moved

Tommy_The_Gun

Yes

Well "global auction house" is very confusing term... what I would really want to see is something like steam market so even if you don't have large guild you could still "post" some items to sell (of course with some limits like 5 - 10 items per week so the current trading guild vendor would remain relevant). That way you would have an alternative for WTS / WTT zone chat spam and this system could act as "supplement" for the current trading guild system.

edit:
Or at lest give us some better search functions in guild stores... like search by text maybe ?

Glurin

No

Olupajmibanan wrote: »

DoctorESO wrote: »

ARGUMENT FOR A GLOBAL AUCTION HOUSE:

The two main arguments in opposition of a global auction house are:

1. Undercutting the competition, leading to a race to the bottom in terms of pricing

2. Cornering the market, leading to price gouging

These two arguments lack merit.

A global auction house allows supply and demand to take their natural course and lead to an equilibrium of price.

Cornering the market is tough, even with add-ons. This is because the volume of items is so high and every single person in the game has the ability to sell items, resulting in a very large and constant supply - one that can easily outweigh the demand, making it unprofitable to buy every single quantity available. Even with low-volume items and attempts to price gouge, there will come a point where people decide the higher price is not worth it and either forgo the item or farm it on their own, or they will get it off-market. Either way, the price gouging sellers do not make the sale, and no profit results, forcing them to lower the price to the point where it sells at the desired volume (in a way that maximizes total sales dollars).

And then there is undercutting the competition, leading to a race to the bottom in terms of pricing. So this means that within a month of the global auction house going live, every item will be selling for one gold? Of course not. Just as there is a price ceiling set by the buyers, there is a price floor set by the sellers - at some point, they will decide it's not worth selling an item for a lower price. If this were not the case, then every item would be available for one gold.

Natural suply and demand can never take place in MMORPGS because economy in these games lacks core aspect present in real economy. Every economic theory is based on condition that resources are LIMITED. In these games, resources are unlimited leading to natural unbalance in suply and demand so argument about natural balance isn't in place.

Technically true, however there is a certain flow rate to those items being generated and removed from the game world. The more common the item, the higher the flow rate, which roughly translates to a higher supply. The fact that it's potentially infinite simply means we'll theoretically never hit a point where the item is completely used up.

But the thing DoctorESO failed to realize, or doesn't want to, is that the price gouging and undercutting does not apply equally to every single item. In fact he's trying to use that as a strawman argument in the quote you posted. Price gouging will simply guarantee that certain items will always be at or very slightly below the price ceiling, which will be artificially inflated because of said gouging. Likewise, items that are undercut will nearly always be at the price floor, which will be artificially low because there's so much undercutting taking place. By diversifying the market, you effectively make it resistant to both gouging and undercutting, bringing overall prices more toward a central average, as it were. Yes, some of that will still take place, but it won't be nearly as prevalent of a problem. It's good for the seller because he can still make a decent profit on common items and it's good for the buyer because the less common stuff will actually be in the realm of affordability.

jedtb16_ESO

No

Glurin wrote: »

Olupajmibanan wrote: »

DoctorESO wrote: »

ARGUMENT FOR A GLOBAL AUCTION HOUSE:

The two main arguments in opposition of a global auction house are:

1. Undercutting the competition, leading to a race to the bottom in terms of pricing

2. Cornering the market, leading to price gouging

These two arguments lack merit.

A global auction house allows supply and demand to take their natural course and lead to an equilibrium of price.

Cornering the market is tough, even with add-ons. This is because the volume of items is so high and every single person in the game has the ability to sell items, resulting in a very large and constant supply - one that can easily outweigh the demand, making it unprofitable to buy every single quantity available. Even with low-volume items and attempts to price gouge, there will come a point where people decide the higher price is not worth it and either forgo the item or farm it on their own, or they will get it off-market. Either way, the price gouging sellers do not make the sale, and no profit results, forcing them to lower the price to the point where it sells at the desired volume (in a way that maximizes total sales dollars).

And then there is undercutting the competition, leading to a race to the bottom in terms of pricing. So this means that within a month of the global auction house going live, every item will be selling for one gold? Of course not. Just as there is a price ceiling set by the buyers, there is a price floor set by the sellers - at some point, they will decide it's not worth selling an item for a lower price. If this were not the case, then every item would be available for one gold.

