Hello! I've been playing on Potterworld since maybe 2016 (with some breaks) and there are definitely a lot of things that have changed since then. One of the biggest things, and the one that made me invest more into the server is the rise of the server economy and thus the addition of The Market. Now, I'll divide this post into 4 sections: 1) What the current Market does good. 2) What the current market does poorly. 3) Ideas about some additions and 4) Ideas about some changes. Let's begin:
1. WHAT THE MARKET DOES GOOD
It almost single-handedly created the world economy. It made it so interacting with other players is more fun and interesting, collecting gold is now more impactful than ever and it generally improved the community. The housings gained a better purpose, as someone can create a housing based solely on the idea of the shopkeeper and the market. I know there are a lot of many other things that the marketplace does good, but I now would like to focus more on the bad side.
2. WHAT THE MARKET DOES POORLY
As I mentioned before, I like to believe that some people love the marketplace as much as I do and the idea of creating a shop really motivates a lot of people. Unfortunately, at the moment the marketplace isn't very accessible. Visiting a marketplace on a major city often proves tedious, as I found they are placed mostly a bit outside of the city. Although using the map helps, it surely doesn't give the idea that marketplace is very important. Also, maybe the biggest drawback, Hogsworth doesn't even HAVE a marketplace. The map for some reason says it does near the Quad but no such thing exists. Beginner players are never introduced to the idea of the market, buying stuff or mission items needed for some quests instead of hunting them (and although I like the idea of hunting mobs, I know that not all players are made for that and would rather just spend some money and buy the ingredients). I kind of understand the reason behind why the castle doesn't have a Marketplace. but I'm going to talk about that further below and offer some suggestions. Furthermore, the catalog of the market itself isn't so easily "browsable". Some items don't even exist in the catalog and the only way to obtain them is by visiting a housing. I also have a very good suggestion and probable solution to this. Now, lets get to the ideas.
3. ABOUT ADDITIONS
First, I want to clear up that I don't know anything about coding or how hard it is for something to be implemented into the server but I know that most of them are mostly possible.
a) Add a Quick Buy feature in every city and not just London. Honestly, I do not know why this hasn't been done already. There have been countless times I wanted to use this, but I always get a bit disappointed when I remember that I have to Warpkey there (+this isn't an option for everyone) and also travel at the back of the bank and use it.
b) -This is half-change half-addition so I'm going to say this here- Add an option to the Quick Buy that allows you to search for the name of the item you wish to buy. This may be the idea that I want added the most. I have wasted a lot of time trying to search for an item via the catalog, only to never find it either because I skipped it by mistake or because it isn't even there. The Quick Buy option isn't as useful at its current state because you have to have already obtained the item in order to search for it, which is most of the time unusable considering I usually never have a sample of the items I want to find. This may still be preserved, but the search by typing in chat mechanic is 100 times better in my opinion.
c) Add a quest to introduce the Marketplace to beginners. This goes a lot with adding a Marketplace in Hogsworth. I feel like this is a big issue on the server right now. Newcomers are always confused about how the trading system works and seeing countless messages every day in chat about "How can I buy an item" or "Does anyone have this" only proves my point. I understand why the Trading chat exists in the first place, but what I'm suggesting will only improve it. I believe a quest should be added near level 7 or 8 in order to teach players how to use the Marketplace (it is important that the mission is placed after some mob grinding missions, as I believe killing mobs yourself should be introduced first). An idea that I thought was a quest that has to do with helping some students set up their market or maybe help them with a problem they encountered with importing their goods inside the school. This was inspired by the HP games I used to play on my Playstation, where usually Fred and George would introduce you to their shop, which was illegal, and the exact reason I believe a Marketplace is actually possible to be put inside the school is because it is actually illegal. The shop could be somewhere near Flitch, where he tried to find it and expose it but maybe you help with that too. Also, (final edit while I was re-reading) the shop should maybe not be that close to the Great Hall, as having that so close to the teleport spot can make the point of having Marketplaces in major cities be a little less important. Maybe make the player travel some floors or make some more steps to reach it. Anyway, the point is that after the mission is completed, a new player should know how to use the Marketplace and also gain entry to the Marketplace itself by using Avomora or clicking a button or walking through a painting etc. This also fixes the problem with people selling ingredients for low level missions, which are most of the time ignored. I also don't believe this can ruin the experience of killing ghouls yourself, as this ability has its own perks (like gaining exp, recipes, or even because they can't afford or like to spend their gold to buy them). The ability to buy ingredients exists anyway, new people just don't know about it yet,
4. ABOUT CHANGES
a) I mentioned this in the beginning, but I would really like Marketplaces in major cities to be moved closer to the center. There should be 2 NPC in every Marketplace stand, one that has the catalog and one that has the Quick Buy feature. I don't think this is as important as the other suggestions I made but it could still be a QOL change.
