FYI: ZOS has already stated that this is not something they are interested in doing. If that changes, I am sure they will let us know.

TheShadowScout wrote: »

I want an Auction HORSE instead! Just because!

@Gidorick ? Is that you?

They will never add an auction house its been to long but they could fix this whole vendor search idea by adding a bazaar type board that allows you to search for something and see which vendor it was on then go there and buy it (All currently listed items) just like how Swg did it.

As I see it its two issues, first is marked control, you could control marked for some fairly cheap items pretty easy.
Second is slots with items to sell, you are unlikely to get more than 50 total.
That they need is better search, think awesome guild stores.

The market system needs a revamp such as buy orders, but stealing ideas from children's games isn't the answer.

1. Plenty of MMOs have or do run reasonably robust and convenient auction systems.

Thus, any argument to the effect of "the auction system will ruin the in-game economy", et cetera, is specious at best. A properly designed auction system will not, especially since ESO already puts a limit on what types of items can be sold through the Guild Store. Moreover, either a centralized auction house or a centralized view (see below) would actually smooth out a lot of market inefficiency inherent in ESO as of now, for both buyers and sellers.

2. What ESO has currently reminds me a lot of a bastardized and mutilated version of the EVE trading system - with each item on sale bound to a physical location (space station in EVE, guild store stall in ESO). Except in EVE, a player can simultaneously view all listings from all sellers within something like 20 jumps away. Imagine if one could view all items in all guild stores on one screen, then pick the store to patronize on that basis, except in EVE you also then have to travel to the physical location to pick up your purchase instead of it being mailed to you.

The only non-technical reason I can think of to justify what ESO has now is that they wanted to siphon more gold out of the in-game economy by having guilds bid for specific sale locations (but did not want to maintain a specific inventory table for each). Also - immersion, I suppose, or RP, or something like that. That's not necessarily a bad way to manage things, just not a very good one because ultimately the trading system ought to be built around buyer convenience, especially in an F2P model where you want to suck people in and not present them with obstacles.

Put differently, why is it that TTC is one of the more popular add-ons for the game (and isn't the only one of its kind, either)? And if it's that popular, shouldn't it have been a feature of the product to begin with?

3. I honestly do not think chances are very high the system will change fundamentally. Too many lines of code and manhours have been invested into getting this integrated into the game to rip it all out and put in something new. Besides which, I am 110% confident one can find a number of people inside ZOS who will retort that everything is "working as intended", that they are "happy" with the way the trading system has turned out, and, in fact, that most players are "happy" with it as well.

But I do not care. My axe to grind is a different one on this issue.

Fix. The. Bloody. Stupid. Idiotic. Imbecilic. Interface.

It is literally the worst in-game trading UI I have seen in MMOs, ever. Granted, I have not played every MMO to have ever been made, and granted, it has to work on both PC and the console which introduces a whole lot of constraints and limitations. I suppose that yes, it could have been worse. But ye gods, even within the existing framework there is so much that can be done to improve user experience. Even a relatively small change like adding one more level to the drop-down search menus showing the specific items of that category listed for sale in that guild store (i.e. not just "show me all purple crafting motifs" but "show me all Hollowjack Chests pages"). Or internally "scraping" all the listed prices for a specific item in real time to immediately show you an average selling price of some kind (if TTC can do it, why can't ESO?). It's not as if I'm asking for EVE-type functionality (e.g. price and volume trade history for each item going back at least a year).

Sadly, I doubt that this is anywhere near the top of ZOS's internal priority list for the product. In my jaded personal opinion.

You could read past forum threads, but without an auction house more people can make money through merchanting is the short answer.

Signed by neither a trade guild owner nor a player delusional about how the world works.

i didnt like that way it handles.
it preventing many other guilds trying to sell, i would say this is "GUILD KILLER", with many former members are tired of waiting for leaders to get one so they can sell, they are leaving for other guilds.

also it is the worst auction format i ever seen in 2 decades of MMO, ESO dont even have search format, thay make you scroll down hundreds of useless copies, pages of pages of clones. they kill playing time by looking for specific items more than 30 mins with 5-6 vendors.
ENOUGH! i dont understand why devs are using outdated code tech. that no excuse for soon to be 2018. all other online game devs look at this and it is embarrishment for ESO.

Cpt_Teemo wrote: »

MrGarlic wrote: »

The market system needs a revamp such as buy orders, but stealing ideas from children's games isn't the answer.

Swg was far from a childs game

That's fair, but I assumed the OP was imagining another game. One that is more attractive to children, that I won't mention.

Korah_Eaglecry wrote: »

ereboz wrote: »

I would love a global auction house. I know some people say it would ruin the market because a percentage of players would fluctuate the market. But it's not much different than what people do now visiting guild stores and buying low selling high. So would you like to see a global auction house?

Youre not going to get a fair shake here on the forums. Those here are either heavily involved in running said Trade Guilds or simply buy into the misinformation about how things actually work in an Auction House.

Or we have seen the disasters that readily happen in games that feature an auction house and don't want to add another problem area into this game. Check the forums of games that have an auction house and it is rare that you can get past the first page without seeing complaints about someone monopolizing some particular part of the market. With an auction house it is very easy to do.

I would like a better search system for the guild traders, but I like the system over all more than your typical auction house.

This again?

Do auction threads go on a monthly cycle or something?