Bazaar traders using 3rd party software to auto-price

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Deux, Jul 2, 2020.

  1. Deux Corpse Connoisseur

    There is a program out that apparently allows people to poll pricing of the items they are selling and re-price their items periodically. Can Daybreak develop a counter to this to detect when this is happening and either ban the account or kill off it's session?

    This is really unfair to people who play the game legitimately and PAY for a subscription to sell items in the bazaar only to be undercut by automated pricing. I don't have a problem with fair market economics but having to compete against pricing software sucks. Also, I would add, this sort of stuff undermines the integrity of the game itself.

    PLEASE ADDRESS THIS ISSUE!
    Duder likes this.
  2. Jumbur Improved Familiar

    The bazaar is only for millionaires anyway. I suspect most people just farm what they need instead...
  3. svann Augur

    Look at this way - you know whether its autopricing or someone is checking their prices they will always undercut you. So in reality each seller undercuts the other sellers until no one wants to go lower and the price stabilizes. If you have the lowest price you win. If you cant match or beat their price then they win. After that it doesnt matter who has autopricing because the price isnt changing anymore. Thats a good thing.

    With autopricing you can find that stable level much quicker.
    edit: not that I do it. Thats technically bannable.
  4. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    Seems to me that someone creative could take advantage of a situation like this...

    Just sayin' ;)
  5. Kelset Elder



    I was thinking the same thing, would require some good timing but could be done :)
    Corwyhn Lionheart likes this.
  6. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    Timing wouldn't even be hard. Just need two chars logged in. One for your trader, one standing near the auto-pricing offender, ready to swoop in and buy him out ;)
    minimind and dreadlord like this.
  7. Password1234 Augur

    In one of the previous versions of this thread, people mentioned that the bots usually have a minimum number, and it's not uncommon for them to look for prices low enough that they'll just buy you out and jack the price back up so there's no more competition.
    svann likes this.
  8. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    But they can't react as fast as you can, with two chars logged in and ready at the keyboard.

    Also, you lower your price on just one item (not a whole stack, take the rest out of your trader satchels). So if they do buy you out, it's just one item.
  9. Deux Corpse Connoisseur

    Well some of us actually log our trader on and go to bed. Seriously though have the devs even commented on the rampant automation we are seeing in Everquest? At some point it's going to jump the shark and people are going to move on.

    My impression of the devs when we complain about 3rd party software offenders:
    [IMG]
    Cideral, Voktar and dreadlord like this.
  10. Kelset Elder



    I was thinking more of the timing on when auto-price adjustments are made, i.e. is it every minute, hour, 4 hours etc. I don't know how the software works but understanding when adjustments are made would be key. It would also help mitigate against pricing floors if no adjustments are made after you undersell and the timeframe passes. Theoretically speaking of course.
    Tatanka likes this.
  11. Deux Corpse Connoisseur

    The few I've run across seem to have a formula they use and parse pricing every 5 minutes. I suspect they use a continuous loops and cycle through the items a la ctrl click read log file etc. This behavior could be easily monitored by DB or there has to be something that can be traced.
  12. Zamiam Augur

    can they run their software while offline trading or do they have to be logged in ? my guess is they have to remain logged in but not sure as I dont deal in bot software and price adjusting software
  13. dreadlord Augur

    I'm thinking that if they can't/won't take action on the botters who are bullying people out of the game leading to a huge loss of subs, they're not going to do anything about this (never heard of anyone quitting because of baz prices, but, then again, there's always one....)
  14. Tatanka Joe Schmo

    They absolutely have to be logged in. There's nothing to interface with if they're in offline trader mode.
  15. Duder Augur


    You think its good? Whats wrong with you? They dont always set minimums and it is a malicious script intended to screw people who put legitimate time into their pricing. There is no way you can even look at this behavior as being a good thing. Botters and the likes can claim that their behavior interrupts no one elses play. This is untrue for these scripts as that they aim to do ONLY that. Interrupt and undermine others' play. It makes it very difficult to maintain a trader with any item that an auto-trader has for sale. The bazaar should be an even playing ground. I maintain a trader account and this behavior makes me consider not re-subbing it every single time it comes to re-subbing.
    Nennius and Deux like this.
  16. Tucoh Augur

    Fundamentally the problem with this is that the opportunity cost of selling on the bazaar is baked into the pricing. Autotraders pay a much lower opportunity cost, so it's hard for manual traders to compete.

    I have someone who handles all my trading for me, but my recommendation to people is to view DPG as tacitly approving of the autotrading scripts as a way to bring EQs trading into modern gaming. Don't fight it, use it.

    And if you enjoy the trading game, you'll be able to earn way more trading on TLP where the trading is actually fun, social and very profitable due to people like me who just want to dump their loot, get ripped off to buy something and get back to murdering frogs.
    Vumad likes this.
  17. svann Augur

    Two possibilities.
    1. they dont set a minimum and you can trick them into selling too low.
    2. they do set a minimum and the market settles on that price as the going price.
    3. Calm down!
    Tatanka likes this.
  18. Duder Augur

    You practice what you preach on trick them into selling low? How many of your valuable items have you lost trying to do so? No calming down, this bazaar crap is out of control with /\/\acroquest auto-undercutters.
    Deux and Leigo like this.
  19. Darchon_Xegony Augur

    Really they just need to make the only option for trader is offline mode. They need to stop letting anyone stay online in trader mode. Save electricity and stop 3rd party abuse in one swoop.
  20. GNOME_POWER Augur

    The cheaper the very very very better.