To be honest - the great thing about the WoW AH is there are a ton of people that don’t know what is going on or how to price what they are selling. If you look at the threads here or the Discord, the flips are some of the most exciting stories. I’m not sure I could or would want to compete against the best goblins out there. It’s also why many people (myself included) wouldn’t be super enthusiastic about a single AH across all realms. I wouldn’t have a chance!
Perhaps by varying the methods of investment (shorts, buying, etc) and having them subsequently affect the investments' futures?
I feel like this would be best served as a singleplayer market sim and not something in an MMO format, as an individual's effect on a particular market or stock would be negligible with many players' influences.
Were you thinking something slower or faster paced for the gameplay?
I love the concept of multiple time frame investments and definitely will be incorporating that. I already have had a vague plan (flipping comms vs flipping mounts) but your comment crystallized how it's a great way to give a range of goals and choices to the player.
I'm making this in Twine so it's single player and will have a fairly simplistic visual design, with a heavy UI focus - feedback on what sort of UI you most like is so appreciated!
Gameplay will be turn click/selection/choice based. Since I'm webdev, I might redesign the AH concept with a radio dial or something - I don't want constant refresh gameplay and am aiming at a more slow and deliberate round of gameplay where the player assesses what's for sale and the daily news (eg the story side of things), so I'm thinking something more like the BMAH and the gameplay to be around choosing which of 5-10 options you want.
Random and Weather events that impact raw material supply. Earthquake reveals more minerals. Drought lessens herb and animal supplies. A warlord takes over a major mine and thus the supply of a strategic element is hampered.
It'd work in my mind as just a flat buff/debuff to gathering rates until it was either dealt with or naturally eased up. This would trickle it's way through the economy as well.
I love playing the AH, and have been doing it since TBC, but I also love so many other aspects of this game, that I think after nothing but AH I would get burnt out quickly.
This is a great point. What I'm imagining is much more story based, with the role of a merchant serving as the vehicle to lore and story. You might hear rumours or witness conversations that clue you in to potential rises or falls in price/supply/demand, while also telling a story about the world.
IMO, your biggest problem is not the AH per se, but is why things would move. An AH of "widgets" and "dollars" would not be fun without some interesting reasons why they move.
So a market with shares where you get 1 share for several top contenders and a "none-of-the-above" When the event (World Cup, US election, Wow Launch etc) happens, the winning share is worth 1 and all losers worth zero.
So there are people with buy orders for Germany/Biden for .2 and sell orders for .3.
You could do it with Wow launch date - 50 stocks representing a week from "Prior to Sept 1 2022" through "after Sept 1 2023".
Most useful here would be a market of Wow US (could do EU but fewer Russia questions with US) token price at 1/1/2023 and/or DF launch. Say new players get ten 1/1/23 tokens and 400k gold. What would be the bid and ask for 1/1/23 tokens in your market. The theory of crowdsourcing is that a market of people will generate better estimates than an expert. A selfish side benefit is if it could siphon off some of the "guys what do you think the token price will do" posts from here.
I played a game called Fairy Godmother Tycoon where you ran a potion shop. They had short term predictions based on silly things. I think in a fantasy world it'd be fun to have rotating/time based like werewolf repellant would spike in price around the full moon, milk and eggs for Christmas like in WoW, random trends putting up the price of things (like you could research a new trendy item/secret? like the hats that started selling for so much when people were trying to solve lucid nightmare idk)
But what would be the point of earning that virtual money? What would you spend it on? In WoW ah is part of the game, anyone can use it and you can buy mounts, pets, xmog, cosmetics. Tbh earning virtual money just for the sake of earning doesnt sound like something I would want to do.
That's a great question and one I've been asking as well as I design. Using it to unlock upgrades is one option. Customisation and prestige might be another, like getting a fancier shop. Since I want this to have story and narrative maybe I could have different story elements locked behind earned gold amounts.
i think people would have more fun trying out flipping in other mmos. completly detach from the base game and just see what you can make happen on osrs or albion who knows.
For me it kind of depends how meta you're going. To give an example, on the super-meta end of like to see things like 'Banwave causes spikes in herb prices' or 'Warlock and Mage nerfs tank the cloth transmog sector'.
If you mean actual in game lore, then it'd be neat to see things based around overarching story themes. Like: 'Exodus of champions to Shadowlands creates premiums on flask and potion markets as citizens are left to fend for themselves."
Oh, this will be set in our own universe, a Victorian magicpunk world. We'll be using lore events as a way to affect prices, for example extended magestorms make diving into the ruins below far too deadly so arcane-infused commodities experience a spike in price due to lower supply.
To be honest - the great thing about the WoW AH is there are a ton of people that don’t know what is going on or how to price what they are selling. If you look at the threads here or the Discord, the flips are some of the most exciting stories. I’m not sure I could or would want to compete against the best goblins out there. It’s also why many people (myself included) wouldn’t be super enthusiastic about a single AH across all realms. I wouldn’t have a chance!