Natural suply and demand can never take place in MMORPGS because economy in these games lacks core aspect present in real economy. Every economic theory is based on condition that resources are LIMITED. In these games, resources are unlimited leading to natural unbalance in suply and demand so argument about natural balance isn't in place.

Technically true, however there is a certain flow rate to those items being generated and removed from the game world. The more common the item, the higher the flow rate, which roughly translates to a higher supply. The fact that it's potentially infinite simply means we'll theoretically never hit a point where the item is completely used up.

But the thing DoctorESO failed to realize, or doesn't want to, is that the price gouging and undercutting does not apply equally to every single item. In fact he's trying to use that as a strawman argument in the quote you posted. Price gouging will simply guarantee that certain items will always be at or very slightly below the price ceiling, which will be artificially inflated because of said gouging. Likewise, items that are undercut will nearly always be at the price floor, which will be artificially low because there's so much undercutting taking place. By diversifying the market, you effectively make it resistant to both gouging and undercutting, bringing overall prices more toward a central average, as it were. Yes, some of that will still take place, but it won't be nearly as prevalent of a problem. It's good for the seller because he can still make a decent profit on common items and it's good for the buyer because the less common stuff will actually be in the realm of affordability.

i don't disagree with anything you say here but i do take issue with the idea of gouging and undercutting.

gouging/undercutting presuppose that there is some kind of 'ideal' or fixed price for any given item. there isn't. for any sale (since there are no game mechanic imposed restrictions on price) the price, generally, will fall between what the seller hopes to get and what the market will bear.

Mureel

No

I love it as it is! It's just more interesting and fun to score a good deal! Also things are actually worth money.

Twenty0zTsunami

No

Jhalin wrote: »

A Global Auction House would do many things, none of them good
1) Groups ALL items together. You think searching for items it bad now? Shoehorning every item for sale into one thing would make it even worse.

Although I'm against the idea in principle, there's no reason they couldn't keep current traders in all their locations and simply connect all the traders item listings.

QuebraRegra wrote: »

DoctorESO wrote: »

ARGUMENT FOR A GLOBAL AUCTION HOUSE:

The two main arguments in opposition of a global auction house are:

1. Undercutting the competition, leading to a race to the bottom in terms of pricing

2. Cornering the market, leading to price gouging

These two arguments lack merit.

A global auction house allows supply and demand to take their natural course and lead to an equilibrium of price.

Cornering the market is tough, even with add-ons. This is because the volume of items is so high and every single person in the game has the ability to sell items, resulting in a very large and constant supply - one that can easily outweigh the demand, making it unprofitable to buy every single quantity available. Even with low-volume items and attempts to price gouge, there will come a point where people decide the higher price is not worth it and either forgo the item or farm it on their own, or they will get it off-market. Either way, the price gouging sellers do not make the sale, and no profit results, forcing them to lower the price to the point where it sells at the desired volume (in a way that maximizes total sales dollars).

And then there is undercutting the competition, leading to a race to the bottom in terms of pricing. So this means that within a month of the global auction house going live, every item will be selling for one gold? Of course not. Just as there is a price ceiling set by the buyers, there is a price floor set by the sellers - at some point, they will decide it's not worth selling an item for a lower price. If this were not the case, then every item would be available for one gold.

as a consumer, we like a race to the bottom in terms of pricing.

but what he's failing to account for is the fact that individuals with mountains of gold will buy everything at "rock bottom" out and re-list at a higher price.

It already goes on. Having every item in the game accessible from a centralized location would worsen this problem.

Tandor

Yes

jedtb16_ESO wrote: »

Glurin wrote: »

Olupajmibanan wrote: »

DoctorESO wrote: »

ARGUMENT FOR A GLOBAL AUCTION HOUSE:

The two main arguments in opposition of a global auction house are:

1. Undercutting the competition, leading to a race to the bottom in terms of pricing

2. Cornering the market, leading to price gouging

These two arguments lack merit.

A global auction house allows supply and demand to take their natural course and lead to an equilibrium of price.

