Starting to notice a sad trend..

Hammy01

I play on Xbox One Eu and lately I have noticed that Guild traders in once popular spots are now selling less and less stuff. For instance today I stopped by Belkarth in Craglorn to shop around for some crafting supplies and bait, of the 7 guild traders 5 had absolutely nothing for alchemy, enchanting and bait and not to mention very little of anything else. This problem is not just limited to Belkarth either.. I am seeing it in other popular places as well.

I guess my point is... the current system is fine as longs as there is a big, healthy, active population to support the large amount of guild traders spread all around Tamriel. However once the population dwindles and or just stops caring about selling or buying then the current system will falter and become very frustrating for player base. As it is clearly becoming a 2nd job to shop around for crafting supplies and other wears.

I would recommend Zos tweak the current system. Keep the Guild trader system as is but instead of being spread out all over Tamriel, create 3 major hubs (1 for each faction). Each guild trader hub could have around 25 (more or less) trader stalls spread around the city with the most valuable ones being next to the wayshrine, bank and crafting stations. At least this system would drastically cut down on our shopping time and then we could use that time for actually playing the game.

I was in a hurry typing this up so hopefully it makes sense to everyone...

In conclusion, I believe the current guild trader system is going to become a huge negative for this game once the player population dwindles and or active players stop caring.



Hammy!!

AzraelKrieg

Not limited to console. There are a lot of stores on the NA PC server that have stopped stocking alchemical and enchanting items. I'd say it's because of the upcoming DLC and the changes to both alchemy and enchanting. People don't want to let go of their materials.

Turelus

For the most part this is already in place and the player base has chosen the main hubs.

The mains ones on PC EU are:-

Craglorn
Mournhold
Rawl'ka
Wayrest
Elden Root

The other stalls are mostly used by smaller guilds are where you go to find better deals or obscure items.

idk

Hot spots move. Some guilds are managed better than others.

Ajaxduo

You also need to take into account that the most recent exploit with surveys enabled players to amass both materials and gold. Therefore players who took part in this would no longer need to invest time in trading guilds like they normally would. The survey exploit itself was shared in private in trading guilds and was in effect shortly after assistants went live, so it had been around long enough.

Egonieser

Thing I don't get is... Why isn't Stormhold a hub? There's always loads of people there, the bank is next to crafting stations and everything is generally condensed, I even consider it the Rawl'Kha of EP alliance, it is far more accessible than Mournhold is, yet it's not considered a good location - why?
The layout is the best of any EP town for things like quick crafting, bank management and guildstores are nearby too - everything is tbh, as the town is very small, unlike Mournhold. In Mournhold the bank is miles away from anything and you spend time going back and forth if you need to do something specific.
And if people say it's because of the Undaunted being there - that stopped being relevant like over a year ago in this matter, it's mostly about access to facilities, how far they are between each other and how close to the bank it is, which is why Rawl'Kha is the prime location for AD (and that one has no Undaunted there either).

Nestor

Hammy01 wrote: »

For instance today I stopped by Belkarth in Craglorn to shop around for some crafting supplies and bait, of the 7 guild traders 5 had absolutely nothing for alchemy, enchanting and bait and not to mention very little of anything else.

Belkarth is no longer a preferred trading spot. The only reason people go up there now is to farm Nirncrux. It is no longer a crafting hub as top tier writs are dropped off somewhere else. I don't even see the same guilds at the stalls there anymore. Last time I checked the guilds up there on the PC/NA, they had very little in the way of wares, something I would expect in any other non trafficed trading zone.

Beardimus

I like then being spread out. One location would make it too easy for the lazy people, a bit of effort now means you find the deals. Also why I would not like to see a marketplace in the game (also as it would be lore breaking)

Sure it's annoying to trawl round to find your stuff, BUT like ebay was at the start, when you find that bargain item badly listed it makes your day.

I've never found Craglorn to be all that, Wrothgar is pretty good, or Riften / Windhelm depends what you are after though.

I would however like to see the last search option carry over (like switching guild stores in a bank)

Uriel_Nocturne

Nestor wrote: »

Hammy01 wrote: »

For instance today I stopped by Belkarth in Craglorn to shop around for some crafting supplies and bait, of the 7 guild traders 5 had absolutely nothing for alchemy, enchanting and bait and not to mention very little of anything else.

Belkarth is no longer a preferred trading spot. The only reason people go up there now is to farm Nirncrux. It is no longer a crafting hub as top tier writs are dropped off somewhere else. I don't even see the same guilds at the stalls there anymore. Last time I checked the guilds up there on the PC/NA, they had very little in the way of wares, something I would expect in any other non trafficed trading zone.

Agreed.

The "hot spots" now (and they have been for months) are:

Mournhold
Rawl'kha
Wayrest
and Elden Root.

If you want to find the Guild Traders with the largest selection, try one of those cities.

But even then, those are such hotly contested hot spots that the guild traders frequently switch due to bidding wars on those trader stalls.

