Do it for the Casual

Lord Xanhorn · October 2015

The system would be fine if a guild wasn't limited to 500 players. That's government regulation that breaks the system for the small time players.

code65536 · October 2015

MrGigglypants wrote: »

guild leads can sit back while 499 people work for them

LOL. Why do people get this idea that trading guilds are a cash cow for the guildmasters?

I'm in lots of trading guilds and am the GM of one of them.

None of the large guilds that I'm in can afford their weekly bid costs using taxes alone. NONE

The sales taxes, which the guilds have no control over, are actually crazy low, since half of the so-called "House Cut" doesn't even go to the guild--it goes straight into ZOS's "commission" and is a direct gold sink. (The "Listing Fee", too, goes straight to ZOS and not to the guild.) And what meagre taxes that do flow to the guild is enough to cover, depending on the guild, only 25-50% of their weekly bid costs--this is how it is in all the trading guilds that I'm a member of.

Which is why guilds need other sources of funding. Raffles, donations, or, in some cases, weekly dues. None of the guilds that I'm in have weekly dues, so the additional funding comes from raffles/donations. In the guild that I run, raffles and taxes cover the weekly bid, but I'm supplying the raffle prizes out of my own pocket. The same is true in the other guilds that I'm in--the prizes are provided largely by donations--usually from the GM and officers--so even if the guild leadership isn't directly contributing gold to the weekly bid, they are still subsidizing that weekly bid.

Yes, I am growing richer each week--not because I'm in a leadership position, but despite it. It's because I make more selling stuff than I spend subsidizing/donating. Now, if I was just a plain old member and not in a leadership position, I'd be even richer, since I can just make that same gold without worrying about putting resources back into the guild to keep it afloat.

KaleidoscopeEyz · October 2015

Talk about beating a dead horse......a dead auction horse. Let it go, people. Let it go.

Slurg · October 2015

I am pretty sure I make more than the guild leaders in a couple of my trade guilds and I'm not online nearly as much as they are, nor am I nearly as helpful to my guildies. I guess that means they all work hard for me?

DaveMoeDee · October 2015

Callous2208 wrote: »

MrGigglypants wrote: »

Shadesofkin wrote: »

MrGigglypants wrote: »

Right because it takes thought to go to guild traders? I'm not saying let's make ESO a socialist game where gear is purely on a token system I'm saying centralize trading so there is actually competitive markets and shoppers don't have to wayshrine across tamriel in search of the mythical ring of agility.

Except Centralized trading doesn't fix the issue you're talking about.

Elaborate

I got two rings of agi on a trader in a less than prime location, for half of what they were going for in the major city traders. Had I went to a global ah, all of the rings would have been posted at the same high price with no deal to be found.

If by 'no deal' you mean both at a cheaper price then the deal you got.

I will defer to the experience of others when it comes to rare gear everyone wants. Thing is, I don't care about those items. But when someone is trying to finish their research, why should they have to search forever for medium gear with a particular trait? If I want to complete 4 piece drop set X at level 35, something that will always be inexpensive due to weak demand, why should I have to search forever to find that piece? It is a horrible experience.

Guild stores are great for comparing prices on purple recipes (back before writs when it actually made sense to buy them) or dreugh wax, but it requires way too much work for many things.

Guild stores also do not serve crafters well as it is foolish to craft anything except the most obvious items since you don't know who will come across your kiosk. If you have guilds with kiosks at multiple levels, I suppose you can optimize placement of gear for sale.

I find I often just give up on looking for what I want because going kiosk to kiosk is so not fun. It would be nice if my search query remained up when moving to new kiosk. If I search for nirnhoned heavy armor 10 seconds ago, that is probably what I will search for again in the neighboring kiosk.

Elder_III · October 2015

code65536 wrote: »

MrGigglypants wrote: »

guild leads can sit back while 499 people work for them

LOL. Why do people get this idea that trading guilds are a cash cow for the guildmasters?

I'm in lots of trading guilds and am the GM of one of them.

None of the large guilds that I'm in can afford their weekly bid costs using taxes alone. NONE

snip.

