I don't believe those asking for an auction house actually want it.

Here's why. In Everquest there was no Bazaar, nor Auction House, or any means of trading gear without physically using the trading function from player to player. The players there took up an area of a zone called East Commonlands to do their trading.

If Guild Traders are so bad, why haven't the players here done the same? Why haven't the players chosen a central location to sell their goods and bypass the traders entirely? Here, I'll take the first step:

You need a location everyone can access right off the bat by even new characters
You need a location everyone can access despite DLC/Member status.
You need a safe location without NPCs or hostile guards (for criminals) to bother you during trades.

Pick an area that meets those criteria, or pick a few areas and vote on which to use them. Then use them over guild traders. If you did this, and I mean if you all did this for real. You would see a decline in Guild Trader usage. Guilds would be wasting money, guild trader usage would go down, and ZoS would need to step in to fix the situation. The fix is to remove the guild function and link the traders.

However this will likely fail for the following reasons:

1. You all are making a mountain out of a molehill. In other words you don't care enough to make this happen. Making it a moot issue that can safely die.
2. There's not enough of you to matter. You don't make up a majority in which it makes no sense to make the change that a majority of players don't want.
3. You're making up a nontroversy to complain about.

Are those reasons wrong? Well prove it. Pick a location and trade there. Make something happen through action. Words mean little from a minority, especially in a video game. A publisher having to pick between two sides of a customer base is logically and financially always going to pick the larger group.

If you're not a majority you don't matter in this case. Lets see if you all are.

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

To each their own but I'd be very upset if anything global was added.

So, as a potential seller you'd be upset by a system that gives you the most immediate access to the most number of potential customers, so offering higher sales revenues?

And as a buyer you'd be upset that the system gave you access to the most number of potential sellers, so offering competition that leads to better value for money?

Really?

All The Best

@Gandrhulf_Harbard

Yes

Your perspective discusses how you will benefit. You're excluded you will be up against everyone else.

Why would anyone want a situation where all items for sale are subject to and scrutinized by forced prices and open to anyone gold seller or regular playing buying up all of something only to resale.

Let's say it comes. Ppl will do this as it occurs in every game type with any global buy/sale systems.

Then ppl would just not use it or complain until it's changed to x or y idea

Right now everyone is limited.
And no we don't all have the same opportunities. That's the beauty of it.

But most important. You don't need a trader to make money selling items. If this is all you can see, you're missing out on other opportunities in this game.

For the record I don't want a Global AH.

I am not even sure I want an AH at all.

That said I have never once seen the kind of scare stories being bandied about regarding gold sellers, or single traders monopolising the AH system. It has never happened in any of the games I have played over the last 11 or so years.

I do want much better functionality and access to Kiosk Traders though.

There are relatively simple steps to achieve that as well.

Each Zone has 80% of all Kiosks withing the main city - that's pretty much how real economies work - sellers go to where the customers will be, not the other way around.

Limit Kiosk Hire Fees. Set an upper limit on Kiosk prices, if more Guilds stump that up than there are Kiosks run a lottery, unsuccessful Guilds get their money back. However keep that limit secret. So guilds can still "over bid" but they will not be guaranteed success just because they have more money - because just like in the real world money can't always buy success.

Each major trade hub to have 1 Free Trade Kiosk - within the main trade hub of the Zone. Any and all players can list up to 10 items, at a fixed price just like Trade Kiosks, for a lightly higher Sales Tax than they would pay in Trade Guild.

Not centralised.
Not global.
Not an AH - there are no bids, just set prices.

Customers see more sellers in a single location, making it easier to source goods.
Sellers benefit from having the majority of the customers all in one place.
Ease of access increases overall sales.

Add in a working search function and we have winner winner chicken dinner all round.

All The Best

Jeremy wrote: »

Glurin wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

My point is that demand is kept artificially low. Average guilds have a problem selling their goods not because there aren't players out there who want these items. It's because these players cannot access the popular markets where people go to buy them.

Bull. Again.

Firstly, even without a trader you've still got as many as 499 other people that can access your wares. The only reason they couldn't is if your guild is particularly small and thus does not have a guild store at all. Having a trader, any trader, opens your store to the entire population of Tamriel, even if he's in an out of the way spot.

If you think it's bull then go try selling your stuff at some out of the way trader that no one visits.

Let me know how that goes.

Quite well actually. 100k a week (for an individual seller) would not be out of the question.

As I said, stop trying to price everything higher than the prices at larger trading hubs. You're paying for the convenience in those spots. Also a good idea to actually, you know, sell stuff in your store. I often find that in these out of the way traders, they don't actually have very much listed. If you want better sales, then for the love of Zenithar, PUT STUFF UP FOR SALE!

Jeremy wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

Jeremy wrote: »

As I outlined (and as you almost acknowledged) - addons that track prices have already rendered your efforts to shield your prices from the competition of an open market moot. So you can isolate and scatter the markets all you want - it no longer matters at this point because the capital hubs where most of the business is done in tandem with these addons is already controlling the prices. So you now have a central economy rather you like it or not.

