Auction Houses: yes or no?

Kawiki

One Auction House to rule them all

robertthebard wrote: »

Leave it like it is, I'm breaking down stuff that might ordinarily go into an AH, and if it's something rare that someone else wants, it's just gone. I'm not consistent enough a player to warrant joining a trade guild, so I get to save my crafting resources to craft for me, instead of having to list x amount of stuff that actually sells in order to stay in a guild, on top of regular attendance.

All the reasons you listed are why you should want a change. List some items when you want to without the gates. [Snip]

[Edited for inappropriate content]

preevious

Keep everything as it is

Artanisul wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

Eifleber wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

*weary sigh*

*even wearier sigh*

Tell me again the added value of the current system?

1. Good for immersion
2. Allow crafty players to actually make some gold (not only those being in guilds .. I used to raise funds with this system long before I even dared to think about applying to a guild
3. Allow any player to randomly fiind a good deal on what's needed. (on a GAH, everything is at the same price, with "clever" player putting their stuff at "min - 1g" to undercut others .. yay -_-)
4. Prevent market-cornering of rare items

There.
That excellent system basically create a non-gamable economy

I'll add that common items are still easy to find, rare items would be as unfindable in a GAH because they'd be so easy to find that they'd go almost instantly, and guilds turnovers are high enough so that when you search you'll easily find find a spot somewhere.

Also, all traders, baring the oddball faraway remote trading post, see enough players to sell your stuff.

On reason number two, I am confused. You say it allows those people not in guilds to make gold. It actually fores people to join guilds to sell anything. So not sure how you used the system before even joing a guild. OH I know...you didnt...

On point number 4, you are missing something. While someone cant corner the market on "items", they do corner the market on VENDERS. Keeping the top sales slots only to the guild mofias is well known here in ESO.

This "excellent system" creates a completely gamable economy. Ya cant sell unless you join a guild.

I know it's not going to change. I just would like people to actually admit the truth about how it is being abused.

If you knew how much I bought in guild store then sold in zone chat, you'd be astonished. I bought all the buyoant pages back when they were 150-300k a piece thanks to that .. and them some. Didn't need any membership for that. Just common sense. (looking at the last posted items, buying those that I know are cheap, and profit .. anyone can do that, with time (yeah, with time .. after all, it's a kind of farming))

Regarding the ever present (and silly) Idea of "mofias" that you brought, I'll ask a single question : What would those actually allow? Sure, guilds can form a alliance, a kind of "non-aggression" pact, if you will (don't take my spot, I won't take yours) .. but except to safeguard their trader, how does it game the system?

On a guild, any player is free to set the prices as he sees fit. I often sell below market price to keep gold flowing fast, and both my high-end guilds couldn't care less, as long as I meet the quota. (hell, you think they'll keep tab on everything sold by their 500 members? on 15k items, every single day? With an important turnover of players )

So, yeah .. except for gaining a bit of security/stability, what nefarious purpose do you think they pursue by creating alliances?

max_only

Add more guild stores per city

BRCOURTN wrote: »

Man, what a new and fresh perspective

Donny_Vito wrote: »

I swear I've seen this same exact poll before....

Starlock

A few auction houses, like one in each capital

Lumenn wrote: »

I don't even bother with it, mostly if I DO sell something it's zone chat. The few times I've actually tried finding an item on Xbox, going from zone to zone, checking each trader takes WAY too long, esp with the loading screens.

Yes, it's a touch ridiculous. I don't like shopping in the apparent world, and at least there if I go to a particular store I have a general idea of what is in stock and don't have to travel to every store in my town to find what I'm looking for (and perhaps not even then). The guild store system has character, but it's a serious pain in the bumper. It's not an enjoyable experience in the least and pretty much a time waster.

Ri_Khan

A few auction houses, like one in each capital

Anyone that defends the current system but still uses TTC is full of it. Also repeatedly saying this type of system can't be gamed, fixed or cornered doesn't make it true. Maybe you haven't figured out how to do it yourself which is fine, but it doesn't mean others haven't and don't.

newtinmpls

Other .. (explain)

Kiralyn2000 wrote: »

The current <snip> ESO [system] is incredibly buyer unfriendly, pretty damn poor for minor sellers... and awesome for Big Wheeler Dealer Trading Is My Life types.

