Tamriel Trade Centre Addon and its impact to the trading system

SchizoidMetal

Flame me for this, but this is pure truth and just looking at high valued items on their website. You will see how this addon allows for price control and fixing through the website. I know first hand how a website can be bot scanned for low priced items and bought and resold for stupid prices(price fixing). I thought the whole point of the guild trading system was to now allow trade to become centralized. Well it has and you dont have to run around looking at all the trade shops, you can simply go to their website search the item and it pops up the lowest priced one w/ where and who. This breaks the uniqueness of the trading in ESO.

Crafts_Many_Boxes

The counter argument is that some kind of database NEEDS to exist for those of us who don't want to spend 3 hours searching every guild store in the game for that obscure piece of gear we need. I'm not saying I would quit without a global search function, but I would certainly play less often than I do, which might lead me to cancel my sub.

Maybe a good compromise would be if TTC just listed availability, and not pricing? That way the "hawks" can't find low priced items to gouge on as easily.

Magıc

Even before TTC came out, 1-3 people could manipulate prices to an extreme level. An example is flower prices on PC EU. 2 people, just 2 people nearly tripled the price of every single flower in the game until the bags from IC came out (columbine was 600 nearly 700 each). Spell power pots on PC EU went from 100 each to 180 each thanks to 3 people. The best example I can think of is Hakeijo's. 5k to 15k thanks to just 2 guys (same guys who did the flowers). Of course people will try bandwagon and jump on the opportunity if they can, but they don't have much impact.

So I don't see a problem with TTC when just 2 people can have that much of an impact anyway. Just helps me find items easier instead of searching every guild store in Tamriel for the cheapest.

SilverWF

Another "Ban that pesky (specific type) addon. It ruins MY gameplay!"

Nothing new, nothing interesting.

Acrolas

I don't like the add-on as a resource, but it's a good website for starting an item hunt.

But they're already moaning about operating costs, and ad revenue isn't going to sustain it. Probably going to sink by the end of the year.

scipionumatia

Us console players don't have this and it's not a big deal. If your not willing to "go shopping" you don't deserve the item IMO.

Iselin

The trading system in ESO needs more breaking not less. The only reason it's "unique" is because they don't know how to make global AHs with their megaserver tech. Everything else is just damage control rationalizations about why it's better not to. There is nothing positive from a game play perspective about it. There are other ways to deal with inflation in auction houses other than the drastic measure of not having them.

Not to mention that this system leads to perversion of the purpose of guilds and turns them into lottery simulators that are understandably obsessed with raising enough gold through weekly raffles and other means to bid on the popular guild vendor spots.

Additionally it is very new-player unfriendly in that no one bothers listing gear under CP160. Buying weapons and armor is just not an option for low level players and neither is selling it when each piece takes up one of your 30 sales slots.

If anything I'd like TTC to be even better and let you know in the game the exact spot where that minimum price is.

idk

Price control and price fixing implies someone is controlling what price you sell your item at.

Considering players scour Tamriel for low price items and turn them for a profit well before that add on and website were created there is no collusion on pricing due to the addon and website.

Heck, if one sees an item is often selling for 100k and find them for 50k but doesn't need it they'd be stupid to not turn it for a nice profit.

WalksonGraves

I think the impact on the tamriel trade center was an inside job. Dragon fire can't melt mithril beams!

Hurika

I view this the opposite. I can quickly search and get a feel for what the average going price is and not worry about getting scammed on 1 or 2 popular vendors that may list much higher. It also helps when I want to sell something to give me an idea what the current prices look like.

Heck I wouldn't be surprised if some folks use this info to undercut each other possibly driving prices down a bit.

I can see folks that over charge not liking it hoping folks get frustrated having to search all over the map and just pay more than it's worth to not deal with the time sink. I'm a very low income player and view it as a good thing as it helps me avoid drastically overspending.

Another way to view it... should we turn off all online shopping (Wal-Mart, Amazon, Newegg, etc) because people can see where the best/cheapest price is to avoid breaking the uniqueness of shopping? Should people not use travelocity or trivago because it ruins the uniqueness of planning your trip?

In DAoC houses had consignment merchants and a global search option. That seems like a much better approach than the current method. Current seems a bit like cartels.

Invincible

Come here OP I'll buy your training spriggan sword for 300k you poor thing you

Drachenfier

This game is in dire need of an AH.

starkerealm

Drachenfier wrote: »

This game is in dire need of an AH.

Not really.

I mean, when we're talking about people inflating the market, they're limited by how time consuming it is, and how restricted their ability to sell items is. Making that open to everyone? Yeah, I can't see how that would go horribly wrong.

Iselin

starkerealm wrote: »

Drachenfier wrote: »

This game is in dire need of an AH.

Not really.

I mean, when we're talking about people inflating the market, they're limited by how time consuming it is, and how restricted their ability to sell items is. Making that open to everyone? Yeah, I can't see how that would go horribly wrong.