b) I know this is strange, but I believe Marketplaces should not exist in every major city. I believe that having less Marketplace spots that are easier to access is better than having a lot of Marketplaces but harder to access (because they aren't close to the city center, big example being in Diagonal Lane). The second warp point costs 5000 gold, which in my opinion is the perfect price, because you should be able to choose wisely on to which city to place your warp, especially for lower level players, and having Marketplaces on specific locations really adds to that thought.
ONE LAST THING I WANTED TO ADD
Some people might think that some of my ideas are messing around with how housings, the trade chat and self-advertisement works. I'm going to explain why that is not the case in my opinion. People that are investing a lot in creating a unique shop can shine with the use of the trade chat. I myself have created a book with housings of people that found useful in the past, either because they sell a variety of items or because they are cheap. All these people I found because I asked in chat. Finding shops in people's housings can be a nice adventure and experience for everyone and I don't believe that upgrades to the Marketplace can ruin the fun for creating homemade shops (I am that person too!) and I am saying that only because the Marketplace kind of combines the sellers and doesn't really advertise them, which serves another point and doesn't have anything to do with housings. I strongly believe that upgrades to the Marketplace can only improve shops.
====================================================================================================
So, that's everything I had in my mind for a long time and I finally managed to spend some hours writing down my ideas and suggestions to the forums. I hope everything I listed here is taken into consideration and I am really looking forward to every feedback! My English is not my first language so I'm sorry if some sentences are a little unclear and I will be active in the comments for possible explaining and further analysing! Much love everyone, stay safe! <3
1. WHAT THE MARKET DOES GOOD
It almost single-handedly created the world economy. It made it so interacting with other players is more fun and interesting, collecting gold is now more impactful than ever and it generally improved the community. The housings gained a better purpose, as someone can create a housing based solely on the idea of the shopkeeper and the market. I know there are a lot of many other things that the marketplace does good, but I now would like to focus more on the bad side.
2. WHAT THE MARKET DOES POORLY
As I mentioned before, I like to believe that some people love the marketplace as much as I do and the idea of creating a shop really motivates a lot of people. Unfortunately, at the moment the marketplace isn't very accessible. Visiting a marketplace on a major city often proves tedious, as I found they are placed mostly a bit outside of the city. Although using the map helps, it surely doesn't give the idea that marketplace is very important. Also, maybe the biggest drawback, Hogsworth doesn't even HAVE a marketplace. The map for some reason says it does near the Quad but no such thing exists. Beginner players are never introduced to the idea of the market, buying stuff or mission items needed for some quests instead of hunting them (and although I like the idea of hunting mobs, I know that not all players are made for that and would rather just spend some money and buy the ingredients). I kind of understand the reason behind why the castle doesn't have a Marketplace. but I'm going to talk about that further below and offer some suggestions. Furthermore, the catalog of the market itself isn't so easily "browsable". Some items don't even exist in the catalog and the only way to obtain them is by visiting a housing. I also have a very good suggestion and probable solution to this. Now, lets get to the ideas.
