*~* Galactic Auction House *~*

"Stormy;753044" wrote:
Really appreciate all the healthy feedback - even though it's negative, it's a constructive negative, that has helped change my view on the concept. I'm still hopeful that maybe there is a version of this idea that could be a positive experience though.

I think this idea can work here are some ways I think it would work best.

Currency
I think for EA/CG they would probably choose crystals to encourage in-game purchases.

Items
Character Shards- Allow for extra character shards to be placed in the exchange instead of transferring them to shard shop.
Gear- Allow any gear item placed in AH
Mods- Allow any Mod to be placed in AH

Frequency
Each player can sell one item in AH per day and can buy one item in AH per day.

Who can participate
I think the AH should have a level cap. I am not sure where it should be (level 60, 70, or 80) I think this will limit players for scamming the AH at early stages.

How it works.
You place an item or shard in the AH. All items have a preset minimum of crystals needed to by. So for character shards 50 crystals per shard, gear would have same price in shipments (Mk 3 Sienar Holo Projector 300 crystals), and MOD same price in Mod shipments. Now Mods would have to be at level 1. Now some gear and mods may not have a crystal price so EA/CG would need to assign a value but I am sure you get the idea.

Once an item is in the AH there is a 24 hour counter placed on it. Other players can search the AH and and bid on an item. When a player has a bid on an item they cannot place a bid on any other item until that items timer is sold. This would prevent people from taking advantage of the AH. The way the bidding would work is a player would bid the maximum amount of crystals they would buy the item for. So for the Mk 2 Sienar Holo Projector a player could bid 900 crystals (these crystals would be removed from players account in reserve) once the auction is over the highest bid gets the item for 1 more crystal than the 2nd highest bid. So if the 2nd highest bid was 599 crystals the Mk 3 Sienar Holo Projecter would sell for 600 crystals. All other bidders crystals would be put back on account in a message in the inbox.

If the item is not sold, Jaba the Hutt steals it and it goes way and the seller is not compensated. This may seem harsh but again it stops people from taking advantage of the AH.

The seller would also get credited the number of crystals minus the base price (600-300=300).

I would also imagine that the only players that you can buy and sell to would be the players on your ladder.I think doing it this would would eliminate major exploitation of the AH.

Exploitation.
I think the big thing players and CG/EA would be afraid of happening is someone gaining an unfair advantage buy having multiple accounts and funneling resources into a primary account. A new player could create multiple accounts on the same ladder save up crystals and post 1 Jedi Counselor shard for 50 crystals and have a second account save up crystals and purchase it for 1000 crystals (something most people would not do because JC shards are easy to get). This gives an advantage of one account gaining the crystals of multiple accounts. What I stated above would limit this exploitation.
1. Only being to buy and sell one item at a time lowers frequency.
2. Minimum level to start (I would lean to level 85 or whatever the max level is) makes it difficult to manage that many accounts up to that level of competitiveness to maximize an exploit.
3. Items having a base price limits someone selling an item for cheaper than it can be bought in the shipments.