Auction Houses: yes or no?

PrimusNephilim · April 2020

Add more guild stores per city

Lower the guild's active member requirements (10) so that smaller guilds can have access to stores as well, add more stores in each location and/or add an area near each capitol (or some area), add a market area, kinda like a flee market with a bunch of stores, the more stores, the more competition which would equate to lower prices.

~ Cheers

Kiralyn2000 · April 2020

Honestly, "more traders!" just increases all the inconveniences of the system - more fragmentation, more places to ride to to see if they have something & what it's price is, etc.

edit: to be clear, I'm not asking for or expecting a change. This dumpster fire is a Feature™ of ESO, and that's what there is. We just have to live with it.

darthgummibear_ESO · April 2020

Keep everything as it is

Eifleber wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

*weary sigh*

*even wearier sigh*

Tell me again the added value of the current system?

It's the game's only real consistent gold sink, for one. Inflation would go through the roof overnight if we got a global auction house.

PrimusNephilim · April 2020

Add more guild stores per city

n0tthesun wrote: »

I actually really enjoy spending a night trekking around tamriel to see what various traders have available. Sometimes I find good deals, sometimes I find things I didn't even know I wanted. The only thing I would add is more traders so I can shop even more.

I agree with you, you can find some really good deals by taking a little time to shop around, I think by adding a flee market kinda area would be great, keeping what we have already in place but adding a flee market in each zone....something like that. more stores, more opportunities to find great deals!

~ Cheers

Kiralyn2000 · April 2020

darthgummibear_ESO wrote: »

Eifleber wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

*weary sigh*

*even wearier sigh*

Tell me again the added value of the current system?

It's the game's only real consistent gold sink, for one. Inflation would go through the roof overnight if we got a global auction house.

That is the sole redeeming feature of the system. And it is a big one.

preevious · April 2020

Keep everything as it is

Kiralyn2000 wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

Artanisul wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

Eifleber wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

*weary sigh*

*even wearier sigh*

Tell me again the added value of the current system?

Good for immersion

Allow crafty players to actually make some gold (not only those being in guilds .. I used to raise funds with this system long before I even dared to think about applying to a guild

Allow any player to randomly fiind a good deal on what's needed. (on a GAH, everything is at the same price, with "clever" player putting their stuff at "min - 1g" to undercut others .. yay -_-)

Prevent market-cornering of rare items

There.
That excellent system basically create a non-gamable economy

I'll add that common items are still easy to find, rare items would be as unfindable in a GAH because they'd be so easy to find that they'd go almost instantly, and guilds turnovers are high enough so that when you search you'll easily find find a spot somewhere.

Also, all traders, baring the oddball faraway remote trading post, see enough players to sell your stuff.

On reason number two, I am confused. You say it allows those people not in guilds to make gold. It actually fores people to join guilds to sell anything. So not sure how you used the system before even joing a guild. OH I know...you didnt...

On point number 4, you are missing something. While someone cant corner the market on "items", they do corner the market on VENDERS. Keeping the top sales slots only to the guild mofias is well known here in ESO.

This "excellent system" creates a completely gamable economy. Ya cant sell unless you join a guild.

I know it's not going to change. I just would like people to actually admit the truth about how it is being abused.

If you knew how much I bought in guild store then sold in zone chat, you'd be astonished. I bought all the buyoant pages back when they were 150-300k a piece thanks to that .. and them some. Didn't need any membership for that. Just common sense. (looking at the last posted items, buying those that I know are cheap, and profit .. anyone can do that, with time (yeah, with time .. after all, it's a kind of farming))

To spend all the time & effort to do that, I'd have to enjoy being a trader. I don't.

How do I use AH's in other games I've played? Every week or two, I might have a handful of items I want to sell (sometimes, I might sell one thing in a month. Others, I might have 5 stacks of extra crafting mats to unload). So I look at the current prices (conveniently all there), and toss the things up with a small undercut. They sell within minutes, I collect my gold (not Maximum Profit™, but more than vendoring would be), and move on. Total time & effort, maybe 5 minutes. (and not being super-invested in trading, I don't care about people "cornering" the market. Honestly, that doesn't seem nearly as bad an effect on the overall playerbase as this exclusionary system ESO has.)

edit: and if I want to buy something, I can just search and find it. Again, 5 minutes at most. Not roaming zone to zone to zone, through piles of loading screens, to try to see if someone actually has something. And having no idea if that price is actually a decent one. And yeah, now we have TTC. Which is just a band-aid on a gushing wound - an attempt to bring back the useful functionality of a global AH.

