What is the logic behind not having a central AH?

dietlime · August 2014

je25ffb14_ESO wrote: »

'Price fixing' is a red herring. It simply doesn't exist. It's called a free market, when we are talking about something as simply as an MMO, that is. This isn't a zero sum game, materials and products are constantly produced...

I'm telling you we literally sat in a TeamSpeak chatting and drinking while not playing the game and instead buying every single item over a certain stat roll during the first months of the game's existence and marked them all up for no reason other than to hoard gold.

I'm telling you there were days where multiple players spent the entire day playing the game without killing a single monster doing nothing but making things more expensive than the other players could afford.

I'm telling you it created a metagame that broke the new-player experience so badly that the feature was completely removed from the game 180 style.

WoW doesn't have this problem because you aren't in a situation where not having rare drops stonewalls your advancement.

audabon2013 · August 2014

dietlime wrote: »

je25ffb14_ESO wrote: »

'Price fixing' is a red herring. It simply doesn't exist. It's called a free market, when we are talking about something as simply as an MMO, that is. This isn't a zero sum game, materials and products are constantly produced...

I'm telling you we literally sat in a TeamSpeak chatting and drinking while not playing the game and instead buying every single item over a certain stat roll during the first months of the game's existence and marked them all up for no reason other than to hoard gold.

I'm telling you there were days where multiple players spent the entire day playing the game without killing a single monster doing nothing but making things more expensive than the other players could afford.

I'm telling you it created a metagame that broke the new-player experience so badly that the feature was completely removed from the game 180 style.

WoW doesn't have this problem because you aren't in a situation where not having rare drops stonewalls your advancement.

Relating a situation, where devs set up the community to fail through hiding content behind a veil of boe gear, doesnt relate to this discussion. Nor most discussions like this one. Diablos problems opened it to great scrutiny.

I fail to see how that games failures directly relate to eso?

are people not clearing raid content? Are crafted epics not cheap? Eso lacks the gear-gated-content you refer to in your diablo example. Eso also lacks boe top tier drops (current boe bug aside).

Vizier · August 2014

I think it's a great attempt to simulate the role of merchant's guilds. It gives a different flavor to buying and selling. A player doesn't need access to anything and everything at any moment. Amazon.com doesn't exist in ESO... just sayin.

Pretext · August 2014

Mis post.

Alphashado · August 2014

People need to stop using WoW as some kind of example for an auction house. WoW has mutliple servers with each auction house being isolated to that individual server.

The only game where any kind of comparison can be made is GW2 because that is the only AAA game that has a mega server and an auction house.

dietlime · August 2014

I will not negotiate price on this item, it costs 6 million gold as you can see on the global auction house it is never sold for less than 6 million gold

(bought item for 5 million gold ~20 minutes ago)

It makes for a more fun and organic / competitive experience to not have a facilitated system. You argue that items are cheap in ESO. You think they will stay that way when I can buy them just to mark them up, easily assured many buyers will see them when I re-post them?

audabon2013 · August 2014

There arent currently irreplaceable, game breaking items in eso, or most games for that matter. Yet you base your experiences in eso off your anecdote from broken D3. Add your tale to the long list of ..... D3 is broke cuz.... stories. Ty again.

Logan9a · August 2014

Alphashado wrote: »

andre.roques.3b14_ESO wrote: »

I think the biggest concern is the use of mega servers rather than smaller population servers that many MMOs used previously. The logic is that if you have 1/2 million people playing on a mega server, a single AH would be a bit of a nightmare.

This for the most part. The only style auction house that would work with the "mega server" set up is like the one in GW2. Essentially every single person playing the game would be using the same auction house and that is not what the developers want. There are several interviews available you can find with a gogle search.

The topic has been debated endlessly since beta.

That. I can't believe people are still bringing this up. I know many people who have made several hundred thousand gold due to there being no central auction house. It benefits the clever.

sotonin · August 2014

k9mouse wrote: »

With the lack of an AH, people are "encourage" to interact with each more; thus make more friendships. I really enjoy the lack of AH in ESO,

Yeah because standing inside a bank at the banker searching the guild store then clicking a button to buy said item is so much more "interaction" than standing in front of an auction npc searching for an item and clicking the buy button.

Lets be realistic folks, the omission of an auction house is just pure laziness. There is no other reason behind it. There is no more interaction today vs if there was an auction house, the ONLY thing that the current system does is frustrate and LIMIT our gold earning and item finding capabilities.

sotonin · August 2014

Nestor wrote: »

Sindala wrote: »

The only thing I could ever think of is that there aint that much in game that you actually need to buy.

