Curse

Darksun · May 23, 2007, 07:38 PM // 19:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by MSecorsky

With all that they've done, it's obviously a technological reason. Imagine everyone putting some semi-crappy gold on the auction house hoping to get 500g instead of 225 from the merchant! There would be so much shmeg it would be near impossible to find items you really want. Talk about a crap shoot. If they try to limit it by allowing only one item in auction at a time... well, it's still hundreds of thousands (potentially) of items out there to sift through. Huge database, huge search routines, ugh. Conjured nightmare.

Consider this... when a database is being added to or deleted from it tends to lock the database so no one else can step on the transaction. Ponder the results of many thousands of people trying to access the same database at any point in time across such a distributed game... ow. Not good.

Good points. It simply IS NOT EASY. It's just not. It's a lot to ask whether we like it or not. If this was a regular subscription-based mmo, then they would probably have it. It's not.

Sir Skullcrasher · May 23, 2007, 07:41 PM // 19:41

A-Net never said they're going to make Auction House for us. That idea got started like a year ago when GW were first out.

IlikeGW · May 23, 2007, 08:02 PM // 20:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sir Skullcrasher

A-Net never said they're going to make Auction House for us. That idea got started like a year ago when GW were first out.

That's not true at all, and GW is two years old. Anet did make several references to an auction house coming, but just this year they've finally started saying it will never happen.

Longasc · May 23, 2007, 08:06 PM // 20:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Loviatar

get it right for once.

they have never promised an auction house......never........period

they said trade improvements of an unspecified type at an unspecified time.
[B]

Exactly.

IMO: They never ever thought it worthwhile or desirable, that is probably the reason they never ever put it on a priority list at all.

I think for good reasons.
This does not mean that I like the current spam and lack of proper trade mechanics, but I think people already voiced valid concerns why it would not be great. It works great in WoW, but with GW itemization and many other issues taken in account, I am sure it would not work so well.

Jecht Scye · May 23, 2007, 08:09 PM // 20:09

When Guild Wars 2 was announced, ArenaNet said that there were several things they wanted to implement to Guild Wars that their current structure would not allow. My guess is that an Auction House was among that list.

Gregslot · May 23, 2007, 08:18 PM // 20:18

Why dont we all go to temple of balthazar international and use the party pannel? At least put ONE item in there, the rest feel free to spam.

Great Temple of Balthazar? Why? Because its the only acessible outpost for every chapter.
Ok? Ok! Spread the word. (helf-way done now huh?)

VanDamselx · May 23, 2007, 08:29 PM // 20:29

A-Net didn't promise an auction house, they said trade improvements were coming. No where does that indicate an auction house, everyone just got excited and assumed it did.

FoxBat · May 23, 2007, 08:36 PM // 20:36

The first, small change they could do is greatly increase the amount of text you can put in party search description.

The second thing they should do is enlarge party search to be universal and then sort/filter/search it. That would be a tremendous boon to missions, farming, HA or even GvG pugging, and trading alike.

A nice add-on to either would be a spin-off of equipment templates, letting people post individual item codes which the client interprets as links to display the data.

savage vapor 33 · May 23, 2007, 08:39 PM // 20:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by x-stunt-x

i just want my old GW back

Amen Brotha, Amen.

Zappa · May 23, 2007, 08:42 PM // 20:42

Well, I think that it's either a game engine limitation, or, they simply don't want this game to be "like that". Thats what it looks like to me.
I'm always wondering why they (Gaile, Alex, whatever) are so clear and explicit with every other issue, and, when it comes to trading related issues, they just slam us with vague, ambiguous answers, and thats what we get.

They don't want this to be the kind of game where you can build wealth, yet, they don't tell us directly.
Why? To keep ignorant fools like me craving for something that will never happen and still stop them from leaving to other choices.

As strange as it may sound, thats what I feel.