Agreed with everything above, and I concur on the part I snipped for brevity's sake. Almost all of the trade guilds in the most desired spots have some combination of raffles and donations in order to make their kiosk bids. No Trading Guild GM is getting rich for their hours of work each week. If they are getting richer it's because of putting even more hours into getting good stuff to sell on the Trader (and to offset their own donations in many cases). Without these GMs that so many people seem to distrust there would be NO Economy at all in ESO.

UltimaJoe777 · October 2015

code65536 wrote: »

MrGigglypants wrote: »

guild leads can sit back while 499 people work for them

LOL. Why do people get this idea that trading guilds are a cash cow for the guildmasters?

Because sometimes they are. Haven't you heard some of the shady shenanigans that some guilds have been pulling these days?

Scyantific · October 2015

Ok so basically people in favor of an AH want to rip people off? Got it.

Callous2208 · October 2015

DaveMoeDee wrote: »

Callous2208 wrote: »

MrGigglypants wrote: »

Shadesofkin wrote: »

MrGigglypants wrote: »

Right because it takes thought to go to guild traders? I'm not saying let's make ESO a socialist game where gear is purely on a token system I'm saying centralize trading so there is actually competitive markets and shoppers don't have to wayshrine across tamriel in search of the mythical ring of agility.

Except Centralized trading doesn't fix the issue you're talking about.

Elaborate

I got two rings of agi on a trader in a less than prime location, for half of what they were going for in the major city traders. Had I went to a global ah, all of the rings would have been posted at the same high price with no deal to be found.

If by 'no deal' you mean both at a cheaper price then the deal you got.

I will defer to the experience of others when it comes to rare gear everyone wants. Thing is, I don't care about those items. But when someone is trying to finish their research, why should they have to search forever for medium gear with a particular trait? If I want to complete 4 piece drop set X at level 35, something that will always be inexpensive due to weak demand, why should I have to search forever to find that piece? It is a horrible experience.

Guild stores are great for comparing prices on purple recipes (back before writs when it actually made sense to buy them) or dreugh wax, but it requires way too much work for many things.

Guild stores also do not serve crafters well as it is foolish to craft anything except the most obvious items since you don't know who will come across your kiosk. If you have guilds with kiosks at multiple levels, I suppose you can optimize placement of gear for sale.

I find I often just give up on looking for what I want because going kiosk to kiosk is so not fun. It would be nice if my search query remained up when moving to new kiosk. If I search for nirnhoned heavy armor 10 seconds ago, that is probably what I will search for again in the neighboring kiosk.

I get that you were trying to be funny and make a point with your first line, but that's an outright lie. In a global AH the first person to sell the ring would have priced it extremely high, and everyone else would have followed suit. If not, someone with more gold than you and I would've bought them all and set the price to his liking (high) since he now controls that market. Your other points are fair but subjective from person to person. On a lighter note, it takes about 5 seconds to re-click search for nirnhoned heavy.

UltimaJoe777 · October 2015

Callous2208 wrote: »

DaveMoeDee wrote: »

Callous2208 wrote: »

MrGigglypants wrote: »

Shadesofkin wrote: »

MrGigglypants wrote: »

Right because it takes thought to go to guild traders? I'm not saying let's make ESO a socialist game where gear is purely on a token system I'm saying centralize trading so there is actually competitive markets and shoppers don't have to wayshrine across tamriel in search of the mythical ring of agility.

Except Centralized trading doesn't fix the issue you're talking about.

Elaborate

I got two rings of agi on a trader in a less than prime location, for half of what they were going for in the major city traders. Had I went to a global ah, all of the rings would have been posted at the same high price with no deal to be found.

If by 'no deal' you mean both at a cheaper price then the deal you got.

I will defer to the experience of others when it comes to rare gear everyone wants. Thing is, I don't care about those items. But when someone is trying to finish their research, why should they have to search forever for medium gear with a particular trait? If I want to complete 4 piece drop set X at level 35, something that will always be inexpensive due to weak demand, why should I have to search forever to find that piece? It is a horrible experience.

Guild stores are great for comparing prices on purple recipes (back before writs when it actually made sense to buy them) or dreugh wax, but it requires way too much work for many things.