Like so many things in ESO, guilds and traders are not just here to serve one purpose - and that is a strength, not a weakness. More immersion, more choices, more fun.

I have a friend who is in 4 "big time trader" guilds, and one guild that she affectionately refers to as "that crazy housing guild". Her profits are in the tens and hundreds of thousands of gold weekly, and she spends it all just as fast on new patterns, materials to buy so she can make more things to sell and so on.

I am in 5 guilds:
Trading Guild 1 "fairly busy"- I average selling 1-2 things ever 1-2 days with profits from 8 gold (I do sell piles of lockpicks and groups of 10-20 mudballs or similar) to 600-900 gold every few days. Most of the furniture, or items I make go here.

PvP guild that usually has a trader - this is my go-to for selling items like "rewards for the worthy" (rare, as I don't PvP often) or the items I get for doing daily random Undaunted type things, or rarely, for the occasional Cold Fire trebuchet or Ballista (drops from doing Cyrodiil dolmens). Or filled soul gems. Not a ton of profit, but fun. I've never checked, but it's possible my guildies are buying stuff before the "customers". That's fine by me.

Trading Guild 2 "intermittent" - My place to sell intricate items, batches of soul gems, batches of trash potions (I price them not much above what I'd get from a vendor and they tend to go). This is another place to sell furniture - and I will say the only stuff I make, is stuff I would keep and use if no one bought it.

Fishing Guild - they do have a store, but not a trader, so I don't put much here. But I'm here for the Fish!

Social Guild - Awesome activities, supportive, great people, they do have a store, but they don't have a trader. I occasionally throw things in here, but not often, and once in a while (like...monthly) I'll sell something little. No big, I'm here for the people, not the profit.

Kiralyn2000 wrote: »

every time some shmoe throws up their hands in disgust at the Guild Trader system and vendors/deconstructs <Rare Item>, it helps keep the supply of <Rare Item> down and the value of the ones being sold high.)

What you forget, or avoid mentioning, are the many times that some has <rare item>, throws out that they have it into zone chat, and price information and sometimes a friendly bidding war ensues. The guild traders are the usual, but certainly not the only option.

For that matter, even when using TTC, I often see a note that an individual has offered something for sale, no guild connection. Again, another option.

newtinmpls

Other .. (explain)

Kalik_Gold wrote: »

I do believe that solo players should have access to a Personal Trader, where either they can toggle themselves into a trader/shop in a certain zone (bazaar ala Everquest).

That would be interesting. It could be Alliance locked with X items per character, and maybe .... added to Undaunted or Mages or Fighters guilds.

Smitch_59

Other .. (explain)

What is TTC?

RefLiberty

One Auction House to rule them all

I voted yes just because I'm lazy to travel around from merchant to merchants. Nothing else.

AgaTheGreat

Keep everything as it is

This is not a WOW clone.

newtinmpls

Other .. (explain)

Smitch_59 wrote: »

What is TTC?

Tamriel Trade Center, usable on PC (EU or NA) it is an online program that functions as a "sort of", as data from your gaming is uploaded to their site.

So it gets data on what was offered for sale in your guild stores, and there is apparently also an option to list items as an individual (I have not yet done this, but suspect it might be the way to open this idea up to non-PC players).

It's very random in what listings it gets, likely more from bigger guilds, and likely less from smaller ones, and plenty of times I've wandered around to the "rare" traders (like at crossroads and such) and found better deals.

But it's an option.

wenchmore420b14_ESO

Add more guild stores per city

Smitch_59 wrote: »

What is TTC?

Tamriel Trade Center

It is a add on with a down load to your computer that tracks the listings in kiosks and what their price and location is.
It does not update in real time and prices are what sellers set and not what they actually sell for.
Master Merchant (MM) is another add on but is shows what items sold for.

https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1245-TamrielTradeCentre.html

Hope this helps. Huzzah!

newtinmpls

Other .. (explain)

wenchmore420b14_ESO wrote: »

[Tamriel Trade Center] tracks the listings in kiosks and what their price and location is.
It does not update in real time and prices are what sellers set and not what they actually sell for.
Master Merchant (MM) is another add on but is shows what items sold for.

