Auctions, Traders, Chat, and Storage Agents

Quite a few people are complaining that the reason for various problems in-game are due to not having a decent trading mechanism/auction house. I don't believe that either will solve the problem.

If there is an auction house, that doesn't solve the trading problem for those that want instant gratification involved in a quick sale (not having to wait for a period of time to sell their stuff). The pro-farmers (farmers that make money) which ANet disallows in the EULA will probably still be more inclined to use the local channel because they simply can't wait to sell their shift-loot.

A new trade system will not necessarily work out that well either for the people spamming the all channel. The reason for spamming the all channel is because people turn off the trade channel (well duh).. People will still spam the all channel to catch the passers-by that don't have whatever new trade mechanism window open.

Most people won't realize this until after one or both are implemented. Once they realize that it hasn't stopped the spam (though maybe reduced a bit), a new level of gloom will set in. While these are good ideas, I think a 'true' local chat change may be the best supporting solution to complement these changes. By having a local chat channel that only picks up chat from people within your compass map, people will be able to selectively listen to the 'deals' or not. Quite a few traders hang out near storage or the merchants. If people don't want to listen to their advertising, they simply hang out somewhere else to chat with people. While the spammers can indeed split up amongst a town, they can't concentrate for long because people will be all across the town. If you want to hear the trades, go stand somewhere near the trader. If you don't, go stand somewhere else. It's not as effective in small towns, but then again the problem isn't as big in small towns.

I just wanted to point out that the Auction House and/or trade window that people have been talking about aren't going to be an end-all be-all solution so that no sense of shock sets in when they realize this after the fact.

EDIT: Also, what are reasons people have pro and con the traders (since this is about trade) being all connected in one single market. I would think that having the traders separated (say the supply and demand in Cantha being different than Tyria, or between Kaineng and Jade Sea/Echovald, or even individual cities based on closeness) would encourage people to visit remote towns that are usually abandoned (such as Henge of Denravi). By having a more realistic approach (the supply and demand in one part of the fantasy world being somewhat different than another distant part) seems like it would have more benefits. It would definitely encourage people to not just hang out in one place to trade. Ice tooth cave may be the next high-buying merchant, or Maguuma Stade. When the Sorrow's Furnace release came out I knew people that had finished the campaign with multiple characters that didn't know where Granite Citadel or Ice Tooth Cave were (of course with 15k armour Citadel was more likely to have been explored). Kaineng Center, Ascalon City and Lion's Arch would be frequented enough because of their location to offer cheap goods for the casual players where the more remote towns could reward people for branching out and exploring by offering higher prices for buying regular goods.

Your propsed solution of a true local chat is unfortunately no better than the filters that were recently implemented to reduce spam. If I want to join a group, it may be more difficult as everyone would have to try to stay within each other's compass map? Imagine in a bigger city, I go to a trader and lose out on a conversation?

I believe that an auction house will help, it will not be harmfull to the game.

I don't see why there is any reason to believe it will not work as it has worked in many other games. Why would people want to keep reading spam? As a counter argument, it may be just as plausible that people would only want to use the auction house to trade. Spammers will decrease and will attempt to sell in the auction house as well (if that particular form of trade improvement is implemented).

There may be no way to stop spamming entirely, but I don't believe that spamming will not really be hindered. I think that it will significantly improve the game. If people continue to spam then Anet has bigger issues with bots, which is out of the control of players. At least "players" do not need to spam, and at least people will not have to look at the trade channel spam to make a trade.

What im meaning to say is that players will have more options with an improved system. Currently both players AND pro-farmers have no choice but to spam in the current trading system.

Actually, I left out a vital piece of improvement that has been talked about by ANet. That improvement would be party management, assuming it is even close to what has been posted elsewhere (including shots of a proposed gui). That would eliminate your problem of looking for a group in the local channel entirely. You just pull up a window to form/join a group. Since they've said they are working on party forming improvements as well as trade improvements, they should both be relatively decent.

Thanks for agreeing with me on that point :-)

I don't know if anyone believes that it won't work, just that it isn't the only solution that needs to be implemented to minimize the problem. I'm only looking at Guild Wars. If an auction house in guild wars is attractive to a 6/12 hour shift worker (who needs to sell at the end of his shift) since they aren't disappearing completely, then that will definitely alleviate the problem.

Thanks again for agreeing, I think we're of a similar mind.. I do believe that more options will be available with an improved system, which should include something like a true local chat. With the Trade Improvements, Party Forming Improvements, and a local chat improvement, then local chat can become just that, local chat where you sit and BS, not looking for a group, not trying to sell/buy something. Just sit there in a corner BS'ing with other people. The idea of not wanting to 'missing something' is one of the things that leads to overload. Local chat is something that works in other games as well, even voice-chat, but I'd rather just talk about Guild Wars in itself.

So in summary we both agree on Trade Improvements and Party Forming Improvements, but I think I'd rather give even more options via a true local chat improvement, possibly even a localist trade improvement (party chat can remain as it is). In a city as large as Henge of Denravi, Kaineng Center, Lion's Arch, etc it really doesn't make sense for you to be able to hear what a group across town is talking about anyways (though the party/guild/alliance channels break that rule, I admit).

Auction Houses may not be the end-all-be-all solution....but I'd use them if they worked like a consignment shop. I personally "dispose" of gold and purple items at the merchant because I hate spamming WTS/WTT messages...typically, I make my gold selling salvaged raw materials because I get gold faster than haggling in the local chatter.

I've seen the way high-end items are listed in DAoC, and the system, though a bit convoluted, seems to work pretty well. Simply check items and their current bid and bid higher if you want it/or accept or wait if you're selling it. Check in like you would an e-bay item...no big deal. I would much prefer this passive means of exchanging goods...scammers can't pull a fast one because the title of the item is determined by the server...i.e. no ice/saphire confision. If I'm looking for an item, I could just look over a list of items, pick the one with the lowest asking price...no haggle...no insults for "noob" offers, no scams, no endless spamming WTB, no "whipser offer" and fair market pricing based on comparison shopping.

I really think it will help ease the pressure of chat by the appeal of having more farming time and less spamming time...If you are worried about certain farmers dominating the markets...limit the number of items available for sale to 5-10 slots in various categories: rare items, runes, pets, dyes, rare materials, crafting materials. Something list that and have items listed at a small fee taken by the auction house for the transaction.

Stale items that sit in the auction house can generate a warning message over the course of several days/weeks and then return the item to the seller, less the fee...to keep people from letting items sit.