Yeah it's so wrong that no other MMO does it... oh wait.

aisriyth_ESO

I think TTC is great.

I also like the non-global decentralized selling method we have currently. I didn't need to use AwesomeGuildStore to have any kind of real search functionality but alas, I shall make due with AwesomeGuildStore.

Elsonso

SchizoidMetal wrote: »

Flame me for this, but this is pure truth and just looking at high valued items on their website. You will see how this addon allows for price control and fixing through the website. I know first hand how a website can be bot scanned for low priced items and bought and resold for stupid prices(price fixing). I thought the whole point of the guild trading system was to now allow trade to become centralized. Well it has and you dont have to run around looking at all the trade shops, you can simply go to their website search the item and it pops up the lowest priced one w/ where and who. This breaks the uniqueness of the trading in ESO.

In my experience, TTC is a waste of time. It is easily out of date and not enough people use it.

Drachenfier

starkerealm wrote: »

Drachenfier wrote: »

This game is in dire need of an AH.

Not really.

Yes really. Trying to buy something in this game is such a huge pain in the ass, it's almost unreal.

BuddyAces

You didn't think there were enough crying threads on the forum that you had to find something new to whine about to be a snowflake? Can't tell if troll or not but I'll take the bait.

Thank god for this. Took me a while to come to terms with the ah system in this game but I love it now. Half the features in this game were designed as if this was the first mmo ever created. Like most of what ZOS does is a great idea but with the worse implementation ever. Thank whatever god you pray to for this website.

MidknightWolf

SchizoidMetal wrote: »

Flame me for this, but this is pure truth and just looking at high valued items on their website. You will see how this addon allows for price control and fixing through the website. I know first hand how a website can be bot scanned for low priced items and bought and resold for stupid prices(price fixing). I thought the whole point of the guild trading system was to now allow trade to become centralized. Well it has and you dont have to run around looking at all the trade shops, you can simply go to their website search the item and it pops up the lowest priced one w/ where and who. This breaks the uniqueness of the trading in ESO.

This is pure nonsense. Sure it makes flipping products quicker, but that is going to happen anyway. I personally love logging onto the site to search for the best deal for the piece of gear I need. Its just in game gold, which is otherwise useless in this game anyways. Who gives a crap if someone wants to buy cheap and resell for more. IRL it happens every day all day, ESO is no different.

starkerealm

Iselin wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Drachenfier wrote: »

This game is in dire need of an AH.

Not really.

I mean, when we're talking about people inflating the market, they're limited by how time consuming it is, and how restricted their ability to sell items is. Making that open to everyone? Yeah, I can't see how that would go horribly wrong.

Yeah it's so wrong that no other MMO does it... oh wait.

So, you've never actually seen the kind of market manipulation that goes on in other MMOs, have you? It's just this abstract concept floating around out there. No, clearly, it would make your life easier, and wouldn't lead to people jacking the price of essential crap up through the stratosphere.

I'm guessing you also missed the part where it would massively reduce the variety of items for sale. I'd explain, but, you should go take a look at a game with a global AH and come back before I try to explain that little detail to you.

faerigirl

lordrichter wrote: »

SchizoidMetal wrote: »

Flame me for this, but this is pure truth and just looking at high valued items on their website. You will see how this addon allows for price control and fixing through the website. I know first hand how a website can be bot scanned for low priced items and bought and resold for stupid prices(price fixing). I thought the whole point of the guild trading system was to now allow trade to become centralized. Well it has and you dont have to run around looking at all the trade shops, you can simply go to their website search the item and it pops up the lowest priced one w/ where and who. This breaks the uniqueness of the trading in ESO.

In my experience, TTC is a waste of time. It is easily out of date and not enough people use it.

This is my opinion as well. I don't buy much but the few things I have looked for has been gone before I (immediately) got there. As a matter of fact it was bought and reposted on another trader for 5 times the amount. It was dwarven ore? or something like that when I was trying to max out blacksmithing.

So all this blab blah blah about it keeping prices low and will stop people from 'cornering the market' is total BS.

starkerealm

Drachenfier wrote: »

...this game is such a huge pain in the ass...

You know, you don't have to be here, right?

Kodrac

Iselin wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Drachenfier wrote: »

This game is in dire need of an AH.

Not really.

I mean, when we're talking about people inflating the market, they're limited by how time consuming it is, and how restricted their ability to sell items is. Making that open to everyone? Yeah, I can't see how that would go horribly wrong.

Yeah it's so wrong that no other MMO does it... oh wait.

Other MMOs is always the counter argument, but they always conveniently fail to mention the price fixing and inflation in those other MMOs. o.0

starkerealm

MidknightWolf wrote: »

SchizoidMetal wrote: »

Flame me for this, but this is pure truth and just looking at high valued items on their website. You will see how this addon allows for price control and fixing through the website. I know first hand how a website can be bot scanned for low priced items and bought and resold for stupid prices(price fixing). I thought the whole point of the guild trading system was to now allow trade to become centralized. Well it has and you dont have to run around looking at all the trade shops, you can simply go to their website search the item and it pops up the lowest priced one w/ where and who. This breaks the uniqueness of the trading in ESO.