Good point; TTC tracks many many listings (price asked).

MM tracks selling price from the guilds YOU are a member of - and any other guild store that you go into and do "scan" on (which takes time).

So they rarely give the same answer; but as long as they are in the ballpark, it gives some idea of what to ask for or expect to pay.

Nairinhe

Keep everything as it is

Given how old is this topic (as old is game itself?), this poll is necromancy and animal abuse. Poor horsie.

robertthebard

Keep everything as it is

Kawiki wrote: »

robertthebard wrote: »

Leave it like it is, I'm breaking down stuff that might ordinarily go into an AH, and if it's something rare that someone else wants, it's just gone. I'm not consistent enough a player to warrant joining a trade guild, so I get to save my crafting resources to craft for me, instead of having to list x amount of stuff that actually sells in order to stay in a guild, on top of regular attendance.

All the reasons you listed are why you should want a change. List some items when you want to without the gates. [Snip]

[Edited for inappropriate content]

No, because I simply don't care. I don't care if I have more gold than I can spend in a few days, or a few years. As I said, I'm way too inconsistent a player to have to worry about it. The forums have me at three years as an account, but I might have 6 months in, maybe...

MartiniDaniels

Keep everything as it is

ESO system promotes healthy competition which turns trading into a mini-game within itself and pushes people to sell items which otherwise will be simply deconstructed or sold to NPC vendors, because selling them through AH is simply not worth the effort. In ESO even if you have 50M gold on account, selling some niche item for 1k gold is still worth it because it is part of trading mini game. You are a trader - you sell everything because every penny counts if it was earned by selling to real people.
For those who say they can't join guilds, this is sheer laziness nothing else, there are ton of guilds with laughably small requirements and a lot of free spots in them. Yes their trader can be somewhere far, but if you sell popular or rare items, buyers will find you anywhere (because of TTC).

Nord_Raseri

Add more guild stores per city

I just think capitals and other bigger cities should reflect the major trade hubs they'd be, by adding a few more vendors.

DamenAJ

One Auction House to rule them all

I would absolutely love a central auction house. I really, really would.

But I feel like the current system is set up to take huge chunks of gold out of the system.

Would we accept a 30-40% AH tax to make up for the removal of guild trader bidding?

Rave the Histborn

Keep everything as it is

Eifleber wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

*weary sigh*

*even wearier sigh*

Tell me again the added value of the current system?

If you need to change the system you might wanna play a game that uses that old system. Not every game has to be WoW and there's plenty of value it adds.

Rave the Histborn

Keep everything as it is

Artanisul wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

Eifleber wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

*weary sigh*

*even wearier sigh*

Tell me again the added value of the current system?

1. Good for immersion
2. Allow crafty players to actually make some gold (not only those being in guilds .. I used to raise funds with this system long before I even dared to think about applying to a guild
3. Allow any player to randomly fiind a good deal on what's needed. (on a GAH, everything is at the same price, with "clever" player putting their stuff at "min - 1g" to undercut others .. yay -_-)
4. Prevent market-cornering of rare items

There.
That excellent system basically create a non-gamable economy

I'll add that common items are still easy to find, rare items would be as unfindable in a GAH because they'd be so easy to find that they'd go almost instantly, and guilds turnovers are high enough so that when you search you'll easily find find a spot somewhere.

Also, all traders, baring the oddball faraway remote trading post, see enough players to sell your stuff.

On reason number two, I am confused. You say it allows those people not in guilds to make gold. It actually fores people to join guilds to sell anything. So not sure how you used the system before even joing a guild. OH I know...you didnt...

On point number 4, you are missing something. While someone cant corner the market on "items", they do corner the market on VENDERS. Keeping the top sales slots only to the guild mofias is well known here in ESO.

This "excellent system" creates a completely gamable economy. Ya cant sell unless you join a guild.

I know it's not going to change. I just would like people to actually admit the truth about how it is being abused.

