The Background
[p align="start"]Everyone will be familiar with the grand exchange and its fundamental purpose in RuneScape - to enable trading between players that doesn't require everyone to be standing outside of Varrock Bank hawking their wares at the top of their digital lungs while at the same time hoping that whoever they trade with won't pull that nasty "last-second-item-swap" scam.[/p][p][img src="https://clan.akamai.steamstatic.com/images/38802315/98dcdc97fa1037aa4ea2d05a9afd02a7604b92c3.jpg"][/img][/p][p align="start"]However, since the Grand Exchange's first release back in 2007, this system has not received very many updates, making it a prime candidate for something we should address as part of our Road to Restoration.[/p][p align="start"]Some of what we cover today may be familiar to you if you've kept track of JMod discussions over the past few years, including this thread from Mod Sukotto. The difference this time, however, is that this isn't a personal gamejam project with limited time and resources - this is a core part of our Road to Restoration.[/p][p][/p]How you can help today
[p align="start"]This project is still in its early stages, and certain ideas mentioned here need to be properly investigated to ensure that we're not overinvesting time into one feature when we might be able to tackle two others in the same amount of time.[/p][p align="start"]While we will want to improve as much as we can, we may need to focus on those features that offer the biggest "bang for buck". To be clear - it is probable that not everything we cover today may be feasible or released with this update.[/p][p align="start"]With that in mind, please do join in the discussions this week and let us know:[/p]- [p]Which of the feature(s) we've covered are you most excited about?[/p][/*]
- [p]Which of the feature(s) we've covered are you not really that bothered about? They might be nice to have, but you wouldn't want us to prioritize them over others?[/p][/*]
What we've heard you say
[p align="start"]Here's a shortlist of the issues you've raised over the years with regards to the Grand Exchange's current functionality:[/p]- [p]Buying or selling items is a slow process that is not particularly transparent. Quite often, you may find yourself putting up offers multiple times before being successful.[/p][/*]
- [p]The Grand Exchange itself has performance issues when it comes to reflecting the most recent economy with a degree of accuracy. Quite often, there will be significant lag between what the GE tells you something is worth and what players are currently trading it for. We've seen cases where the displayed GE price could be off target by as much as 300%...![/p][/*]
- [p]The GE's functionality is too basic. It lacks advanced features such as improved filters for new items, most traded items, price ranges and more.[/p][/*]
What we want ensure we get right (Including thought starter example ideas)
- [p]We want to ensure the Grand Exchange matches modern interface standards, but it's equally important we retain a sense of familiarity. You should still feel like you're playing an MMO in the RuneScape franchise.[/p][/*]
- [p]We want to make it easier and faster for players to engage in trading, with fewer clicks per action.[/p][list]
- [p]Example 1: We should consider right click options to increase/decrease the value of offers.[/p][/*]
- [p]Example 2: Changing the default number for quantities from 0 to 1[/p][/*]
- [p]Example 1: It should clearly indicate when the four hour buy limit for an item offer has expired.[/p][/*]
- [p]Example 2: We want to consider whether the GE should display buy and sell volumes and price trends of items over a set number of days (1 day, 7 days, 30 days).[/p][/*]
- [p]An ideal outcome would be displaying valuable data within the game itself - this could include, for example, displaying recently completed transactions. We do want to hear from you on what kind of data would be valuable for you to have in-game (and what you might consider noise or clutter), so do get involved in the discussions.[/p][/*]
- [p]We also want to consider stronger tie-ins with official website partners where it makes sense, such as the RuneScape Wiki.[/p][/*]
- [p]Instantly sell an item for a reasonable price.[/p][list]
- [p]If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, how do you imagine it would work on a mechanical level?[/p][/*]
- [p]As a short reminder, you can already do this in the current Grand Exchange by putting a sell offer for 1gp. The system currently matches active buy offers, so while there is inherent risk that it might sell for 1gp, the greater likelihood is that it will sell at the market's going rate, which should be higher than 1gp.[/p][/*]
- [p]This one is more technically complex than the "instant sell" feature, so we need to figure out if it's worthwhile to do - we'd be keen to hear from you though: how highly would you rank such a feature against everything else mentioned today?[/p][/*]
- [p]Improved searchability such as searching by item tags, fuzzy text matching, auto-complete options and highlight notes for in demand or low stock items. Each of these are its own body of work though, so be sure to let us know which of them you value or even whether just implementing keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl + A; Ctrl + C; Ctrl + V) might be enough to cover your needs.[/p][/*]
- [p]Improved discoverability such as displaying most traded items, newest items, price ranges as well as categories such as "food" or "slayer".[/p][list]
- [p]We may also want to consider showing a history of completed offers on an item so you can get a sense of the price range and trend for yourself.[/p][/*]
