Global Auction House will kill the economy

Frawr

Items in this game are identical. There is no variation in quality, only in price. This simplistic approach means that the only way to make your product sell before someone else's is to make it cheaper.

a Global auction house will lead to 3 things:

1, prices driven to rock bottom because there are so many identical items available and everyone competes to make a sale.

Great, you might think, that will lead to lower prices. No.

2,People no longer bother listing stuff for sale, because it isn't worth their time to acquire the stuff in the first place, because the price dropped so much. A few people horde stuff waiting for point 3.

3, now a shortage of goods on the market - a few people, who have saved up their goods, now start trickling their goods onto the market at sky high prices. They win for a brief period because there is mass competition to buy the few available resources. More people then start listing products again. Now, we return to point 1 and start again.

A global auction house will create massive swings from insane high price to insane low prices/unable to find what you want.

You people crying out for this will end up with NOTHING and be in a worse position than you are now in.

The current system balances this. If you want something fast, you can go to Belkarth and pay high price but know that you can get it. If you have time, you can shop around and pay less. The current system creates a balance in buying and selling.

Stop crying out for a G.A.H. It is a short-term solution that will end up shafting you and everyone else too.

NewBlacksmurf

While I do not want a global AH at all, maybe just maybe people coming together to trade in centralized locations would work per faction.

Also I don't know if ppl are being realistic about a global AH.
The reasons you list...I feel are opinionated but may or may not apply.

Reality is this....
1. Games that have big auction house services also have BOT problems
2. Games that have big AH services tend to later be drastically adjusted or plain out removed
3. Games that have big AH services tend to not have very in depth crafting varieties and options
4. Games that have big AH services tend to have had them from the first day or within the first few weeks and not added them a year later and had success
5. Games that have big AH also have HUGe gold sinks to offset the AH

People complaints do not seem to be due to a lack of getting items but instead and inability to make profits without being strategic around joining certain guilds or that just don't want to be apart of the guild ah system. Or they don't want to craft and don't want to be in a guild for better items they desire.

Is the problem that they need to be able to sale things to make a lot of money?
Or is there a problem that they can't buy things?

It makes better sense to address the particular issues as I don't gather that the AH is the issue but instead around either making gold in order to buy something in game or a problem finding an item

TheRealDoc

I think if people posted in these threads demonstrating facts instead of personal opinion, assuming most other peoples opinions are their own, assuming doom and gloom and predicting the future with 100% accuracy, then more people would actually bother to read them and make a rational case for either side.

As it stands, it's just another waste of your valuable reading time..... (I include my own post in this statement)

Gidorick

Jeremy

Frawr wrote: »

Items in this game are identical. There is no variation in quality, only in price. This simplistic approach means that the only way to make your product sell before someone else's is to make it cheaper.

a Global auction house will lead to 3 things:

1, prices driven to rock bottom because there are so many identical items available and everyone competes to make a sale.

Great, you might think, that will lead to lower prices. No.

2,People no longer bother listing stuff for sale, because it isn't worth their time to acquire the stuff in the first place, because the price dropped so much. A few people horde stuff waiting for point 3.

3, now a shortage of goods on the market - a few people, who have saved up their goods, now start trickling their goods onto the market at sky high prices. They win for a brief period because there is mass competition to buy the few available resources. More people then start listing products again. Now, we return to point 1 and start again.

A global auction house will create massive swings from insane high price to insane low prices/unable to find what you want.

You people crying out for this will end up with NOTHING and be in a worse position than you are now in.

The current system balances this. If you want something fast, you can go to Belkarth and pay high price but know that you can get it. If you have time, you can shop around and pay less. The current system creates a balance in buying and selling.

Stop crying out for a G.A.H. It is a short-term solution that will end up shafting you and everyone else too.

Every other game out there with an auction house as well as the real world economy proves your post wrong.

As is typically done by those on your side of things: your argument focuses only on the increase in supply and ignores totally the huge increase in demand that would follow if the game's economy was opened up to the population at large.