Mediocre trade system, Spam bans, mediocre storage space from the beginning, customized armor... *hint hint nudge nudge*

One thing that annoys me: everyone always mentions "auction house" as an improvement. Why is that? That's not the only viable option. Ever heard of private stores?
Nothing simpler: Arrange a small "trading" area in hub towns, where you could open your private shop, with a limit of 4 or 5 items (non-stack) . I don't think this would have the AH limitations, since it's just a variant of the trade window we have today. I don't get it why they haven't thought about this earlier. Another thing that makes me think that they don't want this kind of game.

Well, spam would be, at least, moderately reduced, since you could just leave your character sitting there.

Heck, they could even program a trader title, for the most successful sellers.

At least it would make more sense than that ridiculous "sweet tooth" title track. What is the point, really? lol

And, please, if they can program boardwalk games, they can program an area for opening private stores.

They just don't want it...

Star Gazer · May 23, 2007, 08:54 PM // 20:54

They could have options like the Preist of Balthazaar does: descriminate between perfect mods, class, color (blue purple gold green) req, and the whole 9 yards. So shifting through 10k items as you say would not be a problem if they introduced that. Or maybe even a *gasp* search feature XD

Sir Skullcrasher · May 23, 2007, 09:05 PM // 21:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by IlikeGW

That's not true at all, and GW is two years old. Anet did make several references to an auction house coming, but just this year they've finally started saying it will never happen.

Ummm I don't remember Galie or anyone from A-Net saying something like this "We're going to come up with an auction house soon". Trust me, I been on this board long enough.. it was started as a RUMOR/IDEA by someone here.

noblepaladin · May 23, 2007, 09:06 PM // 21:06

Most likely it is a technical issue, probably because it is too difficult (or maybe even impossible) to implement. I know when WarCraft 3 came out, a lot of people complained about their replay system because you cannot watch replays from previous patches and you cannot watch replays with your friends (a feature that was in StarCraft). Blizzard responded by saying that it was their mistake that they didn't think of that before they released the game and that it was too difficult to make the changes after the game came out because it would require large sections of code to be rewritten, which would inevitably introduce bugs into the game. That means that they need to do another alpha/beta test to make sure that everything works correctly. It is simply unreasonable for them to spend so much time on a small feature.

This might be the same case for GuildWars. ANet has shown that they listen to fans and they do care, but it might just be too difficult to implement an auction house. If they need to modify large amounts of code, many bugs may be introduced (even in some of the small updates, some skills mysteriously get broken and they have to re-patch it a few hours later). It's simply unfeasible for ANet to spend large amounts of time modifying code and retesting the game to make sure everything is working correctly, especially if most of the developers are busy making EotN and GW2.

I hope they do come up with some other system though, even if it is not as good as an auction house.

bamm bamm bamm · May 23, 2007, 09:19 PM // 21:19

You can't copyright an in-game auction house. I suppose you could patent one, but even that's a stretch (although it seems anything goes these days).

Maybe it's technically difficult to put one in now, but I don't buy into technical difficulties before the game was released. I have a feeling they just didn't think to put one in. Maybe they thought that with the ease of getting max items in GW an auction house wouldn't be necessary. I don't think they realized the power of vanity and the e-peen very much at all back then.

MSecorsky · May 23, 2007, 09:19 PM // 21:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Star Gazer

They could have options like the Preist of Balthazaar does: descriminate between perfect mods, class, color (blue purple gold green) req, and the whole 9 yards. So shifting through 10k items as you say would not be a problem if they introduced that. Or maybe even a *gasp* search feature XD

We're still talking about hitting a database with hundreds of thousands or more items each and every time someone looks at it, turns the page, selects something different, buys something, add something... not to mention every time you load a page it's potentially already obsolete, so the item you select could have been sold already (removed from the DB) thus generating errors...

Forget display. Display can do anything, sure. Think behind the scenes.

VitisVinifera · May 23, 2007, 09:29 PM // 21:29

resources and motivation

two things that are hindering pretty much any movement in the first 3 titles

Melody Cross · May 23, 2007, 09:48 PM // 21:48

I have a crazy idea. Maybe they really do want us to use outside forums for high end trading. Lots of players are saying that Anet listens to us in places like GWGuru and GWOline and other forums. One of the things that I use Guru for is buying and selling high end items. It is the first reason I came here.

