Game needs a better marketplace.

GrizzlyTank · June 2022

As some might have noticed the website that is used to reliably use the marketplace in this game has turned to quite aggressive anti-adblocking and as a result renders it effectively useless unless you disable everything, in some cases even your anti-virus.

Which pushes players to rely on the old way of using the games market or markets which is to run around like an idiot checking every guild trader there is unless you want to buy something at a grossly inflated price.

The current system is archaic and does nothing but waste peoples time. It's not immersive nor engaging since everyone just warps between waypoints and the added travel time/placement of vendors just adds frustration.

Ideally it should be changed to a more unified marketplace which is the standard for mmos. Keep the guild's as "tabs" or listed under the seller but don't make us run all over the place to find what we want or to get a reasonable deal.

Pepegrillos · June 2022

They could put 'announcer' or 'tracker' NPCs in the capital cities that have the same functions TTC has. You search for an item, it shows you item-price-trader's location. That way botters can't just simply park a bot in front of the auction house NPC and have access to all items (like it happens in games with unified auction houses). Regular players, however, could see in which particular trader the items they want are and travel after they've found the item's location.

Snamyap · June 2022

Pepegrillos wrote: »

They could put 'announcer' or 'tracker' NPCs in the capital cities that have the same functions TTC has. You search for an item, it shows you item-price-trader's location. That way botters can't just simply park a bot in front of the auction house NPC and have access to all items (like it happens in games with unified auction houses). Regular players, however, could see in which particular trader the items they want are and travel after they've found the item's location.

Agree, an in game TTC would be great and won't require a total work over of the current system.

OnnuK · June 2022

I hope they do it asap. Trading is an important part of ESO. New players are always confused (as I was) and frustrated. TTC web site is no longer working for me (as mentioed by OP), I am looking for alternatives. I do not want to pay a small fee per 30 days. Please ESO devs make this happen and create a trading system, trust me it is better than an in-game card feature... ;-D

Rasande_Robin · June 2022

It is positive and negative at the same time. You can earn more gold for selling something fairly common depending on how much time buyer wants to save.

The system you want will make items that are found. Even though they are extremely rare worth basically nothing. Since it will be global competition with one click away.

Xarc · June 2022

The market as it is, is well and proper to eso.

LikiLoki · June 2022

I see both positive and negative sides of the change in the trading system. The absence of a single auction allows you to sell one product at different prices - this is good, everyone has a chance for a good deal, not just the owners of bots. ZOS will never make changes. They need the player to spend more time on each action. They have never changed such fundamental things in the game. The in-game TTC sounds good, but you need to implement it carefully so as not to violate the big pricing policy, then you need to call it the "guild of trade consultants" and make access to it for a weekly tax in gold

Tommy_The_Gun · June 2022

From my observations, it would be hard to introduce anything new to current trading system, as (for the lack of better term) hard-core trading guilds (yes, trading is an "end-game" for them) - simply put - are afraid of any changes.

^ At least this is the impression I am getting. Every qol idea or something that could potentially improve ESO economy often is met with a "hard NO". Even back in the day when ZOS added "search by text" function to a trading guild listing there were a lot of players who (for whatever reason) though it would ruin the economy as it would make the whole system laggy & to easy to buy stuff cheap.

Tldr: I agree with OP to some degree. A lot of system in ESO have received qol improvements, changes, balance changes, fixes, overhauls and other thing over the years.

Trading System meanwhile, aside from an add-on implementation (search by text) has received pretty much nothing since the game launched. All things that are technically being added are new trading spots - which is exactly the reason why the system is kinda stale. It is not enough.

Edit:
Just an idea: If some time ago, ZOS implement "search by text" add-on, then, what if they would implement TTC add-on into the game ? Instead of alt-tab & opening a website, you would just open a new menu page in game, and look for whatever you need & go to the trader that sells item you want, at a price you find acceptable. This seems to be kinda similar to what OP wants. Yes, I do believe that we should still "go" to the zone & trading spot "manually", as otherwise it would make trading spot location meaningless. DLC spots for example, that are not accessible, unless you buy the new content.