What causes prices to rise or fall has nothing to do with an auction house. It's supply vs demand. Auction houses are just tools that allow everyone convenient access to buy/sell with one another. That's all they are.

Being able to sell an item for profit (even if the profit becomes lower due to competition) is still better than not being to sell an item at all. Guild Stores choke the supply/demand to such a degree many players (especially newer ones and those still leveling up) do not bother with it at all. Or at least they rarely do (I am one of those players). And that is the worse possible outcome there is: for an economy to be so ineffective players not to even waste their time on it. There is a reason I sell most of the armor I find to NPC vendors even the nice blue pieces I find with good attribute increases. If I tired to sell them on my Guild Stores they would likely remain there for weeks until they are sent back to me.

This game also does not have nothing but identical items. It has a great variety of different items with many different ways to make uses out of them. Elder Scrolls Online is actually designed in such a way it would support a global economy very efficiently - as even lower level items can be bought and used by players of all kinds to deconstruct etc.

I'm not crying for an auction house. I mostly involve myself in the underground economy on this game ran by NPCs (since there is actually a steady demand there I can reliable sell my goods too). I am just weary of reading these misguided arguments about how large accessible economies spell doom and gloom for all those involved. Because they don't and would be an improvement over the Guild Store situation for the vast majority of us.

The only people who benefit from the Guild Store system are those who currently hold an effective monopoly over a niche group within their guilds who I'm sure they rip off on a daily basis. In other words: they have found the sweet spot and are the ones who rail against auction houses most fervently on these forums. But they are missing the bigger picture: and do not realize that in their greed for higher profits they are hurting the game more than helping it by defending this antiquated system and dissuading newer players from sticking around.

Sorry for the length: but your post was long and had a lot of stuff for me to address.

htoncic

What economy?

Nice anecdote, but we already know that global markets work just fine in MMOs. On a side note, I'd prefer a global consignment house, rather that an auction.

Zershar_Vemod

An auction house-like system (global-market, etc.) can only help the game.

* There is no "true" economy in this game.
- An AH will create an actual working economy with more defined supply & demand

* There are far too many separated guild kiosks.
- The current system we have now is too cluttered / unorganized.
- We already have item pricings ranging from very underpriced to insane.

* If prices drop drastically like you are suggesting in your scenario OP, then that is the playerbase / market making a unified decision on what an item's value is really worth.
- That is just how it works anywhere - pure supply and demand
- What we have now is a poorly built system which encourages deceptive tactics upon unknowing players.
> This also goes along with how spread out guild kiosks are within the game; it discourages players from checking various price listings.

---

This just sounds like another hidden "NO AH!!! How else am I supposed to scam some players with my overpriced goods!" thread.

Gandrhulf_Harbard

Jeremy wrote: »

Every other game out there with an auction house as well as the real world economy proves your post wrong.

Please.

Objective facts have no place in an argument defending the current system.

All The Best

Jeremy

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Every other game out there with an auction house as well as the real world economy proves your post wrong.

Please.

Objective facts have no place in an argument defending the current system.

All The Best

Auction Houses do not result in everything becoming worthless as was claimed Ganduhulf. That's not objective but just the truth.

I have played numerous MMORPGs with auction houses and that has never been the case on any of them. Also all of them had more effective player-driven economies than this game does.

What results in items becoming worthless if it the supply far exceeds the demand. It's not because the game had an auction house.

mustangnut001

There is a global economy? Wow, I am surprised. I see a few people hawking stuff in zone chat but I wouldn't say that it would be enough to say that an economy would be built off of it.

I will also say that not having some kind of easily accessible auction house was one of the minor reasons why I left the game last June (when they fixed some of the big issues I came back... willing to suffer the lack of the auction house.)

But from my perspective, there isn't a global economy. No other player is making any money off of me. I am completely sufficient off of the NPCs in the game or from my alts. My options are... make it myself, spend a lot of time going all over the place looking for guild vendors, or a new one that you pointed out - pay an over priced sum in Craglorn... or do without. I will pick the first or the last before I pick either in the middle. So... to me... there is NO global economy.