I have never bought any:
Armor
Weapons
Foods/Drinks
Ingredients
Re-agents
Solvents
Runes

The only thing I ever buy are:
Glyphs and that will end if I can ever grind Enchanting up and find aspect runes
Soul Gems (just because I don't find any as loot, or maybe I do and don't notice when it happens)
Horse Upgrades
Bag and Bank Upgrades.

So, of the 4 things I do buy, two of them will go away soon (soul gems are more common as loot in VR from what I understand)

I can't see how an auction house will help anyone

So because of how YOU play, nobody else matters? I buy upgrades for all gear on all my characters. A global auction house would be amazing for me and I might start crafting if I had a way to unload stuff easily. Right now the crafting economy is kind of f-er-ked. Too much hassle to sit around spamming chat and guild stores are quite frankly a big fat joke.

smeeprocketnub19_ESO · August 2014

Why do we have to keep dredging this up.

No global auction house.

Prices go down the drain and supply becomes ridiculously higher than demand.

I would like the effort and skillpoints I have spent to be worth the time and sacrifice I have put in.

Global Auction Houses can not only be gamed by people who just want to win the market, but bottom out pretty much all prices except for things that are rare based around the rng.

They have put up guild vendors all over. why not go check them out instead of whining.

audabon2013 · August 2014

smeeprocketnub19_ESO wrote: »

Why do we have to keep dredging this up.

No global auction house.

Prices go down the drain and supply becomes ridiculously higher than demand.

I would like the effort and skillpoints I have spent to be worth the time and sacrifice I have put in.

Global Auction Houses can not only be gamed by people who just want to win the market, but bottom out pretty much all prices except for things that are rare based around the rng.

They have put up guild vendors all over. why not go check them out instead of whining.

I'm sorry if you're not understanding. The vocal minority who championed guild stores is still a minority. However the majority has been voicing is displeasure with the lack of a true AH.

increasing the number of npc portals to a micro-AH system is not going to replace a singular portal. The micro style is quite a thing of the past and not a good draw in gaming anymore.

We realize ZOS won't change this. That doesn't make it ok.

je25ffb14_ESO · August 2014

smeeprocketnub19_ESO wrote: »

Why do we have to keep dredging this up.

No global auction house.

Prices go down the drain and supply becomes ridiculously higher than demand.

I would like the effort and skillpoints I have spent to be worth the time and sacrifice I have put in.

Global Auction Houses can not only be gamed by people who just want to win the market, but bottom out pretty much all prices except for things that are rare based around the rng.

They have put up guild vendors all over. why not go check them out instead of whining.

No facts to back any of this up, sorry. Prices go down, supply goes up when you open up a market of any kind SPECIFICALLY one that isn't a zero sum game. Ore, plants, leather all regenerate, therefore can be provided to the market.

MasterFUNG_ESO · August 2014

je25ffb14_ESO wrote: »

'Price fixing' is a red herring. It simply doesn't exist. It's called a free market, when we are talking about something as simply as an MMO, that is. This isn't a zero sum game, materials and products are constantly produced...

Yes it does exist, look at every other mmo's AH and what do you see. Lvl 1-20 gear is way overpriced, not to mention other items sky rocket into oblivion. What we have right now is working great. I can search my 4 trading guilds for the same item (addons are your friend) and find prices all over the place. I buy the cheapest one and when i sell i can also get more money from selling in certain guilds. The addition of the new guild merchants will make this even better.

Alphashado · August 2014

Every. Single. Item. In this game is available to you if you just put in the effort to get it. If someone wants to charge you money because you are too lazy to go and get it yourself, then so be it. I am sick and tired of people complaining about prices when the items they complain about are easy to get and they are just too damned lazy to go and get them themselves. Because what it comes down to is that you lazy people complaining about prices want to leech items for next to nothing from people who have put the time and effort into getting them.

Nox_Aeterna · August 2014

The argument some brought up that , they want to feel like they earned their stuff , is something i find really funny.

Nobody is forced to use the AH , so either the player lacks the will to not use it and get the items , which has nothing to do with the AH itself OR it is not because the person wants to feel like they earned it , it is because of good old epeen. They want to look shinier than the others around them :P.

jelliedsoup · August 2014

I think it would encourage gold buying.

sotonin · August 2014

jelliedsoup wrote: »

I think it would encourage gold buying.

People already buy gold. What's your point? You can't get rid of that, in any game. It's been proven time and time again.

Dagoth_Rac · August 2014

MornaBaine wrote: »

But say you sell an item at the shop in Wayrest.... no one looking in Daggerfall or the equivalent Ebonhart zone is going to see your item or be able to purchase it. So at least that makes goods regional.