Cornering the market is tough, even with add-ons. This is because the volume of items is so high and every single person in the game has the ability to sell items, resulting in a very large and constant supply - one that can easily outweigh the demand, making it unprofitable to buy every single quantity available. Even with low-volume items and attempts to price gouge, there will come a point where people decide the higher price is not worth it and either forgo the item or farm it on their own, or they will get it off-market. Either way, the price gouging sellers do not make the sale, and no profit results, forcing them to lower the price to the point where it sells at the desired volume (in a way that maximizes total sales dollars).

And then there is undercutting the competition, leading to a race to the bottom in terms of pricing. So this means that within a month of the global auction house going live, every item will be selling for one gold? Of course not. Just as there is a price ceiling set by the buyers, there is a price floor set by the sellers - at some point, they will decide it's not worth selling an item for a lower price. If this were not the case, then every item would be available for one gold.

Natural suply and demand can never take place in MMORPGS because economy in these games lacks core aspect present in real economy. Every economic theory is based on condition that resources are LIMITED. In these games, resources are unlimited leading to natural unbalance in suply and demand so argument about natural balance isn't in place.

Technically true, however there is a certain flow rate to those items being generated and removed from the game world. The more common the item, the higher the flow rate, which roughly translates to a higher supply. The fact that it's potentially infinite simply means we'll theoretically never hit a point where the item is completely used up.

But the thing DoctorESO failed to realize, or doesn't want to, is that the price gouging and undercutting does not apply equally to every single item. In fact he's trying to use that as a strawman argument in the quote you posted. Price gouging will simply guarantee that certain items will always be at or very slightly below the price ceiling, which will be artificially inflated because of said gouging. Likewise, items that are undercut will nearly always be at the price floor, which will be artificially low because there's so much undercutting taking place. By diversifying the market, you effectively make it resistant to both gouging and undercutting, bringing overall prices more toward a central average, as it were. Yes, some of that will still take place, but it won't be nearly as prevalent of a problem. It's good for the seller because he can still make a decent profit on common items and it's good for the buyer because the less common stuff will actually be in the realm of affordability.

i don't disagree with anything you say here but i do take issue with the idea of gouging and undercutting.

gouging/undercutting presuppose that there is some kind of 'ideal' or fixed price for any given item. there isn't. for any sale (since there are no game mechanic imposed restrictions on price) the price, generally, will fall between what the seller hopes to get and what the market will bear.

That presupposes that there aren't agreements between trading guilds or pressures imposed on guild members as to the level of listing price that is "expected" if members are to continue with those guilds. I've no idea whether that actually does happen, but I've certainly seen plenty of claims that it does.

gr4yrang3r87

Yes

Global trading is always better imo, and so much easier, plus watching a crowd of people standing around an auctioneer is hilarious xD

Grabmoore

No

Tandor wrote: »

jedtb16_ESO wrote: »

Glurin wrote: »

Olupajmibanan wrote: »

DoctorESO wrote: »

ARGUMENT FOR A GLOBAL AUCTION HOUSE:

The two main arguments in opposition of a global auction house are:

1. Undercutting the competition, leading to a race to the bottom in terms of pricing

2. Cornering the market, leading to price gouging

These two arguments lack merit.

A global auction house allows supply and demand to take their natural course and lead to an equilibrium of price.

Cornering the market is tough, even with add-ons. This is because the volume of items is so high and every single person in the game has the ability to sell items, resulting in a very large and constant supply - one that can easily outweigh the demand, making it unprofitable to buy every single quantity available. Even with low-volume items and attempts to price gouge, there will come a point where people decide the higher price is not worth it and either forgo the item or farm it on their own, or they will get it off-market. Either way, the price gouging sellers do not make the sale, and no profit results, forcing them to lower the price to the point where it sells at the desired volume (in a way that maximizes total sales dollars).

And then there is undercutting the competition, leading to a race to the bottom in terms of pricing. So this means that within a month of the global auction house going live, every item will be selling for one gold? Of course not. Just as there is a price ceiling set by the buyers, there is a price floor set by the sellers - at some point, they will decide it's not worth selling an item for a lower price. If this were not the case, then every item would be available for one gold.