Alphashado

Frawr wrote: »

Items in this game are identical. There is no variation in quality, only in price. This simplistic approach means that the only way to make your product sell before someone else's is to make it cheaper.

a Global auction house will lead to 3 things:

1, prices driven to rock bottom because there are so many identical items available and everyone competes to make a sale.

Great, you might think, that will lead to lower prices. No.

2,People no longer bother listing stuff for sale, because it isn't worth their time to acquire the stuff in the first place, because the price dropped so much. A few people horde stuff waiting for point 3.

3, now a shortage of goods on the market - a few people, who have saved up their goods, now start trickling their goods onto the market at sky high prices. They win for a brief period because there is mass competition to buy the few available resources. More people then start listing products again. Now, we return to point 1 and start again.

A global auction house will create massive swings from insane high price to insane low prices/unable to find what you want.

You people crying out for this will end up with NOTHING and be in a worse position than you are now in.

The current system balances this. If you want something fast, you can go to Belkarth and pay high price but know that you can get it. If you have time, you can shop around and pay less. The current system creates a balance in buying and selling.

Stop crying out for a G.A.H. It is a short-term solution that will end up shafting you and everyone else too.

Most of the people on this forum think that WoW, Rift, Swtor, etc all have global auction houses. They will endlessly quote these games as examples of how an AH will not ruin the economy. They do not understand, nor will they accept any explanation as to the difference between those games and ESO/GW2. You are wasting your breath friend. Trust me on this.

The good news is that the developers do understand.

Nick Konkel - "We don't want a global auction house on a giant server because that generally just leads to all the best gear being available at very, very cheap prices. A lot of times it can trivialize the game. Don’t have a healthy economy when there are no restrictions to getting the best stuff in the game, because you can just walk on and buy it all. We definitely didn’t want that"


So while we will probably see various versions of the current system, we likely won't ever see a Global AH. Thankfully.

Gandrhulf_Harbard

Jeremy wrote: »

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Every other game out there with an auction house as well as the real world economy proves your post wrong.

Please.

Objective facts have no place in an argument defending the current system.

All The Best

Auction Houses do not result in everything becoming worthless as was claimed Ganduhulf. That's not objective but just the truth.

I have played numerous MMORPGs with auction houses and that has never been the case on any of them. Also all of them had more effective player-driven economies than this game does.

What results in items becoming worthless if it the supply far exceeds the demand. It's not because the game had an auction house.

I was agreeing with and defending you comments regarding AH not killing economies.

All The Best

Gandrhulf_Harbard

Alphashado wrote: »

Frawr wrote: »

Items in this game are identical. There is no variation in quality, only in price. This simplistic approach means that the only way to make your product sell before someone else's is to make it cheaper.

a Global auction house will lead to 3 things:

1, prices driven to rock bottom because there are so many identical items available and everyone competes to make a sale.

Great, you might think, that will lead to lower prices. No.

2,People no longer bother listing stuff for sale, because it isn't worth their time to acquire the stuff in the first place, because the price dropped so much. A few people horde stuff waiting for point 3.

3, now a shortage of goods on the market - a few people, who have saved up their goods, now start trickling their goods onto the market at sky high prices. They win for a brief period because there is mass competition to buy the few available resources. More people then start listing products again. Now, we return to point 1 and start again.

A global auction house will create massive swings from insane high price to insane low prices/unable to find what you want.

You people crying out for this will end up with NOTHING and be in a worse position than you are now in.

The current system balances this. If you want something fast, you can go to Belkarth and pay high price but know that you can get it. If you have time, you can shop around and pay less. The current system creates a balance in buying and selling.

Stop crying out for a G.A.H. It is a short-term solution that will end up shafting you and everyone else too.

