Liberated from the burden of having a trader

markulrich1966 · January 2020

question is, why (on xbox), dues have established on NA, but not on EU?

I don't know even 1 guild on EU where you have to pay dues, while on NA 8-20k per week is common for major locations like Elden root, wayrest or mournhold.

Even smaller ones like Alinor still require 5-8k.

I actually have 3 guilds with dues, so I pay 38k per week, approx 120k per month. I hesitated some weeks to participate in this system, as I think it is unfair especially towards players who do not play every day and low-level ones, but as I have background knowledge as experienced cp1070 trader on EU I finally joined as I still get profit despite the dues.

BansheeVT · January 2020

victory.immortalb16_ESO wrote: »

and the concentration of trading power in the hands of a couple of alliances of trading guilds who continually hold all the top trading spots- which a newer guild has absolutely no chance of ever getting and so the ball keeps rolling.

Looks like I'm one of the very few here that don't want some kind of auction house..
But I have to say yes, there are a couple of alliances who continually hold a lot of spots in top trading areas and I don't think that's good but no, new guilds also have a chance to get there. I think it's fair that those who put effort into it get the reward. So good guilds can stay at good spots and new guilds have to work their way up there

Grianasteri · January 2020

None of the guilds I am in charge weekly fees. If they did, I would not be in them.

All the guilds I am in are casual, but focused on different things, one for trials, one for pvp, one for achievements, one for a bit of everything etc. All of them have traders most of the time, not all the time, but mostly and generally in reasonable locations. None are trading guilds.

This is achieved through fostering a good community, with some sensible guidelines and guild rules.

For instance, you cant use the guild trader unless you have donated a certain amount to the guild - this is self evidently reasonable. The sums involved are not astronomical and are easily achieved through general game play over time.

Additionally these guilds strongly encourage guild members to donate gold to the guild each week, so its not compulsory, its if you want to, here are the benefits to the guild and it is much appreciated. Furthermore, one of the main ways to incentivies voluntary donations, is via raffles each week. Finally having some form of league table of who has donated what, is also a way to incentivies donations, with the top donor each week also receiving a prize.

Through all or a combination of these features, the guilds I am in tend to maintain guild traders for the benefit of everyone.

Now, this says nothing at all about the time and effort involved behind the scenes. I would suggest a good guild needs a strong leadership council with enough officers to help out with the administrative tasks, with delegated responsibilities.

Happy gaming, enjoy your freedom!

PS, I would like to see the guild system developed further, so that within the guild tab leaders can create various forums and threads that the guild can interact with, similar to discord, which all the guilds I am in use. We should not have to go to a 3rd party for guild administration, ZOS need to develop the tools guilds have more, it wont take much, the ability to create a few tabs with forums and threads etc. Other games have this as standard.

VaranisArano · January 2020

markulrich1966 wrote: »

question is, why (on xbox), dues have established on NA, but not on EU?

I don't know even 1 guild on EU where you have to pay dues, while on NA 8-20k per week is common for major locations like Elden root, wayrest or mournhold.

Even smaller ones like Alinor still require 5-8k.

I actually have 3 guilds with dues, so I pay 38k per week, approx 120k per month. I hesitated some weeks to participate in this system, as I think it is unfair especially towards players who do not play every day and low-level ones, but as I have background knowledge as experienced cp1070 trader on EU I finally joined as I still get profit despite the dues.

One thing ZOS could do to help with "dues" keeping out newer or more casual players is to give console Guild Officers better in game accounting tools, particularly the ability to track the sales of individual members.

Its pretty rare for PC guilds to charge outright dues simply because addons allow officers to track things like sales requirements and raffle donations in a much, much more efficient manner. This ability for players to participate in guilds just by selling their wares really does help make trading guilds more accessible to newer players. It would be nice if ZOS added similar tools for Console players.

Anotherone773 · January 2020

I like the guild trader system. I like that you have to make the effort to find good deals instead of having penny wars like games with AHs. I dont like how its implemented. I hate it when games "impair" you for stupid reason when their are other ways to achieve their goal without annoying the customer base. I feel like the limited trader system does that.

AlnilamE · January 2020

OP, I'm glad you are enjoying the game more.

I'm sorry you felt that getting a trader was more important than your guild members did.

In my guild, I'm the main trader person, with help from a couple of guildies. We get a trader most weeks, but if we don't we don't stress about it. It's a game, not a job. :-)