Players would just eventually gravitate to a single shop in one city, just like all the players eventually gravitated to Wabbajack on the old PvP setup. At that point, it would be a global auction house with half a million people and the issues that arise from that.

je25ffb14_ESO · August 2014

I looked for a VR1/2 glyph in all the guild stores I'm in. Found 1 for 3,000 gold....Why ZOS decided to make guild stores is completely beyond me. It's absolutely astonishing.

seaef · August 2014

Why would you ever need an auction house? In lieu of trading with others, just roll three characters and give them 2 professions each. You'll then be able to make just about anything you need in this game.

It does't take that long to max out profs.

Daraugh · August 2014

So instead of a single world wide AH, have zone AHs. That's what EVE does, every hub has its own AH. If you want to find the best price as a buyer or seller, you go to different systems. They have one megaserver but sidestepped the problem of having a million of the same item on one page by breaking the AH into manageable chunks. The economy in EVE is vibrant and it feels immersive as you come across items at one hub you don't see at another.

It's kind of what they've done with the guild storefronts, but you aren't forced to be in a guild just to post an item.

soulclaw · August 2014

The lack of a proper AH is one of the things driving me away from the game, I keep joining trader guilds that keep dying off. Trying to find guilds that have functioning stores is seriously non-fun.

I am losing interest in the game and the lack of a AH is one of the reasons.

Zorrashi · August 2014

I think the overall logic is to keep rare items rare and common items common.

AHs tend to drive prices phenomenally low for common items, making beginner players having to harvest thousands of a type of item to make even a marginal profit. You basically have to get rare items to make a decent profit.

Guild Stores allow for a certain amount of pricing diversity--even to the point of it being 'exploited' where a player can get duped into paying 1000g for a lvl 10 mat. But personally, I think that's better than having to having to harvest 1000 lvl 10 mats for 1000g.

Won't lie though...the guild store system was extremely below par at first, and even with the guild store kiosks, I am not exactly satisfied. I enjoy the concept though, and am willing to be patient for their improvements.

SFBryan18 · August 2014

It's like Walmart. Buyers would love the fixed low prices. Sellers would hate them. That's why here in San Francisco, they won't allow a Walmart.

pborerb16_ESO · August 2014

The Guild Store doesn't really work well for me when I want to buy something specific, but zone chat does the job - when you're in a popular area, say Rivenspire, you often get reasonable offers if you WTB something.

Rammi · August 2014

audabon2013 wrote: »

k9mouse wrote: »

With the lack of an AH, people are "encourage" to interact with each more; thus make more friendships. I really enjoy the lack of AH in ESO,

Lol. Immersion argument.

Why is this a bad thing? I hate this mindset. Don't play an MMORPG if you don't want to to interact with others. Immersion/socializing what ever you want to call it is as important as anything in a game like this.

Don't demean it!

Just because some players buy and never speak to that person again does not mean we all do this. Once again the anti social animals miss the point. Every person I buy from is added as a contact and I write a note of what I bought from them. So for example if I bought a "Glyph" I reach out to them later and say look can you make me X i have the mats and low and behold I get what i want for way cheaper as I'm just paying a crafting fee.

The people pushing for an AH are lazy and have zero desire to socialize or simply have no clue how to which is why they moan!

ShadowscaleSithis · August 2014

From what I have been reading on this forum, everyone is comparing this game with some other game. Maybe ZOS wanted to NOT be like every cutter board game out there wish world AH. That is probably why they gave you 5 guilds to hopefully go 3 trading guild and maybe 2 personal ones with friends or family.

There are some things I would change though and one would be that when you click on the GUILD STORE it shows ALL items from all the guilds you are in. That would make it more of an AH feel for everyone who wants this to be EQ2, WoW,or whatever.

Have ideas about the bought guild store things too, but that is another story.

firstdecan · August 2014

I think this has been mentioned indirectly in a couple of posts already, but not explicitly stated. I'm also making no claim as to whether I agree or disagree, just repeating what I have read elsewhere.

All of the items in this game are relatively accessible, and when they are not ZOS does adjust drop rates so items are relatively accessible. If a global AH were implemented, the relative accessibility in the environment combined with the centralized distribution of an AH would not only lower prices, but would also distribute rarer items amongst the player base much more quickly. So, it's not necessarily about the prices, it's more to do with the distribution of rarer \ desirable loot items that are supposed to be somewhat difficult to get.

Phantax · August 2014

andre.roques.3b14_ESO wrote: »

I think the biggest concern is the use of mega servers rather than smaller population servers that many MMOs used previously. The logic is that if you have 1/2 million people playing on a mega server, a single AH would be a bit of a nightmare.

Rubbish ! Works perfectly well in EVE. They have megaserver technology (single too, not split into NA/EU) and they have no problems with it. Hell trade is actually one of EVE's selling points so as you can imagine they need a dynamic system that works !
(Oh and they have about the same amount of players as we do, so don't try using that as an excuse...lol)