Guild stores also do not serve crafters well as it is foolish to craft anything except the most obvious items since you don't know who will come across your kiosk. If you have guilds with kiosks at multiple levels, I suppose you can optimize placement of gear for sale.

I find I often just give up on looking for what I want because going kiosk to kiosk is so not fun. It would be nice if my search query remained up when moving to new kiosk. If I search for nirnhoned heavy armor 10 seconds ago, that is probably what I will search for again in the neighboring kiosk.

I get that you were trying to be funny and make a point with your first line, but that's an outright lie. In a global AH the first person to sell the ring would have priced it extremely high, and everyone else would have followed suit. If not, someone with more gold than you and I would've bought them all and set the price to his liking (high) since he now controls that market. Your other points are fair but subjective from person to person. On a lighter note, it takes about 5 seconds to re-click search for nirnhoned heavy.

And that is when you use common sense to determine a good or bad deal, or report said player for griefing lol

Prices diminish overtime though so no biggie.

ashlee17 · October 2015

MrGigglypants wrote: »

Remove guild traders, Replace it with centralized trader I.E. an auction house. Then increase the sales tax by 20% to make sure theres limited inflation. Guild traders are a broken system where the rich get richer and guild leads can sit back while 499 people work for them. Please put an end to ESO corporate welfare they don't share the profits in real life why would they in a video game.

You are highly misinformed.

J2JMC · October 2015

corrosivechains wrote: »

I understand where the OP is coming from. Thinking is hard and no one wants to do it for themselves. Also working is hard so I should get everything in game for just logging in instead. Actually looking for something that fits my views and desires and like minded people is oppressive and should also be done for me.

1 market, 1 guild, 1 brand.

#feelthebern

This has nothing to do with OP. You wrote an extended version of "everyone is entitled" to fish for agrees/awesomes. And you ended up getting two. Congrats.

Anyway the issue isn't guild traders it's not being able to sell if you're outside of a guild. People outside of a guild should be able to sell in traders as well. They'd just have a higher (20%?) listing cost so guilds still have a reason to bid for prime locations.

Callous2208 · October 2015

UltimaJoe777 wrote: »

Callous2208 wrote: »

DaveMoeDee wrote: »

Callous2208 wrote: »

MrGigglypants wrote: »

Shadesofkin wrote: »

MrGigglypants wrote: »

Right because it takes thought to go to guild traders? I'm not saying let's make ESO a socialist game where gear is purely on a token system I'm saying centralize trading so there is actually competitive markets and shoppers don't have to wayshrine across tamriel in search of the mythical ring of agility.

Except Centralized trading doesn't fix the issue you're talking about.

Elaborate

I got two rings of agi on a trader in a less than prime location, for half of what they were going for in the major city traders. Had I went to a global ah, all of the rings would have been posted at the same high price with no deal to be found.

If by 'no deal' you mean both at a cheaper price then the deal you got.

I will defer to the experience of others when it comes to rare gear everyone wants. Thing is, I don't care about those items. But when someone is trying to finish their research, why should they have to search forever for medium gear with a particular trait? If I want to complete 4 piece drop set X at level 35, something that will always be inexpensive due to weak demand, why should I have to search forever to find that piece? It is a horrible experience.

Guild stores are great for comparing prices on purple recipes (back before writs when it actually made sense to buy them) or dreugh wax, but it requires way too much work for many things.

Guild stores also do not serve crafters well as it is foolish to craft anything except the most obvious items since you don't know who will come across your kiosk. If you have guilds with kiosks at multiple levels, I suppose you can optimize placement of gear for sale.

I find I often just give up on looking for what I want because going kiosk to kiosk is so not fun. It would be nice if my search query remained up when moving to new kiosk. If I search for nirnhoned heavy armor 10 seconds ago, that is probably what I will search for again in the neighboring kiosk.

I get that you were trying to be funny and make a point with your first line, but that's an outright lie. In a global AH the first person to sell the ring would have priced it extremely high, and everyone else would have followed suit. If not, someone with more gold than you and I would've bought them all and set the price to his liking (high) since he now controls that market. Your other points are fair but subjective from person to person. On a lighter note, it takes about 5 seconds to re-click search for nirnhoned heavy.