3. ABOUT ADDITIONS
First, I want to clear up that I don't know anything about coding or how hard it is for something to be implemented into the server but I know that most of them are mostly possible.
a) Add a Quick Buy feature in every city and not just London. Honestly, I do not know why this hasn't been done already. There have been countless times I wanted to use this, but I always get a bit disappointed when I remember that I have to Warpkey there (+this isn't an option for everyone) and also travel at the back of the bank and use it.
b) -This is half-change half-addition so I'm going to say this here- Add an option to the Quick Buy that allows you to search for the name of the item you wish to buy. This may be the idea that I want added the most. I have wasted a lot of time trying to search for an item via the catalog, only to never find it either because I skipped it by mistake or because it isn't even there. The Quick Buy option isn't as useful at its current state because you have to have already obtained the item in order to search for it, which is most of the time unusable considering I usually never have a sample of the items I want to find. This may still be preserved, but the search by typing in chat mechanic is 100 times better in my opinion.
c) Add a quest to introduce the Marketplace to beginners. This goes a lot with adding a Marketplace in Hogsworth. I feel like this is a big issue on the server right now. Newcomers are always confused about how the trading system works and seeing countless messages every day in chat about "How can I buy an item" or "Does anyone have this" only proves my point. I understand why the Trading chat exists in the first place, but what I'm suggesting will only improve it. I believe a quest should be added near level 7 or 8 in order to teach players how to use the Marketplace (it is important that the mission is placed after some mob grinding missions, as I believe killing mobs yourself should be introduced first). An idea that I thought was a quest that has to do with helping some students set up their market or maybe help them with a problem they encountered with importing their goods inside the school. This was inspired by the HP games I used to play on my Playstation, where usually Fred and George would introduce you to their shop, which was illegal, and the exact reason I believe a Marketplace is actually possible to be put inside the school is because it is actually illegal. The shop could be somewhere near Flitch, where he tried to find it and expose it but maybe you help with that too. Also, (final edit while I was re-reading) the shop should maybe not be that close to the Great Hall, as having that so close to the teleport spot can make the point of having Marketplaces in major cities be a little less important. Maybe make the player travel some floors or make some more steps to reach it. Anyway, the point is that after the mission is completed, a new player should know how to use the Marketplace and also gain entry to the Marketplace itself by using Avomora or clicking a button or walking through a painting etc. This also fixes the problem with people selling ingredients for low level missions, which are most of the time ignored. I also don't believe this can ruin the experience of killing ghouls yourself, as this ability has its own perks (like gaining exp, recipes, or even because they can't afford or like to spend their gold to buy them). The ability to buy ingredients exists anyway, new people just don't know about it yet,
4. ABOUT CHANGES
a) I mentioned this in the beginning, but I would really like Marketplaces in major cities to be moved closer to the center. There should be 2 NPC in every Marketplace stand, one that has the catalog and one that has the Quick Buy feature. I don't think this is as important as the other suggestions I made but it could still be a QOL change.
b) I know this is strange, but I believe Marketplaces should not exist in every major city. I believe that having less Marketplace spots that are easier to access is better than having a lot of Marketplaces but harder to access (because they aren't close to the city center, big example being in Diagonal Lane). The second warp point costs 5000 gold, which in my opinion is the perfect price, because you should be able to choose wisely on to which city to place your warp, especially for lower level players, and having Marketplaces on specific locations really adds to that thought.
ONE LAST THING I WANTED TO ADD
Some people might think that some of my ideas are messing around with how housings, the trade chat and self-advertisement works. I'm going to explain why that is not the case in my opinion. People that are investing a lot in creating a unique shop can shine with the use of the trade chat. I myself have created a book with housings of people that found useful in the past, either because they sell a variety of items or because they are cheap. All these people I found because I asked in chat. Finding shops in people's housings can be a nice adventure and experience for everyone and I don't believe that upgrades to the Marketplace can ruin the fun for creating homemade shops (I am that person too!) and I am saying that only because the Marketplace kind of combines the sellers and doesn't really advertise them, which serves another point and doesn't have anything to do with housings. I strongly believe that upgrades to the Marketplace can only improve shops.
====================================================================================================
So, that's everything I had in my mind for a long time and I finally managed to spend some hours writing down my ideas and suggestions to the forums. I hope everything I listed here is taken into consideration and I am really looking forward to every feedback! My English is not my first language so I'm sorry if some sentences are a little unclear and I will be active in the comments for possible explaining and further analysing! Much love everyone, stay safe! <3
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