Most of the people on this forum think that WoW, Rift, Swtor, etc all have global auction houses. They will endlessly quote these games as examples of how an AH will not ruin the economy. They do not understand, nor will they accept any explanation as to the difference between those games and ESO/GW2. You are wasting your breath friend. Trust me on this.

The good news is that the developers do understand.

Nick Konkel - "We don't want a global auction house on a giant server because that generally just leads to all the best gear being available at very, very cheap prices. A lot of times it can trivialize the game. Don’t have a healthy economy when there are no restrictions to getting the best stuff in the game, because you can just walk on and buy it all. We definitely didn’t want that"


So while we will probably see various versions of the current system, we likely won't ever see a Global AH. Thankfully.

Oh dear.

We somewhat destroyed those comments by Nick Konkel in the other thread dealing with this issue.

And of course, also posted comments by the Lead Developer affirming the ability to PLAY ALONE (something that can't be done if you want to trade).

So let's not waste time rehashing points that didn't avail you of anything last time you posted them, eh?

Not to mention that people ONLY want a Global AH when the choice is Global AH or current system.

Most people either want a much improved, easier to access, Guild Trader system or a Faction based AH system.


All The Best

deepseamk20b14_ESO

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

While I do not want a global AH at all, maybe just maybe people coming together to trade in centralized locations would work per faction.

Also I don't know if ppl are being realistic about a global AH.
The reasons you list...I feel are opinionated but may or may not apply.

Reality is this....
1. Games that have big auction house services also have BOT problems
2. Games that have big AH services tend to later be drastically adjusted or plain out removed
3. Games that have big AH services tend to not have very in depth crafting varieties and options
4. Games that have big AH services tend to have had them from the first day or within the first few weeks and not added them a year later and had success
5. Games that have big AH also have HUGe gold sinks to offset the AH

People complaints do not seem to be due to a lack of getting items but instead and inability to make profits without being strategic around joining certain guilds or that just don't want to be apart of the guild ah system. Or they don't want to craft and don't want to be in a guild for better items they desire.

Is the problem that they need to be able to sale things to make a lot of money?
Or is there a problem that they can't buy things?

It makes better sense to address the particular issues as I don't gather that the AH is the issue but instead around either making gold in order to buy something in game or a problem finding an item

I've said this a million times. I feel a lot of people playing this game are first timers and have not seen what a global AH can do, speaking in negative terms.

One can easily relate a global AH to real life economy. Biggest example is "mom and pop shops" being driven out of business by "one stop shop" companies like wal mart. What is left after the mom and pop shops are gone are monopolies and horrid employment options. There is no more competition in prices. Global AH would ruin this game.

ItsGlaive

Hasn't this already been settled? ZOS said in Friday's ESO Live that they are not giving people and auction house, thank the gods.

Do people start these AH threads now just to have somebody to talk to?

Gandrhulf_Harbard

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

One can easily relate a global AH to real life economy. Biggest example is "mom and pop shops" being driven out of business by "one stop shop" companies like wal mart. What is left after the mom and pop shops are gone are monopolies and horrid employment options. There is no more competition in prices. Global AH would ruin this game.

Except you have it backwards.

An AH would enable every player to be a Mom & Pop Shop.

The Guild Traders are variations on a theme of Walmart.

What this shows is that many of the people opposed to an AH actually have no understanding of the basics of economics at all.

All The Best

Emma_Overload

The people who don't like global auction houses are almost always the vocal minority who treat trading (and crafting) as some sort of mini-game within the real game.

Don't be fooled! For the vast majority of players, the GAH would be huge benefit. Whenever you hear someone say "race to the bottom, blah blah blah", you can be sure this person does NOT have your best interest at heart. All they care about is keeping prices ARTIFICIALLY high so they can rip you off more easily.

Gandrhulf_Harbard

Xabien wrote: »

Hasn't this already been settled? ZOS said in Friday's ESO Live that they are not giving people and auction house, thank the gods.

Do people start these AH threads now just to have somebody to talk to?