And that is when you use common sense to determine a good or bad deal, or report said player for griefing lol

Prices diminish overtime though so no biggie.

You can't report a player for cornering the market with a global ah. He's technically not doing anything wrong. That's the problem. Also why wait weeks or months for the price to drop on the ah, when I can get it today for a fair price using the system we have now?

ashlee17 · October 2015

MrGigglypants wrote: »

Remove guild traders, Replace it with centralized trader I.E. an auction house. Then increase the sales tax by 20% to make sure theres limited inflation. Guild traders are a broken system where the rich get richer and guild leads can sit back while 499 people work for them. Please put an end to ESO corporate welfare they don't share the profits in real life why would they in a video game.

You are highly misinformed. Personally as the leader of a major trading guild, i often reach into my own pocket to ensure a great trader for my gulidies- I serve them- not the other way around. Please do not slander all guild leaders with assumptions like this.

AlnilamE · October 2015

DaveMoeDee wrote: »

If by 'no deal' you mean both at a cheaper price then the deal you got.

I will defer to the experience of others when it comes to rare gear everyone wants. Thing is, I don't care about those items. But when someone is trying to finish their research, why should they have to search forever for medium gear with a particular trait? If I want to complete 4 piece drop set X at level 35, something that will always be inexpensive due to weak demand, why should I have to search forever to find that piece? It is a horrible experience.

Guild stores are great for comparing prices on purple recipes (back before writs when it actually made sense to buy them) or dreugh wax, but it requires way too much work for many things.

Guild stores also do not serve crafters well as it is foolish to craft anything except the most obvious items since you don't know who will come across your kiosk. If you have guilds with kiosks at multiple levels, I suppose you can optimize placement of gear for sale.

I find I often just give up on looking for what I want because going kiosk to kiosk is so not fun. It would be nice if my search query remained up when moving to new kiosk. If I search for nirnhoned heavy armor 10 seconds ago, that is probably what I will search for again in the neighboring kiosk.

Are you on PC? If you are, get the AwesomeGuildStore addon. If you are on console, help petition ZOS to incorporate it into their UI.

AwesomeGuildStore remembers the last search you did from one store to the next. It also allows you to "favourite" searches if you look for a number of different things, and it has greatly improved filtering functionality.

I agree on the crafters, although if someone is a dedicated crafter, they know what sets sell. I have a friend who sells a lot of white crafted sets in our store. Personally, I don't do that because my reason for selling is getting rid of stuff that I picked up that I don't want to deconstruct because someone else out there might need it.

I've looked for mid-range sets for my alts and I've never had to go more than two major hubs to find what I needed, unless I was being really picky about price. Or I was looking for a part of the set that didn't exist (like lvl 20 Healer rings...)

kevlarto_ESO · October 2015

My guild leader is up early on the day you bid on the new traders, even with a moderate sized crafting community my guild has trouble finding a trader sometimes just a pita, but bidding on a trader and playing the trader game is a unique game play option, but I like the idea of the ass lets go to one place compare vendors and prices and be able to see those vendors that are not in the best locations, maybe the ass should be some where in the woods, or a wondering ass so everyone is always looking for it. I guess if you had a focal point like that you would pretty much have a global auction house, or global auction ass in this case.. But there does need to be some refining to the auction system, but have a feeling that it is not on the drawing board.

kargen27 · October 2015

I like the guild traders. It adds to the game. For me I wanted one character to have every recipe in the game. Part of the fun was in hunting down each recipe. A central auction house would have taken away the hunt. Some in my guild spend much of their time looking for bargains in guild shops they can then flip at a higher price. For them that is a fun part of the game. An auction house takes that aspect of the game away from them.
Certain addons are already causing prices to become more stagnant because it is so easy to get a price check and find the average. An auction house would cause the range of prices for any item to be much more narrow than it is now.

To me asking for an auction house is akin to asking that every fish from every zone be available in every fishing hole so players don't have to "waste" time going to each zone and water type to get the achievement.

