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The one thing I really hate about this game
divergerjulz
Member Posts: 16
Let me just start by saying, I am a big FF fan and so far I am loving this game. Of course I know many things will be improved upon, but the one thing I have a big issue with is the market system. So I guess retainers are supposed to become more functional, but I would like to know how. Right now there is no way I want to look through hundreds of retainers to find something I need. They need to implement something that can at least point you to the retainers with the items you are looking for. What are everyone's opinion on how they could improve this system to make it a bit easier to find what you need, without actually having an auction house?
Comments
They already have a system in place that was revolutionary at the time and a godsend for MMO players. It seems like they are reverting back to the way things were a long time ago. Let us have our Auction House back, go ahead and limit prices for certain items I don't care but I loved being able to search for what i'm looking for and find it.
Indeed, the auction house for FFXI was awsome I thought. You could see the last prices that the item you searched sold for. It seemed like a good system and I can't understand why they would get away from that. But if they are not going to have an auction house, how will they make this whole retainer system work? I just can't stand searching for hours.
I origionally agreed that they should throw in an AH.
However having been through the depression and inflation that is FFXI's economy where something's price could change dramatically with little to no warning... This might be a vast improvement.
Sure you hate looking through 100's of retainers right now.... Think about it when you actually make friends who craft things you actually want like say you meet a black smith. This smith friend tells you that his retainer is on Market #13 and he'll keep it stocked with things you might need as whatever class you are.
It creates a personal relationship between crafters and buyers, making it so that the Player driven market economy is much more like the way the actual world works. If a regular customer comes into an establishment they generally get treated better and you get to know the employees and such, AH systems do not allow for these sort of opportunities to take place.
Its an interesting idea, lets give it a chance before we cry wolf shall we?
Edit: Also it combats RMT price setting and those jerk who'd undercut you by 1 gil... Just my two more cents.
Rumor has it (and I am inclined to agree) that SE has left the auction house out of beta (and probably retail) for good reason. They want the "hardcore" (<---- you asked for this title, live with it.) PC gamers to establish a working economy, make bazaars and retainers valid and basicly set up the economy over the next 6 months or so.
Then when PS3 retail hits at the beginning of next year they will introduce perks like the Auction House and additional jobs (I've seen a list of over 30 planned jobs for FFXIV by the time it's all said & done... easily google'd). Remember that FFXI wasn't 1/2 the game it was before it was introduced in North America. They allowed the Japanese to set up the economy, grasp the basics of the game, etc. This time around they have basicly done the same thing except they are letting PC gamers world wide set up the economy instead of just the Japanese players. So don't worry about no AH and lack of distinct jobs... this is the start of a journey; not the end.
Whew! Only one thing, I feel relived not to delve through a list of Square must do X, Y, Z, A, b... c... add 12 plus AH.
I certainly agree with you on Auction House. I sorta understand their reasoning but it really impacts the UX. I felt really frustrated looking for a piece of armor through 20 retainers all selling Earth, Wind and Fire concert tickets.
Frontpage has news about markets and auction house today:
http://www.ffxivcore.com/
I already posted my idea on this one a few times, but I'll post it again. Think DAOC housing zones. This is my idea of a retainer system that could work:
Market zones - Outside instances with stalls, each retainer has it's own stall with a Number assigned to it. No random placement. Think of a huge outdoor market, commonly called a flea market in certain areas of the US.
Stalls - Can be customized a little, meaning you can pick a stall type (one that shows fruits or one that shows weapons, armor, etc.) Stalls have different prices. Ones near the zone entrace cost more to maintain than ones at the very rear.
Bulletin Board - After you zone into a Market Ward you see a huge bulletin board. Clicking on it brings up a search feature. You can search for item types(helmet, spear, fish, bone, leather, ore, etc) and the level of the item/resource if applicable. The bulletin board will come back with a list of matched items and the Stall number. You still have to walk to the stall to see the stats on the item and lookup the price. This will keep people from easily using the Bulletin Board to price gouge like an AH.
So to sum it up. Replace randomly placed retainers with stalled retainers and increase the size of the zone to accommodate for extra stalls. Add a bulletin to let people search for items. The search only returns a stall number and type of item. It does not give the exact stats or price.
Edit: Even if they add a search on top of what they have now I think it would be terrible without a revamp in retainer placement. I think each retainer needs its own storefront.
"Market Wards
We do not want the extent of a Disciple of the Hand/Land’s stay in Eorzea to be about simply putting the items he creates/gathers up for auction, which is why we have envisioned a bazaar-driven economy in which players can be creative in the methods they use to sell their wares. To better achieve this, we are currently working on ways to increase a players’ ease of using the markets by adding additional features, as well as tweaking existing ones."
Sounds like they're dragging their feet a bit. They don't want to throw stuff up on an auction house because it's not immersive enough to them.
Fine. Tell you what: I'd be happy if they just made it so the goods are compartmentalized better. For example, when you go to the Market Wards, instead of seeing 3 pages of markets labeled things like "White Oak" and "Black Oak" ect, perhaps have the Market Wards labeled by the name of what's being sold there, and only permit the retainers to have things on their bazaar related to those things.
I now Square-Enix has a lot of artists. This should be an attractive solution to them because they could then go into each of those Market Wards and customize them to appear appropriate to the type of good sold there.
"Inventory Response Time
We are fully aware that inventory interface response speed needs to be improved.
At the time of release, we hope to have made significant improvement, and plan to continue our work after release as well."
And there's the other thing I was worried about. They're 2/2 of my larger concerns. I would have preferred these solutions were there at release, but now that I've heard they are working on these things, I'm glad I preordered the game a couple days ago now.