Natural suply and demand can never take place in MMORPGS because economy in these games lacks core aspect present in real economy. Every economic theory is based on condition that resources are LIMITED. In these games, resources are unlimited leading to natural unbalance in suply and demand so argument about natural balance isn't in place.

Technically true, however there is a certain flow rate to those items being generated and removed from the game world. The more common the item, the higher the flow rate, which roughly translates to a higher supply. The fact that it's potentially infinite simply means we'll theoretically never hit a point where the item is completely used up.

But the thing DoctorESO failed to realize, or doesn't want to, is that the price gouging and undercutting does not apply equally to every single item. In fact he's trying to use that as a strawman argument in the quote you posted. Price gouging will simply guarantee that certain items will always be at or very slightly below the price ceiling, which will be artificially inflated because of said gouging. Likewise, items that are undercut will nearly always be at the price floor, which will be artificially low because there's so much undercutting taking place. By diversifying the market, you effectively make it resistant to both gouging and undercutting, bringing overall prices more toward a central average, as it were. Yes, some of that will still take place, but it won't be nearly as prevalent of a problem. It's good for the seller because he can still make a decent profit on common items and it's good for the buyer because the less common stuff will actually be in the realm of affordability.

i don't disagree with anything you say here but i do take issue with the idea of gouging and undercutting.

gouging/undercutting presuppose that there is some kind of 'ideal' or fixed price for any given item. there isn't. for any sale (since there are no game mechanic imposed restrictions on price) the price, generally, will fall between what the seller hopes to get and what the market will bear.

That presupposes that there aren't agreements between trading guilds or pressures imposed on guild members as to the level of listing price that is "expected" if members are to continue with those guilds. I've no idea whether that actually does happen, but I've certainly seen plenty of claims that it does.

Let me tell you that much:

There are agreements between trading guilds, mostly to prevent trader wars and spying/sniping.

However, you are not forced to stay in a guild, that has a certain policy. If you don't want to pay the donation or reach the minimum sales, you could join a less competitive guild without restrictions.

MinarasLaure

Indifferent

Don't really care honestly
This system works

JobooAGS

No

In before everything costs either 1 gold or your wallet and a half

Elsonso

No

LejonTryne wrote: »

Yeah, a global auction house will be nice! I wonder why there is non yet!

In a nutshell? They have already said "No" to the idea during an ESO Live.

Jason Leavey: "Auction House. There's been some questions about whether that's something we're ever going to consider. It's not something that we plan on considering. While global auction houses would be convenient, they are not ideal for the economy of the game, so it's not something that we're planning to do."
Gina Bruno: No. Sorry.

ESO Live #15, April 10, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D0_q6cfhsE

heaven13

Tandor wrote: »

As an alternative to maintaining the present dysfunctional system as it is, yes.

As an alternative to overhauling and improving the present system, no.

Basically the problems with the existing system are for buyers the lack of a decent search function and the need to travel the world in the hope that someone, somewhere will have the item you're looking for (together with the lack of transparency over pricing so if you do find it you've no idea if it's cheaper elsewhere).

For sellers the problems are that only a small proportion of the players can trade each week, those spots are by and large cornered at a ridiculous cost both in guild resources and GMs' time, and only PC players have the opportunity to implement the means of making it into a half-decent system through add-ons which are, however, a significant performance drain for those who use them.

The arguments against changing the system tend only to come from those who make the most money from it, and generally relate to things like dire warnings of price-fixing etc that already happen under the present system anyway. In any type of economy artificially restricting the supply of goods is only ever good for those sellers who manage to participate in the system, all other prospective sellers and all buyers are the losers from it.

Overhauling the system to enable better search functions for buyers with the option to collect items from across the world free or have them mailed to them at a significant cost would be a start. Providing a fully functional trader UI avoiding the need for add-ons and putting all platform users on the same footing would be a good next step. Finally, cater for all casual and non-guild sellers as well as unsuccessful guild traders by having a NPC trader in each of the main locations and through whom a small number of items could be listed at a high level of commission to be shared between the guilds trading in those locations. The icing on the cake could well be the provision of trading quests through the NPC merchants for new players that would introduce them to the whole trading concept in ESO which is markedly different to any other game.

