Can Anyone Explain to Me.....Follow

...Why Square-Enix insists on maintaining the "retainer" system of FFXIV?

In XI there was an auction house system. I assume that the major point of the retainer system was to prevent people from keeping multiple characters logged in 24/7 to run their "bazaars" (if I'm wrong please correct me). The retainer system ultimately failed horribly until a search function was added effectively turning it into an auction house of sorts.

My question is, why must we enter an area filled with 200 retainers (that can't even be displayed" and then click on "search"? Why doesn't Square just add item search counters throughout the towns? I wouldn't mind if they wanted to keep the market wards specifically for you to place individual retainers for bazaar purposes but I don't see why the auction house is so undesirable in FFXIV.

Yoshi says:

The market is basically revamped as well. As for retainers, it’s impossible to make all of them appear at once. Instead, we want to implement what’s called a market street and have players decide on what they want others to see.

It’ll work kind of like an instance, but you’ll be able to see them out in the open. Each retainer you see will look different. The search feature has also been revamped. Searching will take place through a board. We’ll probably be able to show everyone what it looks like during the beta phase.

Also, players will be able to perform more precise searches. Currently, players can’t search for HQ/NQ items or for items with/without materia attached, which is quite frankly ridiculous, but with the new search feature this will all be possible. We can’t wait to show everyone how much it has improved.


I highly doubt he system will resemble the train wreck from V1.0. If it is...why would they even bother with RR.

Gah I am disappointed now. I have never been a fan of the retainer system. I liked XI's AH where you looked an item up and could bid on it. In a lot of cases there was always someone who had their gear or materials in the AH for a lot cheaper then what the previous sales had been. I liked the ability to "negotiate" for something rather then having to pay the price that's listed with no leeway. At least retainers now have a search feature that makes it so much more convenient. I didnt experience the system with no search and honestly i dont even want to think about the frustration it caused. I was really hoping that with the release of ARR, they were going to change retainers to an AH. I feel like this has turned out to be a failed idea and have not heard any great things it offers compared to AH's. Lets just hope they do something that makes it better than what it is now! I have not been impressed.

Edited, Oct 13th 2012 5:48pm by Arikko