This is one of the aspects of this game that absolutely baffles me. FFXI's one major contribution to the genre was the introduction of auction houses which has become the staple of almost every modern MMO's economy. Why the hell did they decide to not use this in their sequel? It's not like they came up with an even better idea, it's like the deliberately took a step backwards. I don't see how any rational thinking person can debate that not having an AH in a game like this is an improvement over the previous game.
I don't think it was an oversight on their part.
Sometimes you have to take that step backward, if you want to move forward (cliche, but true)
For what an AH does really well, it does a couple of things really poorly.
It allows others to profit by cornering a segment of the market and jacking the prices up on stuff.
Once the percieved value of the item is set, everyone sells it and buys it for those insane amounts.
This literally leeches the fun out of games by making your hard earned gil worth less than it should be... which encourages RMT purchases.
Auction Houses limit the amount of communication that occurs in the community.
This is not good when you have a game that's solo friendly but dependent on other players for a good play session.
It leaves pugs as the only means of making friends in the community, but nobody actually likes pugs.
The simple fact of the matter is that regardless of how good an MMO is, folks will jump to the next one in a heartbeat because they have limited ties to the one they are playing now. It's the ties they have made to others in the game that keep them there.
Well, not excactly. The real gil sink for adventurers is going to be buying gear from crafters, who will lose some of it during synths, but not all of it. Crafters are supposed to get rich- that is why many people are full time crafters- they like the merchant aspect of the game, but nontheless much of the game's total gil will be lost through them.
Here's an example of how it should work out-
Gatherer gathers 100 mats and sells them to Crafter for 100 gil. Gatherer + 100, Crafter -100
Adventurer obtains 100 crystals and sells them to Crafter for 100 gil. Adventurer +100, Crafter -200
Adventurer obtains 100 gil from leve quests. Adventurer +200
Gatherer obtains 100 gil from leve quests. Gatherer +200
Adventurer buys gear upgrade for 200 gil from Crafter. Adventurer 100, Crafter 0
Gatherer buys gear upgrade for 200 gil from Crafter. Gatherer 100, Crafter +200
Crafter loses 100 gil worth of mats during failed synths. Crafter +100
Both Gatherer and Adventurer pay for repairs 50 gil each.
As you can see it's a bit complicated and this is just an example, but the coolest part is that everybody contributes to the economy, and crafters are the center of what makes everything work.
Your math is flawed. Lets say each player starts with 5000k gil.
Gather sells 100 mats for 100 gil to crafter, G=5.1k, C=4.9k
Adventure sells 100 crystals for 100 gil to crafter: A=5.1k, C=4.8k
Gather gains 100gil from leve, C=4.9k
Adventurere buys from crafter for 200gil. A=4.9k, C=5.1k
Crafter doesn't lose gil during a failed synthesis. It isn't in his pocket. Stays at C=5.1k
Gathering and Adventurer pay Crafter for repairs 50g each. A=4.85k, G=5.05k, C=5.2k
End result: +100gil in economy from before. (Now if you factor in Taxes you still have to make enough to cover both, so more Gil is still in the economy if you base it on real figures)
Your focusing on the idea that Gil is in another form such as goods, thats not how it works. Someone else still got his money regardless of what happened to the items. I could pay 5k for an item and delete it. 5k did not leave the economy, it went in someone else pocket.
Current result is only three Gil required sinks: Cost of retainers, and Taxes, and less so Crafter buffs. Repairs as well as buying from NPCs are optional. Repairs from NPC will not be used on high end equipment once crafters are established.
Taxes are the really only Gil sink in this game. If you are taking a 10% hit of Gil each time, cash flow is being reduced, but I would say its such a small amount it will have literally zero impact on the game. Sooner or later you will have and endless supply of Gil.
Well, according to most forums, everything about the game is wrong.
If you underestimate SE's ability to stick with it's vision of a game despite what forums say, then you don't know them very well.
All of NA hated FFXI when it came out because of forced grouping, and yet, if anything, they made it more difficult to solo as the game progressed rather than easier.
SE is determined to make crafting and player influence on the economy just as important as adventuring in this game. Actually, based on what I've seen of crafting and battle mechanics, it seems they have put more time and thought into Crafting than Adventuring to be honest.
I'd be willing to bet 1,000 earth shards (and I need these as a weaver so you know that means something) that there never will be an AH and the closest thing will be the organized wards we're getting in a week or so.
