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Antiques Dealer feedback

DeletedUser33179

While it is a great idea and I like it, I don't think it is set up fairly. I think it should be limited to players all in the same age. Obviously things from more advanced ages have much greater value than things from the earlier ages. Therefore, I cannot compete for most items. My exchangeable items do not have the same value as say exchangeable items from the CA. The playing field needs to be a level one so the HMA players don't have to compete with say CA players for these items.

You're wrong. All exchangeable items have the same value irregardless of Age. A HMA terrace farm sells for exactly the same amount as VF terrace farm.

Additionally, AD-coin/gem cost to buy an item outright is the same for that specific item irregardless of which Age you're currently in (its cost doesn't increase as you age up)
 

IngeJones

Active Member
Is the auction not restricted to neighborhood? I assumed it would be, so only players of the same age were competing.
 

DeletedUser34993

I imagine a lot of thought went into how to choose the random players but I have to admit that while my 3 main cities are in the same era (now) they are most definitely not treated equally! lol Who has cities on different worlds that actually grew the same way? Got the same prizes, etc.? If there's anyone out there like that, that is someone who has no time for RL or is awfully dedicated! <tongue-in-cheek> Yeah, I'm a Quest-a-Holic. Don't beat me up y'all for my comment! ;)

I suppose if I had any constructive criticism or just comments/suggestions re: the items you sell side of the "tent," they would be as follows:

1) Wouldn't it be better if we knew in advance without having to access the forum or some other place how many items we would need to sell to get to the space after the next available one? (I was shocked to find out that I had to sell over 150 items, I think it was, to open slot 4. That's about the time I just threw caution to the wind and started just dumping stuff every two hours. :(

2) Likewise, when does the auctioneer leave? Will he/she come back? Nothing was on the notice or on the "wagon." Why not? I don't use any type of social media unless you count group messages in FoE. I'm not even sure what exactly the difference is between a Twitter and a Tweet and I really DO NOT WANT to know, thanks!

3) To try to stick with the 'theme' of the original posting I would just say that it would seem a bit fairer to all involved if some consideration were taken regarding the age of the city. Not the era--the age. Meaning when was it established? I get that FoE can't monitor every little thing but it doesn't seem that difficult a task to add a line or so of code that would limit the randomization to those who might actually be able to be a bit more competitive, which is what seems to be the major issue.

Having 4 cities with my 3 main cities all having been born within 6 weeks of each other gave me a lot of perspective here! My newest city, less than 4 months old has practically nothing in it's inventory and while I still have had a bit of fun with the auction and picked up some stuff there was simply NO WAY I was going to be able to A) afford the stuff on the auction block because B) my stuff just wasn't going to sell for enough even though I had participated in all of the Daily Challenges and Special Events to date. (That poor city looks like a Special Event Yard Sale! LOL I mean--before this Auctioneer's tent!) :eek:

Having said that, I am NO programmer so maybe I speak too quickly about a line or two of code? IDK Perhaps a broadening of the number of people in the group? Why not 100 instead of only 50? I'm not sure what would make the spread a bit more fair to the younger player or even the experienced one who wants a market 'hungry' for all their clutter but I know that having only 75 neighbors when I'm supposed to M/P them one minute and Fight them the next has driven me near mad to keep up with questlines so finding out that I've been competing with a 'possible 50' is downright frustrating! Okay, my 2 cents.

The idea is very cool although I'll never be able to look at another player's city quite the same away again. Not sure if that's a good thing or not. Heheh ;)
 

DeletedUser30312

I'm convinced (with no evidence, just my thoughts) that at least 75% of those 1-coin bidders are doing it just to mess with others, hoping to come across overzealous bidders. Whether they actually are or aren't, I've no problem either way with it. It's the individual responsibility of players to only bid what they want & be willing to walk away if the item costs more than that (yes, even by 1 coin).

Sometimes I like to try to mess some of the 1-coin bidders - gradually increasing my bid against them then stop (well before cost gets too crazy, though), leaving them with their winnings which I don't think they actually wanted.