Hiero_Glyph · October 2015

The worst thing about guild traders is.... the loading screens.

CromulentForumID · October 2015

Shadesofkin wrote: »

Yeah, I'm always going to be in favor of the current guild system and I barely use any of my guilds auction housing. It's free market in action, you can go shop in the one that has a better price (and there's almost always a better price).

It's only a free market for buyers. It's not at all a free market for sellers.

Cadbury · October 2015

J2JMC wrote: »

Anyway the issue isn't guild traders it's not being able to sell if you're outside of a guild. People outside of a guild should be able to sell in traders as well. They'd just have a higher (20%?) listing cost so guilds still have a reason to bid for prime locations.

I agree with this. It would be nice to sell things on the fly and not have to join a guild with enough members and cash to maintain a guild trader.

Pheefs · October 2015

I am a casual player & I like it the way it is!

last night I got a great deal on glowy blue mushrooms, three guild traders over it was ten times the price for the exact same glowy blue mushrooms...
so I'm sure you'll understand when I say, no thanks on a Global Auction House.

DaveMoeDee · October 2015

AlnilamE wrote: »

DaveMoeDee wrote: »

If by 'no deal' you mean both at a cheaper price then the deal you got.

I will defer to the experience of others when it comes to rare gear everyone wants. Thing is, I don't care about those items. But when someone is trying to finish their research, why should they have to search forever for medium gear with a particular trait? If I want to complete 4 piece drop set X at level 35, something that will always be inexpensive due to weak demand, why should I have to search forever to find that piece? It is a horrible experience.

Guild stores are great for comparing prices on purple recipes (back before writs when it actually made sense to buy them) or dreugh wax, but it requires way too much work for many things.

Guild stores also do not serve crafters well as it is foolish to craft anything except the most obvious items since you don't know who will come across your kiosk. If you have guilds with kiosks at multiple levels, I suppose you can optimize placement of gear for sale.

I find I often just give up on looking for what I want because going kiosk to kiosk is so not fun. It would be nice if my search query remained up when moving to new kiosk. If I search for nirnhoned heavy armor 10 seconds ago, that is probably what I will search for again in the neighboring kiosk.

Are you on PC? If you are, get the AwesomeGuildStore addon. If you are on console, help petition ZOS to incorporate it into their UI.

AwesomeGuildStore remembers the last search you did from one store to the next. It also allows you to "favourite" searches if you look for a number of different things, and it has greatly improved filtering functionality.

I agree on the crafters, although if someone is a dedicated crafter, they know what sets sell. I have a friend who sells a lot of white crafted sets in our store. Personally, I don't do that because my reason for selling is getting rid of stuff that I picked up that I don't want to deconstruct because someone else out there might need it.

I've looked for mid-range sets for my alts and I've never had to go more than two major hubs to find what I needed, unless I was being really picky about price. Or I was looking for a part of the set that didn't exist (like lvl 20 Healer rings...)

I'll add the addon

NobleNerd · October 2015

MrGigglypants wrote: »

Right because it takes thought to go to guild traders? I'm not saying let's make ESO a socialist game where gear is purely on a token system I'm saying centralize trading so there is actually competitive markets and shoppers don't have to wayshrine across tamriel in search of the mythical ring of agility.

Especially with the god-awful load screens!

AAN2 · October 2015

MikeB wrote: »

You shouldnt be forced to join a guild to sell goods. If you start your own guild then you gave to get at least 49 other people, most of who you wont/dont know, just to get the guild trader.

To those who say the current pricing in ESO is not controlled I just as that you look at EVERY guild trader in the game, all items are priced near the same. Why? Because sellers see what an items listed for on another Guild Trader, or ask in area chat, what X item goes for then post their item in their guild store around the same price. To think the pricing of items is not controlled by the biggest trade guilds, at least on console cant speak for PC, you are blind and very mistaken. For those to think the market is controlled in a global AH by the richest players I say who cares, if you post your item at half the price of their same item and they buy it just to post higher did you not just sell your item at the price you wanted? Here's the thing, dont be a follower when posting your items on the AH.