WraithCaller88 · June 2022

I was having the same problem with TTC on Chrome, but it worked fine when I started using it on (of all things) Microsoft Edge.

SainguinKrist · June 2022

Some type of ingame version of TTC would be a huge QoL change AND wouldn't compromise the current trader system.

I would be 100000% for something like that.

jaws343 · June 2022

SainguinKrist wrote: »

Some type of ingame version of TTC would be a huge QoL change AND wouldn't compromise the current trader system.

I would be 100000% for something like that.

It would 100% compromise the current trading system. Especially on consoles, where the market is functioning perfectly fine and we are not dealing with absurd pricing inflation that the add-ons only contribute to.

The entire point of a spread out and segmented trading system is to force players to shop around for deals and items. Not to have centralized datastore of server wide items for sale.

BretonMage · June 2022

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

From my observations, it would be hard to introduce anything new to current trading system, as (for the lack of better term) hard-core trading guilds (yes, trading is an "end-game" for them) - simply put - are afraid of any changes.

^ At least this is the impression I am getting. Every qol idea or something that could potentially improve ESO economy often is met with a "hard NO". Even back in the day when ZOS added "search by text" function to a trading guild listing there were a lot of players who (for whatever reason) though it would ruin the economy as it would make the whole system laggy & to easy to buy stuff cheap.

Increasing the convenience of purchasing at competitive prices would be immensely popular with the majority of players, and ZOS should not let the reluctance of a minority of hard-core traders dissuade them from implementing such a system. If there is another reason why they have not done so yet, I'd love to know.

Taggund · June 2022

It is possible to have individual/Guild Traders and a central Bazaar system. Even EverQuest was able to do this

I don't expect ESO to change the guild trader setup, but it sure would be nice if it did (and I would celebrate that more than a card game). Just one of the many things about ESO that I don't like, but for some reason I keep playing (and paying).

Lysette · June 2022

Xarc wrote: »

The market as it is, is well and proper to eso.

I got used to it as well and see it as quite immersive - I do not even use any add-on to go around this immersive system. In the end most people are quite lazy and I just have to compete with local traders, not with the whole market, when offering stuff. People might look for the best offer, but this can be used to lure them to a location, where a few of the items are cheap, but the packs with increasing amounts have as well increasing prices - in the end one achieves an average price, which is far above the "bait" offer, to get them to the trader. A global auction house wouldn't offer that.

peacenote · June 2022

trpajzla wrote: »

Trading system in ESO is reckless and unfair but it is not a problem for ZOS as long as it forces rich players
invest MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF REAL CURRENCY they are able to withstand to keep their guilds running.

I would agree that this is ridiculous and awful. The issue therefore is not in the trading system itself but the gold/crown exchange. No guild leader should have to do this.

Someone in another thread mentioned that the lack of a cap on bids also exacerbates the problem, which makes sense to me. If there was a cap with a lottery for tie-breaking, people wouldn't pour so much money into it.

Nestor · June 2022

Oh wow, another Auction House thread!

Not going to happen.

Sidonius · June 2022

The game needs to let us pay in lock picks.

Lysette · June 2022

I don't know where the idea is coming from, that no trading guild would be self-sufficient. I was in guilds which made around 800 Million in weekly sales each, that creates a guild cut of 28 million. With about 490 permanent members donating 10k to the guild per week raising another 4.9 Million - so there are 32.9 million available to bid on traders, just from running revenue, not even touching the reserves.

Tommy_The_Gun · June 2022

Nestor wrote: »

Oh wow, another Auction House thread!

Not going to happen.

This thread is not about Auction House, but rather adding something like TTC add-on to the game with an option to but directly from it.

Personally I think that adding TTC to the base game client & opening an in-game menu instead of a 3rd party website is a good idea.

On the other hand I think that we should not be able to directly buy from that menu and we should still "manually" go to the trading vendor & buy stuff there. Otherwise different trading spots will become meaningless.

