Platinum, Brokers, Auctions, and Haggle

[turbobrick]

I started playing when DDO was released as Retail. Then after a few months stopped playing for a while. Now that I'm back the Auctions seemed to have made it difficult to play. Almost no one sells to Brokers anymore but when the brokers only give about 10% of base I can see why. I also have seen and read about people complaining about Plat sellers. If it is going to be difficult to get/make money, I almost see no other way.

Suggestion(s)
1.)Make it so that when you are selling something that you get 50% of base value automatically. Then every pt of Haggle increases that by 1%. So a 25 Haggle would give you 75% of the base on items when selling.

2.)Make a penalty for people who remove items from auction when there are already bids on it. Just because someone isn't making what they wanted isn't fair to the people biding on it. I think 10% or greater penalty of the last bid would help prevent this. Maybe even give a portion of the $ penalty to the last bidder as an apology to wasting his time.

To me the 1st suggestion is the most important. I believe it would cut down on people throwing "junk" items in the auction, slow down the buying of Plat from sellers since money is easier to get, and overall make the game more fun/less stressful.

[AEschyl]

1. you forget that the vast majority of people that play any decent amount of time... dont need any more money, and that just puts more money in their pockets (something turbine is reluctant to do... cuz this would also help the plat farmers)

2. i 100% agree with sticking a penalty to those who remove auctions because it didnt garner the attention they felt it should, that's just bad form imo

"oh hey, tons of people have been tracking this auction for 2 and a half days... but i didnt get the 2million plat that i wanted... they only bid up to 1million... i think i'll take it down and hope to get more later"

yeah, thanx for wasting everyone's time, putz.

[turbobrick]

If plat and gold was easier for the average person to make then plat farmers should greatly decrease. I mean why pay real money for plat when you build your own plat w/ a certain amt of ease.

I hate the idea of doing Loot Runs for plat but I know way to many people who do it. 100 potions of Cure Serious isn't cheap. So I think that making plat easier to get would cut down on plat farmers and the need for loot runs. That is unless you are looking to get a certain item.

If someone does have more plat than they know what to do with. I'm sure that there are alot of players that wouldn't mind them sharing the wealth. Maybe 50k+plat or so. I know 50k plat would keep me satisfied for a while.

[Xaxx]

1. you forget that the vast majority of people that play any decent amount of time... dont need any more money, and that just puts more money in their pockets (something turbine is reluctant to do... cuz this would also help the plat farmers)

2. i 100% agree with sticking a penalty to those who remove auctions because it didnt garner the attention they felt it should, that's just bad form imo

"oh hey, tons of people have been tracking this auction for 2 and a half days... but i didnt get the 2million plat that i wanted... they only bid up to 1million... i think i'll take it down and hope to get more later"

yeah, thanx for wasting everyone's time, putz.

as long as it hasnt sold whoever put it up retians the rights to it, so its their decision if they want to take it down or put it up.... granted i've had it happen to me more then a few times but oh well it'll be back up on the ah in a day usually and if I really want it i'll rebid.

as for wasting the buyers time.... you ever think your wasting the sellers time trying to get some of those items you know that are worth money at lower prices because it was a slow week or a low listed or short listed auction that you think your getting a great deal with??? nope dont hear you complaining about those auctions.

[Cowdenicus]

no, there is too much plat in game as is.

I have started playing on another server just so I could feel a challenge again. Starting off with basic 28 point builds, no plat, and knowing nobody.

In a week I have unlocked drow, made a few thousand plat (at low levels) met some cool new people and found a new love for the game.

Sometimes you just need to get rid of the uber weapons, millions of pp, leet armor and all that to make the game fun again.

The irony was I was actually happy today when I pulled a +2 chain shirt. I could pull a +5 mith chain shirt on my old server and be like meh, wow another 2 mil plat.

just one mans opine on how I reinvigorated DDO for me in the last week.

Argo FTW

[Shecky]

I'm a little surprised about the "nobody sells anything to the brokers any more" bit; most evenings, it takes 5-10 seconds for a broker's entire window to open for me, what with all the items that have to be loaded. *scratches head*

[Hvymetal]

Also don't forget that if no one is in the broker house/big tent for 5 min it all resets.

[Gimpster]

I'm a little surprised about the "nobody sells anything to the brokers any more" bit

A lot of players don't bother selling clothing/jewelry to the brokers, because the price of weapons you find at level X is over twice that of jewelry you find at the same level. But at least the weapon broker should be full if anyone has been looting quests.

However, it's rarely worth it to open a broker, because the really good items get auctioned or saved for trading. Brokers are what you do with items that you don't think anyone will really want.