You're half right. The items for sale in the serious trade guilds are 'controlled', but are usually controlled by supply and demand rather than everyone else charging the same thing.

For instance, Daedra Hearts used to be massively rare in the EP, and so they were being sold for tens of thousands of gold. Then, as more and more farmers began selling in the market, their price dropped in a huge way. The same thing happened with racial motifs and dwemer motifs. You can actually still see a couple of the dwemer motifs that were being sold earlier this month still in the guild stores listed at 20k with 10-15 days left on them if you look hard enough. Compare that to the majority of those motifs selling for less than 8k with 20+ days left, and you'll see what I mean.

Why does this happen? Well, people want you to buy their stuff instead of someone else's. That means that if they CAN drop the price to undercut someone else selling the same thing, they will. For instance, I recently began selling Dwarven Oil, and began selling it at 3k (it had been selling at 4.5) and made some massive bank as my listings were cleaned out every day. Then someone else realized they could charge 2k, and someone else realized they could charge 1.5k. So now, I charge 1.1k per DO because that nets me a decent profit while also making sure that people will buy them. The only people who can legitimately afford to charge less are those that farm it rather than those who actually spend the gold to craft them (like I do).

As far as the OP goes, your 'fix' will do the exact opposite of what you want it to. It will turn trading into a sellers market because there will be no 'competition'. Those with massive amounts of gold will literally sit there and buy everything that is selling for less than what they're selling it and resell it at their own set price. So motifs that you'd normally find for 500 gold will be sold for 5000, because these players will buy all the ones selling for 500 and resell them for a 4.5k profit. How do I know? Because I'd do it. The only thing keeping that from happening right now is the fact that GT's are decentralized and it would be a massive pain to go to every one of them to purchase all of these motifs that are selling for 500. It's way easier to simply sell them at 500 instead.

As far as 499 people working for 1 person, I giggled a bit. Only the really crappy traders guilds have guild leaders that withdraw cash from the bank, and you can actually see when they do it using the 'history' tab. One of the first things you should check when joining a trader's guild is the history of withdrawals from the bank, and if you see someone take money out for anything but a Guild Trader, you should quit that guild.

As far as the whole "I'm not in a guild so I can't sell" argument, I call bull. First, it doesn't take much to get into a guild trader. You can either send someone who's selling an item in the Guild Store a message asking about how to join, or go onto the forums and post your GT on a recruitment thread. If you don't WANT to join a guild, then the obvious answer is to sell your wares in Area Chat or create your own guild.

NobleNerd · October 2015

Shadesofkin wrote: »

Defilted wrote: »

Say no to a centralized Auction house!!
Down with Socialism!
Free Markets where hard working people that want to spend hours and hours a week running a trade guild get richer is the right way! They deserves to be paid for their time and work in some way.

I mean, as sarcastic as that might sound, yeah...ultimately the merchant players deserve just as much fun as the rest of the games players, they find it in trying to score the best auction house, crafting and selling their stuff; in turn they support the players who only sell loot or mats but still let them get their free market on.

It's a good system, has been since the day it came out.

It is not a good system. As a guild leader I can comfortably say that trying to acquire a Guild Trader is the most asinine process I have experienced in an MMO. The blind bidding system is pure frustration at the core! Then there is the horribly inflated cost people are paying for these traders. One time it's 1 million gold for one in a high traffic area and then a week later the same one could go for 4 million. I gave up getting a Guild Trader for my guild.

CromulentForumID · October 2015

Callous2208 wrote: »

I got two rings of agi on a trader in a less than prime location, for half of what they were going for in the major city traders. Had I went to a global ah, all of the rings would have been posted at the same high price with no deal to be found.

And that "high price" would necessarily be higher than the one you found it for? Why? Because all desirable goods would definitely be cornered and subject to gouging?

It's true that some items would be cornered in a global AH. But you seem to suggest that everything would be. Or at least anything "good" - which I am assuming is the "best" loot, based on the way you describe a global AH in other posts. To paraphrase, "A place to drop trash."

There are a lot of players that just kind of play the game and may want that "trash" a lot more than they want or care about that top loot. The guild trader system protects them from the evils of a cornered market they care nothing about.