Someday when I'm bored, I want to try 1-coin bidding against someone else 1-coin bidding. See how long they keep it up, how committed they are.

Yeah, I've been doing just that, raising bids on stuff by 1 coin just to see how much some people will jack up their bids. There's a strategic element to it as well, I'm doing it partially to get these people to overspend their coins foolishly to get them to drain their reserves which I'm seeing as a long term advantage. That's going to have a varying amount of success of course, someone who's been playing for years and has a big pile of junk not just from events but GE and DCs will be able to build up a big coin reserve of course. Some of these guys catch on and start upping their bids by one too, though that doesn't bother me too much, it's entertaining. It's even more fun when a third guy jumps in and jacks the price by something like 20k.

I have to be careful when I pull this though, the other day I dropped a starting bid on a Hedge Maze that no one else bothered to bid on. Whoops! Well, Hedge Mazes make for decent gem fodder anyway. Usually I bid on something that's useful but no loss if I don't win it.

Selection kits for sets and upgradeable buildings seem to be the hottest auction items. I see them going regularly for at least 50k. Some of the historical event buildings get some big bids too, the Rosarium and Lord's Manor get some big bids. And any event building with an attack bonus gets some pretty fierce bidding.
 

DeletedUser33179

Yeah, I've been doing just that, raising bids on stuff by 1 coin just to see how much some people will jack up their bids. There's a strategic element to it as well, I'm doing it partially to get these people to overspend their coins foolishly to get them to drain their reserves which I'm seeing as a long term advantage. That's going to have a varying amount of success of course, someone who's been playing for years and has a big pile of junk not just from events but GE and DCs will be able to build up a big coin reserve of course. Some of these guys catch on and start upping their bids by one too, though that doesn't bother me too much, it's entertaining. It's even more fun when a third guy jumps in and jacks the price by something like 20k.

I have to be careful when I pull this though, the other day I dropped a starting bid on a Hedge Maze that no one else bothered to bid on. Whoops! Well, Hedge Mazes make for decent gem fodder anyway. Usually I bid on something that's useful but no loss if I don't win it.

Selection kits for sets and upgradeable buildings seem to be the hottest auction items. I see them going regularly for at least 50k. Some of the historical event buildings get some big bids too, the Rosarium and Lord's Manor get some big bids. And any event building with an attack bonus gets some pretty fierce bidding.

For some crazy reason, I keep seeing huge bids - like 50k or more - for 100 goods or fps. To each their own, I guess. But, I too am glad some folks are spending on that stuff, which means a bit less competition long term.

I'm hoping that once the newness of auctions all wears off (& hopefully some of the bidding settles down a bit), that I can pick up some good deals on those auction items that I can then sell for getting more gems.
 

DeletedUser30312

Yeah, I'm not going to be foolish enough to try one upping goods or medal packages. I see no reason to buy them at the Dealer at all whether from auction or the daily offers, they're too easily obtained elsewhere to be worth wasting coins.

I suspect that right now people are clearing out all their old junk and gaining their initial trade coin reserves. After they're done cleaning out, the coins they'll get will slow down a bit. Crazy spending now means that some of the prices may level off once people have less trade coins to spend. That's part of the reason behind my 1 up bids. It's a little risky though.
 
"Other than that, it's fair game putting down multiple bids (including in the last few seconds) within the constraints of their fixed auction end time. Although, there's minimum bid increment requirements based on the current price of the item being sold. Plus, there's the ability to also designate a hidden max-bid amount -- so if others bid higher than you, the server would automatically keep bidding in minimum increments up to your stated max bid"

I agree with everything u wrote. i need some clarification:
1) what are the constraints of their fixed auction end time? does that mean that, in theory two players cannot counter bid the last 30 seconds forever?
2) where is the ability to designate a hidden max-bid?

thanks you
 

DeletedUser33179

"Other than that, it's fair game putting down multiple bids (including in the last few seconds) within the constraints of their fixed auction end time. Although, there's minimum bid increment requirements based on the current price of the item being sold. Plus, there's the ability to also designate a hidden max-bid amount -- so if others bid higher than you, the server would automatically keep bidding in minimum increments up to your stated max bid"

I agree with everything u wrote. i need some clarification:
1) what are the constraints of their fixed auction end time? does that mean that, in theory two players cannot counter bid the last 30 seconds forever?
2) where is the ability to designate a hidden max-bid?

thanks you

The end time constraints on ebay is just that... There is a fixed end time.