All of this. Leaving guild traders as is but with better search functions and price transparency as well as adding an NPC trader where anyone can list a small number of items (2-5 or so) with a higher fee would be pretty great. I'm fine traveling to get something if I've got a good idea it will be there.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I don't normally only trade when I "need" something. I check traders as I come across them questing or doing writs. Thanks to add-ons, I'll search for a couple different things (unknown recipes or motifs, sometimes mats) and if they're at a decent price, I get them. It makes using the trader much more manageable instead of rushing around trying to find that thing I need now. I've only done this a couple times and it's always a headache (for example: needed a hakeijo for a master writ and couldn't find them anywhere for decent price; finally found one, then bought about 20 from someone in zone chat shortly after because never again).

So if ZoS were to implement search functions themselves and some kind of price average MM/TTC combo (average of selling prices across all listings for that month/patch/whatever) it'd go a LONG way towards making trading more pleasant.

Cpt_Teemo

Yes

JobooAGS wrote: »

In before everything costs either 1 gold or your wallet and a half

Not going to happen, looted items that are still in WoW that people could still get from 13 years ago are going for around same prices every day. People would just vendor items before taking the time to list on the auction house if some really did hit that low.

Cpt_Teemo

Yes

lordrichter wrote: »

LejonTryne wrote: »

Yeah, a global auction house will be nice! I wonder why there is non yet!

In a nutshell? They have already said "No" to the idea during an ESO Live.

Jason Leavey: "Auction House. There's been some questions about whether that's something we're ever going to consider. It's not something that we plan on considering. While global auction houses would be convenient, they are not ideal for the economy of the game, so it's not something that we're planning to do."
Gina Bruno: No. Sorry.

ESO Live #15, April 10, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D0_q6cfhsE

That's what Guildwars 1 said before Guildwars 2 was created

SLaytanic

Yes

Why not have a global auction that has an extra cost attached for using the service. The current system can stay in place as well. Either pay extra to buy from the global auction house or hunt it down like we do today.

Cpt_Teemo

Yes

SLaytanic wrote: »

Why not have a global auction that has an extra cost attached for using the service. The current system can stay in place as well. Either pay extra to buy from the global auction house or hunt it down like we do today.

Or like other's have narrowed down as well a combination of both guild store + auction search.

IE:
Marketer's in each major city (Multiple's since crowds)
Marketer's will list all current items in that zone on the marketer but you cannot buy them directly (Swg Bazaar)
If you want listed item it will show which vendor it was on at the time so you make a rush for it (Swg Bazaar)
Profits still go to and from guild vendors.

But yeah there's also the problem of limited vendors in the game so would be nice to atleast add 1 other for each stall to have a bid for each of the trader's for that stall.

Elsonso

No

Cpt_Teemo wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

LejonTryne wrote: »

Yeah, a global auction house will be nice! I wonder why there is non yet!

In a nutshell? They have already said "No" to the idea during an ESO Live.

Jason Leavey: "Auction House. There's been some questions about whether that's something we're ever going to consider. It's not something that we plan on considering. While global auction houses would be convenient, they are not ideal for the economy of the game, so it's not something that we're planning to do."
Gina Bruno: No. Sorry.

ESO Live #15, April 10, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D0_q6cfhsE

That's what Guildwars 1 said before Guildwars 2 was created

Well, when ZOS makes Guildwars 3, maybe they will use guild traders. Who knows. Seems a good place for trade guilds.

In any case, in the next game ZOS makes, which I am guessing will be Fallout, they might use a wasteland trading system that is global. It's be more cool if the took the Fallout 4 settlements and did trade local to them, though. Having played both global and local commerce systems, I really like the local ones. More games should actually switch from global to local.

heaven13

Also, for people saying the current system only works for the super rich or those who flip/trade 24/7 I have to ask...what do you consider working? Selling your extra goods for more than you get at an NPC vendor, or making millions a week?