ZOS also said the game would always be Subscription based as well.

But the market dictated otherwise.

All The Best

Jeremy

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

Every other game out there with an auction house as well as the real world economy proves your post wrong.

Please.

Objective facts have no place in an argument defending the current system.

All The Best

Auction Houses do not result in everything becoming worthless as was claimed Ganduhulf. That's not objective but just the truth.

I have played numerous MMORPGs with auction houses and that has never been the case on any of them. Also all of them had more effective player-driven economies than this game does.

What results in items becoming worthless if it the supply far exceeds the demand. It's not because the game had an auction house.

I was agreeing with and defending you comments regarding AH not killing economies.

All The Best

Oh you was agreeing with me? Ty. ^^

I thought you was saying my facts had no place in the debate.

AH93

Agree 100%. I am fully against global auction houses.

C0pp3rhead

A global auction house looks great in the short term, but in the long term, it skews the econeomy greatly.

Sure, in the short term, prices will plummet, and this would be a good thing - stacks of refined mats would go for 200g because the demand would be rather low, and supply is already ridiculous.

But let's take a look at WoW.

Over a decade after launch, players have been able to amass heaps of gold, and players stopped caring about the difference between a few coppers, a few silvers, and later, a few gold here and there. As a result, prices have skyrocketed. WoW nor ESO have enough gold sinks to overcome this phenomenon. The most expensive guild trader spots in ESO run a couple million gold. There are singular players who could afford a guild trader in Rawl Kha or Craglorn.

Guild traders on the other hand allow those groups with the healthiest, most active, most successful players to sell to the general populace.

Gandrhulf_Harbard

Oh and think about this.

When E-Bay launched how many of us snapped up those bargain Porsches that were suddenly costing just $10 a pop because the market crashed?

What, none of you?

Why?

Oh, because it didn't happen.

'Nuff said!

All The Best

Alphashado

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

Alphashado wrote: »

Most of the people on this forum think that WoW, Rift, Swtor, etc all have global auction houses. They will endlessly quote these games as examples of how an AH will not ruin the economy. They do not understand, nor will they accept any explanation as to the difference between those games and ESO/GW2. You are wasting your breath friend. Trust me on this.

The good news is that the developers do understand.

Nick Konkel - "We don't want a global auction house on a giant server because that generally just leads to all the best gear being available at very, very cheap prices. A lot of times it can trivialize the game. Don’t have a healthy economy when there are no restrictions to getting the best stuff in the game, because you can just walk on and buy it all. We definitely didn’t want that"


So while we will probably see various versions of the current system, we likely won't ever see a Global AH. Thankfully.

Oh dear.

We somewhat destroyed those comments by Nick Konkel in the other thread dealing with this issue.

You haven't destroyed anything the lead gameplay designer said. LOL that is truly hilarious that you think you did.

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

And of course, also posted comments by the Lead Developer affirming the ability to PLAY ALONE (something that can't be done if you want to trade).

Nothing says you have to "play" with any other person in a trade guild. There have been countless examples of people trying to explain that they don't talk, socialize, interract, or even view the chat of their trading guilds because everyone in one understands what they are - a tool to sell their goods. But this fact is commonly ignored by those that insist trading guilds are some kind of social gathering, therefore refuse to join one.

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

Not to mention that people ONLY want a Global AH when the choice is Global AH or current system.

Perhaps you didn't read the OP, which very clearly is n attempt to explain what a global system would do to ESO. It isn't a Poll or a discussion on the merits of all the other options, it is a thread discussing the effects of a global system since that is the ONLY option with this game if there were to be an Auction House. Unless of course there are game designers more intelligent than the ones who designed this game that are willing to come forth with the technology to facilitate independant market auction houses on a Mega Server.

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

All The Best

Safe travels!
Lovely chatting with you!
Best wishes!
Have a nice day!

Jeremy

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

While I do not want a global AH at all, maybe just maybe people coming together to trade in centralized locations would work per faction.