Even Gaile Grey suggests it in the post the OP quoted. She said “Use the Trade Channel or consider using one of the excellent fansite trade forums.”

Selling in forums gives these outside forums a feeling that many players need to come here or they are missing out on something. And while they are here, posting their auction and bumping their threads daily, they have a chance to take a few minutes to look around and read some of the other threads.

With all the people that ask for an auction house, I’m sure they would put one in if they could though. Most of the problems are technical and legal I am sure. So while I don’t think forums are the biggest or only reason why we don’t have a global trade network, it may be one.

If that is the case, I’d like to see an “official” GW Trade forum sponsored by Anet and managed by Anet on the GW website. Lag free, crash free, linked to the game start screen as “the place to trade” and with enough bandwidth that people can post decent screenshots, etc. It would be great if we could link item descriptions the same way we can link skill templates now. Then, on a site like this, we could post those links and it would translate them into a nice picture (with a price check too???) for buyers to look at and sellers to compare with before they post their own stuff.

It’s all using technology in the game that has already proven to work (just a website link and templates. We might need a new “trader” screen in the hero panel or a menu option to open the new template maker, but that can’t be too much code) so it would not mess anything up

If they won’t give us an in-game auction house or bulletin board and do point us to this outside alternative, then I think it would be nice if they gave us a controlled environment to trade in, even if it is outside the game.

But that might take away from forums like this, so I dunno.

GGs

Nexus Icon · May 23, 2007, 10:03 PM // 22:03

Something that would cut down on the spam dramatically, and we know it's within their capabilities:
Make items hot-linkable to chat, and make it so that they can only be hot-linked to the trade channel.
Hell, make them hot-linkable to the party window too.

Sure, it's a similar system to WoW, but guess what?
WoW stole it from other previous MMOs, so I don't think ANet have to worry about copyright there.

If you're not going to give us an auction house ANet, at least give us SOMETHING.
The current system is unworkable and frustrating for all involved.

Addendum: for the hard-of-thinking, hot-linking is where the name of the item, when clicked, brings up a window displaying the properties of said item.

VitisVinifera · May 23, 2007, 10:05 PM // 22:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Melody Cross

I have a crazy idea. Maybe they really do want us to use outside forums for high end trading. Lots of players are saying that Anet listens to us in places like GWGuru and GWOline and other forums. One of the things that I use Guru for is buying and selling high end items. It is the first reason I came here.

Even Gaile Grey suggests it in the post the OP quoted. She said “Use the Trade Channel or consider using one of the excellent fansite trade forums.”

you are right on your facts but wrong in your reasoning. Gaile wants us to use these forums precisely because they can't/won't make an AH. It's the same response you get when you email Anet about a problem or bug -- they tell you to take it to the forums instead. Water off their back.

Quote:

If that is the case, I’d like to see an “official” GW Trade forum sponsored by Anet and managed by Anet on the GW website. Lag free, crash free, linked to the game start screen as “the place to trade” and with enough bandwidth that people can post decent screenshots, etc.

I second this. Actually, just make these forums lag and crash free. I've Err 404'ed and databased errored 3 times in the first half hour of cruising the GW forums today.

shirosae · May 23, 2007, 10:11 PM // 22:11

RE: Database hits

This website has 2.6 million posts. Posts which are considerably more complex than 'item 011010010100100100101010 25 plat user xyz'. It has 131 thousand registered users. There are 2500 people surfing here as i type. And this forum has all of the mechanics behind that - preprocessor parsing, admin control, user rights etc. That's more than an auction house needs. GWGuru manages it on a web server - probably a shared webserver at that.

The database mechanics needed to manage something of the size required already exist. I'm absolutely sure that Guild Wars server setup could easily pull off an auction house.

The issue isn't technical impossibility or difficulty. There's no way that a company able to develop a server network capable of real-time virtualising on-demand game servers hosting multiple server-builds with real-time update roll-outs and an inbuilt content delivery system is incapable of programming a series of databases to host an auction house. The problem is less complex than running a large forum like this.

The issue has got to be the time and resources required to get an auction house up and running.