Joining a guild is very easy and it's harder to game the guild trader system than it is a global AH. It's not impossible but it is harder and does happen less frequently than in games with global AH.

idk

Keep everything as it is

My first choice for an answer would have been a poll that is not necessarily over complicated. 3 answers for people who want an AH when the answer to the question is clearly just yes or no. Even the OP states the question is either yes or no but then goes on to make a mess of the possible answers.

idk

Keep everything as it is

preevious wrote: »

*weary sigh*

+1

preevious wrote: »

Eifleber wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

*weary sigh*

*even wearier sigh*

Tell me again the added value of the current system?

1. Good for immersion
2. Allow crafty players to actually make some gold (not only those being in guilds .. I used to raise funds with this system long before I even dared to think about applying to a guild
3. Allow any player to randomly fiind a good deal on what's needed. (on a GAH, everything is at the same price, with "clever" player putting their stuff at "min - 1g" to undercut others .. yay -_-)
4. Prevent market-cornering of rare items

There.
That excellent system basically create a non-gamable economy

I'll add that common items are still easy to find, rare items would be as unfindable in a GAH because they'd be so easy to find that they'd go almost instantly, and guilds turnovers are high enough so that when you search you'll easily find find a spot somewhere.

Also, all traders, baring the oddball faraway remote trading post, see enough players to sell your stuff.

Very good points and so accurate.

Also, ESO does not have the tiny servers that games like WoW/FF14 and more utilize. The query size for using a central trading system would be huge with long load times. Anyone who has played the game for any length of time should have noticed this by now and it shows up when using a guild trader as it is. It would be a monumentally bad idea to go to a central route or even have a few trading hubs as OP suggests with the answers in their poorly designed poll.

I have also found auction houses a pointless idea with pointless mechanics. When I have seen AHs most sellers set minimum bids for what the item will sell for if it actually sells. Few chance an actual auction making it a pointless design.

Darkenarlol

19845637th time...no

*yawn*

Aelorin

Keep as is and ban TTC

There are a few good ideas in your post. There is a centralised auction house and it is called TTC. It kills the system of eso, so remove it.

Matchimus

Misleading thread title. I came here to answer yes or no & instead I have to do a lot of reading to choose a response. No by the way.

Tigerseye

Other .. (explain)

I think the best compromise would be an auction house, or maybe a few (4, or fewer) auction houses in major cities, for materials and then keep the guild stores for most other things, like crafted goods.

This would mean you could get generic, quick-selling things, like the materials you need for crafting, at a reasonable price, without scouring endless guild stores.

While still making sure that crafted items weren't constantly undercut by 1g all the time, by addons/bots, on a single central auction house (as they always tended to be, in WoW).

I would probably refer to the auction houses as warehouses, though.

With the idea that you would have the warehouses for wholesale type goods and the guild stores for retail.

Tigerseye

Other .. (explain)

Eifleber wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

*weary sigh*

*even wearier sigh*

Tell me again the added value of the current system?

A lack of constant undercutting wars on slower-selling things, you tend to only buy one or two of, like crafted items.

In the case of fast-selling things, you tend to need to buy a lot of at one time, like materials, there is only pain for the buyer, using the guild store system, though.

This pain is further increased via the lack of a crafting bag, for non ESO+ members.

This means there are too many single item (or tiny stack) postings of materials clogging up TTC, as well.

This is why I think a wholesale/retail solution (and a free basic craft bag) would be the best answer.

xaraan

Keep everything as it is

no thank you, leave it as is

I'm sure many would enjoy the ease of just going to one or a few locations to shop, but it would drive prices down and benefit the buyer more (there are a lot of us in the game that are sellers). It would also remove less gold from the economy making existing gold worth less. The bidding system is a HUGE gold sink for the game, and the less the guild system is used, the less gold is worth.

It could even result in some items not being worth selling that are worth it now, so where you can now find some item occasionally at a store, you might have a harder time selling them in a more watered down system. And mixing the two systems wouldn't be great, you'd see a huge impact on the major cities traders now with that sort of competition and the smaller guild traders would be even less worthwhile if one could just sell their stuff in an auction house in a large city instead of marking it down to attract business in out of the way locations.

Anyone feel free to argue, but this type of thread pops up from time to time and is always shot down not just by zos' stated plan with the system (so it won't be changing no matter what the poll says) and by the player base liking things as they are.