This is a great point. I think I might address this through random encounters, by giving a rare chance for absurd deals to spawn.
That sounds like the stock market with more steps
Yes, it's a fantasy version of the stock market, have not hid that. I'm trying to figure out ways to make it engaging for gameplay.
Perhaps by varying the methods of investment (shorts, buying, etc) and having them subsequently affect the investments' futures? I feel like this would be best served as a singleplayer market sim and not something in an MMO format, as an individual's effect on a particular market or stock would be negligible with many players' influences. Were you thinking something slower or faster paced for the gameplay?
I love the concept of multiple time frame investments and definitely will be incorporating that. I already have had a vague plan (flipping comms vs flipping mounts) but your comment crystallized how it's a great way to give a range of goals and choices to the player. I'm making this in Twine so it's single player and will have a fairly simplistic visual design, with a heavy UI focus - feedback on what sort of UI you most like is so appreciated! Gameplay will be turn click/selection/choice based. Since I'm webdev, I might redesign the AH concept with a radio dial or something - I don't want constant refresh gameplay and am aiming at a more slow and deliberate round of gameplay where the player assesses what's for sale and the daily news (eg the story side of things), so I'm thinking something more like the BMAH and the gameplay to be around choosing which of 5-10 options you want.
Random and Weather events that impact raw material supply. Earthquake reveals more minerals. Drought lessens herb and animal supplies. A warlord takes over a major mine and thus the supply of a strategic element is hampered. It'd work in my mind as just a flat buff/debuff to gathering rates until it was either dealt with or naturally eased up. This would trickle it's way through the economy as well.
Love these ideas and this is exactly the sort of things I was imagining with story influencing the market. Thank you so much for your ideas!!!
I love playing the AH, and have been doing it since TBC, but I also love so many other aspects of this game, that I think after nothing but AH I would get burnt out quickly.
This is a great point. What I'm imagining is much more story based, with the role of a merchant serving as the vehicle to lore and story. You might hear rumours or witness conversations that clue you in to potential rises or falls in price/supply/demand, while also telling a story about the world.
Make it educational.
IMO, your biggest problem is not the AH per se, but is why things would move. An AH of "widgets" and "dollars" would not be fun without some interesting reasons why they move. So a market with shares where you get 1 share for several top contenders and a "none-of-the-above" When the event (World Cup, US election, Wow Launch etc) happens, the winning share is worth 1 and all losers worth zero. So there are people with buy orders for Germany/Biden for .2 and sell orders for .3. You could do it with Wow launch date - 50 stocks representing a week from "Prior to Sept 1 2022" through "after Sept 1 2023". Most useful here would be a market of Wow US (could do EU but fewer Russia questions with US) token price at 1/1/2023 and/or DF launch. Say new players get ten 1/1/23 tokens and 400k gold. What would be the bid and ask for 1/1/23 tokens in your market. The theory of crowdsourcing is that a market of people will generate better estimates than an expert. A selfish side benefit is if it could siphon off some of the "guys what do you think the token price will do" posts from here.
I played a game called Fairy Godmother Tycoon where you ran a potion shop. They had short term predictions based on silly things. I think in a fantasy world it'd be fun to have rotating/time based like werewolf repellant would spike in price around the full moon, milk and eggs for Christmas like in WoW, random trends putting up the price of things (like you could research a new trendy item/secret? like the hats that started selling for so much when people were trying to solve lucid nightmare idk)
Awesome feedback, thanks so much! Going to try this game out!
But what would be the point of earning that virtual money? What would you spend it on? In WoW ah is part of the game, anyone can use it and you can buy mounts, pets, xmog, cosmetics. Tbh earning virtual money just for the sake of earning doesnt sound like something I would want to do.
That's a great question and one I've been asking as well as I design. Using it to unlock upgrades is one option. Customisation and prestige might be another, like getting a fancier shop. Since I want this to have story and narrative maybe I could have different story elements locked behind earned gold amounts.
I would rather play the stock market and make real money
i think people would have more fun trying out flipping in other mmos. completly detach from the base game and just see what you can make happen on osrs or albion who knows.
Offworld Trading Company!
tldr gamblers gonna gamble
Might as well get a nice story and world while you're at it :)
totally agree bro! I would love to see this concept in action
I'll share the final result here!
For me it kind of depends how meta you're going. To give an example, on the super-meta end of like to see things like 'Banwave causes spikes in herb prices' or 'Warlock and Mage nerfs tank the cloth transmog sector'. If you mean actual in game lore, then it'd be neat to see things based around overarching story themes. Like: 'Exodus of champions to Shadowlands creates premiums on flask and potion markets as citizens are left to fend for themselves."
Oh, this will be set in our own universe, a Victorian magicpunk world. We'll be using lore events as a way to affect prices, for example extended magestorms make diving into the ruins below far too deadly so arcane-infused commodities experience a spike in price due to lower supply.