But you are right - "It is not going to happen". Any changes (whatever qol change or major overhaul) to Trading System are not going to happen. One reason is a very "hermetic", close environment of Trading Guilds. They seem to be afraid of any changes. All of potentially good ideas are met with a hard "no". The other reason is maybe ZOS who doesn't seem to be interested in improving Trading System as it could, potentially reduce their $ income in some way.

Lysette · June 2022

That trading system is a major gold sink - without draining billions of gold from the system every week, inflation would be incredibly high. It is as well self-adjusting - if people have more gold, guilds will earn more gold and can make higher bids = more gold drained from the system. This is actually a good system which limits inflation.

TaSheen · June 2022

WraithCaller88 wrote: »

I was having the same problem with TTC on Chrome, but it worked fine when I started using it on (of all things) Microsoft Edge.

But not if you have an ad blocker on Edge - then it's the same situation as Chrome or Firefox.

belial5221_ESO · June 2022

Tommy_The_Gun wrote: »

Nestor wrote: »

Oh wow, another Auction House thread!

Not going to happen.

This thread is not about Auction House, but rather adding something like TTC add-on to the game with an option to but directly from it.

So basically adding an auction house,and would make traders useless.People would abuse it and undercut to drop prices,and buy it all up cheap and relist super high,no diff than most central auction houses.Wouldn't be as bad if things bind on transfer,sale,trade,etc to stop flipping,would keep prices from dropping.I played MMOs where this happens and prices stay high cause of it,not like 1000 stack of Platinum for 1 gold like other central auction houses.

It would be nice to see something like MM but using all guild sales in ESO,give ppl a better pricing guage for real sales,not just skewed list pricing like TTC.

Lysette · June 2022

There is no "correct" price for an item - the price is what people are willing to pay for it and others willing to sell it for that price. What price that is depends as well on the target customer group and their behavior and wealth - and eventually which services are coming with the goods on offer - in ESOs case that is mainly stack-size - like if I would be selling high quality furniture, I can make it easier for my customer to sell them in a stack size which is useful for this customer - like 8 or 12 chairs, because he has a big house and large tables - he has no use for a single chair or two, he needs matching chairs of top quality in the right amount - and for that you can charge him premium - he won't mind to pay more, he pays for convenience.

ForzaRammer · June 2022

I am 100% against auction house, auction house is a garbage system, 0 resemblance of real life shopping.

I don’t go to 1 place buy everything, i shop around, guild traders function similar to amazon, aliexpress and walmart market place. Pay to be a 3rd party seller, sell via their platform.

Current system is significantly more immersive than garbage auction house.

Vaoh · June 2022

jaws343 wrote: »

SainguinKrist wrote: »

Some type of ingame version of TTC would be a huge QoL change AND wouldn't compromise the current trader system.

I would be 100000% for something like that.

It would 100% compromise the current trading system. Especially on consoles, where the market is functioning perfectly fine and we are not dealing with absurd pricing inflation that the add-ons only contribute to.

The entire point of a spread out and segmented trading system is to force players to shop around for deals and items. Not to have centralized datastore of server wide items for sale.

I’m not sure an ingame TTC would hurt us on console. It’s very frustrating running around to random guild traders for 30-60min trying to find a few rare items though. I do wish we could search for multiple specific items in a trader at the same time, rather than having to do multiple individual searches per trader.

I can’t say if a global auction house would be better either.

Lysette · June 2022

Vaoh wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

SainguinKrist wrote: »

Some type of ingame version of TTC would be a huge QoL change AND wouldn't compromise the current trader system.

I would be 100000% for something like that.

It would 100% compromise the current trading system. Especially on consoles, where the market is functioning perfectly fine and we are not dealing with absurd pricing inflation that the add-ons only contribute to.

The entire point of a spread out and segmented trading system is to force players to shop around for deals and items. Not to have centralized datastore of server wide items for sale.