Tigerseye

Other .. (explain)

xaraan wrote: »

no thank you, leave it as is

I'm sure many would enjoy the ease of just going to one or a few locations to shop, but it would drive prices down and benefit the buyer more (there are a lot of us in the game that are sellers). It would also remove less gold from the economy making existing gold worth less. The bidding system is a HUGE gold sink for the game, and the less the guild system is used, the less gold is worth.

It could even result in some items not being worth selling that are worth it now, so where you can now find some item occasionally at a store, you might have a harder time selling them in a more watered down system. And mixing the two systems wouldn't be great, you'd see a huge impact on the major cities traders now with that sort of competition and the smaller guild traders would be even less worthwhile if one could just sell their stuff in an auction house in a large city instead of marking it down to attract business in out of the way locations.

Anyone feel free to argue, but this type of thread pops up from time to time and is always shot down not just by zos' stated plan with the system (so it won't be changing no matter what the poll says) and by the player base liking things as they are.

A mixed system wouldn't be in conflict if you could only list one kind of (bulk wholesale) item (e.g. materials) on an auction house and another (retail) kind of item (e.g. crafted goods) on a guild store.

They would only be in competition with each other, if you could list everything on both type of venue.

Kiralyn2000

preevious wrote: »

Artanisul wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

Eifleber wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

*weary sigh*

*even wearier sigh*

Tell me again the added value of the current system?

1. Good for immersion
2. Allow crafty players to actually make some gold (not only those being in guilds .. I used to raise funds with this system long before I even dared to think about applying to a guild
3. Allow any player to randomly fiind a good deal on what's needed. (on a GAH, everything is at the same price, with "clever" player putting their stuff at "min - 1g" to undercut others .. yay -_-)
4. Prevent market-cornering of rare items

There.
That excellent system basically create a non-gamable economy

I'll add that common items are still easy to find, rare items would be as unfindable in a GAH because they'd be so easy to find that they'd go almost instantly, and guilds turnovers are high enough so that when you search you'll easily find find a spot somewhere.

Also, all traders, baring the oddball faraway remote trading post, see enough players to sell your stuff.

On reason number two, I am confused. You say it allows those people not in guilds to make gold. It actually fores people to join guilds to sell anything. So not sure how you used the system before even joing a guild. OH I know...you didnt...

On point number 4, you are missing something. While someone cant corner the market on "items", they do corner the market on VENDERS. Keeping the top sales slots only to the guild mofias is well known here in ESO.

This "excellent system" creates a completely gamable economy. Ya cant sell unless you join a guild.

I know it's not going to change. I just would like people to actually admit the truth about how it is being abused.

If you knew how much I bought in guild store then sold in zone chat, you'd be astonished. I bought all the buyoant pages back when they were 150-300k a piece thanks to that .. and them some. Didn't need any membership for that. Just common sense. (looking at the last posted items, buying those that I know are cheap, and profit .. anyone can do that, with time (yeah, with time .. after all, it's a kind of farming))

To spend all the time & effort to do that, I'd have to enjoy being a trader. I don't.

How do I use AH's in other games I've played? Every week or two, I might have a handful of items I want to sell (sometimes, I might sell one thing in a month. Others, I might have 5 stacks of extra crafting mats to unload). So I look at the current prices (conveniently all there), and toss the things up with a small undercut. They sell within minutes, I collect my gold (not Maximum Profit™, but more than vendoring would be), and move on. Total time & effort, maybe 5 minutes. (and not being super-invested in trading, I don't care about people "cornering" the market. Honestly, that doesn't seem nearly as bad an effect on the overall playerbase as this exclusionary system ESO has.)

edit: and if I want to buy something, I can just search and find it. Again, 5 minutes at most. Not roaming zone to zone to zone, through piles of loading screens, to try to see if someone actually has something. And having no idea if that price is actually a decent one. And yeah, now we have TTC. Which is just a band-aid on a gushing wound - an attempt to bring back the useful functionality of a global AH.

I've never been a dedicated trader, and I never will be. Bloomberg Commodity Trader 2020 isn't a game I enjoy playing. So I've no place in trading guilds, since I don't sell any consistent volume, and blowing a bunch of time being a street corner huckster is obnoxious.

And so, there's no economy here for me, I'll just quietly vendor all my extra stuff. /shrug