Question: How are shopping Malls added to EU?

[Dextar]

Is there a process where an account holder can request a mall be brought into EU and pre-purchased before it goes live in a VU?

Or, is such just added occasionally and put on auction for the top bidder to purchase?

Also do you think there will be more Malls added when the new game engine (Crytek engine) goes live in EU?

Thanks in advance for any info and thoughts you all have on the subject.

Dex

 

[aridash]

The Malls where introduced by public auction. I dont think you can call up Mindark to buy somthing, at best you can suggest new development.

As for new ones, given there is an entire floor still available at Emerald and probably 20-30% of all shops are closed/empty/under managed, i'd say there is little chance. then again, the same could be said about the availablity of shops in apartment blocks prior to the mall introduction, so anyones guess really.

 

[Dextar]

The Malls where introduced by public auction. I dont think you can call up Mindark to buy somthing, at best you can suggest new development.

As for new ones, given there is an entire floor still available at Emerald and probably 20-30% of all shops are closed/empty/under managed, i'd say there is little chance. then again, the same could be said about the availablity of shops in apartment blocks prior to the mall introduction, so anyones guess really.

Hmm do you think mall shops suffer from low exposure?
If so' do you think shops would benefit from a global serach system hooked to terminals and located in all the major cities?

Dex

 

[Gankoholic]

If so' do you think shops would benefit from a global serach system hooked to terminals and located in all the major cities?

Dex

That would be nice but wouldnt it make auction useless ?

 

[Dextar]

That would be nice but wouldnt it make auction useless ?

Not really, and for two reasons:

First: not everyone will opt to own a shop and really many couldn't afford it anyway. (Non-depositors and low PED depositors and the like)

Second: It wouldn't be an auction function it would be a directory function that when you searched for say "Force Nexus" it would show you all the shops selling it and at what price. Then if you see one you want you highlight it and it would show up on your map as a way point and you would then need to travel to get it.

So it wouldn't really compete with auctions in that some hard to get items would benefit from a bidding war whereas other mundane items would be for sale as a set price only they would be for sale in shops with a search function rather than running helter skelter about hoping to find such.

I mean really this world is supposedly in the far future, and yet we have better information infrastructure in our present day world?

BTW this feature is live and working in another MMORPG and it works fine.

Dex

 

[Gankoholic]

Hmm i dont see it that way ..imagine there is an item on auction but you can find the same item in a shop too .It will be cheaper and faster to get you wont have to wait until the auction ends to get it , you wont BO since you can get it from shop. Items would be cheaper in shops who would still use the auction would have to drop the price and with the fee they will lose even more so they will either get a shop or just use the shout option


Yes i know how it works i play AO too and as i said i do agree with such feature.

 

[Dextar]

Hmm i dont see it that way ..imagine there is an item on auction but you can find the same item in a shop too .It will be cheaper and faster to get you wont have to wait until the auction ends to get it , you wont BO since you can get it from shop. Items would be cheaper in shops who would still use the auction would have to drop the price and with the fee they will lose even more so they will either get a shop or just use the shout option


Yes i know how it works i play AO too and as i said i do agree with such feature.

Will people without the means be able to buy shops? They are not free ya know.

Further some items are rare enough that auctions are the better place to sell them.

Add to the fact that shops only have a limited number of room (item slots) to place merchandise means the auction house won't be replaced it will just not be used as much. Still many many players would need to use the auction house because there is still a finite amount of shops available.

Further it would make owning a shop a much more attractive venture. And I would gather there would be alot less empty shops ingame.

Dex

 

[davidgr1200]

Looks like there's a business opportunity there for someone to do like someone did with apartments. Buy up all the empty shops and then sell them one at a time for a higher price. I'm not going to do it though.

 

[Chimp]

The Malls where introduced by public auction. I dont think you can call up Mindark to buy somthing, at best you can suggest new development...

Give me a million dollars and I'll show you the flaw in that statement

 

[Flapman]

Actually if there could be a shop/vendor search

That would be nice but wouldnt it make auction useless ?

Actually a vendor search could be beneficial.

The dynamics of the auctions are different than that of searching out vendors globally. Vendors have fixed prices and could be sought by goods. A person would have to go to that vendor to buy that item.