The cheating is blatant and widespread. A telltale sign is that the trader will not be in offline mode since the program can't do the necessary automated searches unless the player is logged in. There's an entire thread about this with a dev (no longer with DB) talking about the problem and potential solutions. These included only allowing trading in offline mode or increasing the time for bazaar searches. The problem is not easy to solve and cheaters always find a way. Again, they should just level the playing field and be done with it.
I do not bot but I often do no use offline mode because the amount of time to log is increased substantially if you have an offline trader. I also like hearing the occasional ka-ching when someone buys something (and I might replace it from an inventory bag if I have an additional). But, I am also not selling the lucrative LS items. I have house items for sale on one of my bazaar mules and old drops on the other.
I retired my traders due to this. I liked playing with bazaar but there is no point to continue. Too many people are using certain software and it's impossible to compete unless I sit at the keyboard 24/7 ...
Most just update at 5 minutes now, there currently is and never has been any repercussions for automating the bazaar. It's almost embarrassing to admit that I petitioned 2 automated traders once a week for a year and a half and the only time they weren't online was during patches. DPG does NOT investigate petitions regarding automated traders. It is beyond the scope of their dummy-trained CS. These are the same people AFK checking people in PoK, Tranq, Nexus, etc. Lets be real, DPG customer service doesnt exist. Customer Disservice more like it. After that year and a half, I canceled my dedicated trader account and never sold in the bazaar again. Its been 2 years since I have sold anything in the bazaar.
I do fine on both my traders altho i will admit since the next expansion came out sales have dropped considerably. I think ya gotta sell what people want, if theres 15 people selling something i dont even bother listing mine or i will list it way cheaper than any of them just to get it gone. What i hate is people selling tradeskill stuff for stupid high prices.
Hold up, you farmed "10k ores and crystals"? Yeah that would require 24/7 automated play, buddy. The expansion has been out 7 weeks. So you farmed over 200 ores and crystals a day? Every day? With no breaks for anything else like knocking out all the quests (which are 90% spent running around) or picking up 14 sets of ground spawn shinies? On my server there aren't even 10k of any LS TS item up for sale from all sellers combined. Maybe 500. So what were you doing to get the other stuff if you weren't farming? I ran my boxes through all quests, completed the missions and challengers and ended up with 90 ores. 90 ores.
The flood of t1 droppables isnt really a new thing, they (weapons at least) just werent completely useless for a month or two because the damage boost made them upgrades. But most of that stuff has only ever been catchup or holdover gear. That a t1 ring has been worth 1 / 1.2 / 1.6m in the last 6 years is honestly kind of nonsensical to begin with. And merc gear seems to be on its own drop table thats seeing a significant drop multiplier. I dont know why I have looted more than 1 merc piece per named kill, but I dont even know what to do with it anymore, because nobody wants it. Spell runes though, I'm still missing some for a full set on live, because the price for median+ is still bonkers. Glowing / greater right now are sitting at 700k still. Have you not done a group in HF? The drop rate for ore and crystals this expansion is a combined >100% off certain mob types (why do some things drop both? Who knows!), and roughly guaranteed off others.
THIS is the thing. The bots are not the vendors, the bots are those who gather all the stuff to put onto vendors. Just like the guys selling multiple chase loot items Besides, bazaar bots are actually kinda fun. Put something up for sale, watch them drop their price. Do it several times and then buy it for half off then put both up for sale. Real people who modify their prices won't do that. Bazaar bots are never a problem.
If you want to spend a bunch of time trying to figure out that threshold on all your items, then super. The price change can happen, daily, hourly, or up to the minute. For me, it's too cumbersome across my three traders. I can't keep up, so I just don't bother unless I have a couple hours to kill. It's tedious enough setting the price on hundreds of items. In a game where valuation is extremely variable and speculative, you get to a point where cheaters are actually setting the prices across the economy for many thousands of items. The irony of your statement is that you are setting your price based on the cheaters pricing--not the other way around.
Its 35% below their normal price. Trust me. Seriously though, the reason why you cant keep up is because you [censored] around trying to undercut by small amounts. As a result you can get undercut back and forth 100x. Bots can keep up, but humans cant. So undercut by an amount that you estimate will hurt them to try to beat. And if you find that you didnt go low enough the first try then do it again. Im telling you the method works. It always has. And even if it wasnt bots you would still have multiple sellers undercutting you. There is no changing that. You do need to adjust and price beat.
I dont even run a trader but have made millions in LS in the few weeks since it came out. When i get something to sell, i do a quick /baz check for price and drop my price 50% below that usually, sometimes more, then I announce in gen chat WTS so n so at whatever price ... and usually within minutes I sell it. Some may think im taking a loss selling so much cheaper, but I dont see it that way, its gone, i have more pp in my bank, and am free to go farm more stuff to sell. I do not sell my TS drops, because we pool them to make guilds conatiners throughout the year. A drop going for 200k in /baz, that I sell for 100k or 75k ,, that wasnt doing me any good, is just a good deal in my opinion. Plus I have a reputation for selling the stuff people want , at a more than fair price, and even get people sending me requests to go farm them x item for a decent price,, so it pays off in the end. Anything that I havent sold in a few days,, gets tributed.
Im sorry, we all knew what it was about, mainly because youre against bot traders, and after complaining to Daybreak, nothing got done, so instead you come here to complain. Now that you have complained, and several people have given you options to help you, instead of thanking them, you respond with how we all " jacked" your thread.. What exactly did you expect to hear? A large unruly mob, getting our pitchforks and torches, ready to march on the Daybreak Castle? The real facts are, not many care if you become a billionaire in the game. The only other point you made was that items are becoming common and harder to sell, well, thats called supply and demand. I guess because item x went for 2 million those first 3 days of release, and you didnt get to sell one then, you deserve that 2 million now, when there are 15 in bazaar now,, thats on you for moving slower than others.
Your views have always been warped on this subject. You are plain wrong and completely missing the entire scope of the issue. The automated pricers devalue goods, plain and simple. Regardless if you sell them or not. What is so hard to see about that? You act as if they have no effect on the economy, the player experience, the defeatism it creates for legitimate players, etc. It is not IMPOSSIBLE to sell wares when dealing with bots, but they will be sold for less than they are worth at the time. When it becomes impossible to get a reasonable price for your items, players lose motivation to even participate. And a healthy economy is an incredibly important aspect to every MMO. One where pricing is determined by cheaters that undermine the time investment, monetary investment, effort expended, and on and on, is a system that drives people away and continuously damages the economy. Just because you feel like you have some system to "beat" the bots for selling your low effort wares is irrelevant. Open your eyes and use your brain dude. Stop these posts about how bots are harmless fodder for the legitimate player to exploit. That isnt even close to the truth and you make yourself look dumber than you already do in so many of your posts.
My pet appreciates T1 gear. A lot of it anyway. I just let it rot if it's something my pet won't use. I don't bother trying to sell it after the new expansion rush.