But the best bet for you, OP, is to keep checking the cities I listed above as those are the major trading hubs right now.

Brrrofski

For xbox eu, do yourself a favour.

Wayrest
Rawl'kha
Mournhold

Check those. Forget about the rest. Elder Root used to be good. Not any more though.

rotaugen454

I'm sure it is largely driven by the upcoming poisons and upgrades to enchantments, along with the crafting bags that will eliminate inventory problems for ESO+ members. People are hoarding instead of selling.

Lenikus

As they said, there are certain cities with better movement, and therefore better guildstores, in PC,NA that is, in order,
Rawl'kha,
Wayrest,
Mournhould,
Elden Root,
Belkrath.

All the others are just... random, mostly.
Also, not many people are selling alchemy materials, specially wormwood, columbine, mountain flowers, and stuff, because those will be used to make some nice op poisons in teh next patch. I'd recomend you to farm a little yourself, as boring as that can be

xilfxlegion

25 traders in one place ? grahtwood has seven and people get dis con nec ted constantly.


check the traders in coldharbour --- usually a lot of good deals there. also eastport.

driosketch

Well it's likely that people have stockpiles of everything they need now, so not many people buy. And since there are fewer buyers, not many players see it worthwhile to sell.

I sell my overstock of enchantment runes at two traders, at very low price points, (check the low price at the main hubs and under cut them), and probably moved only half my stock this week. Ironic because a guild mate from a third guild asked for runes and insisted on giving me more than I sell them in the store for.

My advice, if you are looking for common mats, try some of the less traveled traders. You might find a seller who specializes, and offers good prices. After that, try to remember the guild or seller's name, and hope they don't move around much.

Tholian1

I play on ps4 NA and was shopping at guild traders a couple weeks ago. There were a few in popular locations that had only 20 or 30 items for sale. I wondered what the point of them even having a guild trader was if they had nothing to sell.

N0TPLAYER2

Brrrofski wrote: »

For xbox eu, do yourself a favour.

Wayrest
Rawl'kha
Mournhold

Check those. Forget about the rest. Elder Root used to be good. Not any more though.

Not true on Xbox na. The 3 listed plus elden root make up the big 4.

ScarlettCrush

I do like having trader stalls, but shopping can be a time suck. I am 50/50 on having an auction house- perhaps guilds could bid on spaces in the auction house to keep competition going.

starkerealm

Egonieser wrote: »

Thing I don't get is... Why isn't Stormhold a hub?

*shrugs*

If I had to guess, it probably comes down to the aesthetic of the area. Shadowfen can be an annoying zone, so people aren't likely to go back there looking for guild kiosks. It's probably the same for Sentinel.

Hammy01

Thanks for all the input and feedback!

I just can't help thinking that the current system (at least for consoles) is going to be a major boon to the game in the long run. The issue of finding empty guild traders is only going to get worse. I really hope that Zos would rethink and tweak the current system so that it is future proof because as it stands the current system will have a negative domino effect at some point (Ie - player (A) spends hours traveling around to buy some Vet 10 willpower rings and finds nothing, so now he/she gives up on searching as time is more valuable to them than some shiny new ring, player (A) no longer shops and now player (B) feels the pinch as none of his wares are selling so player (B) quits posting stuff for sell, in comes player (C) who is looking for a new agility necklace that player (B) would have had for sell but player (B) quit selling, player (C) continues to keep looking but after spending a couple of hours hitting up all the guild stalls decides this game is no longer fun to play so he goes on a bike ride and accidentally gets hit by a bus)...... zos please save the busses and improve your guild trader system.


Hammy!!

Teridaxus

Saving them for poison in db.

Going to sell 1k g columbine muhaha

Hammy01

mzapkeneb18_ESO wrote: »

Saving them for poison in db.

Going to sell 1k g columbine muhaha

I'm already seeing columbine going for 1k or more per!

Soleya

With crafting bags coming, I think you'll see less materials on the store. Less need for people to sell them if they can just store them with no bag/bank space use. And most likely many of those players will forget that they have a few 1000 of each ingredient.

Serenityx

Ajaxduo wrote: »

You also need to take into account that the most recent exploit with surveys enabled players to amass both materials and gold. Therefore players who took part in this would no longer need to invest time in trading guilds like they normally would. The survey exploit itself was shared in private in trading guilds and was in effect shortly after assistants went live, so it had been around long enough.

I wonder how many of those players were able to avoid bans, especialy on xbox because Im seeing some very peculiar stacks of some very pricy items lately. I wouldnt say it was peculiar if it wasnt several stacks of multiple pricy materials by the same player.

The most peculiar one Ive noticed was a single player listed 4 or 5 stacks of different essence runes. Stacks of 200 essence runes, and fairly cheap per rune too.


Then their are other players that I see listing bunches of max level purple/gold glyphs for stupid low prices....

BlitzGirl41

Sometimes I just wish that ESO had a server-wide "auction house" or "trading post" like other MMORPGs, so that we aren't forced to run around and join guilds just to sell items that NPC merchants won't pay for...