Not all of NA hated FFXI at all, hell I had a static pt that loved it, right off the bat. As an AH goes, there will be one, maybe not the standard one were used to, but there will be one. I m willing to bet they ll add something like there will be a market search board, like EQ2, that you can buy from directly, or save some money by going directly to the retainer listed on the market board. The name of the retainer and what ward they re in will be displayed. It s a good system for everyone. Want to save some money then go to the retainer that has it, but you still have to go to it.
I agree, I could see a market board system like EQ2 working fine in FFXIV. The people who like the whole Ward system will still have that, while the people who don't want to be bothered with it could easily buy from a broker and pay a higher fee (commission).
The people who don't want to buy from the broker can just use them as a search - Find the item they want at the price they want, get the sellers name and location and then track them down.
yeah good idea the system in EQ2 would work great.
Simple question to all the people defending not having AH's in the game. I saw a lot of comments against AH's and how having them would be easy mode and why do people insist on having everything handed to them and this is the game and vision SE intended. I even heard how this game isn't WoW so get over it.
Do you honestly think SE could code AH's so fast into the game? Thats a pretty big feature and I am sure it was something being worked but it just didn't make the cut. It makes me ask myself, what else didn't make the cut and what was rushed through. It looks like AH's have been planned for sometime, someone just forgot to tell us.
Before you flame me, I do want to see this game succeed and evolve because there are so many "meh" games out there now. I just can't stand blind fanaticism to your sacred franchise
The small amount of respect this game had gained from me for not having an AH has now been lost and the game goes back to receiving zero respect in my eyes again. Glad I wait until free trials to try games.
+1 additonal retainer = +1$ for the SE bank AH = zilch
That is the whole reason I guess. An auction house doesn´t support RMT. What does support RMT? To answer this, you have to ask, why people buy Ingame-money via real cash in this or that game.
Comments
I don't think it was an oversight on their part.
Sometimes you have to take that step backward, if you want to move forward (cliche, but true)
For what an AH does really well, it does a couple of things really poorly.
Auction Houses encourages market speculation (i.e. inflation).
It allows others to profit by cornering a segment of the market and jacking the prices up on stuff.
Once the percieved value of the item is set, everyone sells it and buys it for those insane amounts.
This literally leeches the fun out of games by making your hard earned gil worth less than it should be... which encourages RMT purchases.
Auction Houses limit the amount of communication that occurs in the community.
This is not good when you have a game that's solo friendly but dependent on other players for a good play session.
It leaves pugs as the only means of making friends in the community, but nobody actually likes pugs.
The simple fact of the matter is that regardless of how good an MMO is, folks will jump to the next one in a heartbeat because they have limited ties to the one they are playing now. It's the ties they have made to others in the game that keep them there.
Your math is flawed. Lets say each player starts with 5000k gil.
Gather sells 100 mats for 100 gil to crafter, G=5.1k, C=4.9k
Adventure sells 100 crystals for 100 gil to crafter: A=5.1k, C=4.8k
Gather gains 100gil from leve, C=4.9k
Adventurere buys from crafter for 200gil. A=4.9k, C=5.1k
Crafter doesn't lose gil during a failed synthesis. It isn't in his pocket. Stays at C=5.1k
Gathering and Adventurer pay Crafter for repairs 50g each. A=4.85k, G=5.05k, C=5.2k
End result: +100gil in economy from before. (Now if you factor in Taxes you still have to make enough to cover both, so more Gil is still in the economy if you base it on real figures)
Your focusing on the idea that Gil is in another form such as goods, thats not how it works. Someone else still got his money regardless of what happened to the items. I could pay 5k for an item and delete it. 5k did not leave the economy, it went in someone else pocket.
Current result is only three Gil required sinks: Cost of retainers, and Taxes, and less so Crafter buffs. Repairs as well as buying from NPCs are optional. Repairs from NPC will not be used on high end equipment once crafters are established.
Taxes are the really only Gil sink in this game. If you are taking a 10% hit of Gil each time, cash flow is being reduced, but I would say its such a small amount it will have literally zero impact on the game. Sooner or later you will have and endless supply of Gil.
yeah good idea the system in EQ2 would work great.
IN THE FACE!
The small amount of respect this game had gained from me for not having an AH has now been lost and the game goes back to receiving zero respect in my eyes again. Glad I wait until free trials to try games.
+1 additonal retainer = +1$ for the SE bank
AH = zilch
That is the whole reason I guess. An auction house doesn´t support RMT. What does support RMT? To answer this, you have to ask, why people buy Ingame-money via real cash in this or that game.
My opinion