I reject this, mainly because it is not supported by what is happening in the game, at least not from what I see.

But it is.

Go check the prices of tempers for example. You can buy them for roughly the same price at all of the popular guild traders.

We already have a centralized economy that controls the price of goods. Addons and price checks have already seen to it. If you try to sell something for higher than the going rate - chances are someone is going to undercut you and it's not going to sell.

You realize that you have not given an example of a centralized economy that controls the price of goods, right?

--

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

To each their own but I'd be very upset if anything global was added.

So, as a potential seller you'd be upset by a system that gives you the most immediate access to the most number of potential customers, so offering higher sales revenues?

And as a buyer you'd be upset that the system gave you access to the most number of potential sellers, so offering competition that leads to better value for money?

Really?

All The Best

@Gandrhulf_Harbard

Yes

Your perspective discusses how you will benefit. You're excluded you will be up against everyone else.

Why would anyone want a situation where all items for sale are subject to and scrutinized by forced prices and open to anyone gold seller or regular playing buying up all of something only to resale.

Let's say it comes. Ppl will do this as it occurs in every game type with any global buy/sale systems.

Then ppl would just not use it or complain until it's changed to x or y idea

Right now everyone is limited.
And no we don't all have the same opportunities. That's the beauty of it.

But most important. You don't need a trader to make money selling items. If this is all you can see, you're missing out on other opportunities in this game.

For the record I don't want a Global AH.

I am not even sure I want an AH at all.

That said I have never once seen the kind of scare stories being bandied about regarding gold sellers, or single traders monopolising the AH system. It has never happened in any of the games I have played over the last 11 or so years.

I do want much better functionality and access to Kiosk Traders though.

There are relatively simple steps to achieve that as well.

Each Zone has 80% of all Kiosks withing the main city - that's pretty much how real economies work - sellers go to where the customers will be, not the other way around.

Limit Kiosk Hire Fees. Set an upper limit on Kiosk prices, if more Guilds stump that up than there are Kiosks run a lottery, unsuccessful Guilds get their money back. However keep that limit secret. So guilds can still "over bid" but they will not be guaranteed success just because they have more money - because just like in the real world money can't always buy success.

Each major trade hub to have 1 Free Trade Kiosk - within the main trade hub of the Zone. Any and all players can list up to 10 items, at a fixed price just like Trade Kiosks, for a lightly higher Sales Tax than they would pay in Trade Guild.

Not centralised.
Not global.
Not an AH - there are no bids, just set prices.

Customers see more sellers in a single location, making it easier to source goods.
Sellers benefit from having the majority of the customers all in one place.
Ease of access increases overall sales.

Add in a working search function and we have winner winner chicken dinner all round.

All The Best

@Gandrhulf_Harbard

Sorry to assume you wanted an AH.


Scary stories. There are bots on all platforms even today. They are not there just to level Alts. Trust me. They are selling / farming gold

I reported 12 last night alone on Xbox one NA.


You can't place more traders in the cities. It's already going to be interesting with housing cause the game is going to add thousands of phased instances in each town with desired homes.

Some have traders in them.
Also pulling or trying to centralize trade increases player population which then will cause any player over the towns max capacity to be phased out.

So I can't see their text chat but can't see them.
Bad solution IMO. Maybe I'm wrong tho

I'd challenge everyone who wants changes to the traders to actually figure out where the customers are.

Let's assume I'm a rare type.
I first buy from my PvE guilds.

If I can't find it and I happen to be in a town with a traders I'll look there. If it's not there I go play
I do not travel from trader to trader as that's crazy nor do I desire to know what trader has an item I'd consider to buy cause I'm not going out there...again cause that's a waist of my play time.


I'd offer a better solution


The Guild Masters responsibility in a trading guild is as follows:

-To balance the buyers and sellers within ththe guild and not rely on a trader
-to identify buyers needs and alert ppl who farm to find their needs
-be involved with prices and listings
*not to take fees as a requirement so the guild can bid on traders
*not to have raffles


The issue is most of these GM's have no idea what they're doing in terms of buy/sale or supply and demand. Their focus is to obtain as much gold as possible to outbid x y competition each week and then make ppl list a ton of stuff so they make enough gold to meet next weeks fees

Guild trader owners have been exploiting this for way too long.

We need a AH. Not only does it chew up valuable gaming time searching... it's generally just a pain in the ass.

Qbiken wrote: »

Imagine the lag/latency that would occur with a auctionhouse. 300+ people in the same spot. Good luck with that.

I think you are assuming the implementation of an AH system would consist of a singular spot. That would be nonsensical and highly inefficient.

Centralizing the trade function under a singular system is one thing, duplicating the places players could access such Ah's is another. Consider the convenience of a multitude of AH's spread throughout Tamriel, whether implemented as a large concourse with auctioneers, or as an open air market with several accessible kiosks.

I would think such a system placed as close to way shrines in all major cities and outposts would really be a time saver, if done correctly. Just an opinion of course, from someone that spends more time cruising Tamriel's current system shopping for all my alts' needs, than actually enjoying the other aspects of the game.