I've never been a dedicated trader, and I never will be. Bloomberg Commodity Trader 2020 isn't a game I enjoy playing. So I've no place in trading guilds, since I don't sell any consistent volume, and blowing a bunch of time being a street corner huckster is obnoxious.

And so, there's no economy here for me, I'll just quietly vendor all my extra stuff. /shrug

Ah, I see, then.

Since you can't be bothered to do it and don't like it, all those that do and enjoy it can go right to hell, heh?
Because they play "Bloomberg Commodity Trader 2020" and don't play ESO as you think is proper?

Ok, nevermind, then

Tigerseye · April 2020

Other .. (explain)

preevious wrote: »

Kiralyn2000 wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

Artanisul wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

Eifleber wrote: »

preevious wrote: »

*weary sigh*

*even wearier sigh*

Tell me again the added value of the current system?

Good for immersion

Allow crafty players to actually make some gold (not only those being in guilds .. I used to raise funds with this system long before I even dared to think about applying to a guild

Allow any player to randomly fiind a good deal on what's needed. (on a GAH, everything is at the same price, with "clever" player putting their stuff at "min - 1g" to undercut others .. yay -_-)

Prevent market-cornering of rare items

There.
That excellent system basically create a non-gamable economy

I'll add that common items are still easy to find, rare items would be as unfindable in a GAH because they'd be so easy to find that they'd go almost instantly, and guilds turnovers are high enough so that when you search you'll easily find find a spot somewhere.

Also, all traders, baring the oddball faraway remote trading post, see enough players to sell your stuff.

On reason number two, I am confused. You say it allows those people not in guilds to make gold. It actually fores people to join guilds to sell anything. So not sure how you used the system before even joing a guild. OH I know...you didnt...

On point number 4, you are missing something. While someone cant corner the market on "items", they do corner the market on VENDERS. Keeping the top sales slots only to the guild mofias is well known here in ESO.

This "excellent system" creates a completely gamable economy. Ya cant sell unless you join a guild.

I know it's not going to change. I just would like people to actually admit the truth about how it is being abused.

If you knew how much I bought in guild store then sold in zone chat, you'd be astonished. I bought all the buyoant pages back when they were 150-300k a piece thanks to that .. and them some. Didn't need any membership for that. Just common sense. (looking at the last posted items, buying those that I know are cheap, and profit .. anyone can do that, with time (yeah, with time .. after all, it's a kind of farming))

To spend all the time & effort to do that, I'd have to enjoy being a trader. I don't.

How do I use AH's in other games I've played? Every week or two, I might have a handful of items I want to sell (sometimes, I might sell one thing in a month. Others, I might have 5 stacks of extra crafting mats to unload). So I look at the current prices (conveniently all there), and toss the things up with a small undercut. They sell within minutes, I collect my gold (not Maximum Profit™, but more than vendoring would be), and move on. Total time & effort, maybe 5 minutes. (and not being super-invested in trading, I don't care about people "cornering" the market. Honestly, that doesn't seem nearly as bad an effect on the overall playerbase as this exclusionary system ESO has.)

edit: and if I want to buy something, I can just search and find it. Again, 5 minutes at most. Not roaming zone to zone to zone, through piles of loading screens, to try to see if someone actually has something. And having no idea if that price is actually a decent one. And yeah, now we have TTC. Which is just a band-aid on a gushing wound - an attempt to bring back the useful functionality of a global AH.

I've never been a dedicated trader, and I never will be. Bloomberg Commodity Trader 2020 isn't a game I enjoy playing. So I've no place in trading guilds, since I don't sell any consistent volume, and blowing a bunch of time being a street corner huckster is obnoxious.

And so, there's no economy here for me, I'll just quietly vendor all my extra stuff. /shrug

Ah, I see, then.

Since you can't be bothered to do it and don't like it, all those that do and enjoy it can go right to hell, heh?
Because they play "Bloomberg Commodity Trader 2020" and don't play ESO as you think is proper?

Ok, nevermind, then

She's not saying that.

She's just saying that, if she doesn't want to vendor everything, she has to join a guild, even though she is not a trader at heart.