DaveMoeDee · October 2015

Callous2208 wrote: »

DaveMoeDee wrote: »

Callous2208 wrote: »

MrGigglypants wrote: »

Shadesofkin wrote: »

MrGigglypants wrote: »

Right because it takes thought to go to guild traders? I'm not saying let's make ESO a socialist game where gear is purely on a token system I'm saying centralize trading so there is actually competitive markets and shoppers don't have to wayshrine across tamriel in search of the mythical ring of agility.

Except Centralized trading doesn't fix the issue you're talking about.

Elaborate

I got two rings of agi on a trader in a less than prime location, for half of what they were going for in the major city traders. Had I went to a global ah, all of the rings would have been posted at the same high price with no deal to be found.

If by 'no deal' you mean both at a cheaper price then the deal you got.

I will defer to the experience of others when it comes to rare gear everyone wants. Thing is, I don't care about those items. But when someone is trying to finish their research, why should they have to search forever for medium gear with a particular trait? If I want to complete 4 piece drop set X at level 35, something that will always be inexpensive due to weak demand, why should I have to search forever to find that piece? It is a horrible experience.

Guild stores are great for comparing prices on purple recipes (back before writs when it actually made sense to buy them) or dreugh wax, but it requires way too much work for many things.

Guild stores also do not serve crafters well as it is foolish to craft anything except the most obvious items since you don't know who will come across your kiosk. If you have guilds with kiosks at multiple levels, I suppose you can optimize placement of gear for sale.

I find I often just give up on looking for what I want because going kiosk to kiosk is so not fun. It would be nice if my search query remained up when moving to new kiosk. If I search for nirnhoned heavy armor 10 seconds ago, that is probably what I will search for again in the neighboring kiosk.

I get that you were trying to be funny and make a point with your first line, but that's an outright lie. In a global AH the first person to sell the ring would have priced it extremely high, and everyone else would have followed suit. If not, someone with more gold than you and I would've bought them all and set the price to his liking (high) since he now controls that market. Your other points are fair but subjective from person to person. On a lighter note, it takes about 5 seconds to re-click search for nirnhoned heavy.

Yeah, repeating the search clicking 7 times in Belkarth is fun gaming.

Regarding cornering the market, how long does that last? Are you saying we would have people corning the market on kuta up until now, determining the price? I find that hard to believe. There is a lot of kuta out there. I especially doubt people will be corning the market on multiple level 35 leather items for a particular drop set.

Maybe they will corner the market on high end, max level, new and popular gear, but that does not concern me as I don't have a VR16 character. For the more casual types, we are likely looking for items where it would be too much work for someone to try to corner that market. But, again, those who have experienced auction houses on other MMORPGs might be better at predicting how it would play out.

MikeB · October 2015

You say a global AH would be monopolized by those with the most money but most large Trade Guilds have a list of prices that all guild members must follow when posting items. They have to post their items at the price listed or be removed from guild. How is this better? When the guilds that control the most popular area's in the game require their members not sell an item above or below a certain amount? Is this not setting a higher cost of items? You know, the reason you are against a global AH?

CromulentForumID · October 2015

corrosivechains wrote: »

and that's exactly why there's been an influx of SELLERS wanting a centralized AH. They don't want you finding a better deal, they want you to buy what they're selling.

You don't think it's more likely that they want to be able to sell without having to join a guild and any time/gold requirements that entails? You think it's more about the money they could make instead of the ease of participation?

I think you underestimate how many people just want to play the game.

HungryHobo · October 2015

The inconvenience of guild traders is what drives down prices. A centralized AH would promote homogeneity in pricing because you can directly see what every other vendor/player is selling it for.

Currently, the lazy will undercut the big guilds by some margin to help secure a sale in a not-so-good location (I do this, haha). It is not worth my time to collect data from the major guild traders to accurately price my item. Slap a 15-20% discount on it, pop it up, call it a win-win for me and the buyer.

If I had an auction house, you wouldn't see that 15%, and I wouldn't do that because the data would be right there in one click. I would undercut by 1%. Depending on the demand too, I may not even discount it.