Grymmoire wrote: »

Qbiken wrote: »

Imagine the lag/latency that would occur with a auctionhouse. 300+ people in the same spot. Good luck with that.

I think you are assuming the implementation of an AH system would consist of a singular spot. That would be nonsensical and highly inefficient.

Centralizing the trade function under a singular system is one thing, duplicating the places players could access such Ah's is another. Consider the convenience of a multitude of AH's spread throughout Tamriel, whether implemented as a large concourse with auctioneers, or as an open air market with several accessible kiosks.

I would think such a system placed as close to way shrines in all major cities and outposts would really be a time saver, if done correctly. Just an opinion of course, from someone that spends more time cruising Tamriel's current system shopping for all my alts' needs, than actually enjoying the other aspects of the game.

Yeah same way here, I just think its more of a chore than a commodity right now it really needs to be changed to a centralized server market place imo and get rid of the guild traders as a whole, but make it so that guild leaders cannot use guild money to buy stuff on the market to inflate it to the extreme.

From the look of homestead coming out It will probably flush out the majority of guilds banks anyway to the cost of furnishings & houses.

Grymmoire wrote: »

Qbiken wrote: »

Imagine the lag/latency that would occur with a auctionhouse. 300+ people in the same spot. Good luck with that.

I think you are assuming the implementation of an AH system would consist of a singular spot. That would be nonsensical and highly inefficient.

Centralizing the trade function under a singular system is one thing, duplicating the places players could access such Ah's is another. Consider the convenience of a multitude of AH's spread throughout Tamriel, whether implemented as a large concourse with auctioneers, or as an open air market with several accessible kiosks.

I would think such a system placed as close to way shrines in all major cities and outposts would really be a time saver, if done correctly. Just an opinion of course, from someone that spends more time cruising Tamriel's current system shopping for all my alts' needs, than actually enjoying the other aspects of the game.

@Grymmoire

I don't think that's their assumption. It's certain that even if you used the traders and individual NPCs to access a global ah. It would clog up and back up the server drastically.

Think of how you sometimes lag in the guild store or trader UI now. And then add every guild store to it and try and load and filter while ppl are adding and removing things. Thousands of ppl per second

I would think it reasonable if they allowed such a vendor for open players with a larger submission cut and only allotted a small number of sales at a time as oppose to 30 entries like the guild traders.

DHale wrote: »

No one wants an auction house. Least of all me who can and will wait. I got 3 desert rose jewelry and two body pieces inpen belt and inpen gloves all for 11 k total.... most people post stuff for any one of those items from that price and I got five.

You bring up the only thing that may be good with the current system.... In that it is POSSIBLE to get really good deals but it is not PROBABLE because there are players who make a living out of searching every guild trader multiple times a day just to buy low and sell high on the large trade guilds. Meaning for most players searching all the trade guilds is often a huge waste of time and for some of us our time is more vauluable than finding an awesome deal.
For the record i have found some awesome deals (ie.. Full gold transmutation set with 3 sharpened staves for almost 25k total, several kutas for 300g each, and imperial crafting book for 10k, and more than a few purple set jewelry for 500g) but even i am beyond frustrated with all the load screens i have to endure and constantly having to redo all my searches because the current Guild Trader UI is not robust enough to even save sesrches.

I am also on Xbox One so i cannot use any of the fancy addons PC players have.

Gandrhulf_Harbard wrote: »

NewBlacksmurf wrote: »

@Gandrhulf_Harbard

Sorry to assume you wanted an AH.

@NewBlacksmurf

No worries.

TBH if the choice is only between what we have now and a full on AH I would have no choice but to opt for the AH.

If we can get sensible and much needed reforms to what we have now then I'll opt for that.

I wonder if anyone remembers the Silk Road Online trade system? Where each player could just set up a Stall wherever they wanted, and list items for sale. It seems to me that could be a solution to the "no trade guild no sales" issue.

The problem with the SRO version was that the moment you logged out your stall was closed, so you had to stay logged in. Now if Zeni could create areas where we could set up a Stall, and then log-out (NOT switch to another toon) and the Stall remained so we could still sell stuff that could be a solution.

Now here's the bonus to Zeni - they could have a Trader's Pass (weekly or monthly) that could be paid via Crowns for example, or Gold (acts as gold sink).

Heck they could even add the functionality as a perk for ESO+ Members AND run a Crown Trader's Pass for non-subs.

All The Best

Naaah. Just join a normal guild man
You all are making it complicated

Enslaved wrote: »

Maybe we don't need auction house. But we do need an addon to see prices of all trade guilds combined. Idk if such a thing is possible to create, but it would be a time saver for sure.

No no nooo

Sheesh ppl you don't need this and let's look at real life. Can you go to one place and see everyone's price on anything. No

Sure you might find a few listed online and some on a paper while others you have to go to in person.

It's a good thing
There are flaws to traders but these ideas aren't a solution