This is pure nonsense. Sure it makes flipping products quicker, but that is going to happen anyway. I personally love logging onto the site to search for the best deal for the piece of gear I need. Its just in game gold, which is otherwise useless in this game anyways. Who gives a crap if someone wants to buy cheap and resell for more. IRL it happens every day all day, ESO is no different.

The hilarious thing about this is, you can already flip stuff without addons. By the time you've trolled through most of the shops a few times, stuff like TTC and MM are nice, but you should already have a pretty solid idea of what something's worth at any given moment, and you can usually predict market shifts, something the addons cannot do.

Runs

Personally I think most times by the time an item is listed there it has already been sold... At least when it comes to the good deals.


Let's say I am looking for Atherial Dust, hoping from one trader to the next till I find one at 35k. I buy it right then and there since it is over 50% off the standard price. Sometime later that day I update my client. Now TTC is showing it at Vinedusk in Reapers March, but it has been long gone. No bot did this. Just a buyer who uses TTC.

I think there is a good amount of people who are looking at the different guild stores in game and come across those good deals first. I know almost all of my decent deals have shown 30 days left, meaning it has recently been posted.

The site itself isn't great if you are looking to find deals. But it is invaluable if you are looking for specific items regardless of cost.

starkerealm

Kodrac wrote: »

Iselin wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Drachenfier wrote: »

This game is in dire need of an AH.

Not really.

I mean, when we're talking about people inflating the market, they're limited by how time consuming it is, and how restricted their ability to sell items is. Making that open to everyone? Yeah, I can't see how that would go horribly wrong.

Yeah it's so wrong that no other MMO does it... oh wait.

Other MMOs is always the counter argument, but they always conveniently fail to mention the price fixing and inflation in those other MMOs. o.0

Fun trivia: With Star Trek Online, I actually hold my in game wealth in lockbox keys. I don't remember if I've ever bought any from the store (I think I have), and I'm pretty sure I've never actually cracked a box. But, the keys? Yeah, those maintain their value through inflation.

So, I mean, if that's what you want from ESO. A game where you're constantly trying to earn enough to counter inflation... yeah, by all means. Tell me how awesome it is to need 50,000,000 to buy a Sharpened Spriggan's Dagger.

starkerealm

Runs wrote: »

Personally I think most times by the time an item is listed there it has already been sold... At least when it comes to the good deals.


Let's say I am looking for Atherial Dust, hoping from one trader to the next till I find one at 35k. I buy it right then and there since it is over 50% off the standard price. Sometime later that day I update my client. Now TTC is showing it at Vinedusk in Reapers March, but it has been long gone. No bot did this. Just a buyer who uses TTC.

I think there is a good amount of people who are looking at the different guild stores in game and come across those good deals first. I know almost all of my decent deals have shown 30 days left, meaning it has recently been posted.

The site itself isn't great if you are looking to find deals. But it is invaluable if you are looking for specific items regardless of cost.

Honestly, on deals like that, it might not even be TTC. Unless the data is less than an hour old, offers like that usually get snapped up within minutes of going on the store. It's not people using addons, it's people browsing the store and going, "holy snotbuckets, that's a good price!"

Iselin

starkerealm wrote: »

Iselin wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

Drachenfier wrote: »

This game is in dire need of an AH.

Not really.

I mean, when we're talking about people inflating the market, they're limited by how time consuming it is, and how restricted their ability to sell items is. Making that open to everyone? Yeah, I can't see how that would go horribly wrong.

Yeah it's so wrong that no other MMO does it... oh wait.

So, you've never actually seen the kind of market manipulation that goes on in other MMOs, have you? It's just this abstract concept floating around out there. No, clearly, it would make your life easier, and wouldn't lead to people jacking the price of essential crap up through the stratosphere.

I'm guessing you also missed the part where it would massively reduce the variety of items for sale. I'd explain, but, you should go take a look at a game with a global AH and come back before I try to explain that little detail to you.

I'll take those negatives for the positives any day of the week compared to the ESO hunt and peck shopping system.

[Edit to remove insulting content]

Beardimus

BOOOOM! Spot on.

You win an award for the first 'dont want an auction house' thread, as this kind of price fixing is exactly why I'm happy with the in game trading functionality as it is now. Add ON's suck, v glad I'm console.

luen79rwb17_ESO

I never seem to find the items I search there so it has basically increased my search times even further.

Acrolas

BuddyAces wrote: »

Half the features in this game were designed as if this was the first mmo ever created.

"ESO is a game unlike any other" - Firor

As I tend to say, amateur mindset, amateur results...