Hey Everyone, sorry for the ricochet-affect that's been going on with us, with us getting ready for Penny-Arcade Expo East & preparing its been a bit of a chore to get a handle onto everything. I did want to take the time to introduce a brand new feature to PPR though that will be explored more thoroughly as it's something that is always mentioned but has never been completely fleshed out. Final Fantasy XI is a game that as we have gone into detail, is more than a game & more of an experience. Hence from this point forward, I will be venturing back into Vana'diel this month & will continue my quest as the Elvaan GeorgieBoysAXE & I will actually take the opportunity to grow into a legendary adventurer & this feature will chronicle my time in the land of Vana'diel. So far I have to contact Play-Online & start my world transfer process as I intend to play on the Unicorn server where I will be accompanied by show friends "Sunken Treasure Games" Aaron & Sara where I will pick up the opportunity to refine my newly acquired Blue Mage job from my last log. I also intend to put much more effort into the Wood-working craft that I had set into effect so that I may be able to utilize its abilities for Ninja tool synthesis but I'm no where near even entry-level guild rank for Wood-working, but like all other developing ninja jobs I constantly find myself scouring the local auction house to purchase ninja tools & that's where I'll start this first piece at.
The Auction House system in FFXI is a tricky fucking beast even to this day & some rumors around the net or the land suggest a new update that may break or refine the system all together but first I'll just start at the importance of a Auction House. The current system for those who aren't already in the know involves the auction houses being available in all four nations but are differentiated by various stock & pricing of established equipment, items, & materials among the abundance of its appearance or native to a specific drop or event within a location that centric to the nation where you would find said item in the said auction house. For a quick example there's a certain notorious monster within East Sarutabaruta by the name of Spiny Spipi who spawns under certain conditions within this land that's adjacent to the nation of Windurst, so if you were to defeat said monster especially you could be given the opportunity to catch the rare drop of the Mist Silk Cape. So players who seek this cape can either camp Spiny Spipi which can be taxing all on it's own, but you're also taxed with making sure you're an adequately high level or make preparations with any helpful comrade to join your greedy cause of camping the monster & making sure you live to see the end of the fight which can still leave you empty-handed. However you can also just browse the auction house of Windurst listings for the cape since it's common within the area & why fight when you can buy right? Which balances out your options & can be wealthy towards what suggests a very healthy barter system broken down to its simplest form if properly monitored however that isn't always the case.
FFXI is plagued with several different parasites that slip through Play-Online's controlled supervision much like real life counterfeit to affect the value & appearance bartered goods within Vana'diel. Gil-farmers are individuals who do not play the game for the sake of playing the game but are simply either supplement characters to a player's actual labored archetype character ( Mules are different as they're not used abusively like a Gil-Farmer) or even worse they are a RMT (real money trader) whose sole purpose to farm gil opportunities & have them for sale for real life currency in return. The use of both of these entities are sadly common & extremely damaging to the way the game's economy affects legitimate players & in doing so it has also affected one the main components of business in Vana'diel The Auction House. With certain items being farmed constantly & non-stop this can create a monopoly of sorts if organized right to where prices will sky-rocket for that helpful piece of equipment or spell but you're going to have to buy it to save yourself the trouble of acquiring it against the odds of the actual item's drop rate & competing farmers who will go to all lengths to control their sinister labors so what to do other than give in & find the money to buy & do so for as cheap as you can.
What if you choose to look for the items in another possible Auction House say in a much more common place of barter like Jeuno or Aht Urhgan Whitegate? It's even worse their due the constant traffic of potential buying adventurers so this is sadly an evil within the game that will remain within despite the best effort of Play-Online & Square-Enix. A rumor that's been going around that inspired this piece was that Play-Online may include a unified Auction House system where regardless of your location you will access the exact same inventory & price chart of ongoing auctions for items. This may be very troublesome for legitimate nation-specific bazaar merchants through a player's mule character but overall I look forward to this change. Traveling to a Nation to find a specific item will no longer be an issue it's readily available regardless of your location & furthermore with none of the Auction Houses being staggered about with different inventories & local supply & demand but rather a unified statutory liquidity ratio that can be monitored by Play-Online & discourage foul means of Gil making that benefits everyone overall. Do you think differently? Comment here or post about it on the thread I'm opening in the forum, I'm not going to have a schedule attached to this feature but I am going to stay on top of it as I figured it's a great fit for the site & show overall, until then I may see you in Vana'diel & never forget San d'Oria.