Also I don't know if ppl are being realistic about a global AH.
The reasons you list...I feel are opinionated but may or may not apply.

Reality is this....
1. Games that have big auction house services also have BOT problems
2. Games that have big AH services tend to later be drastically adjusted or plain out removed
3. Games that have big AH services tend to not have very in depth crafting varieties and options
4. Games that have big AH services tend to have had them from the first day or within the first few weeks and not added them a year later and had success
5. Games that have big AH also have HUGe gold sinks to offset the AH

People complaints do not seem to be due to a lack of getting items but instead and inability to make profits without being strategic around joining certain guilds or that just don't want to be apart of the guild ah system. Or they don't want to craft and don't want to be in a guild for better items they desire.

Is the problem that they need to be able to sale things to make a lot of money?
Or is there a problem that they can't buy things?

It makes better sense to address the particular issues as I don't gather that the AH is the issue but instead around either making gold in order to buy something in game or a problem finding an item

I've said this a million times. I feel a lot of people playing this game are first timers and have not seen what a global AH can do, speaking in negative terms.

One can easily relate a global AH to real life economy. Biggest example is "mom and pop shops" being driven out of business by "one stop shop" companies like wal mart. What is left after the mom and pop shops are gone are monopolies and horrid employment options. There is no more competition in prices. Global AH would ruin this game.

I was waiting for when the Wal Mart inference would rear it's ugly head.

The reason Wal Mart obliterates the local competition in real life is an entirely separate issue. That happens because of flaws and inequalities in our trade agreements.

Countries like China for example compete on an entirely different level than Mom and Pop Stores because they aren't subjected to the same high standards as businesses in the United States are. Pitiful wages, poor working conditions etc.. they as well engage in currency manipulation.

This is a serious and real problem. But has absolutely nothing to do with an auction house on Elder Scrolls Online - because none of these are factors present on this game.

Alphashado

Emma_Eunjung wrote: »

The people who don't like global auction houses are almost always the vocal minority who treat trading (and crafting) as some sort of mini-game within the real game.

Don't be fooled! For the vast majority of players, the GAH would be huge benefit. Whenever you hear someone say "race to the bottom, blah blah blah", you can be sure this person does NOT have your best interest at heart. All they care about is keeping prices ARTIFICIALLY high so they can rip you off more easily.

Yes, we are all evil, lying Imps just trying to fool you out of your hard earned money. Please. You want to see true MMO market manipulation? Go watch a video from GW2 (global AH) on how to manipulate the system with multiple accounts in order to artificially inflate prices in order to sell and buy in massive bulk. It's worked just like the stock market, but with much less moderation. But of course it's way easier to say that all of the people here enjoying the current system are nefarious greedy tycoons than it would be for people to actually research a global system and understand how it works.

Audigy

The economy at ESO is a myth. Sure some players might use the trading guilds, but the majority? They don't even participate in that system as its so limiting.
Not only must you be a member of a guild to use said kiosk, no! Many guilds also charge a fee or demand consistent online times, something not everyone can / wants to fulfill.

Global AH or not isn't the real issue here, the fact that we can not trade in an MMO is. This needs fixing and I guess most people don't care in which way, be it AH, public vendors or personal ones - they just dislike what we currently have, a poll of 75% has shown this.

Khan

People arguing against a global AH are just plain misguided or masochists. Probably both.

Have a nice day.

NewBlacksmurf

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

deepseamk20b14_ESO wrote: »

One can easily relate a global AH to real life economy. Biggest example is "mom and pop shops" being driven out of business by "one stop shop" companies like wal mart. What is left after the mom and pop shops are gone are monopolies and horrid employment options. There is no more competition in prices. Global AH would ruin this game.

Except you have it backwards.

An AH would enable every player to be a Mom & Pop Shop.

The Guild Traders are variations on a theme of Walmart.

What this shows is that many of the people opposed to an AH actually have no understanding of the basics of economics at all.