I’m not sure an ingame TTC would hurt us on console. It’s very frustrating running around to random guild traders for 30-60min trying to find a few rare items though. I do wish we could search for multiple specific items in a trader at the same time, rather than I’m taking multiple individual searches per trader

I can’t say if a global auction house would be better.

Join a trading guild and ask your fellow members about what you are looking for - there might be some even who could craft it for you or have it available, just not on offer currently. Communication is key, and best to ask those, who really can serve customers well - at a price of course, but if you are looking for rare items, you are most likely not minding a premium for it.

Vaoh · June 2022

Lysette wrote: »

Vaoh wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

SainguinKrist wrote: »

Some type of ingame version of TTC would be a huge QoL change AND wouldn't compromise the current trader system.

I would be 100000% for something like that.

It would 100% compromise the current trading system. Especially on consoles, where the market is functioning perfectly fine and we are not dealing with absurd pricing inflation that the add-ons only contribute to.

The entire point of a spread out and segmented trading system is to force players to shop around for deals and items. Not to have centralized datastore of server wide items for sale.

I’m not sure an ingame TTC would hurt us on console. It’s very frustrating running around to random guild traders for 30-60min trying to find a few rare items though. I do wish we could search for multiple specific items in a trader at the same time, rather than I’m taking multiple individual searches per trader

I can’t say if a global auction house would be better.

Join a trading guild and ask your fellow members about what you are looking for - there might be some even who could craft it for you or have it available, just not on offer currently. Communication is key, and best to ask those, who really can serve customers well - at a price of course, but if you are looking for rare items, you are most likely not minding a premium for it.

I am in a trading guild and have asked but some stuff is just very rare. Dark Ether for example. In this situation a central place to buy items on the servers would have been helpful - I ran around to guild traders of every zone in the game and couldn’t find it which takes a lot of time.

Not saying the current system is better or worse than a centralized store for the whole server. I really don’t know as a whole if it would be better or not. It would certainly be more convenient though.

Snamyap · June 2022

jaws343 wrote: »

SainguinKrist wrote: »

Some type of ingame version of TTC would be a huge QoL change AND wouldn't compromise the current trader system.

I would be 100000% for something like that.

The entire point of a spread out and segmented trading system is to force players to shop around for deals and items. Not to have centralized datastore of server wide items for sale.

That may work well enough for items that come in high quantities like tempers and stuff but if you're looking for something uncommon in a specific trait then having to check 200+ traders (a number that grows with each chapter and story dlc) just becomes a huge nuisance.

Amottica · June 2022

ESO is already struggling with performance issues which led to Zenimax restricting and reducing what they add to the game. Changing the market to a centralized one would increase the query size for using the market by more than 100 fold which would add a great burden to the server. Our servers have a much larger population than games such as WoW and FF14 have per server/shard.

Northwold · June 2022

ForzaRammer wrote: »

I am 100% against auction house, auction house is a garbage system, 0 resemblance of real life shopping.

I don’t go to 1 place buy everything, i shop around, guild traders function similar to amazon, aliexpress and walmart market place. Pay to be a 3rd party seller, sell via their platform.

Current system is significantly more immersive than garbage auction house.

Why does anyone playing a game want real life shopping? It's a game. Not a life simulator. And the more ESO imitates the utterly tedious aspects of real life that people play games to forget, the less appealing it becomes as an entertainment product.

ForzaRammer · June 2022

Northwold wrote: »

ForzaRammer wrote: »

I am 100% against auction house, auction house is a garbage system, 0 resemblance of real life shopping.

I don’t go to 1 place buy everything, i shop around, guild traders function similar to amazon, aliexpress and walmart market place. Pay to be a 3rd party seller, sell via their platform.

Current system is significantly more immersive than garbage auction house.

Why does anyone playing a game want real life shopping? It's a game. Not a life simulator. And the more ESO imitates the utterly tedious aspects of real life that people play games to forget, the less appealing it becomes as an entertainment product.

I do not find shop around for deals tedious, and i am sure those RL coupon experts even enjoy it.