Of my 5 guilds, I am in 2 with traders (both with consistent spots week to week). Neither require dues, though both do have an inactivity police plus (non-mandatory) raffles. One is in a capital city. The other in Vivec. I make over 100k each week just selling the stuff I get from my normal gameplay (motif books I don't need that are dupes of what my crafter knows, same with provisioning recipes I already know). If I sold my tempers/roes/etc that I get from my regular activities, I'd make even more but I generally hoard mats since I have crafting bag and like to be prepared. I'm not farming buoyant armiger or spending all my hours in CWC in hopes of finding furnishing recipes. I just play as usual and sell my extras.

It comes down to your expectations. If you go into trading hoping to buy Daggerfall Outlook (in gold) in 3 weeks, you're likely to be either burnt out if you manage or disappointed if you don't. If you just want to make a little extra (I sell duplicates to buy the ones I'm missing, for example), then you're likely to have a much better experience.

generalmyrick

Yes

ID BUY IT! :-)

Tandor

Yes

lordrichter wrote: »

LejonTryne wrote: »

Yeah, a global auction house will be nice! I wonder why there is non yet!

In a nutshell? They have already said "No" to the idea during an ESO Live.

They had already said no to dropping mandatory subscriptions before going B2P.

They had already said no to subscribers paying for additional content before introducing paid-for chapters.

As it happens, I don't object to them having changed their minds in the light of different approaches to those things, I mention them purely to demonstrate that there's no reason why they shouldn't also change their mind on the future of the trading system - especially when you consider that the comment you quoted was made before the game launched on console and at a time therefore when it may not have been fully appreciated how dysfunctional the guild trader system would be when two-thirds of the players had no access to the add-ons that few PC traders would be willing to operate without.

Navarr

Yes

Glurin wrote: »

You weren't much of a trader in those other games. Not in the medieval merchant sense anyway. What you were was the guy that stands on the stock market floor and yells "BUY! BUY! BUY! SELL! SELL! SELL!" and then jumps out a window when someone floods the market with trillium bars or whatever.

ESO guild traders are what the world was like before Walmart dominated the retail market. If you want the absolute best deal possible, you gotta put in some actual effort instead of just refreshing your search page every few minutes. Otherwise, you just go find what you're looking for at a price you're willing to pay.

It seems like you didn't quite understand my post. I was stating that the current system doesn't work and a global AH and/or trade chat could fix a lot of things. I see that for some people immersion is more important than a fast and efficient system. But it seems like it's time to move on to a functioning system.

Also please elaborate on your first paragraph.

vyndral13preub18_ESO

Yes

lordrichter wrote: »

LejonTryne wrote: »

Yeah, a global auction house will be nice! I wonder why there is non yet!

In a nutshell? They have already said "No" to the idea during an ESO Live.

Jason Leavey: "Auction House. There's been some questions about whether that's something we're ever going to consider. It's not something that we plan on considering. While global auction houses would be convenient, they are not ideal for the economy of the game, so it's not something that we're planning to do."
Gina Bruno: No. Sorry.

ESO Live #15, April 10, 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7D0_q6cfhsE

While I do understand they haven’t touched the subject since then, it is after all an almost 3 year old quote. At that point you might as well break out the quote that says the game would always be subscription based, because anything else would mean sacrificing the game they wanted to make.

DoctorESO

Yes

.

DoctorESO

Yes

.

DoctorESO

Yes

.

wolfie1.0.

No

I will concede that ZOS needs to add a better guild store UI and features. because the majority of the pain that has been expressed is 1) the lack of a good search feature 2) Poor item Sorting and 3) How to tell a good price. Addons address these issues, the native game not so much.

But realistically the time to implement a global store was prior to launch at the close of beta. doing so at this point would create a very unstable economy. The only stable way to implement this would mean essentially resetting the whole game, wiping all gold, items, craft bags and banks from the game and starting everyone back at 0. Also they would have to rework the ENTIRE economic system and create a variety of gold sinks and fees that would effectively remove gold from the game. Stuff that the don't have the resources to do or desire to do when the current system has a stable economy (ie inflation is pretty low).

If i were ZOS i would work on implementing something like Awesome Guild Store add on and make it native to the game. I would put in information regarding the average price into the interface, but lock down the information on where the cheaper items were sold. People would still need to go hunting, but hunting would be easier.