Ebay auction item pages have a bidding box in which you designate your current bid/your max bid you'd allow their server to use on your behalf (termed automatic bidding). As I outlined previously, the server would then use your max bid to incrementally counter subsequent bids from others automatically up to your stated limit. You can still choose to bid manually after that if wishing to go higher, but only until that fixed endtime.

However, our AD auctions are setup nothing like ebay & other similar sites. Rather, it's based on a live auction system - where bidding is allowed to continue until no one bids any higher, then the "Going once, going twice... sold!" proclamation by the auctioneer.
 
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DeletedUser31397

Already got some nice 'freebies' so far from the antiques dealer. I got a Ship Lv1 and Winter Village selection kit both for just around 5k coins. So far, I haven't really seen any prizes of interest in the shop. Well I did see a Carousel but for 65 gemstones which I didn't have at the time.

The 24 hour timer does seem a bit steep for prizes and I have no interest paying diamonds probably just to see more stuff I'm not interested in. I think 12 hours could be much more reasonable as even more casual players could still get a chance to see 2 sets of prizes each day.
 
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DeletedUser30312

Inno won't do that. Event currency almost certainly helps to drive diamond sales, so they're not going to mess with that. They generally give enough out so that non spending players can win enough of the big prizes to feel satisfied, but if one really want to clean up it means buying diamonds.
 

UBERhelp1

Well-Known Member
So... I love the Antiques Dealer in general, I've won some good stuff, but I have seen a bug during one of the auctions.

I placed a bet using a little over half my available trade coins, in the last 30 seconds, but when another person bet more than me, my trade coins were not returned. This meant that I couldn't place another bet, as the cost was now too high (but if I had all my coins I could have)*. After waiting about 10 seconds and exiting/entering the Antiques Dealer to see if it was lag or just not updating my amount, I hurriedly refreshed the page, and it did give my coins back. However, by the time everything loaded the auction was over.

I think it is easy to see the frustration this bug can cause, and it makes me wary to participate in auctions because I don't want to keep placing bets and wasting time only to get locked out of the auction because the game won't return my coins.

*I think what happened is someone placed their bet at the same time as me and we both bet the same amount, so the game thought that both of us held that position but I actually did not. So, when the next person bet the coins were not returned as I was not the last one who placed a bet.
 

DeletedUser33179

So... I love the Antiques Dealer in general, I've won some good stuff, but I have seen a bug during one of the auctions.

I placed a bet using a little over half my available trade coins, in the last 30 seconds, but when another person bet more than me, my trade coins were not returned. This meant that I couldn't place another bet, as the cost was now too high (but if I had all my coins I could have)*. After waiting about 10 seconds and exiting/entering the Antiques Dealer to see if it was lag or just not updating my amount, I hurriedly refreshed the page, and it did give my coins back. However, by the time everything loaded the auction was over.

I think it is easy to see the frustration this bug can cause, and it makes me wary to participate in auctions because I don't want to keep placing bets and wasting time only to get locked out of the auction because the game won't return my coins.

*I think what happened is someone placed their bet at the same time as me and we both bet the same amount, so the game thought that both of us held that position but I actually did not. So, when the next person bet the coins were not returned as I was not the last one who placed a bet.

Have you reported it yet in the Bugs section, in case it is one?
 

qaccy

Well-Known Member
Inno won't do that. Event currency almost certainly helps to drive diamond sales, so they're not going to mess with that. They generally give enough out so that non spending players can win enough of the big prizes to feel satisfied, but if one really want to clean up it means buying diamonds.

I wouldn't discount this possibility completely. AD offers are both limited-time and limited in quantity. And as a potential auction item, the price and appearance both can be highly variable such that it wouldn't necessarily be a reliable way to boost event performance. Just a boost for those who wish to acquire one.
 
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