[Lorien_the_First_One]

as long as it hasnt sold whoever put it up retians the rights to it, so its their decision if they want to take it down or put it up.... granted i've had it happen to me more then a few times but oh well it'll be back up on the ah in a day usually and if I really want it i'll rebid.

as for wasting the buyers time.... you ever think your wasting the sellers time trying to get some of those items you know that are worth money at lower prices because it was a slow week or a low listed or short listed auction that you think your getting a great deal with??? nope dont hear you complaining about those auctions.

I'm not wasting their time, I placed a bid over the minimum bid they asked for. They made an offer, I accepted, and they changed their mind. This is ignorant and it shouldn't be allowed. If they have a minimum price in their head they should post it. Why would I bit more than I have to in order to win the auction, that's silly.

[ahpook]

as long as it hasnt sold whoever put it up retians the rights to it, so its their decision if they want to take it down or put it up.... granted i've had it happen to me more then a few times but oh well it'll be back up on the ah in a day usually and if I really want it i'll rebid.

This may be your opinion. It is not a fact. An equally valid take is that the AH broker has rights since you contracted him to sell it for you. At the very least it should cost you the 30% of the current high bid to remove it from the AH and realistically even more since the broker could easily anticipate a higher price by closing time. The free retraction of postings is garbage IMHO.

[Mad_Bombardier]

This may be your opinion. It is not a fact. An equally valid take is that the AH broker has rights since you contracted him to sell it for you. At the very least it should cost you the 30% of the current high bid to remove it from the AH and realistically even more since the broker could easily anticipate a higher price by closing time. The free retraction of [postings] is garbage IMHO.

Well said.

[ahpook]

as for wasting the buyers time.... you ever think your wasting the sellers time trying to get some of those items you know that are worth money at lower prices because it was a slow week or a low listed or short listed auction that you think your getting a great deal with??? nope dont hear you complaining about those auctions.

Wrong. (I learned that from the Gimpster You are not wasting anything of the sellers. They are looking to sell it so they put it on the AH to do so. Your participation (or lack of it) doesn't affect the seller as they have agreed to leave the item there for a few days. However, the seller pulling the item does cost the buyer because the buyer has to tie up resources to bid on item. Resources that could go towards another item or for adventuring supplies. If the seller won't sell for less than a certain price the simple solution is to use a minimum price. Then nobody's resources are wasted because the buyer will know that it is out of their price range immediately.

Now many AH retactions are likely because it turns out a guildmate could use the item and is not because of any minimum sales price of the seller. Paying the AH a penalty to retract seems fair in this case because the guild mate can still get the item for 30 % of its market value (or less).

[Kitamus]

I agree the brokers should pay more. I would take time out of adventuring to use them more often. As it is now, if I don't keep an item for my own or guild usage, I either try to auction or just sell at a tavern, and have it removed from game. I may repost a really nice item but usually if it doesn't sell, it either goes to a broker or once again; and more often; the tavern. I also tend to set a buy-out at or just above the appraised value, (about the same as the auction house cut).

[Zorth]

1. you forget that the vast majority of people that play any decent amount of time... dont need any more money, and that just puts more money in their pockets (something turbine is reluctant to do... cuz this would also help the plat farmers)

2. i 100% agree with sticking a penalty to those who remove auctions because it didnt garner the attention they felt it should, that's just bad form imo

"oh hey, tons of people have been tracking this auction for 2 and a half days... but i didnt get the 2million plat that i wanted... they only bid up to 1million... i think i'll take it down and hope to get more later"

yeah, thanx for wasting everyone's time, putz.

What HE SAID!

[Cybersquirt]

How would putting more money in players pockets help the plat farmers?

My experience with vendors varies. The house vendors are empty or have a few items on any given day, but rarely do they have lots. And when does the marketplace have no one in it for 5 minutes? I regularly find the jewelry vendors with nothing for sale.

Free coins? Please. What can you buy for 5 silver?

Plat. (laughs) My barbarian was broke until he could run the higher level quests and even then I have to run several of them - I couldn't use my portable hole until I was L10. Potions, equipment repairs, buying the odd sword or shield. I'm a casual player and casual players don't have that kind of time to generate that kind of coin. Being able to get more money - even 20% - from vendors is an excellent idea.

And speaking of auctions, why does the game charge me to post an item AND take a hefty percentage of my winnings? I sell my sword for 5k but I only get 3? What about a sliding scale based on winnings if Turbine insists on "taxing" winnings?

I didn't know you could pull an item - I've tried (on items without bids) and couldn't.

The auctions can be ridiculous enough with people posting items at 100+ times their value. Caps, anyone? I mean really. If Turbine were serious about clamping down on plat farmers they'd institute caps. Nothing else generates the want of instant plat near as I can tell. Thankfully they've added more categories - they used to be a nightmare to navigate.

It's enough to force me to remember that this is just a game and if it upsets me that much I'll take my real money and go.