Whereas, if there was a compromise system, like the one I suggest, she could at least sell her mats on one of the (up to 4) Warehouses, rather than vendoring them.

You never know, she might then even decide to join one guild (with no selling fee/min limit), to list a few other things, if there was less overt pressure on her to have to do so.

Lysette · April 2020

Add more guild stores per city

I like the idea of more guild traders - because sometimes I just look around to see what different guilds have to offer in a certain category and sometimes one or the other bargain can be made - with a central auction house this wouldn't be likely.

MartiniDaniels · April 2020

Keep everything as it is

Buyers don't understand one simple thing - with guild traders removed, there will be much less selection of items to buy, because there will be no incentive to sell those divines/impen drops which can be used in niche builds. So wherever you want to try some set instead of opening TTC and buying all pieces you need, you will be forced to grind them yourself. And given how ESO rng works. Good luck grinding that bow or lightning staff of particular set and then wasting transmute stones just to try something.

MartiniDaniels · April 2020

Keep everything as it is

Want some rare furniture? Nobody will sell it, because market price now is barely higher then cost of mats and for popular furniture pieces price will be much higher then now. Cheap motifs? forget about them. Now there are in-guild competitions and rankings and overall incentive to help guild by selling items. So players are carrying all those 1k worth pieces to sell, not for laughable amount gold, but for "respect" from guild leader. (here I am talking about smaller guilds).

Tommy_The_Gun · April 2020

Other .. (explain)

Add an "buy" option to guild traders. It would work similar to COD system. So, if you have a guild trader npc, you could post an offer & price.
Example: You want to buy kuta. You post the amount (lets say 200 - one stack) and price.

ANY player (in guild or not) can visit guild trader kiosk and see the offer. If the have required item in their inventory - they can sell it to you.

The problem with guild traders, is they don't feel like traders. More like sellers - as you can only buy stuff from them and not sell stuff to them.

Iluvrien · April 2020

Keep everything as it is

Tigerseye wrote: »

She's just saying that, if she doesn't want to vendor everything, she has to join a guild, even though she is not a trader at heart.

Whereas, if there was a compromise system, like the one I suggest, she could at least sell her mats on one of the (up to 4) Warehouses, rather than vendoring them.

I tend to prefer player-driven over ZOS-driven.

So in my case, I'd like to see the development of factors (an agent who buys/sells for a commission).

Sometimes I have had friends who have had items but didn't want to join guilds to sell them.

I bought the item from them for 95% of the MM list price (or for a set profit, whichever was smaller) and then sold it in my guild. Most of them liked the ability to drop a few items for more than vendor prices without having to join a guild. I got good sales because I had more items coming in. And I made a bit of a profit for handling the sale of the item.

Sadly those friends ended up leaving ESO (for other reasons) but I would start again tomorrow if anyone was interested.

MattT1988 · April 2020

Keep everything as it is

Congratulations on being the 8,309,873,892nd person to make this poll.

Knightpanther · April 2020

A few auction houses, like one in each capital

The current system is utter rubbish.

Why should i spend my valuable time wandering zones to find the best deal?
Add-ons (which i don't use - i look up items on said site) are consistently wrong and it just means select guilds can rig the prices.
Why should we pay a fee (Guilds need the dosh to set up traders) to sell our hard earned loot?

The only reason i am in a trading guild is because i have a lot of respect for the leader who spends a lot of time keeping the guild going but for the life of me i have no idea why.

Auction House is the only way.

Be Safe

Nestor · April 2020

Keep everything as it is

The only two things that take any effort to find in the Current System are Rare Items and Low Prices. Both of those should take time and effort to find.

Common Items that people use all the time can be found in any of the 20 or 30 Trading Hubs. And, outside of the Big 6, bargains abound.

Items that are Rare should be hard to find in the world and in the stores. Just because you have gold does not mean you should not expend any effort to find something.

And, the Lead Game Director has stated categorically, on these forums, that a GAH will never be part of this game. Significant as most things the community suggests they are willing to "Look into it". But not a GAH.

freespirit · April 2020

Keep everything as it is

I really enjoy my map wide shopping trips!! 🛒🛒🛒

FlopsyPrince · April 2020

One Auction House to rule them all

theskymoves wrote: »

Don't care what system a game uses, as long as there is some mechanism for selling stuff I don't want and getting stuff I don't have. *shrug*

The reason this remains a concern is that it is very difficult to find things (or fair pricing) with the current system without addons, such as those of us on the PS4.