All The Best

It's not backwards but your applying mom n pop shops to the wrong example
Every player is not a mom n pop shop just as in real life, a guy standing on the street or in front of a store isn't regarded as a mom n pop shop or a legitimate business.

Mom n pop shops by relation are the guild stores and AH
The guy standing in town, etc is just a person trying to sale stuff (more than often ignored unless there is another person standing around whose doing the same thing.

The Global AH is Walmart.
The Guild store would not compete with the Global AH as there is no need for both.
The bigger will always eliminate the smaller market which is the whole point we (non-global AH people are trying to point out)

Respectfully...Your understanding of basic economics may be very very good but your understanding of how those concepts apply to this game are very very poor.

Sorry but your arguments make a great reason why we don't need a global AH.

Now IF the guys n gals standing on the street trying to sale want ZOS to give them the ability to sale in guild AH without joining, I think that is a good discussion BUT just as in real life, are those non-guild members willing to give up a percentage to list each item and a percentage of the sale to the guild who hosted the sales?

This is economics and how it should work if allowed. I'm not against doing it the right way but breaking up commerce because people don't want to participate in an organized system is something else...that's not economics.

C0pp3rhead

Audigy wrote: »

The economy at ESO is a myth. Sure some players might use the trading guilds, but the majority? They don't even participate in that system as its so limiting.
Not only must you be a member of a guild to use said kiosk, no! Many guilds also charge a fee or demand consistent online times, something not everyone can / wants to fulfill.

So, a global auction house would foster free market competition...

But those guilds that want to recruit and maintain a competitive and healthy membership are awful?

Your logic here confuses me. I am not a member of a trade guild that requires a weekly fee. I do belong to a trade guild that requires me to be an active player and post a minimum number of items on the guild store. There's nothing wrong with guilds that do not have such requirements.

However:
to say that these "elitist" guilds are the bane of ESO's economy is pure silliness. If guilds weren't competitive, Craglorn would be full of guild traders with a few hundred useless items to offer and nothing else. I like going to guild traders with massive selections. You're sure to find what you need. Just because you don't log in once a week and can't scrounge together a few thousand gold to give back to your guild sounds like a personal problem to me.

Gandrhulf_Harbard

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

The Global AH is Walmart.

So wrong as to beggar belief.

A global AH allows EVERY SINGLE player to buy and sell on their own terms, with no restrictions, no controls, nothing.

It is the very definition of a Free Market.

The Guild Traders are the Walmart-esque monopolies; to trade through them you have to do so ON THEIR TERMS, the very antithesis of a Free Market.

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

Sorry but your arguments make a great reason why we don't need a global AH.

You only think that because (as your comments show) you do not understand the argument I made, even at its most basic level.

All The Best

pugyourself

Frawr wrote: »

Items in this game are identical. There is no variation in quality, only in price. This simplistic approach means that the only way to make your product sell before someone else's is to make it cheaper.

a Global auction house will lead to 3 things:

1, prices driven to rock bottom because there are so many identical items available and everyone competes to make a sale.

Great, you might think, that will lead to lower prices. No.

2,People no longer bother listing stuff for sale, because it isn't worth their time to acquire the stuff in the first place, because the price dropped so much. A few people horde stuff waiting for point 3.

3, now a shortage of goods on the market - a few people, who have saved up their goods, now start trickling their goods onto the market at sky high prices. They win for a brief period because there is mass competition to buy the few available resources. More people then start listing products again. Now, we return to point 1 and start again.

A global auction house will create massive swings from insane high price to insane low prices/unable to find what you want.

You people crying out for this will end up with NOTHING and be in a worse position than you are now in.

The current system balances this. If you want something fast, you can go to Belkarth and pay high price but know that you can get it. If you have time, you can shop around and pay less. The current system creates a balance in buying and selling.

Stop crying out for a G.A.H. It is a short-term solution that will end up shafting you and everyone else too.

I agree with this. It will also create ghost towns in places that are now populated and fun to hang out in.

The guild system works and should remain in place.