The City Of Merchants
Some people have asked for a true auction house. Some people like things how they are. Some people have their own ideas of what they would like to see like Gidorick's Auction Horse Concept.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/159594/eso-needs-an-auction-horse-expanded-concept
Now I place my own wish on the table. I would like to see a city constructed to house players wares. It differs from the standard auction house because everything is not purchasable at one counter. And it differs from the Auction Horse concept because you don't have to follow a horse.
This concept is based around the idea of having one huge merchant city where players can find all the other players goods or put their own up for sale. This idea is that there will be a city with a market square, buildings with stores as well scattered about the city. You have to physically walk up to a specific counter to purchase whatever it is you are seeking or walk up to a specific counter to sell the type of goods that store sells. There are stalls and stores interspersed throughout the city and outside the gates.
For instance. Let's say you are seeking a type of cloth material for crafting Light Armor. You would have to walk down to the area where armors are located and find the Light Armor Stall called Stendarr's Fabrics. If you are seeking a potion then you need to find a potion stall called <insert here>. The stores and stalls are static in position and name. But the goods are categorically bound to whatever type of good they belong to. These goods are server wide player goods bound by type to each specific stall or store. An hefty extra tax is incurred by buyers or sellers in this area as this convenience could obliterate the standard guild stores which I propose existing along side my concept.
The guild stores have a medium tax imposed to the buyers and sells quite cheaper than the City Of Merchants and these are still available throughout the world. I also propose making the Auction Horse concept come to fruition. The horse will cost the least tax wise because you have to track it's whereabouts and follow it around.
The difference:
- Guild Stores aren't tied to the major commerce city are found all around Tamriel, and the tax is cheaper so there is circumstances where it might be more convenient.Tied to guilds
- The Auction Horse isn't tied to a guild or the major commerce city and has a cheaper taxes than the other two so there is a circumstances where it might be more convenient.
- The City Of Merchants is bound to one city and out of the way but the taxes are more expensive and you still have to walk to a specific counter so there is a trade of price versus convenience.
The City Of Merchants is not tied to Guild Stores, it's functions like a normal auction house except you can't walk up to one counter and complete all transactions for different types.
I am not a game designer so I do not know how server load would be affected. It would be cool for this City Of Merchants to be open world. But I don't know if the servers could handle it if everyone started hanging out in one city. Maybe they could have a few different instances of the city and you get to select different channels or get moved to a different channel depending on server loads.
Note: I just realized the Auction Horse concept was tied to guild stores. For this idea to work, the horse would have to function like your normal Auction House(not tied to guild stores)otherwise the horse concept loses it's advantage over the other methods.
Process to access the City Of Merchants:
- Unlock via quest at level 25
- Gain Access to a wayshrine
- Teleport to the city for free
- Look for your goods
- Buy or sell
- Teleport out of the city to some other wayshrine
I look forward to your thoughts and please let me know how I can improve upon this idea if you like it. Also if you don't like it please tell me why and if there is something I could add to make it more feasible to you.
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