FlopsyPrince · April 2020

One Auction House to rule them all

I play ESO in spite of this feature. I can't see many actively playing it primarily or even significantly because of it. Some may continue because of it, but that is a smaller subset as well.

Jeremy · April 2020

One Auction House to rule them all

Eifleber wrote: »

When I started playing I was quite surprised that ESO didn't have any centralized buying and selling mechanic. Which I found rather strange since I don't see the added value: ESO has instant travel - unlike EVE where local markets and transport are quite a thing. I just hate to waste hours of my life traveling around to find something that may not even be available on the whole server at all, like rare furniture. Often the guild trader doesn' t even exist in the place TTC mentions.

How would trading be if it were up to you?

An Auction House would be nice, though anything that would allow players the opportunity to sell their items without having to join a guild would be a huge improvement. They also need to include an in-game price history and store finder so players who use addons don't have such a huge advantage over those who don't when it comes to using this game's economy.

That being said: the system is a lot better now than it was when it was first launched. So it has steadily improved, with the excellent search feature being the latest addition I can think of. But yeah, I'm like you and surprised ESO still clings to their guild store system. I'm sure it has cost them thousands of players, especially of the casual variety.

wenchmore420b14_ESO · April 2020

Add more guild stores per city

Yup! I remember before guild traders.
Had to take a keep in PvP to have a trader and it usually was for a hour or less until it got flipped.
Standing around your alliance main town, Riften, Reapers March or Bangkorai, buying and selling with the ton of others there, trying to keep up with chat. Yup, it has gotten much better!
My 2 drakes, I prefer this system.. Huzzah!

ZeroXFF · April 2020

One Auction House to rule them all

VaranisArano wrote: »

6. Performance - guild listings can be laggy enough at times with a maximum of 15k items. Have you really considered the feasibility of displaying a server's worth of items for sale? LOL.

The rest was addressed a billion times already too, but all of the rest is a matter of taste or proper balance (you're welcome to go read older threads if you forgot). This one however I cannot leave standing...

GW2 has a global market spanning the entire world (imagine all guild traders on PC/Xbox/PS4, both EU and NA together), and the performance there is better than ESO's guild traders ever had. There are no technical limitations on implementing a GAH on a megaserver, GW2 is proof of that. If anything, the poor current performance of the traders in ESO is an argument to do a big overhaul of the system.

Anotherone773 · April 2020

Keep everything as it is

Anotherone of these threads( see what i did there?<<<)

In every single game with a centralized system, penny wars cause almost all loot to become worthless and no one bothers because they dont want to stand at the AH all day and keep readjusting their prices down to "not.worth.my.time", so you will find an overwhelming NO! here no matter how many times you ask.

VaranisArano · April 2020

ZeroXFF wrote: »

VaranisArano wrote: »

6. Performance - guild listings can be laggy enough at times with a maximum of 15k items. Have you really considered the feasibility of displaying a server's worth of items for sale? LOL.

The rest was addressed a billion times already too, but all of the rest is a matter of taste or proper balance (you're welcome to go read older threads if you forgot). This one however I cannot leave standing...

GW2 has a global market spanning the entire world (imagine all guild traders on PC/Xbox/PS4, both EU and NA together), and the performance there is better than ESO's guild traders ever had. There are no technical limitations on implementing a GAH on a megaserver, GW2 is proof of that. If anything, the poor current performance of the traders in ESO is an argument to do a big overhaul of the system.

You know, I told the OP to go check those threads knowing I wasn't saying anything "new". This is one of those topics where its been so done to death that there's no new argument/counterargument. But since you insist...

We're not talking about "a" megaserver.
We're talking about some very particular megaservers used to run ESO.
Other games manage lots and lots of things that ESO does not manage to do. Its almost like ESO has technical limitations that differ from other games.

How confident are you that ZOS can manage to display an entire server's worth of changing item info when:
A. Traders sometimes lag impressively with only 15,000 items max.
B. The devs had to change the API to reduce the queries from trading addons because servers were struggling with the load - primarily MM, which checks the sales from a mere five guilds.