[OKCRandy1]

I started playing when DDO was released as Retail. Then after a few months stopped playing for a while. Now that I'm back the Auctions seemed to have made it difficult to play. Almost no one sells to Brokers anymore but when the brokers only give about 10% of base I can see why. I also have seen and read about people complaining about Plat sellers. If it is going to be difficult to get/make money, I almost see no other way.

Suggestion(s)
1.)Make it so that when you are selling something that you get 50% of base value automatically. Then every pt of Haggle increases that by 1%. So a 25 Haggle would give you 75% of the base on items when selling.

2.)Make a penalty for people who remove items from auction when there are already bids on it. Just because someone isn't making what they wanted isn't fair to the people biding on it. I think 10% or greater penalty of the last bid would help prevent this. Maybe even give a portion of the $ penalty to the last bidder as an apology to wasting his time.

To me the 1st suggestion is the most important. I believe it would cut down on people throwing "junk" items in the auction, slow down the buying of Plat from sellers since money is easier to get, and overall make the game more fun/less stressful.

Agree with the principle behind your first suggestion, i.e., making selling to brokers more profitable. Although I don't know well enough how haggle works to agree with that level of manupilation, but would support some sort of increase in prices to brokers. I would suggest that the brokers do no ever reset, instead older items drop off as new items are added.

Your second suggestion borders on brilliant. I've always thought the ability to pull an item off that has received a bid is so very wrong. It already has a min acceptable price. How about we go futher and that if you really must pull an item off that has received a bid you lose a lvl permantely and are marked with a giant L on the top of your characters head. Seriously, it's a good idea you've made.

There is a good thread on have and have nots that has a good discussion on plat and items. GH and other upper end content have created many that don't have to worry about plat. One or two good drops and a great AH sale and many of your money worries are over. It's just getting to and running an upper level character on a routine basis that will set one free. With that said, I still think the brokers should always have items to broker and that the AH could use some additional tweaking as suggested.

[Mad_Bombardier]

I started playing when DDO was released as Retail. Then after a few months stopped playing for a while. Now that I'm back the Auctions seemed to have made it difficult to play. Almost no one sells to Brokers anymore but when the brokers only give about 10% of base I can see why. I also have seen and read about people complaining about Plat sellers. If it is going to be difficult to get/make money, I almost see no other way.

Quick overview:

• Selling to Vendors/Tavernkeeps gives base 10% without reputation quest, 12.5% with reputation quest.
• Selling to Brokers gives base 15%.
• Each point of Haggle adds .25%, so 4 points of Haggle = + 1%.
• Eg., a character with 60 Haggle earns 30% from Brokers.
• Post common items on the AH with reasonable buyouts and they will get bought. Make sure your buyout - 30% (AH fee) >= sell to Broker amount and you will always make money.
• Create a max Haggle character. Any character that has 9 less Haggle skill than your Haggle char can mail items to the Haggle char for brokering/vendoring. (Mail fee = 2%, 2% = 8 Haggle, 9+ difference in Haggle skill to make a profit).

There is no reason ever to buy plat in DDO. It can be tough starting from scratch on a new character/new server. But, beyond the first character, coin abounds in DDO. Heck, you break boxes/vases/barrels and get free coins.

Lastly, read this post, How I Made a Million Gold Without Loot Running.

[Citymorg]

[QUOTE=turbobrick;1251928]I started playing when DDO was released as Retail. Then after a few months stopped playing for a while. Now that I'm back the Auctions seemed to have made it difficult to play. Almost no one sells to Brokers anymore but when the brokers only give about 10% of base I can see why. I also have seen and read about people complaining about Plat sellers. If it is going to be difficult to get/make money, I almost see no other way.

Suggestion(s)
1.)Make it so that when you are selling something that you get 50% of base value automatically. Then every pt of Haggle increases that by 1%. So a 25 Haggle would give you 75% of the base on items when selling.

If you had asked me 6 months ago before the AH came, I would have been against this idea (there was already too much money in circulation). However, with a 4 million plat cap, I see no reason now not to do this. I would like to see the vendors used more. Medivel economies never ran off an auction house, and as much as I am surprised to admit (and like the auction house utilitarianly), I kinda miss the days when economic transactions were done through vendors.

2.)Make a penalty for people who remove items from auction when there are already bids on it. Just because someone isn't making what they wanted isn't fair to the people biding on it. I think 10% or greater penalty of the last bid would help prevent this. Maybe even give a portion of the $ penalty to the last bidder as an apology to wasting his time.

I think that the best way to remedy this is have a reserve. I think sellers need to able to pull an item and I think buyers need to know if they should expect it to get pulled. I am not sure a penalty will accomplish anything, especially since people don't need plat. I understand that a minimum is suppose to work as a reserve, but obviously it doesn't. Please make it seperate
QUOTE]

Just my opinion