't seen it in at least... two weeks.

Actually, though there is a discussion on this subject pretty much constantly in one thread or another, this is the first poll I've seen on it, and I've been active on the forums for almost 2 months.

Do a search, there are many of them

In the last two weeks?

Nestor

Yes, I love it but would like to see more buying/selling functionality in the current system.

Wow, 45% of the posts are about the poll and not the subject of the poll........

Just thought I would point that out.

Tandor

No, I hate it and I want major changes to the current system but I don't want a global auction house.

AlnilamE wrote: »

liammozzb16_ESO wrote: »

Unless you can get every player to vote this poll is pointless

Actually, if you can get a representative sample that would be fine. However, polls like these suffer from a heavy self-selection bias.

I would personally welcome ZOS leading a consultation topic on the forum to come up with some workable changes to the present trading system and then running a survey on the launcher to get every player's response. Even the supporters of the present system, at least a good number of them, acknowledge that it needs some improvements. Currently 75% of those who have expressed a clear opinion one way or the other in this poll have said they want some changes, and that includes a large proportion who support the present system but nonetheless want it improved.

AlnilamE

Yes, I love it and I don't want ZOS to touch the current system.

I'm not saying that it is. Sorry, I don't mean to argue. :-)

I was just trying to point out that in polling/statistics you don't need to query 100% of your pool, as long as you have a statistically significant sample that accurately represents that pool.

I also said that polls like this have a strong self-selection bias, by which I meant that they are intrinsically less accurate.

UrQuan wrote: »

AlnilamE wrote: »

But as I said, there is a strong self-selection bias. People on either side of the debate are far more likely to vote than the "don't care" crowd.

That's definitely true, but some of us in the "don't care" crowd vote anyway!

LOL! Yeah. And some of us hang out on the forums when we can't play. :-)

liammozzb16_ESO

No, I hate it and I want major changes to the current system but I don't want a global auction house.

Nestor wrote: »

Wow, 45% of the posts are about the poll and not the subject of the poll........

Just thought I would point that out.

Yeah because they are pointless and have statistical data you can use, but which ever side wins they will use it as definitive proof that they are right. So it just servers to spread more misinformation based on non fact.

UrQuan

As far as the current system goes, I could take it or leave it. Trading is not a big part of the game for me.

Nestor wrote: »

Wow, 45% of the posts are about the poll and not the subject of the poll........

Just thought I would point that out.

And while we're throwing around percentages, at the moment 53% of people replying to the poll are in favour of the current system, while 38% are opposed to it. Even though I'm fine with the current system (and I largely don't care about the in-game economy anyway) I'm honestly surprised it isn't more even.