FFXIV Auction House

It's been a while since I posted on this blog. Honestly, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I stopped playing the game months ago. After loading it up the other day to take a peek at what's changed, I was still mostly unimpressed. Good news though, there's another update coming tomorrow (March 3rd, 2011) that quite a few people seem to be excited about. I won't hold my breath.

The going notion seems to be that the game is in a general beta state at the moment. I'd have to agree that this is true. Actually, if you're looking for an escape... the game probably isn't too shabby right now in comparison to some single player titles. In fact, to a large degree it does feel much like a single player game. Sure, there are real people walking around, but there hasn't been a lot of chatter in the areas I've been to lately. After tossing out a shout to ask for opinions of the game after months of work, I was able to connect with a player who was quite helpful. So I suppose the interaction is there if you're looking for it. Hands down, though, you can easily squeeze out more than forty hours just learning the different classes and trying out leves and missions. The update tomorrow is supposed to include side quests as well. That's always nice.

But what about the auction house in FFXIV? The developers haven't killed the idea, and may include it in the future... I really hope they do. There are some hardcore players that love the idea of the retainer market system with it's shoddy improvements. But the bottom line is that it takes far too much effort to sustain a healthy economy. Fostering player interaction? My ass. We did just fine in FFXI. I can trade off the auction house through the trade channel in World of Warcraft without much effort. I don't need the entire economic dynamic to be centered around bouncing through floor after floor of retainer areas and dealing with people bazaar'ing items in the wrong floor just to find what I want to buy or compare prices to list my own wares.

You see, to some (myself included), the economy is a very big part of an MMO. There is a whole game inside the game with comparing prices, calculating return on investment, the worth of time spent, the rates of sales, and all the intricacies of supply and demand. Just as in every MMO, the game is always full of people complaining about never having enough online currency and there will always be those who seem to have an abundance. With this comes price gouging, competition, rising and falling prices as markets are neglected or swamped. It can be invigorating.

Logging on to check your mail and see what sold is a common source of joy for many players, whether they are market barons, farmers, or the people who just sell the junk they get while completing quests and grinding.

You can argue against the auction house all you want, but it's an eventuality that must come if the game is to ever see a successful root in PS3 and further PC sales. If you are one of the ones staunchly defending the market wards, you should consider the value of broad appeal. S-E won't serve up FFXIV for free forever and I doubt that current subscriptions would be enough to sustain it -- not even counting the people who would leave if the low, low price of "free" was increased...

I can honestly say that it is a big deal to me and that I just can't see myself sticking with the game without a healthy economic system that is as simple as searching for an item and either bidding or buying with a matter of a few clicks at most.

I had planned on adding a PS3 copy to my collection so I could play between the two like I did with FFXI. So, you see, this isn't necessarily a rant post. More like a Come-to-Jesus plea for help. I was so excited for this game to have all the market intricacies that I enjoyed in XI and that I get in WoW at a very low scale. I think the basis is there between the different crafts, and the game could include a lot more complexity where it seems things were just hashed together. I'm both excited and afraid for the future of this game as a long-standing MMO title in the Final Fantasy franchise. I hope they can pull it together.