"That's a sign they should overhaul the whole system!"
Yeah, well, maybe if ZOS fully overhauls the coding to handle the demands of an Auction House, they'll implement one. Maybe. Maybe they'll just optimize for their current Guild Store system instead, given the other benefits they derive from the status quo.
We'll find out IF they ever overhaul the coding for trading.

As it stands, I have no confidence that ZOS can implement an auction house with the current performance. "X game does it" isn't a convincing argument in that regard. The desire for an AH all rests on that mythical "ZOS will fix the problems with performance" and you sound much more optimistic on that front than I am.

majulook · April 2020

Keep everything as it is

Keep it as it is.

Minyassa · April 2020

One Auction House to rule them all

This is an old debate and it basically just amounts to venting whenever it comes up. ESO is very dedicated to the annoying system they invested in and they will never change it no matter how nice that would be. There are people who love things the way they are now, and there are people who hate them, and ne'er the twain shall meet.

Jeremy · April 2020

One Auction House to rule them all

Minyassa wrote: »

This is an old debate and it basically just amounts to venting whenever it comes up. ESO is very dedicated to the annoying system they invested in and they will never change it no matter how nice that would be. There are people who love things the way they are now, and there are people who hate them, and ne'er the twain shall meet.

Well, they have changed it significantly over the years. So I'm not sure it's a hopeless cause. But you're probably right. If they haven't wholly abandoned the system yet, the odds they will in the future are unlikely. But still: I credit all the grumbling and criticism players have given the system with the improvements we've had. So I think it's a good thing people keep the complaints rolling. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. And posters who are sick of the topic always have the option of simply avoiding threads about it.

kargen27 · April 2020

Other .. (explain)

If it added no more stress to the server I wouldn't mind seeing a bulletin in the major city of each zone that listed what every trader in that zone had. Should be sortable by item or location. The bulletin would not include any prices. That way players that want an item but don't care the price can simply go grab the first they see and players looking for a bargain would have to visit each trader that has that particular item.
Makes it quicker to find an item and also keeps the price flipping aspect of traders somewhat in place.

kargen27 · April 2020

Other .. (explain)

Ri_Khan wrote: »

Anyone that defends the current system but still uses TTC is full of it. Also repeatedly saying this type of system can't be gamed, fixed or cornered doesn't make it true. Maybe you haven't figured out how to do it yourself which is fine, but it doesn't mean others haven't and don't.

Except for the part where they haven't and don't. There was one semi successful attempt long ago. Some players realized a specific material would be in high demand after they spent some time on the PTS. Before the content went live they purchased all of that material they could. It took a lot of people to do it and the monopoly only lasted for a couple of hours before people started seeing the new high price and flooded the market with reserves from their crafting bags. With over 200 traders in the game and players adding good to those traders all the time people can't control the market like they could if they just had to sit in one spot.

Rave the Histborn · April 2020

Keep everything as it is

MartiniDaniels wrote: »

Buyers don't understand one simple thing - with guild traders removed, there will be much less selection of items to buy, because there will be no incentive to sell those divines/impen drops which can be used in niche builds. So wherever you want to try some set instead of opening TTC and buying all pieces you need, you will be forced to grind them yourself. And given how ESO rng works. Good luck grinding that bow or lightning staff of particular set and then wasting transmute stones just to try something.

ZeroXFF wrote: »

VaranisArano wrote: »

6. Performance - guild listings can be laggy enough at times with a maximum of 15k items. Have you really considered the feasibility of displaying a server's worth of items for sale? LOL.

The rest was addressed a billion times already too, but all of the rest is a matter of taste or proper balance (you're welcome to go read older threads if you forgot). This one however I cannot leave standing...

GW2 has a global market spanning the entire world (imagine all guild traders on PC/Xbox/PS4, both EU and NA together), and the performance there is better than ESO's guild traders ever had. There are no technical limitations on implementing a GAH on a megaserver, GW2 is proof of that. If anything, the poor current performance of the traders in ESO is an argument to do a big overhaul of the system.

OK, well thats amazing that GW2's AH does well on GW2s servers but this isn't GW2 and the game wasn't coded in that way. You're asking for an inferior system that also negatively effects the guild system and how the game functions in general and you're asking for it on a system that can't handle that kind of load.

Nanfoodle · April 2020

One Auction House to rule them all

My only problem with the current system is its controlled by the people with the most gold. Finding the best deal is too much work. And guild vendors cost too much to get a good location. These 3 things need to be fixed. Or one AH pls.