EDIT: I would also like to point out that there is noting that is listed in ANY guild store that is not or has not dropped in game. Everything listed can be and has been farmed or obtained by some means. It just takes time. Far more time than it takes people to travel to several zones and check the guild stores, most of which are near wayshrines and in some cases clustered. So spend 2 hours searching for that item? or spend 3+ trying to farm it?

Elsonso

No

.

wtlonewolf20 wrote: »

I will concede that ZOS needs to add a better guild store UI and features. because the majority of the pain that has been expressed is 1) the lack of a good search feature 2) Poor item Sorting and 3) How to tell a good price. Addons address these issues, the native game not so much.

Yes. Two big problems that exist in the game are how to find stuff in the store being looked at, and assistance with that bloody log file that tells what everything sold for so people can look and see what things are currently selling for, in addition to the asking price.

Without decent search and more detailed categorization, the guild store buying experience is hobbled. They have to know this. I just wish they would take some time out from their busy schedule to actually do something about it.

They also need an active and up-to-date Looking For Guild system that connects people who want to find a trading guild (or PVE, or trial, or PVP, or RPG, or...) with guilds that are accepting members. That interface also needs to tell whether they currently have a kiosk, and where that kiosk is.

peacenote

No

I like the system as it is today. It has a nice "Elder Scrolls" feel, encourages travel, and participating in a trade guild really helps with socializing.

One thing I greatly dislike is the search. Even with the Awesome Guild Store mod, you often have to scroll through pages of "blank" results when filtering items in a SINGLE guild. I can't even imagine how much longer it would take me to page through all of the offerings in a global auction house. Yuck. At least right now I can balance when I need something quick looking in game vs. TTC when I am having trouble finding something rarer.

To even consider a global auction house, we would need a much better database and much, much better and faster search.

But I would prefer to see improvements to the current system in its current form, and keep the guild traders at this point.

Glurin

No

DoctorESO wrote: »

Glurin wrote: »

But the thing DoctorESO failed to realize, or doesn't want to, is that the price gouging and undercutting does not apply equally to every single item. In fact he's trying to use that as a strawman argument in the quote you posted. Price gouging will simply guarantee that certain items will always be at or very slightly below the price ceiling, which will be artificially inflated because of said gouging. Likewise, items that are undercut will nearly always be at the price floor, which will be artificially low because there's so much undercutting taking place.

To give people perspective when I first created this thread, I actually summarized the arguments for both sides, not just one/

But if "items will always be at or very slightly below the price ceiling," doesn't this mean that the item has found its market value? Not sure what "price ceiling" refers to, but if everyone is buying and selling at a particular price, then that price is the market value. No?

Same thing with the "price floor."

No. That value is an inflated, artificial value that limits the pool of people even capable of affording the item in question to a small handful of wealthy and not so fiscally aware individuals. If I bought out all the fidget spinners in the world and sold them for $100 dollars per spinner, there would still be people that buy them. That doesn't mean they are worth $100. It means a relative few people out there are willing to spend $100 on them.

Yes, yes, I'm aware of the axiom that things are worth whatever people will pay. The thing is, Bill Gates might be willing to pay a hundred dollars for a ham sandwich because to him a hundred dollars is pocket change. To everyone else, that had better be a damn good sandwich before they even consider going anywhere near that price.

Something similar happens the other direction. Fidget spinners might cost you say, 75 cents to acquire or build so you sell them for a dollar and make a nice profit. Then comes "Crazy Tod's Discount Fidget Emporium" who sells thousands of the things for say, 76 cents. (We'll liken that to selling just above vendor trash value, though I've seen plenty of items go below that in global AH systems.) Even though he can sell spinners at that price, that doesn't mean it's a fair market value for them. The fidget spinner market crashes and burns as long as he's around because nobody can make any kind of profit on them anymore.

Radiance

Yes

What if there was just an Item search button you could search for a specific desired item, Then travel to that Guild Trader to buy said item or find the next closest Item to you if you don't have that WayShrine!?! Feels like a very doable Middle Ground compromise IMHO! and I am the most Humble person you will ever meet! So very Humble... lol